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I was starting to wonder but, since most people like to replace the protaganist with themselves do you not care for when th eimage of the protaggonist is openly showed on the screen, maybe intereacting with other characters?

This could be you only see the protagonist in relfections or as i have seen in some games its a very genric style character where you never see his eyes due to bang shadows.

Is it dissiloussusing? Does it feel more like a sim? Do you feel more like a puppmaster?

So whcih do you prefer, seeing your protagonist on the screen actign with others, or not at all. Maybe just little?

I would suggest that the usual thing is to not portray the protagonist when possible, and to portray him as featurelessly as possible when he needs to be shown. This helps people consider themselves the protagonist, which is something that people have trouble doing in other mediums.

Personally, I don't mind seeing the protagonist on-screen but then I'm used to games being played that way (plus being told in 3rd person but that's another story).

see I agree with eclipse, i find it easier then to put my mind set that i'm ___ not myself, which I finds leads to a different kind of escapeism.

I would go home with a stranger, but ___ might deffiently do it, thus opening a new world of options.

I was awfully confused when playing through the Fate/stay night demo because of the PC appearing onscreen - something I was not used to in this style of game.

It didn't bother me at all in When I Rule The World, though, perhaps because the game had a slightly different style.

In Fatal Hearts, the PC has a distinct face, but is not usually onscreen - you see her during event CGs and special situations (like the mirror at the beginning).

If the character is not very malleable and not very like me, I think I'd rather it had a distinct face - I'm not going to be fooling myself into thinking it's ME doing those things, so I can at least enjoy the actions from a distance if it's someone else doing it.

If the game is sufficiently open-ended that you can really develop the character in lots of different ways, then amorphousness is helpful, I guess. But in really open-ended games you might expect to get to pick your own face.

On a distantly related note, I was interested to read somewhere that male players of Amgine Park were curious about what Gen looked like. Her base personality was not quite the same as mine, so I would not really mind one way or another about seeing her face. Also, similarly to the males playing as a female character, I occasionally wonder what "I" look like as a male protagonist in bishoujo games. I think it depends mainly on how similar the character is or can be to the player; if the protagonist leads a similar life in a similar world to the player (i.e. in games that both star and are marketed toward modern-day Japanese otaku), it could be rather unnerving to be visually reminded that the fantasies you are living belong to another "person". In other cases, such as magical adventures in made-up kingdoms far away, one might expect the protagonist to have a much more exotic and distinctive appearance than anyone who played the game, and therefore a screen appearance would be more interesting than upsetting.

Forgive me if this merely reiterates most of the above posts in a less organized manner.

I have to say at first I never really bought into the eye-less protagonists which appear to be the standard in these games. But gradually I got used to it and now it doesn't bother me, either way, fully shown, or eye-less in event CGs. I'd even say I would now prefer a faceless protagonist, although not as simplified as a silhouette ^_^.

It's a different story when the protagonist appears in "play mode", meaning when you click the text and so on. This is where I prefer to have the first-person view. It doesn't really matter whether I can identify with him/her, but it just feels more natural when a VN is narrated from a first-person point of view.

So in summary, when the game is told like a story (WIRTW style), seeing the protagonist is okay. When it's told from a first-person perspective it should probably have a FP view as well. In event CGs, it doesn't matter all that much, since they have this special effect or reward feel to them.

I really havent had much experience with games like this, but I personally like having a distinct character. Its more like roleplaying, and unless you have a shitload of choices for dialogue, usually the PC has a pretty distinct personality anyways, might as well add features.
Misguided Hearts has a definate character. All the options are things that he would say, although you can only choose one.

At the same time, having a pretty good options system does sound pretty good at times. Lets you act however you want to be...

I think both are good. They both exist, thats all. You're gonna find RPGs with an active turn system, you're gonna find them fully turn based. Its all whatever appeals to you more ^-^

hm *pokes fox trot* Meh, i'm still decied on if the protagonist will be making many on screen apperences.

See you choose between the two guys who you play, so you do know what you look like. Given that, would contunialy showing that character be bad? As I have it in my lil head so far its mostly just your rival and the fuzzy lil fox, I really ony ever thought of showing your chacter in event CGs. And it is writen as 'You reach out..." blah blah.

I absolutely don't mind well defined characters and having them shown on screen. As it's been said, it's like roleplaying. It doesn't mean choices can't happen, and it doesn't mean they're not yours, as long as these choices fit the character's personality.
I had such a discussion with a friend and an example was playing a bad guy who's confronted to the good guy and having the two following choices :
- Manipulate him so he joins your team (difficult but rewarding)
- Kill him (probably easier but could be a loss)
(oh actually this could work when playing a good guy too :3)

And just adding that if the game is all about choices based on *very* different personalities (shy/extroverted, polite/vulgar), then it's probably better to leave the main character as "blank" as possible.

In "Foxtaile", my currently-on-hold project, the protagonist is normally not seen, except for two scenes where she sees her own reflection. Rio knows what I'm talking about - and both scenes are essential for character-building!

In other words: I'd only use an image of the PC if it adds to the plot. If it doesn't leave it out.