Self-Made Narrative in Gaming
By now most gamers have been introduced to the concept of a silent protagonist. In the JRPG genre, a silent protagonist is one that conveys the will of the player but maintains a 'core personality' that emerges in limited dialogue options and linear storytelling. Characters such as Crono (Chrono Trigger), Minato (Persona 3), and McDohl (Suikoden) follow this pattern, deviating very little from their pre-established character bases, and proving that a hero's actions speak louder than his relative silence.
Other games, however, bring forward a different class of protagonist, one whose motivations are wholly designed by the player. This is more common in older freeform games such as Darklands and Morrowind, but it is also present (albeit to a lesser degree) in games like Fallout, Ogre Battle, Etrian Odyssey, and Dragon Age Origins. In this scenario, character creations dares the player to craft his own narrative, giving him a firmer foothold in the game universe than he would normally enter with. The story of the character then merges with the story of the player as it unfurls within the confines of a fictional universe, furthermore eradicating player perception of those limitations by nurturing a self-made narrative that fills in the gaps and expands the game world as it is explored.
While I am certain I began much early, I first noticed the evocative power of this technique in World of Warcraft through my iconic character, Eberict Silverleaf. He was not my first WoW character--that honour goes to Josef Bazalgette, Dwarf Hunter--but he is certainly my most storied creation. Intended as the spiritual successor of my FFXI elvaan prince, Eberict Silverleaf was brewed from a mixture of Sir Francis Dashwood (of the Hellfire Club) and Lord Byron (of popular literature and 19th century sensationalism), becoming the oft-maligned second son of the Great House of Silverleaf. His creative influences made him the perfect marriage of flippancy and passion, a hero by his own reckoning, but an exile from regular society, and it wasn't long until he emulated and reflected the basic tenets of the Byronic Hero:
Often the Byronic hero is moody by nature or passionate about a particular issue. He also has emotional and intellectual capacities, which are superior to the average man. These heightened abilities force the Byronic hero to be arrogant, confident, abnormally sensitive, and extremely conscious of himself. Sometimes, this is to the point of nihilism resulting in his rebellion against life itself (Thorslev 197). In one form or another, he rejects the values and moral codes of society and because of this he is often unrepentant by society's standards. Often the Byronic hero is characterized by a guilty memory of some unnamed sexual crime. Due to these characteristics, the Byronic hero is often a figure of repulsion, as well as fascination. [SOURCE]
Since I did not discover this succinct summary of the Byronic model until after I had played Eberict for over a year, I was immediately struck by how suitable he was to the part. A troubled but brilliant man of great passion and temper, Eberict epitomised the Byronic archetype right down to the guilty memory that defined his mental state. Not sexual in nature at all, he was driven by remorse for death of his mother, whom he abandoned in the Third War in order to save his brothers instead. He constantly relives this moment of filial impiety through letters written and addressed to his dead mother, and the poisoning of his soul that this engenders furthers the rift between him and his younger brother, Casel. It also fuels the evil he later does in the name of 'the greater good,' until the cycle of betrayal and need of salvation finally ends in madness. It is only at the end, when world-weariness hangs heaviest upon him, that he gains the lucidity needed to break the chain by accepting his mother's passing, burning the letters, making peace with his brother, and disappearing finally into server myth.
(I am told that people still reference Eberict as some form of ideal. As I've been gone for a year and a half, this apotheosis of the character surprises me.)
My justifications for Eberict's travels (dungeons and raiding) through Azeroth were myriad. His travels began as an escape from inane Silvermoon society and continued within the predefined purposes of guilds such as There & Back and the Black Omen. Finally, they culminated into a self-interested venture called the Sandfire Trading Company, an organisation of smugglers created to back Eberict's delving for lost, forgotten, and often forbidden knowledge. The investment I had in the character at this point allowed me to pay attention to the world's history, to read quest text furtively and with purpose, and to examine the lore with a scholar's intent--all of which I had failed to do on my dwarf hunter. Instead, as Bazalgette, my attention was focused on which beasts were best tamed, their migration patterns, and the most efficient methods for killing and profiting from their wholesale slaughter. Effectively, by changing characters, I changed my awareness of and involvement with the game.
Perhaps the most noticeable phenomenon, however, in my time as Eberict was that I never needed to reveal his backstory nor discuss the motivations of his character; simply by interacting with him, other players seemed to know how to react with their characters, and it wasn't long before he was highly celebrated and simultaneously reviled by his peers for his unorthodox, often criminal, methods. Other players--human beings, not computer protocols--confirmed the success of my design and, by doing so, convinced me of its merit. Although I ultimately suffered similar ostracism as a player for my portrayal of the libertarian elven scholar and eventually left World of Warcraft to focus more on my work, the character stayed with me to later play the pivotal role in future (single player) experiences.
