One thing I’ve always been interested in
when it comes to video games is what goes
into making a likable character.
And by that, I don’t mean what makes them
compelling or complex, although those things
can play a factor; I simply mean what makes
players like them?
In the past, I’ve talked about some of the
ways video games get players to like companions
and villains, and now I want to look at the
3rd piece of the puzzle and talk about what
goes into making a likable hero.
With companions and villains, the focus is
on the player forming a relationship with
someone else.
With heroes, there isn’t that same kind
of separation.
It isn’t a character the player is interacting
with—it is one they are interacting as.
And being put in control of a character inherently
changes the way a player will look at them.
Due to video games being an interactive medium,
players will always have some sort of influence
over how the playable character thinks.
This might be in the way they approach the
story or combat or puzzles or any other element
of the game, big or small.
No matter what the player is a part of the
protagonist.
However, this connection can be tricky to
maintain.
The general concern a lot of developers seem
to have is that if players become detached
from the hero for any reason, then they’ll
be less invested in the game as a whole.
When considering that potentially millions
of people may play any given title, it makes
sense that they would want to play it safe.
So, in response to this, a lot of developers
opt to create heroes with either no real personality
or a relatively muted one—the idea being
that players can project themselves onto the
character.
Some games do this through a silent protagonist,
others allow players to create their own character,
and a lot end up having heroes with defining
traits that are generally inoffensive.
That isn’t to say that there aren’t video
game protagonists with likable personalities,
it's just that more often than not they end
up being a little more on the reserved side.
It is okay for an NPC to be over-the-top,
because the player will have limited interactions
with them, but if the protagonist goes too
far in any one direction, it can become grating
because the player is constantly with them.
So, we end up getting a lot of safe protagonists.
They’re funny but in a quiet and sarcastic
sort of way, they’re heroic but not so heroic
that they come off as self-righteous, they’re
attractive but forgettably so...they’re
Nathan Drake but usually with even less flair.
These kinds of heroes have a decent enough
personality to set the base for a likable
character, but there isn’t really enough
there to push them to the next level.
Fortunately, a character’s personality is
not the only thing that makes them likable,
and given the interactivity of games, developers
have some unique tools to build that connect—the
most effective of which arguably being how
it feels to control the character.
Given that this is how players engage most
with the protagonist, it plays an important
role in shaping how they view them.
If the player is constantly wrestling with
controls or getting frustrated at the character’s
movement speed or having inputs not work consistently,
they’ll become justifiably annoyed, and
part of that frustration will most likely
be directed at the playable character.
However, if a their movements are fluid and
precise, this will build a positive connection
A character who players are excited to play
as is one who they’ll end up liking more.
Consider, Spider-Man from Spider-Man.
Web-slinging around New York City is exciting
and fast-paced.
Moving from combat to traversal feels seamless,
and I found myself so impressed with how good
it feels to be Spider-Man, that even after
beating, I boot up once every few weeks just
to swing around.
I enjoyed how it felt to be Spider-Man, and
I liked him more as a character because of
it.
On the other hand, a character like Sonic
has a long history of feeling terrible to
control.
So I hate him.
In a similar vein, a character’s animation
also affects how players feel about them.
A lot can be understood about a character
from the way they move around an environment
and interact with their surroundings, and
when done right, it can make them far more
endearing.
Whether it be the way Nathan Drake absently
puts his hands on walls when walking close
to them or how Luigi creeps down corridors
with a shiver in his step in Luigi’s Mansion
or the various expressions shown on Link’s
face in Wind Waker, these little touches add
a surprising amount of depth to these characters.
It is a way to inject personality into them
while not pulling the player out of the experience.
Where hearing the same voice lines over and
over again can become grating, small visual
touches never really do, especially if they
don’t interrupt the action.
Honestly, just being able to see a character
has a major influence on how likable they
are.
The limited perspective of first person titles
doesn’t offer as many opportunities to show
off the protagonist's personality.
Players may get some dialogue from the hero
either filled with thoughts of what is going
on or quippy one-liners, but a lot about a
character is lost when the only input from
them is their voice.
Personally, I find when first-person games
have cutscenes that show the protagonist,
I end up liking them a fair bit more.
Even though it is still limited, it helps
give a sense of what they are like based on
how they look and physically interact with
the world around them.
One of the more effective examples of this
is BJ Blazkowicz from the Wolfenstein series.
Based on his character design alone, he comes
off as a monster of a man who could crush
you with his bicep, but through cutscenes
and his inner-monologues, it is clear that
he is a tender and thoughtful individual.
There is something endearing about the combination
of these seemingly contradictory traits, and
that would be lost if players never had the
chance to see him in third person.
