Sinspiration said:
But in the end they're not real and the "What the hell, why not?" Question still stands. They're not real, their personality never developed due to being born and growing into what they are
True but
I still argue they are still simply characters in a fictional realm and aren't really valid targets to analyse.
The thing is, most of the time a psychologist won't have an entire picture of a person (whether it be because of lying, privacy issues, minor details, etc) and therefore being able to look at the limited histories and actions of a videogame character is very similar to analysing a real person. Because really, all you can do when observing someone else is look at their actions, reactions and history and form your own view of their psyche. So it isn't that different to a real person, analysing a character. And anyways, it can also be good to add new depths to your game (learning to create a psychological profile for your characters), as it would make them much more realistic. So triple-purpose: fun, grades and practice.
Oh, and also, videogame characters don't get pissed off when you start psycho-analysing them.