Player privacy question: is this a step too far?

[Misfile]

Alright so I did a mockup of one of the ending of the game, but I do a small trick in it, after I went through it to make sure that my logic was correct. A thought occurred to me though. I may get some (in my mind) over the top reactions to it.

I have the programme read the user name of the player and display that when the two other characters talk to you the player not the character.

Is this a step to far, or is it reasonable trick to play?

Here's a link to the the mockup

[Auro-Cyanide]

Christine Love did that in Don't Take It Personally Babe. I didn't hear about any bad reactions to it, though you could look it up and see.

[Gear]

They did something like that in the Teen Titans game for the GameCube as well. It's been done (but what hasn't?), but I don't believe it's bad, by any stretch.

[Greeny]

It's not like the program records their names and personal information and sends them back to your super-secret information network, right?

...right?

[wyverngem]

Breaking the 4th wall type of thing? Generally it's a "no" when it comes to that, unless it's a satire or farce.

[AshenhartKrie]

What's wrong with breaking 4th wall in a VN?
(thank you drama for letting me know what it means)

[Auro-Cyanide]

What's wrong with breaking 4th wall in a VN?
(thank you drama for letting me know what it means)

There isn't anything wrong with it in any medium, as long as it's done properly. Done poorly all it really suceeds in doing is breaking immersion, which isn't a good thing. Satire and farce are some of the more obvious examples, but I prefer the more subtle ones. Like when a character is technically talking to the player character, but the message is actually for the player. DTIPB is a good example for a VN because it does it twice. The one mentioned already is where it takes your last name and inserts it into the game. The other happens when Charlotte is giving photos to Kendall. The player can actually go to the address in the game themselves and see the 'photos' but to do that they actually have to go online, find the password and then go look at them outside of the game. It's meant to underline the whole 'invasion of privacy' theme of the game by tempting the player to actually make the action themselves.

[AshenhartKrie]

What's wrong with breaking 4th wall in a VN?
(thank you drama for letting me know what it means)

There isn't anything wrong with it in any medium, as long as it's done properly. Done poorly all it really suceeds in doing is breaking immersion, which isn't a good thing. Saitre and farce are some of the more obvious examples, but I prefer the more subtle ones. Like when a character is technically talking to the player character, but the message is actually for the player. DTIPB is a good example for a VN because it does it twice. The one mentioned already is where it takes your last name and inserts it into the game. The other happens when Charlotte is giving photos to Kendall. The player can actually go to the address in the game themselves and see the 'photos' but to do that they actually have to go online, find the password and then go look at them outside of the game. It's meant to underline the whole 'invasion of privacy' theme of the game by tempting the player to actually make the action themselves.

[has been read and understood but user cannot think of a decent discussion-like reply]

[Sexo Grammaticus]

Then maybe you shouldn't have posted? We don't need to be informed that you don't have anything constructive to add to a conversation.

I think something like that's fine. Your program is not storing or transmitting the information in any way, and plenty of programs present in our every day lives already do this - chat programs, word processing programs. I can almost guarantee you that you've used a program in the past week that has some kind of information you didn't know about embedded as metadata. It's a neat trick to play in games - my major concern is that it could easily become overplayed if you used it too much.