COGA: On Immersion: Silence vs Likable Characters

[Commander]

COGA:

On Immersion:

The Great Debacle of Protagonists

 

Sorry for the clickbait title there, but I didn't want to cram the real title into well the forum posts. I want to address the can of worms in the room beforehand that people have strong opinions on both the generic protagonist and the silent protagonist, but we're not actually here so much to talk about the subjective point of view but on an objective point of view when it comes to the two types. If you spent enough time around me, you will learn that I am not a very big fan of silent protagonists, but whenever a debate happens I have heard the term that silent protags are very immersive. This may come to you as a surprise, but even when I was starting out as a novice writer and learning the ways of the craft, I never actually heard the term before. Well I have, but it was generally used so rarely I never even gave it much thought. I've seen it many times when talking about games though and subconsciously created a definition in my head. One thing I usually ask in my head when I see a new word is "What is..." because sometimes people bend and manipulate a word to their own fit. I make up words, terms, and definitions all the time. There's always ideas in my head and sometimes there's no specific standard to explain them. But that word remained unchallenged or questioned in my head...until now. What is immersion?

 

I'm going to start with my own interpretation of the word before diving into my findings. Immersion to me is when I feel a connection to a character in which I not only understand what the character is going through but may even react the same way they do. When they become broken and hollow at some point, I feel the same. If the become angry, I become as well. Now I want to take your own definition of the term and put it in your pocket for the time being. This is one of the few times I'm going to say it might be better to have the wrong idea about it or be wrong. With this general idea in hand, I began trying to find a base definition for the writing element of immersion. You'd think it'd take me seconds to find what I was looking for, but somehow it took I'd say roughly 20 minutes to find what I was looking for. Funny how the most important aspect of writing couldn't be found within seconds.

 

So the definition I found was "the mental state in which the reader no longer recognizes the writer's presence and creates the story themselves." If that definition made you go "What?", you were in the same boat I was. I really feel like I'm an idiot as I did writing as a hobby for about 4 years straight and I had to watch the equivalence of "Immersion for Dummies" to understand it. The video I watched did it with characters but I'm not mainstream so we're doing it the weird way. Let's take the simple idea of a hotdog on a plate. What do you think about? Some of you might think it sound kind of "Bleh" while others think it sounds delicious. And then there are some of you who like me who thought about a wiener dog standing on a plate. But you can't really say a hotdog is all that interesting. Now let's say it's rested in a bun and covered with some slow cooked chili and some cheddar cheese topped with a line of both ketchup and mustard with a hint of relish. Some of you might be thinking that hot dog is real good right now. What if I said the meat itself was a nice moss green and snot bubbles emerging from it. If you are disgusted from that image that popped in your head, that's immersion.

 

You've probably done it before when reading a book but it's basically when a reader creates a mental image in their head about what's going on and vividly see it. A writer cannot paint everything in an image in words so they do their best to help guide an image similar to their's. This images help convey emotion or investment into a story and often times it's done without really thinking about it similar to blinking. That terminology doesn't really work here simply because of the title. This is a gaming article and a book certainly isn't a game. But the other fact is that you have images displayed in front of you already which the reader doesn't need to use their imagination to create. Supposedly games are immersive so this definition doesn't fit.

 

I did some more digging and found out the supposed most important element to a game: the world. Toby Gard, a video game designer for the Laura Croft series, talked about how players have a set of standards on how a world will look and even a simple mistake such as an 80s car found in a 70s era game would break that idea and the immersion a player would have. The environment is such an important factor as little details such as the music and the graphics can enthrall our mind. Something about going down a long dark corridor with the screeches of a violin would creep me the heck out. Malchous Forest (one that connects to Jasper Ward) is a good example as it's set up to be a mysterious jungle with an ominous presence. You don't feel safe in that forest. I do sadly think the Pokemon element really breaks any immersion just based on how people are approaching it. We're not here to talk about the music, graphics, or even gameplay. We are talking about characters which are a part of the world which you could argue that, but that is not our focus. We are looking for what gamers call immersion and how it links to protagonists.

 

We have all these elements that can create immersion, but we need a definition that can fit for any element or criteria. Immersion is a state of mind, not the feeling itself. We need to know what causes someone to reflect themselves into a character such as silent protagonists. It might not actually be the term immersion but the idea of a concept called spatial presence. It basically is a state in which the consumer has a sensation that media they are experiencing gives off a sensation as if it were real. Or if you are a dummy like me, it means you feel like you are there. Going off of my original definition, I feel like I was closer to this idea over immersion. The two are similar so it is easy to see why one would catch on and gain a broader definition. For that sake of simplicity, we are going to use the concept of spatial presence from now on.

