Thought Question #1 (due Friday April 12th at 5:00 PM)

(Choose one of the three questions below.)

QUESTION #1. In most games, the player controls a character that operates in the game world. Rouse and Bates both discuss the choice between giving that character a strong personality of its own versus making it a blank slate onto which players can project their own personalities. Discuss the tradeoffs associated with each choice in the light of the player's goals and expectations we talked about in class. Bates says that using a blank slate "might not be wise," while Rouse says that the player "must come to see himself as his game-world surrogate." What is your opinion of Bates's argument? Do you agree with Rouse?

QUESTION #2. Choose a game you are familiar with. Describe the structure in terms of the steps in the "hero's journey" as described in the handout (use either the Campbell or Vogler lists). Do all of the steps apply? Are there any obviously left out, or is the order changed? Does this affect the quality of the game? How?

QUESTION #3. Bates and Rouse both describe a number of pitfalls designers should avoid. Describe a game you've played that fell into one of these traps. How did it fail? Suggest two ways the design might have been changed to avoid the problem.

Thought Question #2 (due Wednesday April 17th at 5:00 PM)

(Choose one of the three questions below.)

QUESTION #1: MEMORABLE INDIVIDUALS. Both Jones and Thomas and Johnson say that it is the unique, idiosyncratic, individual behaviors of a character that bring it to life. Describe an example of a game character with one or more recognizably idiosyncratic behaviors. Are these idiosyncracies conveyed through sound, through animation, speech, etc.? Discuss the circumstances in which it's desirable to make characters stand out as unique, and compare them to situations where you don't want individual personalities.

QUESTION #2: RULES TO LIVE BY. Chuck Jones lists a set of rules that all of the Road Runner cartoons obey -- rules about communication, setting, and the "physics" of that world. Think of a game or series of games you're familiar with. Is there a comparable set of rules that guide how characters act, what they will and won't do, what can and can't happen to them, how the world can change, etc.? List those rules. Don't focus on the technological constraints of the game, but on the choices the designers made to give the player a particular game experience. Example: in the Monkey Island series, the hero, Guybrush Threepwood, often has to fight other pirates. He always outwits or outinsults them; he never kills them.

QUESTION #3: PRINCIPLES OF INTERACTIVE ANIMATION. Lasseter describes classic animations principles and how they apply to computer animation. However, he is describing non-interactive films, not games. Will these principles still be useful in an interactive setting? Discuss which ones are still helpful, and which ones you don't think apply in an interaction (don't talk about cutscenes; we're interested in the parts of the game where the player has control). Are there new principles you think need to be added? If so, describe them briefly.

Thought Question #3 (due Wednesday April 24th at 5:00 PM)

(Choose one of the three questions below.)

QUESTION #1. DEVELOPING CONTRASTS. In her talk, Lorie Loeb suggested that one way to give a character depth is to show marked contrasts in its behavior; in the example of Hannibal Lecter, although he is a murderous psychopath, whenever he talks to Clarice his behavior is exceptionally polite and correct. Describe another character from film or literature with a sharp contrast, and explain how that contrast makes the character more compelling. Can you think of an example in a game? If so, describe the game character and the contrast; if not, choose a character you think would benefit from such a contrast and explain what you would add to make it more compelling.

QUESTION #2. ICONS. At one end of McCloud's scale of realism are the icons, the abstractions that emphasize the essential features. Think back to the character roles we discussed last week. Even within a particular role (such as Mentor or Informant/Trader), there are many different icons with distinct essential personality traits. For the Informant/Trader, for example, there is the greasy snitch, who only helps you because you threaten him or pay him; there is the absentminded expert, who will talk endlessly about the topic but is completely oblivious to anything else; there is the wise urchin, who knows everything that goes on and will tell you if you befriend her or give a few coins; and so on. Choose one of our character roles, and describe at least three iconic/universal personalities we see over and over again in those roles. Give examples for each, from games or other media.

QUESTION #3. CARICATURES. Maestri writes (p. 176 of the coursepack), "The dramatic strengths of the caricature style lie in stereotype, archetypes and exaggeration. if your character is a villain, he'll have to look like a villain. Don't try to fool with your audience by making a perfectly nice-looking character turn out to be the bad guy." Do you agree with Maestri? Why or why not? Describe animated examples (one or more) from film or games where this principle is violated, and discuss whether they were successful. If they were, why did they succeed?

Thought Question #4 (due Wednesday May 8th at 5:00 PM)

(Choose one of the three questions below. Note: Please mail your response both to Patrick and Katherine!)

REMINDER: If you have feedback about Character Analysis one, please submit that to the discussion board "Feedback" topic by Sunday, so we can use it to edit the assignment before Tuesday... thanks!

QUESTION 1. CHARACTERS EVERYWHERE. Next week's topic is uses for characters beyond games. Find an application that uses a character, and post a description to the discussion forum's "Non-Game Characters" topic. In addition to describing the character, give your opinion on whether it's a good fit to the application, and whether the application is a suitable place for characters at all. Negative examples can be just as instructive as positive ones -- don't be afraid to post examples of, as Brenda Laurel's co-author called them, "whining, chatting little irritants." If the character or any resources you use are available on the Web, include links to those sites in your post.

QUESTION 2. TAKING IT ON THE ROAD. Elliott and Brzezinski describe several research projects, most of which use characters for education or play. How do you think developing these kinds of characters is different from developing game characters? Are the principles the same? Are there any of our ideas that wouldn't apply well? Does having different goals change the basic design problem?

QUESTION 3. SAVING FACE. According to Goffman, "Face is an image of self delineated in terms of approved social attributes....A person may be said to have, or be in, or maintain face when the line he effectively takes presents an image of him that is internally consistent, that is supported by judgments and evidence conveyed by other participants, and that is confirmed by evidence conveyed through interpersonal agencies in the situation....When a person is in wrong face or out of face.... he is likely to feel ashamed and inferior... Further, he may feel bad because he had relied upon the encounter to support an image of self to which he has become emotionally attached and which he now finds threatened."