Left: Tom, Eberict, Demonic Blade, Akiri, Ephraim, & Gazrael face off Elledro.
Centre: Eberict, Gazrael, & Haskil talk round the campfire.
Right: Gazrael & Eberict, a gift from Gazrael's player.
Unlike the shared communal narrative that is World of Warcraft roleplay, creating your own personal story in single-player gaming is less of an exercise in active roleplay and more of an experiment in passive suspension of disbelief. The first new adventure I took Eberict on outside of Azeroth was the Etrian Odyssey. A clean slate made way for a more goal-oriented and responsible Eberict to be placed at the head of his guild of like-minded adventurers, all named for counterparts in the Warcraft universe. As Etrian Odyssey is a very simple game, the moral complexities of his previous incarnation did not port over, and instead the focus was on his enterprise, the Sandfire Trading Company, now a group of archaeologists and hired guides out to learn the secrets of mysterious Yggdrasill.
Within the EO1&2 context, Eberict is an ice alchemist interested in the legend lore of sacred sites, such as the World Tree. Joined by a mercenary Gazrael and a cast of others named to match their Warcraft counterparts, he gains the patronage of the city of Etria and begins his state-sanctioned descent into the depths. Along the way, he is exposed to the truth behind the Cataclysm, is blasted by dark magic, and makes battle against a dark and loathsome otherworldly entity. The experience changes him, and he begins EO2 as a Hexer. He also starts without Gazrael at his side, echoing events from his previous incarnation. He seeks new answers and riddles by climbing another World Tree into the realm of 'God,' where his actions write him into the legends of the land, and where the intervention of his old mentor, Solectrin Voltas, enables him to find peace and to cease the adventure long enough to raise his daughter, Illurie, who originally headlined my EO3 chronicle.
None of this, of course, comes from the game itself. Eberict is a regular alchemist, Voltas is a regular war magus, and Gazrael is a regular paladin that was just not recreated in the second game. The only reason none of them continue on to EO3 is because of a complete job-class overhaul: there are no alchemists or hexers to recreate Eberict as, no paladins for Gazrael, and no war maguses for Voltas. Etrian Odyssey is simply a game with minimal storytelling elements and a fill-in-the-blank canvas board promoting player imagination. If not for this latter device, I would not have kept with the map-making and FOE-dodging required of the game for as long as I did. The challenge of the game, while satisfying, was not why I was there. Instead, I kept playing for the opportunity to daydream about the characters as they delved into unknown territory, advancing cautiously as we checked for traps, secret passages, and wandering megabeasts. For me it was a matter of not wanting to lose my progress, but for them it was life or death, and that trepidation heightened my awareness of important details like equipment, health levels, and length of time spent in the dungeon. It made the dungeon as much my adventure as it was theirs; "in [Etrian Odyssey] there are as many stories as there are players."
Facing to the left: Etrian Odyssey II Sandfire Guild
Facing to the right: Etrian Odyssey I Sandfire Guild
There have been other adventures, but the last time I invoked the Eberict archetype to great effect was in Dragon Age Origins, a grittier fantasy game that begged to be explored from his unique perspective. The Tower of Magi, the Circle, and the strict rules governing magic users fit in perfectly with his rather obsessive desire for absolute freedom, and the dark path of the Blood Mage allowed him to, again, emulate his warlock/hexer roots. More importantly the design of the world and the decisions that needed to be made allowed for a fresh re-examination of his moral complexity, an aspect of the archetype that fell behind in EO.
DAO occupies the space between EO daydreaming and WoW active roleplay: the main character interacts with the world and with the party through premade decision trees and is constantly being judged and placed on a scale of -100 to 100, determining your relationship with members of your group. The imaginary fireside I had to conceive mentally in EO is real in Dragon Age and integral to better party cohesion, as well as overall player experience. Through answering as Eberict would have answered, the characters that got along best with him were Morrigan, Alistair, Shale, and Zevran, each reminiscent of Warcraft counterparts, which was amusing as the old cycle perpetuated even here. For instance, Eberict and Morrigan's relationship mimic the volatile dichotomy of togetherness and individual freedom that defined Eberict and Gazrael, even ending similarly at game's conclusion. It seems, even through different mediums, that this archetype is forever tasked to replay certain events.
