Lankoski, et al.
Petri Lankoski and Satu Heliš
petri.lankoski@uta.fi, satu.helio@uta.fi
Hypermedia laboratory
University of Tampere
Characters in Computer Games - Interpretation and Design
Abstract
Many computer games involve the use of characters. Careful design of these characters is a powerful way to strengthen the gaming experience. There is plenty of research on characters, their function and design, but this area has been pretty much neglected (except character animation) in computer games. Literature theory argues that characters are constructed in three different ways: 1) The character can tell other characters (and the audience) about him/herself. Alternatively 2) some other character can describe the character of interest. Finally, 3) the actions of the character define and describe the nature of the character.1 It is evident that all of these ways can be used in computer games to describe the characters of the game to the players, as long as the player has no direct control over the character. The protagonist (that is, the character that the player controls) is an exception. Action in a part is what defines a character. What this means in context of computer games is that as the player controls the character, also the actions the player takes in the game define what the character is like. However, actions can be restricted and directed. In this paper we explore how a player's possible actions can and should be restricted and directed to support the consistent nature of the protagonist. In games, these methods are as follows: setting the goals of the game, choosing and implementating possible and impossible actions and building pre-defined functions (e.g. cut-scenes) of the character.
By designing the characters of the game in detail and using the character design as a fundamental part of game design it is possible to create complex and well designed protagonists for the games. Our methodology builds upon Lajos Egri's three-dimensional character and the thought that a character is a sum of his/her physical, psychological and sociological qualities.2 By adjusting these qualities according to the desired goals of the game and by modifying the player's means of reaching these goals, one can support the integrity of the characters throughout the game.
Bios
Petri Lankoski has worked as a research fellow at the Hypermedia Laboratory at the University of Tampere since 1999. He holds a Master of Arts degree in new media. His master thesis explored the issue of game design for interactive television. His research interests include game design from the point of view of experience design, multiplayer games and new gameforms (e.g. pervasive games 1 Rimmon-Kenan. 2 See Egri. The Art of Dramatic Writing - Its Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives. 1960, pp. 32-48.
and mobile games). He is especially interested in games that will take player out from behind the computer monitor.
Satu Heliš's background is in literature and media studies. She has also been an active member of several gaming communities and has been involved in many gaming projects as a game writer and organizer. Her research interests include game studies, game design and popular culture. She is interested in experience design, multiplayer games, simulations and the theory of role-playing games. She has done research in the field of community and communication in games, role-playing game theory, narrativity in games and gaming consepts for digital television. At the moment she is conducting research on children's gaming cultures. The focus of the research is on the significance of digital games in the lives of young people, as well as the gaming experiences and game related practices. This paper continues our work started in "Approaches to Computer Game Design: Characters and Conflict" in MŠyrŠ (ed.) CDGC Conference Proceedings. 2002.
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