Who Needs Friends? (Article)

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_298/8723-Who-Needs-Friends

An interesting article about depth and personality in video game characters. It kind of speaks to me, because don't like silent or "blank slate" characters, I never felt them very immersive; I prefer a completely fleshed-out person into whose shoes I can step.

He offers Ezio as an exception. I could think of a few more, and realized that this coincided with my list of favorite video game protagonists. Niko Bellic has his cousin and the friends he meets in Liberty City, and there are times when he and Roman do reminisce about old times like it says in the article. Lloyd Irving also comes into his game with established friendships and a background built over the game. Razputin also has background that plays into the game. Silent Hill protagonists like Harry, James and Heather also have these. I really love these characters, and I feel they make their games much more enriching and immersive than any Gordon Freeman or Soap MacTavish ever did.

edited 22nd Mar '11 8:31:24 AM by PhiliusLupae

I really hate it when gaming journalists say "video games" when what they mean is "Grim McGrimpants M-rated video games".

Not like a lot of all-ages/teen-and-up games don't have this problem either, but come on.

edited 22nd Mar '11 9:44:53 AM by SparkyLurkdragon

Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines played with this by having you have to kill your friend when she recognizes you to preserve The Masquerade. Granted, that was the only one time it did that at all, but still.

Bulletstorm plays with this because the protagonist's friends would as likely kill him as help him, but they are there, they have distinct personalities (if only so they would be better MauveShirts).

The article also points out the difference between Ezio and Desmond, (but not that it changes over the series, as by Brotherhood, he is somewhat fraternal with the people he's stuck-in-a-room with) but in Assassins Creed, it's important to the story - Altair is woven into the world around him by the fact that most people who know him, know he's a dick. It's totally cool, though, to watch the Character Development unfold. Desmond sounds like he was intentionally not making significant commitments in his life.

Also, this . Most adventure games, for example, avoid this by default, as long as they don't have an AFGNCAAP involved - it helps the plot development a lot. The Spellcasting Series was exceptionally nice about that, especially the third, once it turned students, not just teachers and other adults, from faceless bystander walk-ons to actual persons with names and flaws and vices.

edited 22nd Mar '11 9:58:49 AM by Noelemahc

Eastern-style RP Gs avert this about half the time, if only because The Power of Friendship is so important to most of them. The other half usually have a friendless/amnesiac protag who makes friends over the course of the game.

When did this guy say that?

Look at all his examples.

Yeah. Desmond has people he knows, but he ran away from them and is an intentional introvert.

For him to do what the article wants would contradict his character.

edited 23rd Mar '11 7:00:01 AM by JotunofBoredom

I think the reason why a lot of games choose to avoid giving you any friends is because:

a) It's cliche, and usually a sign that they're going to die or are automatically important in the story

b) The designers want the player themselves to perceive who's a friend and who's not. Garrus from ME 2 is a good example - depending on how you look at him, he's either a vigilante who agrees with you goals, or possibly one of your best friends who's tagging along just because it's you leading the mission

c) The story simply doesn't call for it. It might work in a game like Heavy Rain or a game based in a school, but it won't work in Doom or Silent Hill due to the feeling of isolation that the games try to instill upon you.

edited 24th Mar '11 6:29:15 AM by SgtRicko

Yet Silent Hill uses the Power of Friendship several times to Mind Screw with you further =) Admit it, when you played the first game, you were broken over the unforeseeably solveable Player Punch that happens to Cybil, weren't you? And Doom was supposed to do something similar, but we all know what happened to its intended plot.

edited 24th Mar '11 5:57:33 AM by Noelemahc

I suppose you have a point with Silent Hill, since the games were usually about the protagonist trying to save somebody they knew, be it their children or spouses.

But again, it boils down to whether the plot needs it. Why add in a friend character when they might not have much of a point in the story to begin with? His examples of Modern Warfare 2 and Halo 3: ODST sound pointless, because the stories were more about the situations around them (both cases being invasions on their homelands) instead of some personal journey.

Saying that having friends is cliche is like saying sitting on chairs is cliche. "Usually going to die" is kinda baseless, since there are countless stories in the world in all media and countless of them have friends that don't die (or that don't involve death at all). And "automatically important to the story" is also kind of a given, conservation of detail and all. They're "automatically important" in the way anyone in the story is "automatically important," in that if they didn't have a role they wouldn't be in it. (And who said friends can't have a role?)

I think something like this would have added a lot to Modern Warfare, at least (I can't speak for Halo because I haven't played it). You had some friends in the recurring characters, like the SAS squad in the first game, but it really jarred me how none of these guys seemed to have lives outside of the military and no time was spent on building backgrounds to make them feel like people. The stories were more about the situations around them, that's true, but that doesn't preclude at least some attention to the characters as people. If I can't feel like I'm playing as a person, that removes me from the situations the story is about by one more level.

edited 24th Mar '11 7:50:55 AM by PhiliusLupae

Can't say for ODST, but in the 'basic' Halo being effectively The Last of His Kind is a major plot point for John-117. His loneliness and general screwupitude is amplified by the fact that his closest friend surrogate is a near-rampant AI.