Do Gamers have attachments to characters?

I just read this off of Babs (Sara from comic vine) twitter account 
 
" I think it is more difficult to be a comic reviewer than a film critic, or game reviewer because more often than not, game & movie reviewers don't have the kind of attachment to the characters the way comic reviewers do. sometimes I catch myself thinking negatively about the direction of a story, or the way a character is being developed.  ...(or isn't being developed) and I get a little bit aggravated. What I need to remember is that someone, somewhere out there, is going to  Enjoy the story that is being told, and appreciate the things I pointed out I didn't like. And that's fine. I don't take it personally if You don't agree with me. In fact, I think disagreeing with me is FANTASTIC. I would rather that, than my audience's complacency  But to complain about my HONESTY? Why would you complain about that? If you are coming to me for a review, or podcast, or op-ed  Do you want me to lie to you? I don't think you do. You should be thanking me for my integrity, instead of berating me about my honesty "
 
Granted I'm not sure what she is referring to at the end, but when i first read this i thought, c'mon thats crazy, of course gamers have as much attachment to their characters as comic book characters. But then i started to think do we really? i cant remember the last time i was upset by a character's development in a game, or more or less caring at all about the character. Now i don't play a lot JRPGs, and i know those are mostly driven by the narrative and story, but some JRPGs like Final Fantasy or Persona do not have recurring characters so i can see why most people wouldn't be that attached to them since we only enjoy their story once and thats it. 
 
I don't know, maybe I'm just jaded, or i have been playing the wrong games. But do you guys feel attached to any game characters? Or do you feel there is a void between the player and the characters?

Certainly. Too many to name, in fact.

I agree with Nate, a prime example that most of us can relate to here is Persona 4 - Their are some great, loveable characters in that game that I was engrossed by; and I didn't even play that game!

I think to a degree comic fans do have a bigger attachment to the characters than video game players do. Characters switch from game to game and franchise to franchise in games, and while this is true with comics too, a franchise in a comic generally had a tendency to go on for WAY longer than a franchise in a video game. Look at superman or batman for instance, they've been around for longer than video games as a medium has existed. When you look at how the juggernauts like Marvel or DC have the inability to actually kill a character off permanently for the most part without sparking some huge public outcry from thieir fanbase really speaks to just how attached these characters mean to the fans of the medium
 
That's not to say that characters don't matter to gamers. I'm just saying that a general comic book character gets way more exposure and has a way longer life-span for people to grow to care about them than the average video game character.

There's been plenty of characters who's fates I've cared for; saddened by their possible death, uplifted by their victories, worried alongside their struggles.. so for me it's a hell yaw.

I just wanna hold Sonic.

" Certainly. Too many to name, in fact. "

Gamers are definately attached to characters, just look at the demise of Sonic and the thousands of gamers that cry a little with every new game he's in.

the characters from mass effect comes to mind

The Enslaved characters comes to mind as a recent example.
 

The superhero is the most outplayed, tired, old concept. If I was going to read any sort of comic it would probably be a manga if I could find a good one. 
 
Yes, you can get attached to game characters. Character from RPGs for me like Final Fantasy 7, 8, & 10; Wild Arms, and Mass Effect. And TOMBA! as well. That wild little kid was awesome.

I have a strong attachment to some of my created characters.  I always play in 3rd-person (not the camera mind you) so I get attached to them I think.
 
My WoW character which I haven't played as for 2 years, still occasionally comes to mind. 
 
And my first Monster Hunter character went through so much history (350 hours in fact). From a clumsy newbie that had trouble killing the smallest weakest raptors to an amazing hunter that kills legendary beasts.  
  
Of course some actual characters also get the lovin too.  

Look at all the people who love Solid Snake. Of course gamers love characters, it's pretty damn obvious. 

Yes. 
 
It's easier to get attached to a game character because y'know, you're usually playing as them.

"more often than not, game & movie reviewers don't have the kind of attachment to the characters the way comic reviewers do. sometimes I catch myself thinking negatively about the direction of a story, or the way a character is being developed.  ...(or isn't being developed) and I get a little bit aggravated. "

I definitely think we get attached to characters, just as we have villains that we love to hate.   I mean, look at the discussion on the Illusive Man.
 
Characters that we create, such as in MMOs may be a little different, although we still get attached to those too, and even characters from the story, itself.

of course that's kind of a dumb question

I love me some Mario.      :)

"

I just wanna hold Sonic.

