Okay, I have a "Hypothetical" question for you all? clearly we are all game here. We all have our favorites, we all have our own tastes and what not. We all allow our imaginations be a bit more open then others.
So lets ask a question from the point of view of a game designer. The question i am very interested in right now? The protagonist (The Player's Character) of the story being created.
Many games tend to fall into one of two major schools of thought on the protagonist. One is the Silent Hero, seen in many games but for example lets take Gordon Freeman from the half life series. The other being the Chatty Hero, always talking about one thing or the other. Fully voiced and even allowing the player to have a large list of options to define their hero from their point of view if not a bit guided into doing what the designer wants them to do.
We all have our preferred style. Some like the Silent Hero because it allows their own voice to be the voice of the person they are guiding along the story. Others like to hear what opinions their character has based on what they choose to do in the games narrative. As for Myself, I have written two versions of my own interactive story rough draft.
One the Protagonist is very chatty and allows the player to get a deep insight of the events the lead them into the position they are now in. As the story progresses, you find that the Character is not a monster but by their own admission does not claim to be an innocent in all of it.
The other is the silent, stoic, blank slate. You hear about his past second hand, but is pretty much a blank slate for the player to project their own truth upon. The story follows the same progression as the voiced version, the same story is being told and the same endings are present either way.
So if you where designing a game and at the point where the story is being roughed out and starting to form. Which sort of character would you write?
The Chatty or Silent Hero?
Chatty or Silent Protagonist?
#1From Intake Log for D-7165-68, Male, Caucasian, Age 28:
Dr. ██████ : "Do you know why you are here? Do you know how you came to be here?"
D-7165-68 : "Not really Doc. One moment I was watching the lethal injection pumps drop, the next I was still alive and here."
Dr. ██████ : "Do you know why you are here? Do you know how you came to be here?"
D-7165-68 : "Not really Doc. One moment I was watching the lethal injection pumps drop, the next I was still alive and here."