Comment

Comment by C.H. Gorog on April 23, 2011 at 3:49pm

@The Tourist - No I merely listed a few examples of some games that are either exceptions to the rule. Third-person silent protagonists like Link (Mario isn't silent, just a man of few words) are easily characterized by his expressions. More examples of silent protagonists that don't interact personally with others when they really should in the context of the story include Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Chrono Trigger, Timeshift, and Dragon Quest 8, and those are just what I can think of off the top of my head. These games all heavily rely on characters, yet your avatar is the dark cloud looming over the sunny park of character interaction. This out of place game design would be like putting a protagonist in collecting trash in the Halo universe while everyone else and their mother is firing off guns in a war. In Modern Warfare and Timeshift, you're just being talked at in terms of what to which wouldn't be a problem if you weren't also a part of the cast of characters, but the silence aspect of it just ruins any chance you might get to be included in the story.

 

@Guffaw - I refer to silent protagonists in terms of first-person shooters where the only hint at interaction are what the other characters describe. 3rd-person 'silent protagonists' like the Wanderer from Shadow of the Colossus commits to actions that imply his character.

Comment by lexloco on April 21, 2011 at 4:07pm

Looking back over this I think the "pro-silence" side has made some good points, but it also seems like there's some ambiguity about what people mean by silent protagonist.  

 

When I think of a silent protagonist, I'm thinking about a guy who is the main character of a story, is interacting with other characters as part of that story, and the character never makes a sound forcing the characters he's interacting with to essentially act around that character.  This is very much the case in Half-Life, to the point where they make jokes about it.  And while I wouldn't go so far as to say this is destroying the narrative form of games, (I think games like Heavy Rain and Mass Effect demonstrate that the other side of the coin is still going very strong), I would say that none of these silent protagonists are real characters.  They're strictly player avatars, and because of that there are some things they do well and some things they don't do well.

 

In a game with very little character interaction, this avatar system can work very well.  A game that focuses on exploration of the world over character interaction such as Portal doesn't need a talking character.  And, because there's no effort on the game's part to dictate how you should react to certain situations based on your character, it has the effect of allowing the player to feel more like he/she's in the game.  

 

The issue is, while these silent avatars are very good at moving you from place to place and taking in the sights / sounds of the world, they are completely lacking at providing an emotional connection to the inhabitants of that world.  That's why I still say, though, that this completely falls apart when it comes to character interaction.  The moment your silent character is approached by someone who smiles at you and strikes up a conversation, only for you to stand there dumb, the whole illusion is broken.  You no longer have the option of acting anyway you want: usually in these cases there is very clearly a correct response based on what's said--the game just leaves that response out.  These silent protagonists cannot emote for you in the game world so once you feel the need to do that, the avatar is no longer sufficient.  Personally, it drags me out of the story just as much as exploring without being associated with a character puts me in it.  

 

Games like Dragon Age 1 and Fallout 3 are good examples of games where you ARE able to emote with the world and its characters beyond exploration.  But they're also not really silent.  Your character might not be voice acted but he talks and interacts with characters.  

 

Games like Mario / Zelda / etc are in a league of their own because they predate voice acting and for the large part still don't have it.  They like along the spectrum somewhere between silent protagonist and full-voiced character.  For the large part these characters' world is dialog-silent making a silent protagonist much less noticeable/jarring.  Also, these are expressive characters in other ways; they do emote and react and have a stronger grounding in character because of it.    

Comment by The Tourist on April 21, 2011 at 12:52pm

@Gorog -  From where I'm standing, it seems you've listed more silent protagonist games where the silence works than you have games that are hindered by the silence.  The lists I have so far from you are:

THE EXAMPLES YOU DON'T LIKE: 

Dead Space 1

Half Life 2

 

EXAMPLES YOU LIKE:

Portal

Portal 2

Mario

Zelda

BioShock

Shadow of the Colossus

 

Maybe I missed some, but these are the only ones I can tell that you personally mentioned as I skimmed down your blog and your comments.  My quesiton to you is, how are silent protagonists RUINING game narratives when most of the ones you talked about you admit to working in the context of the games?  Please give us more examples that bolster the point you're trying to make so the lot of us can get what you're trying to say..

Comment by C.H. Gorog on April 21, 2011 at 12:18pm

Also, I just included Link in the post because he's a silent protagonist. I'm not implying that he's a bad character simply because he doesn't talk or anything. I just needed a character being silent for the last image, and Link fit the bill.

