Gamasutra - Innovations in Character_ Personalizing RPGs, Retaining Players

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Innovations In Character: Personalizing RPGs, Retaining Players

By Anders Tychsen

[In this detailed design piece, researcher Tychsen looks to tabletop RPGsfor inspiration on the best ways to create compelling characters for videogames.]

The player character is alpha and omega in RPGs, forming the mainpoint of interaction be twee n the player and the game. In tabletopRPGs, player characters are gene rally defined in much grea ter deta ilthan in digital RPGs, and this has direct benefits on playerengage ment and retention.

The question is whether there are design principles in tabletop RPGs - and the associated benefits - that can betransferred to the digital format. This article w ill be taking a look at ho w tabletop g ames handle characters, outlining a

few ideas for adapting these approaches to digital games a nd the po tential benefits of doing so.

IntroductionThe creation o f player characters in role playing games - in any media - and the relationship that p layers have w iththeir characters is a convoluted subject. As with any es sentially user-oriented issue within games, the number of variables involved is staggering (because humans are involved). This is reflected in the mass ive range of op inions o nhow player characters should be designed (see Toby Gard's or Steve Meretzky's articles on this very site, or indeedany self-respecting game design book).

If such a thing as a de sign paradigm exists w hen it comes to characters in RPGs and MMORPGs, it see ms to be thatthey should be blank slates, which the players can project themselves into a nd o nto.

However, the lengths that players of RPGs often go to in order to flesh out their character's inner workings and

personalities (rarely are these the mundane selves of the players) indicate that perhaps for the RPG genre, the blankslate approach needs an update.

In my several years o f rese arch with user expe riences in RPGs across formats andplayer number, I have e xperienced tha t adult players (18+) prefer having w ell-developed characters with distinct personalities and backgrounds. This increases theirimmersion, enga gement, and en joyment w ith the game.

This goes both for tabletop RPGs and the digital version. Perhaps surprisingly, theperso nality of the character can be very different from that of the player without anyadverse effects on the gaming experience.

That player characters which are comprised of more than visual models with sta ts areof interest to a se gment of the player population sho uld come a s no surprise;however, when considering the segment of players interested in RPGs, the interest ispretty substantial.

We might for a moment accept the hypothes is that having the oppo rtunity to createmore "complex" characters - in the internal sense - is a benefit; and that w e arereaso nably sure this w ill impact on the financial bottom line - which means w e can

justify allocating development money. But the que stion is: How do w e apply this tocomputer games?

Without making any claims as to having perfected a way, the purpose of this article isto point towards a few likely venues for approaching this subject.

We will start by looking at how player characters look in RPGs toda y, and then address how tabletop games ha ndlethe same issue (and throughout generalizing horribly, RPGs are incredibly diverse genres so there are exceptions toevery rule!).

Player Characters In RPGsRPGs are inherently character-based games. The term character should in this context be understood as no t justphysical representations, i.e. the avatar embodies the player, but as something more.

RPG characters have features that develop throughout gameplay, and commonly personalities, goals and motivations





that a re either pre-defined o r in case of player-controlled characters, which emerge from the projection of the playerinto the character and control of the character during gameplay.

While the typical RPG contains many characters, it is the player-controlled character o r characters wh ich form the focalpoint of interaction be twee n the player and the game world.

This makes RPG character des ign important to deve lopment - if the character is not interes ting to play, the ga mingexperience w ill not be of a sufficient quality to motivate the player to continue p laying.

Fascinating characters can make a g ame and create lasting relationships w ith the player that keep them coming backfor more - as is evidenced in the game series featuring characters such as Lara Croft, April Ryan, Max Payne, CrashBandicoot and Sonic the Hedgehog.

In general, there a re two wa ys of approaching game character design in RPGs: Either completely pre-define thecharacter (e.g. the Final Fantasy -series), potentially with so me room for customization by the p layer, or let the playerinhabit a "shell" - an avata r which the player can project him- or herself into (e.g. Diablo I and II ).

There is an o ngoing discussion about the strengths a nd w eaknesse s o f pre-defined vs. player-scripted characters,and the purpose of this piece is not to debate the relative merits of different solutions to character design.

In general, most RPGs fall somewhe re in betwe en the tw o extremes, for example in offering development of skills/stats, customizable appearance and the opportunity to act along a good-evil axis when communicating withNPCs.

This offers some support for the player to e ither project their ow n perso nality onto the character, or create a characterwith pe rsona lity and be havior different from their own. There is no ultimate right or w rong approa ch; many differentforms have been show n to w ork in practice.

Irresp ective of the balance be twe en pre-scripted and p layer-scripted, the lead character of a game story in an RPG isa most importan t element and is normally player-controlled. If players cannot as sociate w ith the lead character thestoryline will not be enjoyab le, no matter how great it is.

