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Date: Fri, 20 Oct 2000 19:36:36 -0400
From: Peter Ciccolo <pciccol@attglobal.net>
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Subject: Re: Why should the player care?
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Roger Ostrander wrote:

>   The basic premise is this:  For some period of time, likely short,
> the player controls the main character (who I will refer to as The
> Hero).  At the end of this time, the hero dies.  The player's job, and
> the core concept of the rest of the game, is to attempt to prevent
> this from happening via various devices.
>   My problem is related to the subject - why should the player care if
> the Hero dies?  If the player is the Hero for only a short period of
> time, it's hard to get attached.  Conversely, if the player is the
> Hero for much longer than a short time, then the main portion of the
> game will feel as though it's been tacked on.
>   Would the desire to win the game be the only motivation for the
> player here?  Or is there a better way to get the player to sympathize
> with the Hero?

You could have the hero die relatively quickly, and then have the player
see, while in other persona, just what a great person he/she was.