Comment by C.H. Gorog on April 21, 2011 at 12:14pm

@Muffin-of-doom - I feel that the reliance on silent protagonists without any actual character interaction is holding back storytelling in video games for the sake of making doling out objectives to the player slightly easier.

 

Well, EXCUSE me, Princess :P

 

@The Tourist - Half-life 2 was my first venture into the Half-life universe. I wanted to actually see where the comroderie and brotherhood between the characters came from instead of someone just telling me that Gordon and Eli were co-workers. Your character's voice in the game is stripped away and you're left almost completely powerless in terms of interacting with other characters besides at the point of a pistol. Silent characters work when they're not expected to be an emotional anchor since their an empty void (Portal, BioShock).

 

I'm not talking about following the rules of movies. I'm talking about following the rules of writing stories and characters, and that's universal. You don't need to make every First-person protagonist talk after every event (Chronicles of Riddick, Prey, Halo), but at least give them some creative input or influence in the story.

 

Red Dead Redemption is a great game and an extremely fun one to play. Even stuff that would be considered mundane like skinning animals was engaging to do within that world. It's not exactly an easy game to pick up and play after a lull in not playing it, but it's still an incredibly enjoyable experience with great gameplay and a terrific story.

 

@Fernando Luis - Not always. Some developers like to use talking protagonists to tell a specific story with a developed character. Even something like Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge utilizes a talking protagonist to get the point across that he's a fearless adventurer. A silent protagonist in that sense would have that element be absent.

 

@Chicago Typewriter - You can pretend to react to something in game, but no matter what you say to yourself when you're playing Half-life 2, you still have no actual input in the story - characters certainly won't react to how many times you're jumping around in game or shooting the wall for no satisfactorily explained reason.

 

This is the #1 rule of writing stories (no matter the medium) - show, don't tell. When you have characters just say that you love this other character or another character isn't supposed to be trusted, that's FAR less effective than actually showing interactions between the characters. Isaac and Nicole's relationship in Dead Space 1 was weak and deserved so much more development.

 

While the morality system is not actually tied to the main story, the fact that you're shaping Marston's morality in the video game shows that you're crafting him a way that respects the character. By doing that, you, as a player, are invested in his character and his story.

 

@Chris Bartel - Crysis 2 is just not an impressive game in all respects (besides graphics, but if it's not bolstered with a good presentation then what's the point?).

 

@Patrick - Tetris vs. Red Dead? That would be like comparing apples to hubcaps. Their incredibly different entities. The Assassin's Creed series has great gameplay with an interesting story (although the first game had a much more ambiguous code of morality, but it suffered from repetitive gameplay). There's nothing wrong with games that are just games (the aforementioned Tetris), but games can also strive for great narratives to make the audience more intellectually and emotionally invested in the game.

 

@David - I'm not militant. Just concerned that developers will go the lazy route, not have the protagonist talk, and just shovel objectives in front of the player and call that "character development".

 

@CHEEZY SPAM - There were a myriad of other problems outside of voice acting in Other M.

 

@Don - No, more like "the sky is filling up with a archaic crap gameplay design and no one seems to comment on it. I feel that both the Assassin's Creed and Mass Effect franchises stand up to both gameplay and story scrutiny. I'm not a fan of Nathan Drake's characterizations either, but Naughty Dog at least made him a little bit better in Uncharted 2.

 

@Gift of the Maji - No, because like every other medium, story is an artistic and unquantifiable aspect of narrative.

 

@CHEEZYSPAM - Characters like Mario and Link are expressed through their facial reactions or body movements. Mario being an energetic happy plumber and Link being a stalwart knight of truth, justice, and the American way.

 

@John Henry Eden - Are you sure he didn't just tell you through interpretive movements of how he lowered and raised his crowbar?

 

@Superbadmike - They also give you the ability to interact with the world through dialogue and the like. You make decisions so not having a voice doesn't remove you from how you influence the world around you.

 

@Ricky L. - Shadow of the Colossus works because you're basically left alone in an abandoned world with only God and the monsters around it to keep you company. No voice acting required.

 

@Gas Man - Portal and Portal 2 work because of their focus on you being talked AT and surviving a hostile world as opposed to Half-Life 2 where you're expected to be a character and it never really follows through.

@Qbanknight - As much I dislike the sequel, Soap in Modern Warfare 2 was actually a character, and I enjoyed the aspect of switching back and forth between him in combat and not talking to assisting him in a firefight to get a holistic sense of the characters at large. Halo's cutscenes work well because their the parts of the narrative that are set on narrative focus. The story isn't ONLY given in cutscenes, but for certain moments that require bits of the plot that would be harder to give in combat, cutscenes are necessary and often times beneficial to the plot at large.