Whe re games d iffer from traditional media such as bo oks and movies is in the interactive relationship betw een theplayer and the character. Therefore the character has to be compatible with the viewpoints and psychology of all thepotential players in the targe t audience. Maintaining such a b alance in character des ign is very difficult - it is one thingto design and describe the character, and place it in the game world.

But the game designer also has to ens ure that the w ay the character moves a nd acts follows the singular vision o f thecharacter; and furthermore ensure that the player can add what the game design either intentionally orunintentionally leaves open.

Because player characters (and to varying degrees non-player characters) are alpha and omega in RPGs, a substantialamount of attention to their creation is necessary to ensure that they function as intended.

In games with as varied gameplay opportunities as the typical RPG, players have a wide freedom in testingboundaries, developing strategies and in other ways utilize their characters in ways unanticipated by the designer. Itis therefore always exciting - and often frustrating - to see what happens the first time the players sit down in front of a prototype and alpha-phase testing is begun.

Deconstructing Player CharactersPlayer character can be designed in different ways and with different properties, depending on the specific





requirements of the game in question . The RPG character can vary in its constructiona l complexity across a rang e o f elements, covering the various facets a game character can have, e.g. stats, perso nality and integration, as is see n inthe table.

Within each of these facets, more o r less dep th can be a pplied to the character functionality. For example, thecharacter JC Dent in Deus Ex featured a relatively simple character development and item-bas ed upgrading sys tem,but had a relatively well-developed integration into the game world, with e.g. a NPC brother.

In the typical Dungeons & Dragons -based RPG, such as Neverwinter Nights , the characters are usua lly devoid of personality elements, feature superficial explanations for why they are where they are.

But a varied, deep and flexible character development and item-bas ed upgrading syste m forms one of the main drivers

for rew ards and player motivation in the game. Whe n playtesting characters in RPGs during production, it is thereforeimportant to tune the tes ts to the w ay the various facets are des igned, integrated and o perated.

Overview of the core RPG player character component builds (the list is not exhaustive). Not all may be present with all player characters, and the level of development for each aspect varies from game to game as required by the design inquestion.

Personality Psyche The psyche bas ically defines the core of the character, covering all aspects of the character psychology, including motivations and emotions. This as pect of thecharacter can be non-existent, providing a blank slate for the player to p rojectonto, o r relatively complex, aiming at p roviding an interes ting template for theplayer to relate to and possibly even learn from.

Goals Goals are the primary tool for enga ging the p layers first hand, and the principleis known from ques t systems. Goals can be mechanical or perso nal, simple orcomplex: Kill 10 centaurs; ga in control of the guild of thieves ; maintain a close

relationship with a sister, not letting a phobia control one 's life. Goals targetingthe character psyche are generally harder to code , therefore comparab ly rarerin RPGs as compared to mechanical and simple goals.

Stats Skills, Traits,

Abilities

The stats p rovide the mathematical numbers ass ociated w ith the character, e.g.strength a nd other physical or menta l attributes , abilities and skills (e.g.farming, swo rd-fighting) and unique pow ers (i.e. spe ll cas ting). The sta ts directlyaffect the effect of the PC interacting with the virtual environment.

Integration Associations Characters will likely know some other characters of the game world, whetherNPCs or othe r player characters in a multi-player RPG or MMORPG, andthroughout the ga me will get in contact with even more. Associations can bemore o r less deta iled, from a rando m ques t provider to a long-term associate o rcompanion.

Most characters start out with associations formed by their background, andbuild up increase d contact netw orks during the running of a RPG. In RPGs withmultiple players, some players like to develop sto ries for the relationshipsbetwe en their characters, while others chose no t to.

An important subtype of associations is the contact , characterized b y being aques t giver, mission p rovider or similar entity that progres ses the ga me story.Contacts are the NPCs that initiate the adventures of the player character(s).They exist in all forms of RPGs (e.g. City of Heroes, Neverwinter Nights ), and a reone o f the primary means of prope lling the players forwa rd in the game.

Category The term category should here be interpreted in a broad sense, to indicate theoverall typecasting po pular in RPGs. The class ical wa y of handling thecategorization of different types of characters is via a set of classes oroccupations, e.g. warrior, wizard, private eye, biologist.

This is howe ver not the only wa y to approach categorization - games such asMorrowind develop stats/skills based on character actions. Categorizations - in

whatever form they take - can be use d to help develop the vision of thecharacter and anchor it in a s pecific context, but at the same time can berestrictive. Occupations and classifications are ge nerally developed via a rulessystem, but need not be so .

Location The physical location of the character and reasoning as to why. The playerneeds to have enough information to provide a so lid hoo k into the game worldin the beginning of a game.

Background Background deta ils where the character comes from, the events tha t have it tothe sp ecific point in its life where the game be gins. This includes the history of the character developed during game time.

