Dynamic Characters in Video Games.

Recently, I've been having numerous discussions about whether dynamic protagonists work in interactive media/video games.

Now, if you haven't thought about it or don't play games, this might sound a little odd. For static mediums like books, TV, or movies, dynamic protagonists are almost the expectation. You have a character who feels one way about the world, but over the course of whatever you're reading or watching, they change. Pretty simple.

However, for video games, that hasn't been the case, yet. Consider most game protagonists; many are ciphers (characters the player projects themselves onto) like Master Chief, The Dragonborn (Skyrim), or Link. Others with personalities hardly change; think Geralt from The Witcher or Aloy from Horizon.

But why?

There is an extra dimension that needs to be considered when writing a protagonist for something interactive, and that is the player. The best metaphor I've heard is that the player is the driver while the protagonist is riding shotgun. Writing a dynamic character is difficult because you need to make sure the player is:

1. Bought in.

2. Understanding the revelation the character is having.

3. Rooting for the character to change.

Another element is choice; many of the best story-based games aren't linear. You can choose to be the hero or the villain. And even if the choices aren't so black and white, it essentially eliminates the option for character development. How is a character going to have a realization and "become a better person" when the player makes a choice to be evil in most situations?

Of course, I think there are situations where you could make the argument it's been done, like Kratos in God of War 2018 (though part of his change occurs offscreen) or possibly Arthur Morgan, though even then, he only barely changes. And for Kratos to work, the entire game had to be focused on a single relationship.

Maybe as technology gets better, we'll see more people try their hand at dynamic characters, or it will allow it to work in a way that wasn't previously possible.