While all of these touches can highlight likable
traits about a protagonist, there are some
approaches that aim to build a deeper link
between the player and hero, and they typically
center around how the playable character is
framed within the story.
Consider Firewatch.
The opening section of the game presents the
player with a series of choices that chronicles
the relationship between the protagonist,
Henry and his wife, Julia.
Through this section players see him fall
in love, plan for a future, and then lose
it all as Julia develops early-onset Alzheimers.
Players feel connected to Henry not only because
they made choices for him, but also because
they witnessed the best and worst moments
of his life, and regardless of who he is,
experiencing that with him is endearing.
Firewatch uses empathy to get players to relate
to and like Henry, and as it turns out this
is one of the most effective ways to build
a connection.
When done right, it doesn’t even really
matter whether or not the hero has a likable
personality; it just matters that players
see them from a certain perspective.
Take Joel from The Last of Us.
While he has a bit of that good ole southern
charm and does act as a protector for other
characters players care about, it is hard
for me to call him likable.
He’s cold and distant, and he also brutally
kills a lot of people, many of whom don’t
deserve it.
However, I found myself endeared to him throughout
the majority of the playthrough.
And that’s because within the first 20 minutes
of the game, I witnessed the worst moment
of Joel’s life.
I liked Joel because I thought I knew Joel;
I experienced his loss alongside him, and
felt like close to him because of it.
This led to me excusing a lot of his actions
in the name of his trauma, so much so that
it wasn’t until near the end that I realized,
“oh yeah...this is very not good.”
The game is set up in a way where players
will have a lot of patience for Joel.
They’ve seen what he’s gone through, they’ve
seen how he has changed because of it, and
throughout the game, they see that there is
hope of him becoming a better man.
Which, yeah, doesn’t happen, but all of
this did get me to like him up until the point
where it became clear that he couldn’t be
redeemed.
Of course, the effectiveness of this approach
really depends on how well it is presented.
The God of War series has been trying to get
players to empathize with Kratos since the
first game, but given the depth of his depravity
along with him be pretty terrible even before
anything happened to his family, the series’s
early attempts always kind of missed the mark.
With that said, this did set a good foundation
for God Of War 2018, which starts off with
him losing his wife; only this time, instead
of seeking a way to unleash his anger like,
he sets out with his son to fulfill her final
request.
For players new to the series, he’s endearing
because his grief is relatable, and for players
who are already familiar with the character,
this shift in the way he responds to loss
shows his capacity for change, helping to
reset the effects of his indiscretions in
the past.
While it can certainly run the risk of aggravating
a portion of the audience, redemption is another
solid way to get players to like a protagonist.
It makes it so that the hero can be a little
more rough around the edges, but also give
people a reason to root for them.
For example, Lee Everett from The Walking
Dead and John Marston from Red Dead Redemption
are both characters who have done terrible
things in their past and the player is introduced
to them at a time where they are forced to
confront those things.
While both games allow players to decide how
these characters find redemption, by leaving
room for them to become better people, it
gives players the chance to grow a connection
with them and be endeared by their change.
Most of what I have talked about so far are
ways that games aim to make protagonists likable
to a wide audience, but I think it's worth
mentioning that some of the most likable heroes
are the ones who aren’t meant to appeal
to everyone.
People connect to characters who they relate
to, and while there are plenty of ways to
present a character so that they appeal to
more people, there is something to be said
for a protagonist who only appeals to some.
Characters like Max from Life is Strange whose
indecisiveness manifests as a game mechanic,
or Mae from Night In The Woods whose lack
of drive continually gets in her way, can
be irritating to people who don’t relate
to those pressures, but as someone who very
distinctly does, both of them are extremely
endearing to me.
Specificity has the potential to create the
strongest bond between a player and protagonist,
and while I understand why a lot of games
opt to have heroes who are for everyone, those
kinds of characters won’t have the same
kind of profound relatability because they’re
too general.
Ultimately, what matters most about a hero
isn’t if they’re likable or not; what
matters is if they improve the experience
of the game.
Some titles are written in a way that benefits
from having a nondescript hero while others
would make no sense without a predefined protagonist.
While I personally prefer when games create
playable characters with distinct traits that
won’t be relatable to everyone, I imagine
I will mostly have to stick to indie games
for that.
With that said, I respect why a lot of developers
aim to make heroes that will appeal to the
largest amount of people.
At the end of the day, they are trying to
make money, so they want their games to be
easy to get into for as many folks as possible.
Given that the protagonist is how players
interact with a game, that sometimes means
having a hero that appeals to the lowest common
denominator, I just wish that so many of them
weren’t so boring.