 

So do silent protagonists help convey spatial presence? If it were a simple answer, it would be yes, but then I wouldn't be making an article on it. The reason this concept works as a brilliant enjoyable element and is also one of the most damaging things to a game is because of how complex the human mind is. It's fascinating that creatures who found ways to explore objects found many, many light years away can also think jumping into a pool of lava to warm up is a good idea. People vary in both creativity and tastes. Some people simply accept that a silent protag is a cardboard cutout and simply don't find the entire story any good. As without emotional investment, a plot will feel bland and boring to the point you do not care about it. So as for why and how people invest into a silent protag I'm going to call the sandbox theorem.

 

So what is the sandbox theorem? It's simply the idea that the less gaps and more complex a plot is, the less likely a player will feel emotional attachment. I want you to take a moment to think about Vero, the white male protagonist of Reborn, and tell me everything you know about him. Now tell me everything you know about Red from the RBY Pokemon games. What if I told you that Vero has more personality and characteristics than Red. Vero's sprite design is more expressive given a few clues on what he's like. Red has 0 characteristics. Nothing. He's often portrayed as a badass and there's so many comics and pics about him. He's one of the most loved silent protags even. You could try throwing an infinite number of factors in to try and examine this but Red is a better silent protagonist than Vero. It all has to do with how barebone and generic Gen I's plot is. There's all this big empty space for the plot and the players often can fill it in to whatever they please. If a gym leader is destroying them, they can be an asshole in their eyes. The protag could also be this cool awesome dude or some idiot who charges into doors.

 

I feel the tool of reflecting yourself into a silent protagonist is best in an empty plot. It's just like a sandbox where one without anything in it means you can build anything within your capablities. Imagine trying to build a sand castle in a sandbox full of buckets, balls, that crying kid everyone hates, and a layer of rocks. I've built and designed plots from my nuzlocke experiences since well I ended up giving the Pokemon personalities and had to spend a lot of time. DQ IX I had a lot of humorous moments from my party such as when my priest (healer) was the only one alive against a tough boss. Since he managed to kill him, I always pictured him tripping and knocking the boss off the cliff since he never attacks normally. I also pictured the other three playing a card game every time the protag left them. So don't really feel bad if you think silent protags are awful because honestly, it all grinds down to how your brain functions.

 

We talked about one side of the scale with silent protags but now let's get to everyone's favorite: the boring main likable protagonist. One of the most common trends in RPGs is that the main character is pretty much just some really nice guy which is usually kind of dull and boring. Before writing this, I would say that this is a terrible idea, but what if I told you that it's actually a work of genius when done correctly. Yes, a type of character everyone hates is pure brilliant when examining spatial presence. Why? It's simply because they are a boring character that you don't really care all that much about. That's not exactly true, but rarely are they going to be your favorite character or the one you talk about. In fact, you might not always notice their presence even if they are in every scene. It's hard to explain about something you never realize you don't realize.

 

We have to examine a jarring protagonist first to understand this concept. Luke from Tales of the Abyss is a fantastic example. Most people who start up the game pretty much dislike Luke and it is very distracting. You really want to punch him in the face. This detracts from the concept of spatial presence simply because you are mad and irritated by Luke and realize you are playing a game. Now let's go to Shulk from Xenoblade Chronicles. The Bionis leg story segment has a focus on Reyn, Juju, and Sharla in which Reyn acts like a father figure to Juju and even scolds him after nearly getting killed. Shulk actually has quite a bit of dialogue but the only major thing that someone likely would take away is his vision about Juju and Sharla getting killed. He doesn't get in the way of these moments giving a sense of irritation when he speaks. Being forgettable at certain points isn't a bad thing. It means it's easier to step out of the limelight and very few people will notice. It's very useful for letting other characters shine and be featured. Good party chemistry is pretty important, but that's a talk for another time.