The emotional investment here caused a rather more tangible effect than in the other games: It influenced me to jump through hoops and purchase additional DLCs just to see the story of Eberict through to some final and satisfying conclusion. Everything from the limited edition straight up to the final Witch Hunt DLC was downloaded and explored, all in the hopes that the tale would be continued, as Baldur's Gate was continued and concluded in Baldur's Gate II, in the upcoming Dragon Age 2. Not strictly so, and here is the odd man out in my theory, at least for me. Dragon Age intends to change to match the Mass Effect style of character creation, which matches more accurately with the silent protagonist employed by JRPGs. However, as close to freeform as that was, I could not engage in the Mass Effect style with the same investment that the Dragon Age style allowed for. If it does work, also, it will not be Eberict at the helm, but some new creation. A sobering thought, after having relived Eberict's story so many times over the last few years.
Left: Making deals with devils as always.
Centre: Awkward moments... so whose is bigger..?
Right: Some women are very large and in charge.
It may well be that my adventures as Eberict are over. I may again notice the invisible walls flanking me in game scenarios, and I may discover anew the mechanical, number-crunching nature of my characters. To an extent, I've noticed this decay back into the mathematical mindset with Etrian Odyssey 3. I began with Illurie, the daughter of Eberict and Gazrael, but was more enamoured with the idea of a male leader to the new Sandfire, and ended up with the completely different story of Prince Darius and his retinue from far-off eastern lands. Darius and Lysander and company are still going through the requisite name changes and story shuffling necessary to finding their permanent roles, but this time the stats are taking precedence over the stories. Where once I would give Eberict the Hexer Poison Element powers over Curse Powers to better reflect his past as an elemental mage, now I am giving my characters powers strictly by what demands the next Stratum bring. The games have again turned into a games, but hopefully some fresh imagination on my part will bring back the old immersion.
To close I just want to say: Eberict, if this is the end of our time together, I want you to know that it has been a good run. Although our journeys have run parallel on occasion, and while I've enjoyed and suffered with you, until an appropriate medium comes again, I fear that this might be where you walk off into the sunset. Goodbye, friend.
SOME FINAL FACTS ABOUT EBERICT:
1. Eberict is a Byronic Hero.
2. Eberict runs an organisation called the Sandfire Trading Company.
3. Eberict is always one-half of a difficult and doomed romance.
4. Eberict hates ancient gods.
5. Eberict distrusts dragons.
6. Eberict will do anything for freedom.
7. Eberict often makes pacts with devils.
8. Eberict will always disappear into legend when the story is over.
Other games, however, bring forward a different class of protagonist, one whose motivations are wholly designed by the player. This is more common in older freeform games such as Darklands and Morrowind, but it is also present (albeit to a lesser degree) in games like Fallout, Ogre Battle, Etrian Odyssey, and Dragon Age Origins. In this scenario, character creations dares the player to craft his own narrative, giving him a firmer foothold in the game universe than he would normally enter with. The story of the character then merges with the story of the player as it unfurls within the confines of a fictional universe, furthermore eradicating player perception of those limitations by nurturing a self-made narrative that fills in the gaps and expands the game world as it is explored.
While I am certain I began much early, I first noticed the evocative power of this technique in World of Warcraft through my iconic character, Eberict Silverleaf. He was not my first WoW character--that honour goes to Josef Bazalgette, Dwarf Hunter--but he is certainly my most storied creation. Intended as the spiritual successor of my FFXI elvaan prince, Eberict Silverleaf was brewed from a mixture of Sir Francis Dashwood (of the Hellfire Club) and Lord Byron (of popular literature and 19th century sensationalism), becoming the oft-maligned second son of the Great House of Silverleaf. His creative influences made him the perfect marriage of flippancy and passion, a hero by his own reckoning, but an exile from regular society, and it wasn't long until he emulated and reflected the basic tenets of the Byronic Hero:
Often the Byronic hero is moody by nature or passionate about a particular issue. He also has emotional and intellectual capacities, which are superior to the average man. These heightened abilities force the Byronic hero to be arrogant, confident, abnormally sensitive, and extremely conscious of himself. Sometimes, this is to the point of nihilism resulting in his rebellion against life itself (Thorslev 197). In one form or another, he rejects the values and moral codes of society and because of this he is often unrepentant by society's standards. Often the Byronic hero is characterized by a guilty memory of some unnamed sexual crime. Due to these characteristics, the Byronic hero is often a figure of repulsion, as well as fascination. [SOURCE]
Since I did not discover this succinct summary of the Byronic model until after I had played Eberict for over a year, I was immediately struck by how suitable he was to the part. A troubled but brilliant man of great passion and temper, Eberict epitomised the Byronic archetype right down to the guilty memory that defined his mental state. Not sexual in nature at all, he was driven by remorse for death of his mother, whom he abandoned in the Third War in order to save his brothers instead. He constantly relives this moment of filial impiety through letters written and addressed to his dead mother, and the poisoning of his soul that this engenders furthers the rift between him and his younger brother, Casel. It also fuels the evil he later does in the name of 'the greater good,' until the cycle of betrayal and need of salvation finally ends in madness. It is only at the end, when world-weariness hangs heaviest upon him, that he gains the lucidity needed to break the chain by accepting his mother's passing, burning the letters, making peace with his brother, and disappearing finally into server myth.
