Two very popular video game characters are: Master Chief and Niko Bellic. Master Chief is the star of the Halo 1, 2, 3, and 4. Niko Bellic is the main character in GTA IV. I do not label Niko as a “star” because the “star” of GTA IV, is Liberty City. Many similarities and differences can be found between these two characters. By examining the differences, we can flesh out some of the ambiguity of the definition of “avatar” and “character”.
Master Chief is an avatar. His path is set and his success is determinant upon the player’s success. MC has no face (excluding SPOILER ALERT: a brief shot of his eyes when you beat Halo 4 on legendary, revealing he is a white human male). It could be argued that the CG ads for Halo 3 depicted Master Chief, or John, as a young white boy. Does MC’s revelations of race and gender dissolve his “faceless” characteristics of Halo 1? They do not, because he is the avatar of a “soldier”. A Spartan with years of body augmentation and training, but a soldier all the same. As an avatar for a soldier, MC allows for anyone (especially during multiplayer) to become a soldier. MC is a suit you put on, you feel inside his skin when you play, you become John, Master Chief. How you play the game does not affect the main storyline, but it does affect the much more important emergent narrative of the Halo series. Everyone can judge MC and view him as the representative of their inner-soldiers feelings. MC is a toy in which we express ourselves. Niko Bellic is most assuredly NOT a toy.
Niko Bellic is a character. His background is mysterious, but not a blank state. In fact, the mystery only further helps to establish Niko as the dark, cynical, immigrant to America from a war torn Eastern Europe. Niko has a hundred times more dialogue, dialogue which for the large majority, the player has no control over. Niko is a character, like Indiana Jones in “The Temple of Doom”, we watch Indy, we do not become Indy. Niko is enjoyed like Captain Ahab is enjoyed, being looked on from the outside. This is perhaps one of the most important distinctions between Niko and MC: the camera perspective.
First person games should always have characters that people can pretend to be. This is because, in a video game world with little to no mirrors, you see the world like they do, you ride inside their heads while you play. Third person games, when filmed correctly, show the face, the emotion, the physical toil of the journey, and other things when they show the full character. “Tomb Raider” (PS3) does a great job of this by constantly swinging the camera around to the front or above or in for an ECU (extreme close up). By showing us the character, we are able to bond, empathize, and relate.
By creating a game, the designer should first ask whether to have the player pretend or observe. When a player pretends they are MC or the soldier in BF4, even James Bond in “Goldeneye 64”, they are doing so because their is room in the avatar for them to infect and then takeover. When a player observes, they are playing as Niko, or Lara Croft, or another cinematic, fleshed out and rich, unchangeable (unless by the story) character.
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