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Been playing Eternal Darkness this weekend and it lets you control different characters through the game at different points in history. So it started me wondering, does it matter who you, the gamer, are in a game ?
Would Eternal Darkness be worse without it's main heroine Alex ? Would Code Veronia play the same without Clare ? Would Dead Or Alive games still sell without Kasumi and co ? And, what if Mario wasn't a fat italian plumber ?
With the current crop of consoles the graphics that represent these characters are quite realistic, okay they are still obviously just video game characters, but when you think about it most of our favourite film and television actors are nothing more to most people than people on a screen. Is it any different from that, because I don't think it is to an extent.
Maybe using certain kinds of characters in certain styles of game changes how gamers see, and play it ? In Mario's case you need a character that's pretty comical to most people in order for the game to work, because it's a fun and often crazy game. No one wants Mario to be a 6ft American do they ? Instead of "its-a-me Mario", it'd be "I'm Mario, here to strive for truth, justice, freedom and liberty for all Mushroom Kingdom"....and by then we'd be asleep with boredom !
In fighting games, like Virtua Fighter, DOA, Tekken, the majority of characters are male, with a token female selection. Is this to appeal to the more macho gamers, who want to pretend to be ultra hard fighting types, and the female characters serve more as an FHM style distraction ? Maybe. Tomb Raider certainly wouldn't have do so well with a male character because it was Lara that got the gaming presses attention, and the game itself second. Oh well, must've been desperate back then....:)
Given the choice in a game, who do you prefer to play as, male or female, and why do you think that is ? Should a game genre dictate who can be in it, because at the moment it seems to be - Halo is dominated by male characters , as is Red Faction, Medal Of Honour, GTA3 and most of the other top games, except Buffy of course on Xbox.
Does it matter ? Or are you all too busy denouncing the latest newbie :)
~~Belldandy~~
Would Eternal Darkness be worse without it's main heroine Alex ? Would Code Veronia play the same without Clare ? Would Dead Or Alive games still sell without Kasumi and co ? And, what if Mario wasn't a fat italian plumber ?
With the current crop of consoles the graphics that represent these characters are quite realistic, okay they are still obviously just video game characters, but when you think about it most of our favourite film and television actors are nothing more to most people than people on a screen. Is it any different from that, because I don't think it is to an extent.
Maybe using certain kinds of characters in certain styles of game changes how gamers see, and play it ? In Mario's case you need a character that's pretty comical to most people in order for the game to work, because it's a fun and often crazy game. No one wants Mario to be a 6ft American do they ? Instead of "its-a-me Mario", it'd be "I'm Mario, here to strive for truth, justice, freedom and liberty for all Mushroom Kingdom"....and by then we'd be asleep with boredom !
In fighting games, like Virtua Fighter, DOA, Tekken, the majority of characters are male, with a token female selection. Is this to appeal to the more macho gamers, who want to pretend to be ultra hard fighting types, and the female characters serve more as an FHM style distraction ? Maybe. Tomb Raider certainly wouldn't have do so well with a male character because it was Lara that got the gaming presses attention, and the game itself second. Oh well, must've been desperate back then....:)
Given the choice in a game, who do you prefer to play as, male or female, and why do you think that is ? Should a game genre dictate who can be in it, because at the moment it seems to be - Halo is dominated by male characters , as is Red Faction, Medal Of Honour, GTA3 and most of the other top games, except Buffy of course on Xbox.
Does it matter ? Or are you all too busy denouncing the latest newbie :)
~~Belldandy~~
One thing's for sure, MGS 2 wasn't the same with Raiden as the main character.
I think it matters who you are in RPG's and adventure games. In FPS's you dont care becasue you never see yor character except maybe in cut scenes so it doesnt count for anything. Also in sports games you like to play as you "custom character" rather than a run of the mill computer generated one.
It really depends what game you're playing. With platformers, characters are usually a big focal point so Mario without Mario wouldn't be the same, likewise Sonic and Spyro games. However, in stuff like TimeSplitters or GTA3 your character is just there for you to channel your emotions into the game, or whatever, and you could be playing as anyone or anything.
Been playing Eternal Darkness this weekend and it lets you control different characters through the game at different points in history. So it started me wondering, does it matter who you, the gamer, are in a game ?
Would Eternal Darkness be worse without it's main heroine Alex ? Would Code Veronia play the same without Clare ? Would Dead Or Alive games still sell without Kasumi and co ? And, what if Mario wasn't a fat italian plumber ?
With the current crop of consoles the graphics that represent these characters are quite realistic, okay they are still obviously just video game characters, but when you think about it most of our favourite film and television actors are nothing more to most people than people on a screen. Is it any different from that, because I don't think it is to an extent.
Maybe using certain kinds of characters in certain styles of game changes how gamers see, and play it ? In Mario's case you need a character that's pretty comical to most people in order for the game to work, because it's a fun and often crazy game. No one wants Mario to be a 6ft American do they ? Instead of "its-a-me Mario", it'd be "I'm Mario, here to strive for truth, justice, freedom and liberty for all Mushroom Kingdom"....and by then we'd be asleep with boredom !
In fighting games, like Virtua Fighter, DOA, Tekken, the majority of characters are male, with a token female selection. Is this to appeal to the more macho gamers, who want to pretend to be ultra hard fighting types, and the female characters serve more as an FHM style distraction ? Maybe. Tomb Raider certainly wouldn't have do so well with a male character because it was Lara that got the gaming presses attention, and the game itself second. Oh well, must've been desperate back then....:)
Given the choice in a game, who do you prefer to play as, male or female, and why do you think that is ? Should a game genre dictate who can be in it, because at the moment it seems to be - Halo is dominated by male characters , as is Red Faction, Medal Of Honour, GTA3 and most of the other top games, except Buffy of course on Xbox.
Does it matter ? Or are you all too busy denouncing the latest newbie :)
~~Belldandy~~
Would Eternal Darkness be worse without it's main heroine Alex ? Would Code Veronia play the same without Clare ? Would Dead Or Alive games still sell without Kasumi and co ? And, what if Mario wasn't a fat italian plumber ?
With the current crop of consoles the graphics that represent these characters are quite realistic, okay they are still obviously just video game characters, but when you think about it most of our favourite film and television actors are nothing more to most people than people on a screen. Is it any different from that, because I don't think it is to an extent.
Maybe using certain kinds of characters in certain styles of game changes how gamers see, and play it ? In Mario's case you need a character that's pretty comical to most people in order for the game to work, because it's a fun and often crazy game. No one wants Mario to be a 6ft American do they ? Instead of "its-a-me Mario", it'd be "I'm Mario, here to strive for truth, justice, freedom and liberty for all Mushroom Kingdom"....and by then we'd be asleep with boredom !
In fighting games, like Virtua Fighter, DOA, Tekken, the majority of characters are male, with a token female selection. Is this to appeal to the more macho gamers, who want to pretend to be ultra hard fighting types, and the female characters serve more as an FHM style distraction ? Maybe. Tomb Raider certainly wouldn't have do so well with a male character because it was Lara that got the gaming presses attention, and the game itself second. Oh well, must've been desperate back then....:)
Given the choice in a game, who do you prefer to play as, male or female, and why do you think that is ? Should a game genre dictate who can be in it, because at the moment it seems to be - Halo is dominated by male characters , as is Red Faction, Medal Of Honour, GTA3 and most of the other top games, except Buffy of course on Xbox.
Does it matter ? Or are you all too busy denouncing the latest newbie :)
~~Belldandy~~