(I am told that people still reference Eberict as some form of ideal. As I've been gone for a year and a half, this apotheosis of the character surprises me.)
My justifications for Eberict's travels (dungeons and raiding) through Azeroth were myriad. His travels began as an escape from inane Silvermoon society and continued within the predefined purposes of guilds such as There & Back and the Black Omen. Finally, they culminated into a self-interested venture called the Sandfire Trading Company, an organisation of smugglers created to back Eberict's delving for lost, forgotten, and often forbidden knowledge. The investment I had in the character at this point allowed me to pay attention to the world's history, to read quest text furtively and with purpose, and to examine the lore with a scholar's intent--all of which I had failed to do on my dwarf hunter. Instead, as Bazalgette, my attention was focused on which beasts were best tamed, their migration patterns, and the most efficient methods for killing and profiting from their wholesale slaughter. Effectively, by changing characters, I changed my awareness of and involvement with the game.
Perhaps the most noticeable phenomenon, however, in my time as Eberict was that I never needed to reveal his backstory nor discuss the motivations of his character; simply by interacting with him, other players seemed to know how to react with their characters, and it wasn't long before he was highly celebrated and simultaneously reviled by his peers for his unorthodox, often criminal, methods. Other players--human beings, not computer protocols--confirmed the success of my design and, by doing so, convinced me of its merit. Although I ultimately suffered similar ostracism as a player for my portrayal of the libertarian elven scholar and eventually left World of Warcraft to focus more on my work, the character stayed with me to later play the pivotal role in future (single player) experiences.
Left: Tom, Eberict, Demonic Blade, Akiri, Ephraim, & Gazrael face off Elledro.
Centre: Eberict, Gazrael, & Haskil talk round the campfire.
Right: Gazrael & Eberict, a gift from Gazrael's player.
Unlike the shared communal narrative that is World of Warcraft roleplay, creating your own personal story in single-player gaming is less of an exercise in active roleplay and more of an experiment in passive suspension of disbelief. The first new adventure I took Eberict on outside of Azeroth was the Etrian Odyssey. A clean slate made way for a more goal-oriented and responsible Eberict to be placed at the head of his guild of like-minded adventurers, all named for counterparts in the Warcraft universe. As Etrian Odyssey is a very simple game, the moral complexities of his previous incarnation did not port over, and instead the focus was on his enterprise, the Sandfire Trading Company, now a group of archaeologists and hired guides out to learn the secrets of mysterious Yggdrasill.
Within the EO1&2 context, Eberict is an ice alchemist interested in the legend lore of sacred sites, such as the World Tree. Joined by a mercenary Gazrael and a cast of others named to match their Warcraft counterparts, he gains the patronage of the city of Etria and begins his state-sanctioned descent into the depths. Along the way, he is exposed to the truth behind the Cataclysm, is blasted by dark magic, and makes battle against a dark and loathsome otherworldly entity. The experience changes him, and he begins EO2 as a Hexer. He also starts without Gazrael at his side, echoing events from his previous incarnation. He seeks new answers and riddles by climbing another World Tree into the realm of 'God,' where his actions write him into the legends of the land, and where the intervention of his old mentor, Solectrin Voltas, enables him to find peace and to cease the adventure long enough to raise his daughter, Illurie, who originally headlined my EO3 chronicle.
