Playing video games is often about identifying with the main character. We choose a game by its technical characteristics, rules and the fun it promises, but what is just as important is the character that we will embody every time we play. We should be able to sympathize with the protagonist and relate to them; otherwise, we will not be able to identify with them and, subsequently, enjoy the play. The main characters of modern video games, however, tend to take a different turn that they use to.
The switch to the dark side
The latest tendencies suggest that the times of Disney-inspired game characters full of virtues and noble causes are in the past. The main characters of games in the 90s were nothing like what we see now. It was the time of lighthearted mascots, like the one for the free Book of Ra games. But nowadays the video game protagonists have become cynical and at times even brutal, with an outlook on life that is not always optimistic. Of course not all main characters in the past were saints – with guys like Duke Nukem or Caleb from Blood, but they were all fantasies. Good guys were always good and the anti-heroes were equally over-the-top. But the new generation of characters embraces reality as it is, with its cruelty and contradictions. They are not perfect, and their motifs are not always pure. They embrace their flaws just as they embrace their good qualities.
Let’s take, for example, Kratos, the coolest protagonist of the game “God of War”. His main motive is revenge, and he is a brutal anti-hero that sacrifices innocent people in the name of his own cause. His looks completely reflect his personality: he is huge, bald and pale, and covered in weapons and armour. Another popular video game character is Ezio Auditore from “Assassin’s Creed”. On his quest to get revenge for what Templars did to his family, he goes through some tough times – and kills a lot of people. But these characters aren’t violent or angry for the sake of it – their pasts set them on their paths: one was tricked by the Greek Gods into killing his own family, other saw his father and brothers – one being just a kid – executed. And that’s the popular theme nowadays – flawed or broken down characters who come from emotionally “real” background.
What caused the change in tone?
General topics of video games have switched to being much gloomier. Very often our heroes don’t try to save the world, as much as just survive another day in that nasty place. The worlds themselves are darker now: whether it’s a struggle for survival in the apocalypse of the Walking Dead, or a nasty game of politics, more and more often some kind of crisis that blurred the line between good and evil and everything becomes gray. The characters start to do pretty bad things for good reasons, because they don’t seem to have other choice.
These tendencies probably reflect the society’s moral values, at least in some ways. The Z and Y generations that now constitute the majority of video game players, according to the crazy winners audience, simply do not believe in the ideals in which their parents used to believe. Love, loyalty and kindness are not in vogue anymore. Instead, constant disappointment in the traditional values, cynicism and sarcasm are what today’s young people believe in. Even the optimistic characters seem to be optimistic “in spite” of life’s hardships.
Should an effort be made to change this? Perhaps, the game development is just a reflection of the natural course of thought progress. If people decide this is what they like, then it is only natural the gaming business should follow the demand. We can only wonder what will come next.