Games Journalism Or Bust!

Some Much Needed Characters

The question of character stereotypes is often brought in gaming podcasts and features. GamesRadar’s recent Top 7 Lazy Character Cliches just go to prove there is only a finite number of character types we are expected to engage with – and personally, I’m growing a little tired of ‘buzz cut space dudes’.

While listening to this week’s episode of Big Red Potion, Episode 23: A Journey Of Character, I found myself questioning what sort of characters are missing from games today and which ones I would like to see in future releases. These is what I came up with, and I reckon developers would definitely be able to stand out from the competition with any of them:

The Inadvertent Hero
Prime example: René Artois (Allo Allo) | Ideal Genre: RPG, FPS, etc

The hapless, adulterous café owner may seem like an odd choice, but bear with me. As he often insists throughout the WWI-based sitcom, all he wants is a quiet life. He didn’t ask to collaborate with the Resistance or the Germans, he didn’t want to be involved with forgery, sabotage and assassination, and he definitely did not want to help British airmen to escape Nazi-occupied France.

And yet, he ends up doing all of that, regularly referred to as ‘the bravest man in France’. He is the ultimate everyman-turned-hero but crucially, unlike the likes of Nathan Drake, he never changes in skill or personality. Mr Drake was touted as an everyman and yet Uncharted sees him gunning down enemy soldiers like an aspiring Rambo. This wouldn’t be the case with Monsieur Artois.

Games need to have more reluctant heroes. How many times does a protagonist accept a highly dangerous mission blindly and with no hesitation? Wouldn’t it be more interesting if you could seek ways out of it, even if those inadvertently saw you completing your mission? Writers in particular could have a great deal of fun with this one.

The Inadvertent Villain
Prime example: Gauis Baltar (Battlestar Galactica) | Ideal Genre: RPG, FPS, etc

If we’re going to have reluctant heroes, surely villains are the natural progression. Evil has yet to be handled well in games, either being dumbed down to a slightly immoral version of heroism or set up as an excuse for players to wreak havoc (and yet not affecting the outcome of the game).

Battlestar’s Gauis Baltar was a very compelling character for me to watch because, as much as he was to blame for humanity’s annihilation, it was clear to see he genuinely hadn’t intended to cause so much pain. Any further ‘villainous’ acts were just to keep himself from getting into even more trouble, which I dismissed as a sign of how human he is. The fact that such acts led to more suffering was not his intention, although it usually his fault.

It would be great to have a game based on redemption. Not the usual video games vein of redemption, which seems to revolve around killing as many people more ‘evil’ than the protagonist, but based on someone trying to do the right thing – but inadvertently making things worse.

BioShock was the first step in this direction, but perhaps greater awareness of the characters acts from the beginning is a route developers can explore.

The Ethusiastic Scholar
Prime example: Henry Jones Sr. (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) | Ideal Genre: Puzzle, Adventure, RPG

“They were trying to kill us!”
“I KNOW, DAD!”
(apologetically) “It’s a new experience for me”

Henry Jones (senior) was in no way prepared for the adventures his neglected son regularly embarked upon, but when he found himself caught up in a Nazi plot to create an invincible army using the fabled cup of Christ, he didn’t hold back. He didn’t flinch or whimper when asked to gun down Nazi fighter planes, he didn’t demand to go home when preparing to take on an armed convoy (with tank) - he even took on one of the aforementioned planes with an umbrella when Indy ran out of bullets.

Gaming always lumbers you with incompetent scientists and scholars that cower the minute bullets start flying, or stand around gormlessly while being gunned down. They are the Natalyas of our world, but why can’t we have someone like Dr Jones? Why not have someone who you can tell is trying his utmost to not let on that he’s having the time of his life? Bumbling, he may be, but he was still useful and you wouldn’t be able to do anything but love having him along for the journey.

Or better yet, why not let us be the scientist/scholar/person of greater knowledge. Why not have a computer-controlled hero holding off the forces of evil while we find that secret passageway, unlock the secrets of that strange totem pole, or shut down a nuclear reactor. Lest we forget, it was only with his father’s diary that Indy was able to overcome the three trails in the Grail temple - why not let us fill a few pages of our own?

The Cunning Coward
Prime example: Edmund Blackadder (Blackadder) | Ideal Genre: Stealth-‘em-up, Strategy

Throughout history, the Blackadders of this world have excelled at avoiding conflict or hardships and yet still reaping the rewards. From sailing to France and back (or trying to) and convincing Queen Lizzie that he explored the Cape Of Good Hope, to skillfully avoiding several practice attacks in the run-up to World War I’s Big Push, this cunning coward has evasion down to an art.

Surely, this makes him perfect for stealth games. Carefully working his way around enemy guards, perhaps subduing them passively with a well-placed booby trap, and then claiming to have taken them all down in hand-to-hand combat. Gamers love nothing more than feeling clever about themselves, particularly in the likes of Batman: Arkham Asylum and the Thief series as they run circles around their enemies without even being discovered.

Moreover his sarcastic wit and refusal to show fear - most notably in the court case from the excellent Corpoal Punishment episode - would make him a refreshing change from all the macho, steroid-taking protagonists we usually have to deal with. Games need more sarcasm.

The Loveable Know-It-All
Prime example: Patrick Jane (The Mentalist) | Ideal Genre: Any

This one is more a choice based on personality than actual skills or situation. The Mentalist’s Patrick Jane never fails to bring a smile to his audience’s collective faces with his ability to stay calm in the face of danger and lack of restraint when showing off his knowledge. As he effortlessly points out crucial and sometimes obvious details that are nearly always right, while his colleagues are wandering around without a clue, there’s never any arrogance in his voice. He’s just a clever and likeable guy.

He’s always an example of brains over brawn. He never fires a gun or pulls of any quick kung fu moves, but he’s able to talk his way out of mexican standoffs with mafia bosses. It’s the sort of character that would work well in an RPG with the dialogue wheels seen in titles such as Mass Effect, Fallout 3 and Alpha Protocol, where a few well chosen words can save you a lot of trouble or even your life, and would definitely fit in well as writers become more important to games.

Too many games characters have ‘attitude’. Or rather the writers have done their best to create ‘attitude’, and it doesn’t work. Forced attitude just comes across as cheesy or cartoonish, particularly when the writers or voice actors are trying to hard. Jane is notable for his complete lack of attitude, and that’s something we should see more of in games protagonists. Calmly and casually dealing with each situation as it arises would obviously downplay any tension in the game, so it might not be suitable for the usual ‘end of the world’ plots, but in most other games, his personality would be a refreshing change from the broody, moody, overly macho cardboard cut-out heroes.