Your thoughts on 'mute' protaganists

[lasherman]

I really hate it. It makes it impossible to care about the character you're controlling. Like in Modern Warfare

Spoiler

When you finish the No Russian mission and then the guy shoots you, I just felt like 'So what? I never even learned this guys name. For all I know, this guy might just be the soldier nobody likes and who sits in the corner alone eating glue'

 

[MetalDooley]

When a character speaks only when neccesary? I can live with it. When a character has starred in 14 games without saying a single thing? I hate it. Simple as that.

I would see this differently.If a character has always been silent then they should remain that way.I personally would find it very strange if someone like Link suddenly started talking in the next LOZ game

 

[cptawesome]

having a silent protagonists diminishes the experience of gaming for me in so many ways...i simply cannot care for a character if i cant connect with him. Perhaps that's why I wasnt quite as shocked as I should've been everytime i was cinematically killed in the call of duty games... because i never spoke. ever.

 

[Davrel]

I prefer silent protagonists in non-rpg games.
It has several advantages: The character is more 'you'
The voice acting can't be crap because there is none!
Prevention of cheesy atmosphere destroying one-liners.

 

[fenderstrat]

i dont really like it. in vietcong, your character talks all the time, and it really adds to the game, because hes likable. and a bit crazy

 

[maddawg IAJI]

I think it allows the player to imagine himself as the protagionist, but I honestly think that characters that have voices and a personality are much more fun to play as.

 

[Legion]

I hate it. I seriously hate when your character doesn't talk. In my opinion, it's lazy and cowardice. What you don't want to scare off some buyer with a protagonist they might not like? Let THEM fill in the blanks? Cheap, that's what it is. Give them traits, characteristics, emotions, a voice. Let them emote. Perhaps they can't afford a good writer and voice acting? I prefer when my protagonists have personalities and can speak, without a doubt.

Agreed to an extent. Some games for example wouldn't make sense with a speaking protagonist. RPG's for example it would ruin the affect of them being the player as they could say something that the player wouldn't. Bioshock 2 is another, being a Big Daddy and speaking would seem odd.

2 things:
1 - Well you're right obviously. And sometimes a silent protagonist lets you vent your own emotions instead of listening to someone elses.
2 - I haven't completed Bioshock and have to start Bioshock 2... It would have been nice with a /spoiler...

My apologies, it was pretty much the first thing everyone found out when Bioshock 2 was announced so I assumed (wrongly) that most people who had heard of the game would be aware of that. If it helps, knowing that won't ruin Bioshock's story for you. Nor Bioshock 2's really.

 

[OtherSideofSky]

It really depends on how it's executed. I t always bothers me in games like LoZ when a character doesn't speak but everyone else behaves as if they do. I'm currently playing Okami, however, and I don't mind Amaterasu not talking because it seems that she (being a wolf) really can't speak in any way that other people can understand. It was also somewhat amusing in Jak and Daxter when Jak was a mute protagonist solely because he got cut off every time he was about to say anything. As far as Half-Life goes, I think it would be kind of weird for a character to give scripted dialogue while I control them from a first-person view.

I also think that games where you create your character's appearance are better off not giving them any lines you don't get to choose.

 

[Christopher Waldron]

Within RPGs I personally think it's great, as in some cases you can spend a large amount of time customizing your character to resemble yourself. If I went through all that only to find my character was given a personality that greatly conflicted with my own I'd be a bit annoyed to be honest.

 

[TwistedEllipses]

Depends entirely on the game.

Dead Space for example bothered the living shit out of me because I keep expecting him to talk and he didn't.

I've got to agree with this example. Right at the end, he's told that someone close to him is dead and how does he respond? with a mime!

It's bad enough that a lot of the time the main character in a game is faceless, hiding behind a mask, but to be mute as well can remove all personality...

...that said it's probably not a good idea to switch to the chatty sociopath version of Gordon Freeman portrayed in Freeman's mind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J80KD4BG7M

 

[psychic psycho]

The original Half Life was created back in the day, back when celebrities weren't voicing characters and dialogue was a lot more limited. That decision to not voice him wasn't that big a deal back then.

Good point. But even if Half life was made when voice acting became popular, I'd prefer Gordon to stay mute.

As far as Half-Life goes, I think it would be kind of weird for a character to give scripted dialogue while I control them from a first-person view.

This is exactly the way I see it as well. They designed the game so you're always in first-person view and remain in control of Gordon even through story scenes. Not using any cutscenes to tell a story was quite rare back then. I'm fine with Gordon being mute because of the way the Half-Life games are presented it works quite well.
TF2 and L4D have characters speak while your in first-person view and it works quite well. However neither uses scripted story events.

 

[soren7550]

I both like and dislike the silent protagonist. Like it because it allows me to put myself 'in their shoes'. Dislike because I want to know what they're like sometimes.

 

[TheDoctor455]

Sometimes it fits, like on HL, and sometimes it sucks horribly, like on Dragon age: Origins

Technically, in DA:O, your character IS talking... they just didn't get someone to voice act it.
With DA:O... I can kinda understand why they DIDN'T do it. It would be pretty difficult to fully voice a game with THAT much dialogue, and given that you can come up with... lets see... 3 races x 3 classes x 6 origins x about 8 different taunting voice options = 432 possibilities to voice.

 

[Eldarion]

I hate it. I seriously hate when your character doesn't talk. In my opinion, it's lazy and cowardice. What you don't want to scare off some buyer with a protagonist they might not like? Let THEM fill in the blanks? Cheap, that's what it is. Give them traits, characteristics, emotions, a voice. Let them emote. Perhaps they can't afford a good writer and voice acting? I prefer when my protagonists have personalities and can speak, without a doubt.

Some people (me) prefer to roleplay like we actually are the main character in the power armor, battling aliens, trudging thru the wastelands, whatever.

Not every game needs to have a fleshed out main character, quite a few of us like to fill in the blanks ourselves. Its not cheap, it isn't cowardice, especially when the developer takes effort not to get a reaction from your character, but a reaction from you the player.

 

[robinkom]

"Mute Protagonists" is an old-school method (especially in Japanese games) of letting the player believe that they are that character. Again, it's old-school... and not terribly effective (except in Legend of Zelda) if you can't relate to the character.

Nowadays, Western gamers want character customization. A lot of it. Now. Please?

 

[TheMadTypist]

I liked how it worked in Bioshock (where you don't even really learn his name(I think he gets called "Jack" at one point in the game), although you do get glimpses of the sleeves of his horrible sweater), or in the Half Life series, but there is also something to be said for acted characters (Master Chief, What'sHisName in freelancer, etc.). It really depends on how the game's been developed, I think both can be done really well if the studio knows how.