There’s nothing wrong with a silent protagonist, and there’s nothing wrong with projecting your own character into the protagonist you’re playing as.
I just don’t like doing it.
Introduction
I’m more of a writer by nature. Clearly… Who else would go through the trouble of having a Linux server running out of their house to host 6 different blogs on it…
So when it comes to storytelling, I want more bang for my buck. And for many games I’ve seen, the silent protagonist is one that people seem to like.
Historically, it was easier to make a video game that had a silent protagonist. These games had no story really, and it was more about the gameplay than the plot. Then the idea really started taking off as games got more and more complex.
Now silent protagonists are all over the place, and people like them because “you get to project your own personality into them.”
That statement frustrates me for two reasons.
- It’s lazy. A huge team of writers made memorable and interesting characters surrounding the protagonist, but they couldn’t make the main protagonist interesting or memorable? I call bullshit.
- You can’t project your own personality into the game because the game doesn’t support it.
I’ll elaborate.
It’s Lazy
Let’s start with number 1. This whole notion of making the audience project their own personality into the character is lazy to me. You’ve created an entire world, and people who live in it. All these people have lives… hopes, dreams, desires. And you as the main character interact with them, enter their lives, and change it (hopefully for the better). But why? Who are you? What’s your motivation? What are your hopes, dreams, and desires? How does interacting with these people affect you in any way?
When there’s no real motivation other than “I wanted to see what would happen”, the story is stale.
Look at the Final Fantasy series of games… These characters already had lives in the world you play in. They’re adventuring in their own world, and it’s comfortable (kinda) to them. And you see their reactions to things that disrupt that comfort. In Final Fantasy IV, Cecil is removed as leader of the Red Wings, and must go through a personal journey to absolve himself of his crimes, and his nature as a Dark Knight in order to embrace his true destiny as a Paladin, a bearer of light. If he were just a silent protagonist, he wouldn’t have a backstory. That whole sequence on Mount Ordeals would feel like a side quest to unlock a new class.
How the characters react to a situation makes it more interesting. In Skyrim, there’s no reaction from the Dragonborn when he first sees a dragon. Is he scared? Perhaps worried about his family? Does he have a family? Maybe he’s not scared because he’s suicidal and guilt-ridden over crimes he committed… Who knows? None of this is explained, and it’s up to me to fill in the blanks. The problem is that no matter what I fill it in with, it makes no difference. The story still plays out the same, and the Dragonborn ultimately plays the part of “nameless automaton” as far as the story goes. He’s completed his task, but with no personality, nobody has any meaningful interaction with him to speak of. “He saved the world!” And that’s about it. How dull.
But let’s say you were the creative type, and wanted to insert your own story. That’s the whole point, right? To make your own backstory, and project whatever you want? This brings me to point 2: that’s not possible.
It’s Impossible
While you can probably get away with benign details that have no bearing on anything, you can’t create a true personality or anything for your character in these games. Bringing back Skyrim, if you’re a horrible criminal who’s guilt-ridden about all the crimes he commits, making every new crime a blow to his spirit, or every time he does the right thing a moment of triumph, none of the other NPC’s will acknowledge it.
In NPC dialogue, you’re forced to be one of 3 different personality types: Compassionate, Indifferent, Malevolent. That’s it. There’s no gray area. I can’t really project the personality I want because the game’s already picked them out for me, all under the illusion of giving me “free choice”.
But let’s bring the example to something simple: Super Mario Bros.
He’s a silent protagonist that you can project your own personality into. And yet, the game is really only designed for one motivation: get to the end, beat the villain, save the princess. If you choose to play Mario as the type who says “Fuck this, what has the princess ever done for me? I’m through with this!”, the game ends, but there’s no credits roll, and the story isn’t interesting… In other words: they’ve written a game that fits around one and only one narrative: the personality of Mario is that of the man who endures, perseveres, puts himself in mortal peril, and despite making many mistakes (princess in another castle, dying, losing a powerup, missing that extra life mushroom…), he’s still got his eye on the prize.
You don’t get a choice of who Mario is. You don’t have as much freedom as you think you do when being the Dragonborn. What if I instead wished to be the Dragonborn who sits around all day and drinks mead? They don’t have a storyline for that… I instead have to be the Dragonborn who saves the world.
So What Do You Do?
I recently played Doom 4, and noted the protagonist was silent, yet had tons of personality. He felt like the man for the job. He’s headstrong, impatient, and ruthless. Doomguy 2016 is a very aggressive space marine, and it shows throughout many moments in the game. He reminds me of Grayson from Bulletstorm, except without all the references to dicks (or any talking for that matter).
Sometimes when you pick up the little action figure collectibles, the Doomguy will bump fists with it.
Little things like that make the guy you’re playing as far more interesting. You’re always pleasantly surprised at however your protagonist approaches the situation. Sure, you could come up with your own solution, but it’s far more interesting to see what creative solution the protagonist comes up with. That’s the whole point. Hell, let’s say the solution he comes up with is stupid. There are ramifications for that stupid action, right? And you have to play through them, right? The story changes, and throws you for a loop. It’s not so predictable. Next time the protagonist won’t be so hasty for a solution… or maybe he will, knowing that whatever the outcome, he can handle it.
I’m beginning to ramble here… but the point is that when you write your protagonist into the game with a personality of their own already, you make them memorable and interesting, and the story is more interesting not because of what’s happening, but because we’re invested in what the protagonist will do, and why he does it, and how it affect him.
Don’t ask me to project my own personality into the protagonist, especially if you’re going to be all Skyrim about it and pull the rug out from under me as I find out I can’t actually create my own personality. You can’t project your personality into the character, nor should you have to. Writers, make the story interesting instead of making everyone else fill in the blanks for you.