"

Some, often I like my own characters way more.

I think I agree with Sarah overall.  Don't get me wrong, I get super wrapped up in game stories and love too many characters to name, but comics are such an oddly different medium.
 
I think it stems from the wide variety of creative talent that rotate in and out of a comic book character's life.  Most popular comic book characters have been reinvented and reimagined by dozens of writers and artists, leading to an almost scizophrenic personality.  Imagine if Mario had, rather than having Miyamoto primarily at the helm for most of his life, a different game developer and studio behind him every year or year and a half.  What if Mario was bounced around from Mikami to Inafune to Dyack to Boon, each time with a drastically different style in a drastically different game.  It would be maddeningly difficult to do any sort of subjective criticism.
 
Not that it wouldn't also be potentially awesome.

A few, but there are only a few characters. The rest are just cyphers and avatars.

Only ones that I link to real people.

Seems odd to care about a random video game Charactor...

I'm way more attached to comic book characters and I don't even read comics that much. There are very few game characters I care super heavily about I'm even getting excited for DMC and im a big Dante fan. Of course I have some attachment to game characters but its just not as big a deal to me, case:west kinda bummed me out with their version of Frank. It seems to me comic book characters get taken in new directions all the time where as most popular game characters are still probably going to be in less than 5 games so there is only so much you can do especially as its usually all linked as one big story.

Yesssss!!! If I really like a character I get super attached to them....sometimes I think it's silly but I can't help it. You get to know everything about these characters and when I fall upon one I really like I just absolutely fall in love with them. :)

There's definitely some form of attachment between gamers and the characters. I know I've felt attachments to characters in games before, and if a game is able to do that I tend to hold it in very high regard.

She should listen to the guys in the GOTY deliberations and how they talk about some of the characters, then she would understand. 

Nah not really. I've never once felt anywhere near as emotional with a character in a game than I have whilst watching a movie.

I don't want to put words in her mouth, but I think Sara's point is that, because you typically go into a game or movie with little or no prior history with the characters, it's easier to keep an open mind and judge the piece of content on its own merits.  It's not that you can't become attached to the characters throughout the course of a game, just that you are less likely to have any bias when you start playing.  Going into a comic you might have 20 years and dozens of stories' worth of history with the characters involved, making it difficult (as a reviewer) to resist letting your preconceptions skew your judgement on the comic at hand.

I like movie characters and game characters about 100 times more than i'll ever like a comic book character.

i would say maybe. i think it depends on the character because some like mario might be attached to because of how many games he was in and how old he was. most likely people grew up with mario and he is old that their kids are going to grow up with mario. 
 
i also think that WoW or MMO characters might have people attached also. they just keep playing the same character. a lot of grinding and playing. 
 
i have to say that it depends on how they feel about the character and how the connect with them.

She's absolutely right, she just worded it very poorly. Serialized comic characters are somewhat of a unique quantity due to the frequency with which they are prone to change. 
 
Also yeah, I'm attached to game characters. Mostly those I've actually named and had some level of creation in. That's a big fucking factor when it comes to character reliability and a quality that is only really shared by literature, and even then it is hardly similar.

" Certainly. Too many to name, in fact. "

Some games, yeah. I'm playing Enslaved right now which is a pretty good example. 

Characters I am strongly attached to:
 
James Sunderland
Solid Snake and Big Boss
Nathan Drake, Victor "Goddamn" Sullivan, Elena Fisher
Akihiko Sanada
Vivi Orunitia
 
There are many more, but I think I have made my point. 
 
Sure, my time with the characters hasn't been as long as the time people have spent with comic book characters, but the stretches I spent with them were really something special and they left an impression on me. They stuck with me, and that leaves me wanting to revisit them over and over again. It also helps that the games they are in are pretty damn good. 
 
Batman may be the character I have "loved" the longest, but he isn't the one I love the most. Because he hasn't had a lot of stand out moments that really said something to me. Honestly, my favorite comic book character may be The Comedian from Watchmen. He did a lot with the little time he had. Just like the all time best characters from games and films and everything else. 
 
Bit off topic and I am willing to bet this post is sort of rambling and nonsensical, but the closest thing I can think of that has a similar "life" as a comic book character would be a TV character. Something stretched out over many years, that is written by many different people, and the character most likely gets into a long series of adventures/misadventures that may or may not be related to each other. Have you seen Star Trek fans? Now some of those people have a hardcore fucking love for that show. Well, shows. In nerd culture I bet that Cpt. Picard is ranked up there with Spiderman. Or Hulk. Maybe even She-Hulk or Batzarro.  
 