 

@Mr. Bubbles - Link is also an actual character because like Jak from...uh...Jak and Daxter, it's his expressions, facial movements, and body language that tell his character which is easier to do in a 3rd-person game as opposed to a first-person game.

Comment by Mr. Bubbles on April 21, 2011 at 11:56am

I think it really depends on the game. If the story does not require the protagonist to talk, then I have absolutely no issue with a silent character. Gordon Freeman didn't need to talk for the HL games to work. Giving Jack a voice (other than that short 1-2 sentences from the beginning of the game) wouldn't have improved Bioshock IMO. I've never really been a fan of the whole "everyone has to talk because its 20XX" idea. Unless you have something legitimately interesting for your character to say, I'd rather he keep his mouth shut.

 

@QbanKnight

At this point, I think giving Link a voice after being mostly silent for so long wouldn't work. It would be the video game equivalent of that godawful Tom and Jerry movie from the '90s. Each fan tends to have their own idea of Link's personality, and the bitching would never stop if the "official" voice is nothing like what they imagined (especially if its anything like the previous attempts at giving him a voice...).

 

Besides, after seeing what Nintendo did to Samus (Team Ninja wasn't responsible for that), do you really trust them with Link? I don't want to see him turn into a whimpering bitch when Ganon shows up.

Comment by masterofthematrix91 on April 21, 2011 at 9:31am

When i play Half Life 2 or any other game with a silent guy, i talk for the player so that I feel like they are really talking to me.

Comment by Eiji Hino on April 21, 2011 at 5:18am

The only reason link doesn't have a voice is because it's a roleplaying adventure game. Your supposed to be link, and since the game can't talk for you, he remains silent.

 

 

Comment by Ha-Ra on April 20, 2011 at 11:37pm

I don't think silent protagonists are lazy storytelling, so long as the world and characters around them are alive. Games like Half-Life and BioShock succeed because those worlds were not only so fascinating to live in, but you felt a connection with the characters that surrounded you. In Half-Life you sympathized and related to Alyx, Eli, and Barney's fight against the Combine. In BioShock, you were torn between the instructions of Dr. Tenebaum and Atlas as you navigated your way through Rapture. As recently as Portal 2, it worked while navigating through the Aperture Science facility and hearing GlaDos, Wheatley, and Cave Johnson on the loud speakers. Even in CoD4: Modern Warfare, you were placed along well-characterized SAS Captain Price and Gaz to not only deliver exposition and give orders, but to make the world feel believable. 

 

In first-person shooters, the silent protagonist is a staple of the genre. While some have experimented with giving the character a voice, it usually falls flat and is delivered only in cutscenes (see Halo 1-3). Other times they give the character a voice but it feels jarring as you don't really have a face to put the voice to, this was something I grappled with in CoD: Black Ops. Some designers have cheated their way around this problem by taking you out of first-person and showing a cutscene (which worked in Bulletstorm, but only because the dialogue was B-level satire). The problem I have with that method is that the cutscene takes you out of the game and breaks the immersion level which would be important in games like CoD and Halo.

 

Though I will agree, give Link a damn voice already. There's really no reason Nintendo can't write a relatable character like they do with the ENTIRE supporting cast of the Legend of Zelda

Comment by The Man of Mystery on April 20, 2011 at 10:53pm

If a game has a silent protagonist, it doesnt mean it cant have a good narratice. Take Portal 2 as an example, where the character is literally mute. it still conveys a good (and to a certain degree, complex) story, and it achieves what Half Life 2 failed to achieve, where you ARE the main character. Still, i can see your point, and i agree, if youre going to have a character driven story where the main character has a definitive effect on everyone else, not only does it work much better when the protagonist has a voice, but it sure makes a hell of a lot more sense. however, with games that dont relly so much on the main character in terms of storytelling as much as with the secundary characters, such as the original half life, a mute protagonist adds more to how immerse a game can be, and theres certainly not much in terms of choice in that game.  

Hell, heres another example, Starcraft, you never actually say anything as the general, or the overmind, you just get told what to do by other characters, and yet it has a pretty solid story going for it.

Case in point, I get what youre saying, and i agree, but there are exceptions, and those exceptions work really well, and adds more to what sets video games appart from other mediums of entertainment: interaction. 

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