What type of main character you prefer?

I hate "blank slate" characters - I end up just using the minor things that they do (like very subtle animations in how they walk or whatever) and then just fill in the rest in my memory. I then end up remembering them with fleshed out motives and characteristics and none of it is true (and sometimes my imagination significantly colours my view of the game).

I like main characters with distinct personalities to latch on to: it doesn't have to be much (they don't even have to talk - it could all be from silent looks and gestures) but I like there to at least be something there to get drawn into.

I hate silent protagonists, therefore I prefer a character with an established personality more often than not. The only way I feel a blank slate character can be done well is if the player gets the freedom to actively contribute their own will on the character (like many western RPGs with dialogue choices). If a game is going to go with a blank slate silent protagonist but not give me the freedom to shape the character how I want, I would rather they just create a real character.

It depends on the game. Sometimes I want a fleshed out and well written character that I can enjoy on its own merits. Sometimes I'd prefer they be left a relative blank slate so I can fill in the details myself and create that I want. There's no reason I have to only like one or the other.

It depends on the game obviously.

For example, I don't think Persona would work with a fully voiced protagonist. Playing P4 arena feels weird.

Mass Effect style: fully voice acted, but guided by player choice.

@fancysoapsman: I think it could work if done right, but Narukami is definitely a worse character after they gave him actual dialogue.

I wanna build how the character looks but a silent hero in 2014 is stupid. Heroes aren't boring surrogates anymore, the hero in GoG was thoroughly defined, not an 'everyman' in the traditional meaning other than being white and male. And that movie made bank, so everyone be like that movie.

I used to think I like a character with their own personality, but looking back at it, Mass Effect and Persona are some of my favourite games and those MCs are just avatars for the player. It isn't necessarily because the character I forged was better than something predetermined - but the narrative created by having a dynamic MC who can make choices determined by the player can be so much more rewarding.

That said, Joel / Ellie from The Last of Us for example were awesome in their own right - it goes to show that there's plenty of room for both types of MC.

I just want to be the silent dude that doesn't have to be the hero or the villian.

I do like characters with their own prescribed personalities, but I also have become very attached to characters I have created.

Souji Seta/Charlie Tunoku is a boring dude.

Yu Narukami is the best.

Depends on the game, but I think my favorite for my kind of game would be a person of few words. The nameless, mysterious type who speaks when necessary.

I don't like user created characters. Character creators are crummy. All of them.

Definitely depends on the game. Mute characters can be used to good effect. Metro 2033's selectively mute (he talks in chapter interludes but doesn't speak during gameplay) adds to the character's sense of helplessness. Coupled with him being buddied up with someone to be his mouthpiece, human shield, etc.

On the other hand, you've got Delsin Rowe. Nope. Character creator are kinda misleading, too. The default option always looks like the one developers intend you to use - or the one that appears to have had the most time spent on it.

Depends. Mostly it's about what kind of game it is. If it's a party based game like Dragon Age or whatnot, then a blank slate is fine, cause you build the character as you go. For most rpgs I do prefer blank slates. For shooters or whatnot, I don't really care. The stories are never worth remembering, and adding or removing character from the main protagonist does nothing.

I think that's why I like blank slates. Just lets me make up some crappy story in my head instead of having a crappy story forced on me by the game. Game characters very rarely have motives that make me go "ooh, well that's interesting!" Once this becomes a thing, once story actually becomes worth following in games, I think I'd switch to a fully fleshed out character. If the story is worth telling I prefer to listen, or whatnot.

One that best suits the story that is being told to me.

It depends on the game! You cannot make a Uncharted with a blank slate, is there is going to be a story with deep character development and a specific story you need a fully flashed out pre-made, pre-determined character. The story of Uncharted would be weaker with a mute character or one where people could decide to make the main character evil or craven or stupidly heroic.

In an RPG on the other hand I do want more choice, even if that choice is how they look and making a few Mass effect style mission choices or dialogue choices. Some of the best parts of an RPG are making those choices about what you characters looks like, how they sound, what weapons they are good at and what attitude they bring to the world.

Yeah, it really depends on the game here. Most of the time I prefer a character that I've made/customized myself, but for things like Silent Hill 3 that'd be the worst thing ever. Heather is one of the greatest protagonists in any game, ever, and does not get enough praise. That said, when it comes to things like Phantasy Star, I can spend hours screwing around with outfits and weapons. In things like Dark Souls I tend to come up with a character idea and backstory and then make a run through as that invented character.

So there's really no easy answer. I will say that a few protagonists really got under my skin, though. To my knowledge Welkin is the only protagonist I actually disliked so much that I didn't even bother to finish the game. Self-righteous prick.

Blank slates are horrible and only work on specific occasions IMO. I prefer a character with a personality. Oh, and the characters who are not mute but have their personalities determined by the players(Wolf among us, Walking dead, Mass effect, etc) don't count because they are most definitely not blank slates.

Between the two, definitely one with a defined personality. I like making choices in games, but having a character that's a blank slate just feels lazy to me (as a writer). Like, it makes me feel like the developers/writer(s) couldn't decide on what they wanted the protagonist to be, so they just left out the details.