Now if I had to pick a TV character that I was super attached to...I gotta' pick the whole cast of Lost.  Everyone besides Kate.
 
Fuck Kate.

I was damn near depressed when Wrex died. And I had to leave Kaiden behind (why didn't I leave Ashley)

" The Enslaved characters comes to mind as a recent example.
 

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

Even stoned Andy Serkis.

"

I think an important thing to realised here is that Sara doesn't say she thinks movie and game reviewers are less attached to characters, but rather that she often finds herself questioning character development, and that movie and game reviewers are differently attached to characters than comic reviewers are. If she meant to imply that game and movie reviewers are always less attached to characters than comic reviewers I'd have to respectfully disagree, but if she intended this to be interpreted literally then I believe she may be right. As is my perception most stories in comic books seem to be more character-focused than plot-focused or world-focused.

I get super attached to video game characters, almost immediately.  When bad things happen to them, I feel bad. When I can't help them, I feel guilty. I think I feel more engrossed in the fate of video game characters because a lot of the time I have a hand in their fate, which isn't true in comics, books, or movies.
 
I do think that there is a bit of personal investment as far as comic characters go; the same characters tend to stick around for years and years and their stories are constantly evolving, but I think that in itself can be problematic. There are lots of comic characters that I like in most circumstances, but sometimes different writers portray them with slightly different personalities. If you watch the evolution of Wolverine throughout the years, he's turned into this entirely negative, unlikeable dude who just picks fights and looks tuff, when back in the day he was a kind of friendly and lovable family member to the X-Men. The characters have to change over time to avoid becoming stagnant, but I always feel a little sad when they change them so drastically that I don't recognize the character I initially wanted to read about. Video games at least aren't drawn out as long as popular comics, so the characters tend to remain stable in their personalities. 
 
/ramble

Raziel from LoK series. the ending to defiance left me annoyed. Kain is awesome too, but if they continued the franchise, it seems like it would be difficult to bring Raziel back. 

Hmmm. I can only think of two examples off the top of my head of me caring enough about a character to get upset at the way the story was progressing. One is the dark brotherhood in oblivion, I'm sure anyone that's played it knows what I mean. The other is somewhere in the middle of sly 2. Two of the main characters get kidnapped and removed from the game and you have to play as the third for quite awhile to rescue them. I'm not sure why I was effected either. These two games aren't the best examples of storytelling in the medium. They aren't bad by any means, but you would think half-life 2 or one of the final fantasy games would've had that same kind of impact. 

I think I got more attached to the characters that Ive created rather than predefined characters. The characters I made in Dragon Age, Morrowind and the Fallout games stand as unique and I have those save files backed up on 5 different hard drives in fear of losing them.  I felt really gutted when the Hellgate server went down since it meant the death of my engineer which I invested so much time and effort into him (yes I know Hellgate had some really big fucking issues but still it had a few bright spots) .
 
And of course there's Mass Effect. Im pretty sure everybody who enjoyed that game felt a great attachment towards their Shepard.

" I agree with Nate, a prime example that most of us can relate to here is Persona 4 - Their are some great, loveable characters in that game that I was engrossed by; and I didn't even play that game! "

Sonic. 
Which is why I feel so insulted whenever I'm reminded how much Sega has ruined the character. 
 
Although I should point out that my idea of Sonic the Hedgehog isn't from the games but rather the brilliant Sonic the Comic (not to be mistaken for the inferior American Sonic the Hedgehog comic) which actually made him into an interesting and flawed character. 
 
Yes, Sonic with an interesting and original personality. I swear I'm not making this up. Look it up.

" I don't want to put words in her mouth, but I think Sara's point is that, because you typically go into a game or movie with little or no prior history with the characters, it's easier to keep an open mind and judge the piece of content on its own merits.  It's not that you can't become attached to the characters throughout the course of a game, just that you are less likely to have any bias when you start playing.  Going into a comic you might have 20 years and dozens of stories' worth of history with the characters involved, making it difficult (as a reviewer) to resist letting your preconceptions skew your judgement on the comic at hand. "

I was always quite attached to my Bomberman in multiplayer on the SNES! ;)

Think of MGS 2 and how many people bitched when they had to play as Raiden. Gamers definitely grow attached to their characters

James Sunderland broke my heart.