Character Attachment title progress and additional work with research
Character Attachment title progress and additional work with research
Over the past 2 weeks, I have knuckled down on rebuilding my title from the ground up, beginning to deliver and implement the ideas I developed through speaking to my peers, on the advantages of different systems and mechanics that are proven to have an effect on character attachment. Additionally, by rebuilding, I have been able to clean up the project and plan for the future. An example of this comes from updating the weapons system, offering me greater freedom to increase the weapon pool of my game, offering unique looting abilities and a wider variety of enemies.
I have posted an update to my youtube channel, which you can find here:
In this video, I showcase the creation of your character squad. This involves customising the characters apppearance and name, either randomly or through player choice, as well as the generation of the characters traits and corressponding biography. For example, the player may regenerate the characters stats and recieve 8/10 physical for the character. In line with this high stat, the character will be given a biography showcasing their previous experience in a physical sense. For characters whose highest stat is 5/10 or higher, they will recieve a high end backstory, such as a promotion in the army or the development of a massively succesful surgeon. Additonally, these traits will impact the players key stats, making it important to consider balance in the game.
The next steps are finally clear. I will continue to add to/improve the character creation system and then begin implementing the larger idea and story. This will include replicating my previous AI, adding a world map UI where the player can select missions, and a couple of simple levels designed to showcase the different types of mission that will be available. Ido not plan on beginning from scratch again, so this game will be continuously developed and improved to the end, into what will hopefully be an enjoyable and interesting experience with characters that are relatable, attachable and ultimately memorable. On top of this, I hope to add to the Genre of Roleplaying/Tactical games, by implementing unique perspectives on both genres.
On top of this continued development, I have also continued my research into the theories surrounding the mechanics I am planning on using.
Character Attachment is said to be a continuation of the para-social interaction between audiences and fictional characters (Bowman et al., 2016). This suggests that audiences tend to relate to characters they are unable to meet, often feeling an emotional bond with the characters through the depiction of their story. These relationships take many forms and are of great importance to the creation of memorable, relatable and ultimately enjoyable characters. In this review, I will look at various methods of encouraging player/character relationships, which are deployed in the Games Design industry for the purpose of creating characters which players will care for and want to continue having experiences with. From this selection of mechanics, I will review how they could be considered influential to a relationship developing, using artistic and psychological reasoning to reason what makes these mechanics have the resulting effect. The aim of this will be to evaluate the industry’s current methods of character development, in order to explore potentially unique and unused techniques, as well as new combinations of current methods, for nourishing the development of character attachment.
An important direction to discuss initially would be the development of a relationship over a prolonged period. In a study by Lee (2001) on the ‘Mere Exposure Effect’ (‘MEE’) some interesting points of view, on how a person’s likelihood to perceive a character positively is directly affected with their familiarity with said character, are offered. One interpretation of ‘MEE’ suggests that repeated exposures to a stimulus (in the case of this study, a list of names of famous and non-famous people) nourish the development of a liking for said stimulus. This would suggest that having multiple exposures to a stimulus is likely to influence a player’s attachment to them. Another interpretation of ‘MEE’ disputes this, suggesting that the knowledge of a past exposure to a stimulus will give audiences the ability to recognise that their judgement of the stimulus is affected by a previous experience, cancelling out any further impact these preceding experiences have (Bornstein and D'Agostino, 1994). This would suggest that the period in which players have with a character is unimportant to an attachment developing. However, in media applications, the stimulus is much more complex and potentially relatable than a mere name, so the likelihood of a relationship developing is much higher (Banks and Bowman, 2014). Moreover, the repetition involved in aspects of Games Design, for example the abilities, social interactions and overall context of the gameplay are likely contributors to the growth of a relationship (Gannon, 2018). Examples of this are widely available in mainstream media, with franchises such as the Metal Gear Solid games and the Marvel Cinematic Universe film series becoming emphatic examples of how the continued presence and development of a character or set of characters helps produce positive character attachment results. In Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it was discovered that previously depicted characters, such as Han Solo and Chewbacca were more likely to be perceived positively, due to the presence of a pre-existing relationship between the audience and the characters, compared to newly introduced characters such as Rey and Finn (Hall, 2019). This would suggest that characters need time to be developed, in order to create a continuous and effective bond between characters and players. This method of developing a character attachment is exceptionally effective in conjunction with others, and the research of the ‘MEE’ (Lee, 2001) is a good indication of how repeated interactions can be an effective creator of a positive response to a stimulus. Having said this, the ‘MEE’ doesn’t take into consideration the implications of control and relatability of the stimulus. Therefore, it was key to find information pertaining to the development of a relationship over time, in consideration of the complexity a fictional character can have, in order to decide whether time would be important to the development of a relationship. This was achieved with the findings by Gannon (2018) and Hall (2019) who offered examples of the developments that must be made over time, in order to nourish this development. From this, it can be suggested that time alone is not enough to become attached to a character and as suggested by Lee (2001), would only contribute to a positive reaction of recognition and not attachment.