None of this, of course, comes from the game itself. Eberict is a regular alchemist, Voltas is a regular war magus, and Gazrael is a regular paladin that was just not recreated in the second game. The only reason none of them continue on to EO3 is because of a complete job-class overhaul: there are no alchemists or hexers to recreate Eberict as, no paladins for Gazrael, and no war maguses for Voltas. Etrian Odyssey is simply a game with minimal storytelling elements and a fill-in-the-blank canvas board promoting player imagination. If not for this latter device, I would not have kept with the map-making and FOE-dodging required of the game for as long as I did. The challenge of the game, while satisfying, was not why I was there. Instead, I kept playing for the opportunity to daydream about the characters as they delved into unknown territory, advancing cautiously as we checked for traps, secret passages, and wandering megabeasts. For me it was a matter of not wanting to lose my progress, but for them it was life or death, and that trepidation heightened my awareness of important details like equipment, health levels, and length of time spent in the dungeon. It made the dungeon as much my adventure as it was theirs; "in [Etrian Odyssey] there are as many stories as there are players."
Facing to the left: Etrian Odyssey II Sandfire Guild
Facing to the right: Etrian Odyssey I Sandfire Guild
There have been other adventures, but the last time I invoked the Eberict archetype to great effect was in Dragon Age Origins, a grittier fantasy game that begged to be explored from his unique perspective. The Tower of Magi, the Circle, and the strict rules governing magic users fit in perfectly with his rather obsessive desire for absolute freedom, and the dark path of the Blood Mage allowed him to, again, emulate his warlock/hexer roots. More importantly the design of the world and the decisions that needed to be made allowed for a fresh re-examination of his moral complexity, an aspect of the archetype that fell behind in EO.
DAO occupies the space between EO daydreaming and WoW active roleplay: the main character interacts with the world and with the party through premade decision trees and is constantly being judged and placed on a scale of -100 to 100, determining your relationship with members of your group. The imaginary fireside I had to conceive mentally in EO is real in Dragon Age and integral to better party cohesion, as well as overall player experience. Through answering as Eberict would have answered, the characters that got along best with him were Morrigan, Alistair, Shale, and Zevran, each reminiscent of Warcraft counterparts, which was amusing as the old cycle perpetuated even here. For instance, Eberict and Morrigan's relationship mimic the volatile dichotomy of togetherness and individual freedom that defined Eberict and Gazrael, even ending similarly at game's conclusion. It seems, even through different mediums, that this archetype is forever tasked to replay certain events.
The emotional investment here caused a rather more tangible effect than in the other games: It influenced me to jump through hoops and purchase additional DLCs just to see the story of Eberict through to some final and satisfying conclusion. Everything from the limited edition straight up to the final Witch Hunt DLC was downloaded and explored, all in the hopes that the tale would be continued, as Baldur's Gate was continued and concluded in Baldur's Gate II, in the upcoming Dragon Age 2. Not strictly so, and here is the odd man out in my theory, at least for me. Dragon Age intends to change to match the Mass Effect style of character creation, which matches more accurately with the silent protagonist employed by JRPGs. However, as close to freeform as that was, I could not engage in the Mass Effect style with the same investment that the Dragon Age style allowed for. If it does work, also, it will not be Eberict at the helm, but some new creation. A sobering thought, after having relived Eberict's story so many times over the last few years.
Left: Making deals with devils as always.
Centre: Awkward moments... so whose is bigger..?
Right: Some women are very large and in charge.
It may well be that my adventures as Eberict are over. I may again notice the invisible walls flanking me in game scenarios, and I may discover anew the mechanical, number-crunching nature of my characters. To an extent, I've noticed this decay back into the mathematical mindset with Etrian Odyssey 3. I began with Illurie, the daughter of Eberict and Gazrael, but was more enamoured with the idea of a male leader to the new Sandfire, and ended up with the completely different story of Prince Darius and his retinue from far-off eastern lands. Darius and Lysander and company are still going through the requisite name changes and story shuffling necessary to finding their permanent roles, but this time the stats are taking precedence over the stories. Where once I would give Eberict the Hexer Poison Element powers over Curse Powers to better reflect his past as an elemental mage, now I am giving my characters powers strictly by what demands the next Stratum bring. The games have again turned into a games, but hopefully some fresh imagination on my part will bring back the old immersion.
To close I just want to say: Eberict, if this is the end of our time together, I want you to know that it has been a good run. Although our journeys have run parallel on occasion, and while I've enjoyed and suffered with you, until an appropriate medium comes again, I fear that this might be where you walk off into the sunset. Goodbye, friend.
SOME FINAL FACTS ABOUT EBERICT:
1. Eberict is a Byronic Hero.
2. Eberict runs an organisation called the Sandfire Trading Company.
3. Eberict is always one-half of a difficult and doomed romance.
4. Eberict hates ancient gods.
5. Eberict distrusts dragons.
6. Eberict will do anything for freedom.
7. Eberict often makes pacts with devils.
8. Eberict will always disappear into legend when the story is over.