 

Now that I really discussed all aspects, I'll pretty much grind it down: anyone who says a silent protagonist is immersive, or at least more immersive than a talking protagonist, probably has no idea what they're talking about. A talking protagonist is designed more from a visual standpoint and a silent protagonist aimed more towards a mental standpoint. Something really cool about writing is that you don't direct and order characters to do stuff. It's more along the lines of following behind them and telling others what you see. It's often the simplest things that are the most immersive. Remember the first time we rode Epona across Hyrule Field? Or how about the snow tracks from the Magitek Armor? The key to immersion is visual presentation. This is far, far beyond simply how good the graphics look. It all goes back to the world being the key to immersion.

 

This does bring up one last thing I want to talk about: are silent and talking protagonists really that different? At first I want to say yes, but in reality the difference is in the writer's/dev's style and not the protagonist themselves. It simply means that you'll end up liking and disliking protagonists on both sides. I guess I'll end on what makes a protagonist engaging in a game. 3 words: communication and presentation. A character has to communicate with others. If you've ever had to communicate with someone who doesn't speak the same language, it can be difficult but you can get messages across through multiple means (which is why I say true silent protags are hard to write). What a character wears can tell a lot about a character and give off impressions (which helps players create a character out of them), but what they do and how they do it is equally as important. Now that got me thinking about silent protag versions of protagonists. I wonder what the equivalence for Dante from Devil May Cry would be?

[Ruler]

Hoo boy. the whole issue about protagonists and immersion is something I've been thinking about for a long time now. The best way to go about it, etc. And I find myself agreeing a lot with this. Personally, I'm of the opinion that a silent protagonist shines brightest when in a less complex plot, while a protagonist that does talk - and has a relatively pleasant personality - fits in pretty well in more complex stories. And of course, there are always exceptions. I also think immersion also depends on the world as much as the characters. Getting lost or immersed in a world is pretty easy imo if the worldbuilding and lore is well made. 

[AquaMacaw]

I pretty much made an account to reply to this topic because I found so interesting. First of all I do like Silent protagonists a lot more than I like talking ones, especially when there are "boring main likable ones" as you described. This a little hard to describe but i'll try my best I guess the big problem with someone silent is that it is very VERY easy to forget that they are "part of the story" they do things and beat the bad guys while the rest of the cast sits on the sidelines cheering and advancing the plot. Most of the time when a silent protagonist has to say something the screen will go black and it'll say "_____ explained what was happening" which basically means they have a voice they just don't have personality which is terrible, it's the job of the world, the choices the game gives you(seen and unseen) and the other characters to give your character a personality and since it's something you shaped with the game its way more immersive then a pre-set main character. silent protags are great in scenarios of humor especially if you establish early on that their silence is a weird thing, if no character ever brings it up the game and the player will likely forget about it. And in a dramatic story actions speak louder than words, giving the main character a choice to confront the main villain now or going to get reinforcement is more immersive to me than any "I'll defeet u than save da wurld" dialogue that I would never say in real life. Really I just think people don't use silent characters to their fullest potential especially since they are so moldable. 

[when the music stops]

Authors of traditional written narrative have a term for world-focused stories -- mileu. One of the best examples would be Gulliver's Travels, but while Jonathan Swift cared very little for Gulliver, the character still needed to exist to provide a POV for the audience, so that they had a focal point to witness the strange and wondrous lands. Personally I'm of the opinion that you don't even need that if you wish to make a mileu-focused game. Dark Souls is about the world you inhabit rather than the character itself, which is silent.

 

My thoughts are -- what kind of story do you want to tell? That should be your starting point, and then how you immerse your audience branches from there. If you're writing a game driven by characters, making your protagonist silent likely isn't a good idea. Dragon Quest XI really suffers from this, I feel -- you have this vibrant cast of voiced characters, and then your main character is just always standing off to the side, stone-faced. That breaks immersion, because it's such a jarring contrast from the rest of the characters. The silent protagonist from Dark Souls, meanwhile, fits the somber atmosphere of the game.

 

Edit: An exception, I feel, is a game like Undertale. Even though the protagonist is silent, the very gameplay itself offers interaction with the other characters in the game. Therefore it can get away with a silent protagonist despite the heavy emphasis on characters, because the gameplay is literally defined by character interaction.

 

I do agree that simplicity has something to do with it, although I would add an addendum; the complexity of relationships between characters in the game should also play a role in whether they're silent or not, and not just the complexity of the plot or world. The silent protagonist is more noticeable in Sun/Moon because of Lily and her dynamics with Kukui, her mother, Nebby, and the protagonist themself compared to the simpler dynamics found in Red/Blue. 

Edited October 18, 2018 by when the music stops