I remember seeing the first developer diary for Assassins Creed. Patrice Desilets were all up in excitement, and blabbered on about the emerging game word and so on. But it was the words about how he wanted us to play the game which struck me the most. He said that in his good game experiences, the creators had somehow managed to get him to want to play the avatar on screen.
It is actually something of an achievement, when the avatar has the ability to run in a city, but you rather want him to walk because that would be right for that moment.
Videogamges have actually been criticised on this point, not because they do too little of it, but because they do to much of it. In order to make people want to be their character, they make him bland and avarage. The idea is that if he does not have any particular features, the players will transpose their own onto the character. This is a rather dull mistake. Humans fantasize all day long about being something/somewhere else. Kids are grown- ups, grown- ups are rich and rich people are young. That's how it goes.
The more exiting characters, are without exception the most remembered. They are also the ones that you felt you emotionally invested in. This is important, because when that crucial moment in the game story comes around, the characters you are emotionally invested in are the ones you really rolle play.
Just wait! I'll get to the point, just on paragraph more! Well. Humans don't have a single personality but a series of excentric circles, and all have to be groomed and played with! Mental diversity is mental strenght. I believe that game creators seriously undersestimate the ability of young male white adults to play anything else then you male white adults.
It just goes to show that the two games most known for making you feel like you are that character, is "The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay" and "Batman: Arkham Asylum." One psychotic asswhipe, and the other a PTSD damaged cross- dresser.
