Character Attachment Methods Research

Character Attachment Methods Research

As well as looking for gamers perspectives on character attachment and their experience with it, I have also begun to use these examples for research about the specifics of certain titles ways at creating attachable characters. In this post, I will showcase my learning and understandings of each of these methods, offering a point of view on the parralels I plan on working into my title too.

Call of Duty burst back into form late last year, with the release of their latest title Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. The title was a hit with Call of Duty players of the past, marking a return to more effective mechanics seen in previous games, as well as using settings and characters from previous Modern Warfares (some of their most succesful and beloved games) to reboot their franchise. The games campaign gave the player the opportunity to play as several characters throughout the plot, the most interesting and critically accalimed character being Farah, a rebel fighter from a fictional country. Her story focuses on her transition from a very young girl, to a fully fledged rebel leader, in part experiencing the horrors of a hostile Russian invasion and the war caused by it. Spending time in captivity and tortured, the character excapes and becomes a Rebel In situations that are sometimes excessivly bleak, the young character offers a perspecive on the current issue of what makes a competant and acceptable combatant in countries with ongoing conflict. By allowing the player to experience all of this emotional trauma with the character, they nourish the possibility of an attachment between the player and Farah herself. Excellent writing and narrative allow this relationship to flourish and each twist of the plot brings yet another experience shared. My game can use a similar concept to this method of character attachment, in order to nourish the relation between experiences and the character itself. In my previous post, I spoke about how the characters in my title could have Biographys and dynamically changing relationships. By doing this, the character develops in front of the player eyes, in its own way, making it much more unique and understandable. Whilst the player may have chosen the characters appearance and name, they cannot completely control each characters personal life. This could potentially be used to explore the theme of engineering, as the player has almost complete control over a characters personality and the character will begin to live in this role that is created for them. Players who make their characters as strong as possible are likely to have teams who have clashing personalities and a lack of intellectual backup. Whereas players who devote their teams to Charisma and Intelligence will indeed have more advanced tactics and opportunities available to them, but may struggle in combat due the the lack of strength in their team. These experiences will nourish this development of a relationship, as the player sees their changes and choices affecting each character, possibly leading to players trying to do the right thing for their character. 

The XCOM games are a series of Real Time Strategy, Turn-Based combat games. Each gives the player the challenge of quelling a hostile alien invasion, using squads of possibly Bio-Engineered Soldiers. Its combat offers mechanics such as Perma-Death, making characters lives much more precious and unique, whilst also offering intense character customisation, personalising armour and weapon loadouts in order to equip characters for every challenge presented to them. The use of a nickname system is also accalimed throughout the fanbase, as it allows players to name their characters, offering the opportunity to make squads which are made up of characters who the player automatically relates to. Friends and Family can be transalted into these characters, making them much more relatable and important to the player. The use of Perma-Death in this situation makes the challenge of keeping these characters alive much more intense, as player mistake could lead to the death of a character who could have been an extension of a close and personal real life relationship. My game can use some of these mechanics, in order to make characters more relatable and important. For example, using perma death in my game could lead to the player instantly wanting to keep their characters alive a lot longer. Equally, a Hostage mechanic could fashion a sense of dread about a characters fate, making the player actively try and rescue their character from peril. This, in conjunction with developing relationships would give the player a completely unexpected and yet very important sense of accomplishment and character growth, as their characters come to their friends aid. By incetivising this bonding with a bonus to these characters, I could allow the player the opportunity to gain valuable experiences with their characters.