Protagonists

The player / protag unity

if character = action and action=gameplay, character = gameplay !!!!!

The framework "external actions show what a character wants" is not so easy to use since in many cases, the designer decides of the WANT (and in sandboxes, having an open WANT means playing a god or a pure avatar)

Empathy vs Unity

In linear media, you only need to create EMPATHY; in games, you need UNITY, which is hard to do when your protagonist's characterization goes against your player's.

To still achieve this unity, Jeremy bernstein recommends to focus on three aspects:

Unity	Description	Importance	Toolbox
Unity of traits	Sharing the same external traits as your protagonist	Anecdotal	Custom character creation tool
Unity of action	Spontaneously acting like the protagonist would	Variable: you can accept going against your style if you recognize it is the style of the protagonist	Don't make the player take stupid decision just to justify gameplay, even good
Unity of purpose	Sharing the same purpose as your protagonist	Critical, even if the other unities are not respected, player and protag can be partners (see OneShot)	Focus on what we want and the reason why we care

Handling emotions

Andrew S. Walsh:

The emotions explored in the game are not necessarily those experienced by the player!

Three manifestations of emotion in an interactive environment

Type	Principle
Simulation	Same emotions explored in the game and experienced by the player
Representation	The protagonist is inserted in between; the emotional distance allows for an easier handling of negatve emotions. For the same reason, positive emotions need to be inferred from the protagonist's behavior.
Abstraction	The emotion is expressed as a concept, eg. through player stats

Those types can be combined as needed.

Communicating emotion

Type	Characteristics
Tell emotions	No interpretation phase. Without context, probably no feeling any emotional response. Compatible with abstraction.
Show emotions	Heavily reliant on interpretation, mistakes are possible. Player is active, the reaction is natural.
Do emotions	Context and player's interpretation make the action we perform signifying, it's not just a matter of "press X to be happy". Can be complicated with choice between several options, in the spirit of reflective choices.

In summary

1. Who is feeling?
2. What emotions is the player supposed to feel?
3. How to communicate those emotions?
4. Why is the player supposed to feel those emotions?