Appearance The character will have an appea rance, and in good game design thiscomplements the integration of the character in the wo rld, anchoring thecharacter in the overall theme and s tyle of the game wo rld. Appearance ismodifiable at leas t in terms of clothing/weapons in most RPGs such as ( World of Warcraft ), or can be more static ( The Longest Journey ). Irrespective, appea ranceis a vital visual link betw een the player and the character.

Physicalbehavior

Game characters ha ve since the e arliest console da ys bee n as sociated withspecific physical beha viors, e.g. special attacks in Tekken and Mortal Kombat . Thephysical behavior of a character can greatly assist enhancing the charactertheme, and project its moods and feelings. Emotes with associated animationsare a typical wa y of providing RPG players s ome control over the physicalbeha vior of their characters. As with appearance, physical behavior should





serve to strengthen the ties between the character and his/her/its place withinit.

It should be noted that the list in the table is technically incomplete when it comes to listing all the potential elementsof RPG player characters tha t can impact on the ga ming expe rience.

If there is one conclusion that is shared among the large number of researchpublications and game develop ment bo oks & articles investiga ting this subject, it'sthe following.

The process of creating gaming experiences is complex and associated with a hostof variables that contribute to greater or lesser extents, depending on the specificsituation, player and game. This is also one of the major reasons why experienceis vital to a de signer of player characters.

Stats are, of course, the rules based component, and something we see creativelyused in games today. Integration is more rarely exploited, and the degree varies.

Usually the background for a character is not well developed in FPSes or CRPGs,with Neverwinter Nights a go od example - we just know that he /she is a hero intraining come to aid the city. Other games like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic utilize background as the premise for the entire game sto ry.

Persona lity is an a rea w hich is more rarely utilized, pos sibly due to the e xisting"blank slate" paradigm. There are some exceptions - KOTOR has an a lignment

system , Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth has an insanity system, the Final Fantasy series generally has pretty

well-rounded characters, and most D&D games integrate an alignment system.These are all relatively straightforward compared to what is possible in tabletop RPGs, even when alignment affectsNPC reaction. Furthermore often p layers are se rved the persona lities of their characters in a pass ive manne r, e.g. viathe way their character behaves during cutscenes (e.g. Beyond Good and Evil ).

Role playing communities tied to spe cific games, e .g. Neverwinter Nights or RP-guilds in MMORPGs, offer an interes tingcontrast - here players often have thorough descriptions of their characters and utilize these.

In the persistent games, the RP guilds do a lot to integrate them. This would se em one of the main reasons whypeo ple are still hanging in there. In other words , this is a strong driving factor in player retention.

In tabletop RPGs, the players ne ed to crea te integration a nd pe rsona lity from scratch. Some, such as GURPS, MutantChronicles, Traveller, or Vampire the Masquerade, provide a more or less de veloped system for assisting players increating these features with a rule-based component.

For example, acquiring a good connection in the government costs two character points. Being a pacifist gives you tw oextra po ints (apparently a disadvantage!), and you may take up to 20 points in disadvantages.

Such systems do not replace the full image that players can a nd generally do build of their characters, but forcomputer games provide a direct path to integrate s uch systems b ecause the y are rules-based.

Utilizing Tabletop RPG Character Systems In DigitalRPGsPersonality-based character elements can be integrated in various ways into the overall game structure. In general,we can categorize a complex character system based on its depth - i.e. how detailed a nd complex the system is - andthe level to which it is integra ted into the game in ques tion.

For example, a character perso nality system could have a rules-ba sed effect, be us ed to control conten t access, orhave no in-game effect at a ll, being primarily a too l for the player community. We can even integrate a pe rsona litysystem that operates outside the game mechanics but features its own rules for character development.

Depth of system: In general, we can sepa rate betwee n a shallow and possibly mechanistic approach, wherepersonality/integration elements of the characters are chosen or generated from a simple system, or a deep systemwhere the effects are embedded in several elements of the game, e.g. mechanics, story, and other content.

A shallow approa ch could be a list of psyche e lements to choose from, with each element leading to a simple rules-based effect. Shallow approaches a re not better or w orse than deep approaches, but each offer specific benefits andhave different resource requirements.

As an e xample, let us cons ider the character Aragorn from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. A shallow ap proach couldspecify that Aragorn has a "favored enemy" in orcs (adop ting the te rminology from the D&D tabletop RPG system forclass attributes), granting him a bonus to d amage the m in combat.

A similar approach wo uld be to define that Aragorn "ha tes o rcs", which makes him less p rone to retrea t from combatwith them (this can again be implemented in the game mechanics).

In a sys tem with more de pth, we might define Arago rn as ha ving a high level of "social respo nsibility". This can behard to integra te in the game mechanics, but not impossible.









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