Conversely, I've definitely really enjoyed games with that type of protagonist, like Fallout 3, so I'm not saying that I refuse to play games with that or anything.

Defined characters trump ciphers any day of the week. Except in Dead Space. Never in Dead Space.

I think a silent protagonist makes it easier for you to feel like you are the one the things in the game are happening to, so for games where that is the goal, I think generally, that is preferable. But otherwise I think it works better with a defined character who has a voice. For an example, when I play the legend of zelda, I don't feel like I am link, even though he doesn't talk, because the the way people react to him gives me the impression he already has a defined personality, so in that case I actually think it would be better to give him a voice. atleast I think it would be interesting to see, if done right.

Yes, though making choices doesn't always mean that the main protagonist is a blank slate, right? I mean, In in games like The Wolf Among Us, the main characters have personalities, but the choices the players make simply determines the WHAT his/her personality will be like.

@theacidskull: Yeah, I should have specified that. Though, my frame of reference was more along the lines of Shepard in Mass Effect, but yes.

Depends 100% on the type of game. If I am playing say an RPG with heavy narrative? I would prefer to be playing an actual character, sure let me "create" the character so they can look how I want and all that. Maybe even let me pick their voice set. They need to be an actual character with their own dialog though. But if you are talking about a more... open ended RPG that is not a strict heavy narrative and I can effect the world or do things that might cause multiple different endings etc? I think a blank slate works a little better in those terms. Or a game where there is no big narrative at all like say Dark Souls, blank slate is optimal there.

In the end I can deal with either though.

Depends on the game, obviously, but I prefer characters that are well defined to those I have to define myself.

In games like Elder Scrolls and Fallout, the blank character is a way to introduce yourself into the adventure and claim ownership over it. In most cases, though, the main character is well defined and (should be) consistent with the adventure.

In any case, I mostly prefer blank characters to mute characters. Mute characters at this point feel extremely dated. The fact Link or Gordon Freeman are mute doesn't help me get into the character (as the theory indicates), but put me back of it; because it is obvious that you are not supposed to inject yourself into them... they are already defined. Another example of mute character done horribly wrong is Kingdom of Amalur...

It is totally dependent on the game you're playing. I love the Half-Life games and Gordon Freeman is probably one of the "purest" silent protagonists in all of gaming. He doesn't even get fake yes/no choices (except I guess at the end of HL). I like games like Mass Effect, Fallout, and especially Planescape: Torment where the character is a blank slate that you can cause to affect the world though what he/she says and does. And I also like games like The Last of Us, Legacy of Kain, and Final Fantasy, where there's pretty much no choice in what I do to the narrative, but the story being told with the characters is so interesting and enjoyable I don't care.

Oh, I thought Shepard had a personality( determined by the player obviously), though I have never played the games so I don't really know.

I've seen a lot of cutscenes of evil and good Shepard and that's how it came across to me I guess.

depends on the game

I just started Devil Survivor Overclocked and the character is more or less a blank slate, much in the same way as Charlie from P4

The worst is where you have something in b/w like Tidus from FF10, who has a personality but is never called by name since that part is customizable.

The in-between of "you're generally this character, now you control the way they behave"?

The first Mass Effect game was great because of that, even if there were still most ultimately the same three ways to respond in most cases: good, hard, or neutral. If the dialog trees from Dragon Age: Origins were fully voiced, that would have been cool.

I don't think you've really captured the full gradation of options that are out there.

I've always hated silent protagonists. They're the worst. Its not immersive, its the exact opposite. The only time I dont mind if my character talks is if I still have dialogue options. Even if they're shallow options like Skyrim. "Characters" like Gordon Freeman though annoy me.

The talking kind. I realized I hated silent protagonists when I played Dishonored back in 2012. They're so god damn boring.

Defined character 100% of the timetime if the story is linear. For open-ended games with a lot of replay value, I'd rather be silent so I can carve my own personality. Some games stroke a solid balance of both, like Mass Effect, where you can inject your own personality but Shepard still feels like its own character.

It depends on the game but for the most part I like characters with their own personality.

Depends on the game. I've played some really fantastic experiential games with blank slate characters that have been some of the most immersing, meaningful experiences I've ever had. I've also seen some really interesting, intricately designed characters that fit perfectly into a narrative fabric that delivers a powerful message.

Depends. In games like Persona I like a blank slate. But I'm really disappointed that the main character in Xenoblade X is gonna be silent/customizeable.

Not only does it depend on the game, but option 2 depends on the character. I'm not going to play as some horribly reprehensible dickhead.

They both have been done very well. Characters from Naughty Dog games are great but we have all seen some terrible voice acting in games. I hated how the character was mute in Dragon Age: Origins. Another example is in battlefield 4. You are supposed to be playing the sergeant of the group but instead they're the ones telling you what to do.

This is why I never played Watch Dogs.

I like a characters that are nothing like myself, but through the story and events that happen, I can begin to relate to the character on the human level. Its always great witnessing a character struggle for something because we all know what that feels like.