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pixelate environment
My favorite episode was the one in which they talked about how the player relates to the character. I agree that the more vague characters help the player connect to the character they are controlling. The example helped immensely; they had you tell bob which way to go, then they had you control bob with arrow keys. Telling Bob where to go does not make you “Bob”, but moving him with the arrow keys connects you more directly to him.
I don’t think their point was the more visually vague the character was, the better connected to him you were. I just think it was based on vagueness in general… like not telling the player what they should think, how they should feel, what exactly they should be doing next, etc. I think it’s okay to give the character properties such as gender and/or appearance because you know you are playing AS a character, like you play in any game. …… done.
Yeah Ellen I have to agree with you on your point about the vagueness of a character. When I was playing Ocarina of time I didn’t actually say to myself, “This game can’t fool me, I’m not Link!” However in Super Mario Bros. I sort of felt like I related to Mario in someway, maybe because of his simplified form. At eight years old I felt like I could have been an Italian, overall-wearing plumber with a bushy black mustache. But in truth I feel myself more connected with a detailed look character aside from a block of large colored pixels.