An additional method of nourishing character attachment is the presence of customisation opportunities, which allow the player to have an increased sense of control and therefore a higher sense of relatability (Kim et al., 2015). In a study by Kafai (2010), it is suggested that the act of personalising a character or item in a video game allows the player the ability to make themselves unique and standout. This allows players to create their own story and nourishes character attachment by allowing them a sense of control over who their character is and what they could potentially become. The implementation of customisation options in video games is well practised, as it has been suggested that this method positively impacts the players identification, leading to increased enjoyment and relatability with their characters (Turkay and Kinzer, 2014). Games series such as the Elder Scrolls and Fallout are good examples of this, as the ability to personalise a character in these titles leads to an enrichment of the games plot and story, giving the players the tools necessary to fill gaps in creative and intuitive ways. This is believed to increase a player’s motivation in the virtual space, leading to more positive results when considering their relationship with the character they are controlling (Turkay and Adinolf, 2015). By implementing customisation opportunities, it would be possible to cultivate a player’s attachment to a character, with their input and control of the characters appearance and behaviour making said character more relatable and more important to the player. Interestingly, it has been observed that character appearances fall victim to the influence of social expectations, perhaps suggesting a deeper and more complete connection between player and character. In a study by Diedrichs and Lee (2010), it was documented that female players were likely to create characters with athletic bodies, whereas male players often chose muscular characters as their virtual depiction. This suggests a link between attachability and the players desirable traits. By offering the ability to customise characters, the player could be considered more likely to have a connection to that character, due to the ability to impart desirable traits upon them. Customisation is a method of creating attachable characters that doesn’t need to be dependent on the timescale of the game. Its presence leads to an increase in relatability (Kim et al., 2015). Having said this, increased opportunities for customisation can always be implemented as the game progresses, leading to the creation of a dynamic story arc which the player can physically contribute to. Additionally, it is important to have a good understanding of the target audience, as the study by Diedrichs and Lee (2010) can help us to understand different players’ capabilities, expectations and behaviours in terms of character development and customisation.
Another key method of creating relatable and attachable characters is of course their story. In the book Screen Stories: Emotion and the Ethics of Engagement (Plantinga, 2018), it is noted that the actions of characters in a screenplay can be considered influential to a viewers allegiance to a character, based on the morality of the actions in comparison to the viewers own moral code. This would suggest that desirable and relatable personalities are more likely to garner a positive reaction to a character. This is echoed in a study by Coulson et al. (2012), in which it is stated that emotional attachments to characters stem from a blend of comparisons between a player and characters personality and motivations, as well as the characters physical attractiveness, friendliness and overall usefulness in the context of the game. This is important to consider, as characters whose stories are relatable are more likely to become a stimulus for emotional attachment forming. This is further corresponded in the study about Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Hall, 2019), which shows evidence of previously developed character stories becoming much more attachable for audiences. This can be seen in the games industry, for characters such as Master Chief in the Halo franchise, whose story has been developed over an entire series of games, giving the player time to experience events alongside the character and therefore have a better understanding of their journey and greater capability to become attached to them. These attachments even lead to players changing their style and morality of play with different characters, for example becoming more positive whilst playing as heroic Superman and more negative, whilst using the villainous Joker (Happ, Melzer and Steffgen, 2013). The methods involved in storytelling also play a role in creating these emotional bonds between players and characters. For example, the interactions between characters often gives us the opportunity to compare those characters personalities to our own. This leads to further appreciation for the character, a key factor in character attachment occurring (Bowman et al., 2016). The sources I have found on the method of story-based attachment offer additional evidence of story’s importance to an emotional bond developing. In particular, the study by Hall (2019) offers essential information about the effects previous development with a character can have on an audience’s attachment to said character. However, as this research is in the context of film, it is less applicable in the context of games design. Furthermore, the work of Happ, Melzer and Steffgen (2013), despite giving a valuable psychological standpoint on the influence of a character’s morality on the players actions in game, doesn’t mention the influence this has on character attachment.
A further direction taken in nourishing a relationship between player and character is the mechanic of tangible progression, either through immediate upgrades or levelling the character up. This often coincides with the story elements of gameplay and offers players yet more control over the direction and characteristics of their character. This creates a sense of ‘caring’ for the character and can often lead to the player seeing themselves in control (Banks and Bowman, 2018). Similarly, to the story and customisation mechanics previously discussed, meaningful progression in characters can often lead to us feeling responsible for the character we are controlling. This is often a contributor to the players attachment to the character, as we have acted upon our desires for the characters direction and abilities, leading to a sense of responsibility (Lewis, Weber and Bowman, 2008).
Bibliography
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