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EasilyConfused · 01-04-2005, 09:27 AM

Another thought provoking article Ben . . .

I haven't played all the games you mentioned, so I wasn't sure how irritating the Gobliiins (did I get that right?) main character really was. An interesting insight about the remarkable number of amnesiacs in games . . . or people with just . . . no history. (KOTOR, Trep?!?!?!?!) Also, the dork/underdog point was well-taken.

At the same time it seems to me that any individual's reaction to a character is . . . individual. A look at the massive amount written about the world's greatest literature will show that people are divided in their opinions about even the most memorable characters of our collective imagination . . . or take that famous (and to me hilarious) discussion about Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca that Harry and Sally have in "When Harry Met Sally." (Should she get on the plane or not?)

An AG example: April Ryan. She annoyed the bejeesus out of me at the beginning of the game, with her smart-mouth attitude, and then grew up a bit, but still was a little too snotty for my taste. Another AG example (uh, these seem to be the only two AG examples I ever discuss): Kate Walker. The whole romance thread in that game has been debated a lot, and most people saw it as a technical problem--"they shouldn't have had the cell phone, it interrupted the game." To me, the problem wasn't the cell phone, and it wasn't that the cell phone was or wasn't necessar to show her "inner self"--she could have been talking to people around her (or Oscar.) The problem was that the conversations she was having with the people back home--or maybe just the people back home themselves--were so inane, you just didn't want to have to listen to them at all.

So, I guess I'm suggesting that perhaps in part whether one is playing the fool or not is in the eye of the beholder.

But I agree that this assumes that the designer has already put in a good amount of effort to make the character real, intriguing, and interesting, and not just some cardboard cutout that does dumb things "just for yuks". 8-) 8-)

01-04-2005, 09:27 AM	#1
EasilyConfused Curiouser and curiouser Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Cambridge, MA Posts: 803	Playing the Fool Article Another thought provoking article Ben . . . I haven't played all the games you mentioned, so I wasn't sure how irritating the Gobliiins (did I get that right?) main character really was. An interesting insight about the remarkable number of amnesiacs in games . . . or people with just . . . no history. (KOTOR, Trep?!?!?!?!) Also, the dork/underdog point was well-taken. At the same time it seems to me that any individual's reaction to a character is . . . individual. A look at the massive amount written about the world's greatest literature will show that people are divided in their opinions about even the most memorable characters of our collective imagination . . . or take that famous (and to me hilarious) discussion about Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca that Harry and Sally have in "When Harry Met Sally." (Should she get on the plane or not?) An AG example: April Ryan. She annoyed the bejeesus out of me at the beginning of the game, with her smart-mouth attitude, and then grew up a bit, but still was a little too snotty for my taste. Another AG example (uh, these seem to be the only two AG examples I ever discuss): Kate Walker. The whole romance thread in that game has been debated a lot, and most people saw it as a technical problem--"they shouldn't have had the cell phone, it interrupted the game." To me, the problem wasn't the cell phone, and it wasn't that the cell phone was or wasn't necessar to show her "inner self"--she could have been talking to people around her (or Oscar.) The problem was that the conversations she was having with the people back home--or maybe just the people back home themselves--were so inane, you just didn't want to have to listen to them at all. So, I guess I'm suggesting that perhaps in part whether one is playing the fool or not is in the eye of the beholder. But I agree that this assumes that the designer has already put in a good amount of effort to make the character real, intriguing, and interesting, and not just some cardboard cutout that does dumb things "just for yuks". 8-) 8-)