Newsgroups: rec.arts.int-fiction
Path: gmd.de!Germany.EU.net!mcsun!marble.uknet.ac.uk!warwick!pipex!uunet!destroyer!cs.ubc.ca!newsserver.sfu.ca!sfu.ca!neilg
From: neilg@fraser.sfu.ca (Neil K. Guy)
Subject: Re: Player Character Personality
Message-ID: <neilg.733476622@sfu.ca>
Sender: news@sfu.ca
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
References: <1993Mar29.164130.9529@Princeton.EDU>
Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1993 07:30:22 GMT
Lines: 54

jacobw@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Jacob Solomon Weinstein) writes:

> [...] I don't like to be
>told how I'm feeling. Who knows? Maybe I was asking him about the photo
>because I'm a jerk, and I wanted to remind him of what he was so sad
>about. Or maybe I'm greedy, and I think the old woman is the Rich Old
>Gal I've heard about earlier in the game. In an attempt to characterize
>the player character, the author has made the actual player feel
>alienated from the character. I don't think this is a good thing.

 I agree with you here. To me it's part of the "making assumptions
about the character's actions" problem in most text adventures. For
the sake of simplicity (or, indeed, sometimes for practicality) the
game appears to make a number of assumptions on the player's behalf. I
tend to bridle at that, for various undoubtedly complicated
psychological reasons. :) Besides, I think it's deeply unsubtle and
clumsy. But there is, of course, a reason for it. And part of this
reason is tied up with the fact that we can't create an infinite
universe in a computer game. Or even a reasonable approximation
thereof.

>	First, you can generally tell somebody's character by the
>sequence of actions they perform. [....]

 [stuff deleted ]

 Hey, whatever happpend to the second reason? :) Anyway, I think that
subtle clues in NPC behaviour is a good way to reveal inner feelings,
desires, etc. Sure beats "The bus driver thinks about throwing you off
the bus for not having enough fare, but then..." etc. This brings
about a weird tension between the narrator being omniscient about some
things, and completely ignorant about others.

 I've decided to implement my dog in my game, and am in the process of
working out different ways of expressing doggish emotions in a text
adventure format. Kind of interesting, and since I'm not stuck with
having to process complicated verbal commands it means (hopefully)
that I can make the dog marginally more interesting than the average
cardboard cutout character that populates most adventure games. In
large part, as I think I mentioned earlier, because expectations are a
bit lower. And it makes character interaction a lot easier. I'm not
particularly satisfied with any of the approaches I've seen (or heard
suggested) to date. They all seem a bit awkward, but I guess they're
the best we can do given the technical limitations within which we
must work.

> [...] In Trinity, Wishbringer,
> and Beyond Zork, for example, the player character must be
>gentle-hearted and kind to animals in order to solve the game.

 Um, not to fling spoilers around, but I recall an instance in Trinity
which doesn't involve being particularly kind to an animal. I think...

 - Neil K. (n_k_guy@sfu.ca)
