Choosing Characters Past Instead of Present...

[noeinan]

I was thinking about visual novels today and came up with an interesting idea, thought I'd run it by folks.

You play a game as a protagonist with a set personality-- probably a fairly strong, distinct one. You are watching their story, but unlike most games (where you reach an important point and get to choose how the protagonist reacts) you do not get to control the protagonist. The protagonist is going to do what they are going to do. However, when certain issues come up, you get to choose their history with that subject. For example...

Discussion of violent crime comes up, and the player gets to choose whether the MC has ever been the victim (or possibly the perpetrator?) of such actions. If they have, they have a much more explosive, personal reaction to the situation than if they haven't. (Or other changes depending on the MC's personality.)

A concert is about to start and you get to choose whether or not the MC plays an instrument. If they do, they are passionate about music and will try to join a band (or are already in a band!) If not, they have another reaction.

I feel that some games do this to a limited degree, but I don't think I've seen a game entirely based on these kinds of choices. (They either have some questions at the beginning of the game, and that affects stats, or there is one or two of these choices thrown into more typical choices.) How would you feel about a game like this? Do you think these choices would enable the writer to create more distinct personalities? Or do you feel it takes too much control, and thus fun, away from the players?

[SparkyRailgun]

Interesting idea. I imagine it would be diffiult to write a character the player can enjoy when what makes that character who they are continually changes throughout the story, though. I foresee issues that might come up that would only ever be a result of poor character design in normal characters without a very lengthy character development effort; you would need to make sure all possible decisions result in a character that is not contradictory to his own beliefs.

That said, if the entire game is an exploration if his character, that might be fine. I think it would require a very specific sort of plot to take advantage of a rather unorthodox to storytelling. You're right that there are games that do have some extent of control over their character's past, most commonly RPGs.

Would it be fun? I can't really say. I would say it's likely that there are a number of people who would find the mechanic more annoying than fun. Done well, however, I think it would be quite interesting, and I imagine people with a more literary disposition like myself would agree.

[Anne]

When I see choices like that in games (which sometimes happens) I always feel like the game if asking me something I can't possibly know and that annoys me ("you tell me, that's your character not mine!" - that also goes for character reactions like when they ask you "How was your date with X?"), maybe it'd be different if the whole game was like that, I'm not really sure... What is it that you feel you can achieve with this type of choices?

[firecat]

its one hard questions because in the past we did things that are not who we are today, like for an example:

kid- we run outside the rain, we like to be happy at small stuff, we like learning new things, and we did things that seem careless.

teen- we hangout with friends, we like new cool things, we like easy things, and we break rules that parents hate.

adult - we have a job, cant get new stuff, cool things seem less cool, bills to pay, and breaking rules can lead to jail.

as you can see its very hard to make a character when he ages and even harder when he has no backstory to tell.

[trooper6]

Sounds interesting! I've never played a game based around that concept, so I'd be quite excited to do so!

[noeinan]

I foresee issues that might come up that would only ever be a result of poor character design in normal characters without a very lengthy character development effort; you would need to make sure all possible decisions result in a character that is not contradictory to his own beliefs.

I can definitely see that-- I was thinking that the "controlling the past" decisions would be things that happen to the character or around the character that are outside of their control. The character's general personality and coping mechanisms would be set, and then the reasons for those same coping mechanisms would vary. (As well as the probable degree of cognitive dissonance or other emotional conflicts.)

When I see choices like that in games (which sometimes happens) I always feel like the game if asking me something I can't possibly know and that annoys me ("you tell me, that's your character not mine!" - that also goes for character reactions like when they ask you "How was your date with X?"), maybe it'd be different if the whole game was like that, I'm not really sure... What is it that you feel you can achieve with this type of choices?

That makes sense-- what I was thinking actually specifically to avoid this. The character personality is set, so you don't get to decide how they feel about things or how they react to things, but you *do* get to control what kinds of experiences they have had previously. Maybe it's more like, you control how the *world* reacts instead of the character, and you get to see how the character would react if the world reacted slightly differently. (Kind of like you're the GM in a tabletop role-playing game, instead of a player.)

as you can see its very hard to make a character when he ages and even harder when he has no backstory to tell.

Well, I was thinking the character *would* have a backstory already, but you get to control certain details. For example, maybe they have a coping mechanism that is well established by this point in the story-- but why do they have that mechanism? What kind of trauma caused it? During the story, there would be various points where specific topics come up, and you get to choose if one of those was the trauma. (And it will affect how the character reacts to similar situations in the game.) There would also need to be some facts that are set, not controlled by the character. (Such as where they live, probably how many parents they have, what school they go to and their relationship with those characters, etc.)

Sounds interesting! I've never played a game based around that concept, so I'd be quite excited to do so!

Glad you like it! I'm considering making a game like this, I just wanted to get some of the details and useful critique from the community.

[Corvo]

Do you think these choices would enable the writer to create more distinct personalities? Or do you feel it takes too much control, and thus fun, away from the players?

Personally, I don't think that less control -necessary- means less fun. I really like your idea.