Written for Firefly Performance Journal, hence the game explanations, exploring aspects of character and avatar performance in last christmasses first person releases (Mirrors Edge, Fallout 3, Far Cry 2). Enjoy!

At one time, performance in videogames would refer to a players place on a high score table. But as videogames develop into complex narrative works, and as the demand for a higher level of interactive storytelling increases awareness of the performative nature of gameplay becomes vital to create and engage players. Looking at three of last winters key releases in the first person genre, we will examine what developers are doing to create and manipulate player engagement through character performance and how interactive narrative can become a truly effective form.

Released in November 2008 and developed by EA Digital Illusions CE, Mirrors Edge is a first person game, in which you play as Faith, an illegal courier in a heavily monitored city. The central aspect of the game is it’s first person portrayal of Parkour, allowing the player to vault railings, run across walls, and leap across rooftops in a fluid motion, while trying to convey a sense of physical contact with the environment. This central focus of the game points us to one of the vital aspects of character performance in videogames, modes of interaction. Every game offers the player a series of interactions that they can perform with characters, objects and the environment, in this case running, vaulting, sliding, fighting etc. Interactions can then be divided by the frequency of performance, in Mirrors Edge the primary actions would be running and jumping. These actions are also mapped to a corresponding series of buttons on the controller, each of which already will have an importance and meaning to the player from previous games. All of these elements combine to form the modes of interaction in the game, and in terms of character give us the direct information about our avatar and who they are. In Mirrors Edge we quickly understand that Faith, our main character, is fast and agile, as her primary action is running we can assume she avoids direct confrontation. These aspects are understood intuitively by the player. By performing these actions the player is performing the character of Faith, by being aware of this the developer can create a strong link between action, sense of purpose and narrative. The player does not carry a gun, the player can not reload weapons; the player only uses them until empty, the player cannot decide to talk to characters, the player cannot pick up or carry items. This restricted set of actions enables the developer to create a character that is performable, but it only allows one performance, that of Faith. The player cannot decide to perform in the way they would in a similar situation, and so the actions the player is asked to perform can seem unnatural or jarring. “Why can’t I hide until trouble passes?”, “Why can’t I stand and fight?”, “Why can’t I drive?” The player might ask. Managing the players natural impulses and the restricted actions they are given is a delicate act of design, and can often leave the player feeling restricted and excluded from the game.

But games also offer performance possibilities at the other end of the spectrum. Fallout 3, released in October 2009 and developed by Bethesda Game Studios, is a game in which you play as a young man or woman, who has left a fallout shelter on a quest to find his father in a post-apocalyptic Washington D.C. Already the difference is clear, we are offered the choice of sex, and we have no name. The game also allows you to chose your physical attributes, your skills and your clothes. In terms of modes of interaction the player can shoot, talk, walk, run, jump, pick up objects, buy, sell, eat, drink and many other variations. In this case the player is given a large amount of freedom in what character to perform and how to perform them. This freedom would seem to offer the player a complete immersion in the game, and a strong sense of self expression, but unfortunately it does not. In this case the player lacks any kind of restriction, the actions they are offered are so numerous and often pointless (collecting and carrying empty cans, drinking from a toilet etc.) that there is no character to be performed. This is only compounded by the fact that these actions are mapped to the same “interact” button, the primary interaction with a toilet is to drink from it, while the same button press with a detonator destroys a town full of people. This connects and equalises these actions in the players mind. These factors collectively distance the player emotionally from the game. This lack of connection leaves them performing as sociopath in the game world, throwing bottles at people to see if they react, seeing how many things they can steal until someone notices, seeing how many bottles of whisky they can drink, until a ridiculous message flashes across the screen saying “you are now addicted to alcohol”. In the end this provides the player with little reason to perform, and no character to embody, and leaves a series of disconnected actions in the place of a narrative.

So if this spectrum of action offers an empty experience, and the restriction of players makes them feel left out of the story, how can developers provide a balance between player led action and a viable emotional connection to the game world? I feel that Far Cry 2, also released in October 2009, developed by Ubisoft Montreal, offers part of the answer. In Far Cry 2 you play as a mercenary hired to kill an arms dealer in an unstable African state. The first choice offered to you in the game is a choice of character. There is a selection of twelve characters, ranging from Mauritian ex security officers to Smugglers with a history in the IRA. This offers the player a choice to define their values. Choosing a character with a past and look to match their taste the player is establishing a value system, a security officer, for example, may have a stronger sense of justice, and the player who chooses this character will then adhere to this in game, allowing a background and direction for their performance, but still allowing them to have a personal choice in this. On an added level the eleven characters that remain un chosen become part of the game, able to aid the player. This system leaves the player to define their own character through a series of choices about their history and the in game characters they associate themselves with, allowing a focused character performance that does not constrict the player. Counter pointed with Mirrors Edge’s overly constricted, but highly developed character, and Fallout 3’s free but ultimately meaningless avatars it becomes clear that this style both encourages and enables the player to develop a character to then perform. This style is present throughout Far Cry 2, the primary interaction is, as you would expect from a mercenary, through weapons, but the game encourages performance by offering a large variety, from homemade explosives to a dart rifle and offering the ability to carry only three weapons at once the player quickly develops their load-out depending on their play style. This, in combination with the character choices, results in the player having a defined presence in the game, and so the narrative. The slow degrading of your now established value system, as the in game situation becomes more convoluted and unstable, has a more effective and direct effect on the player.

If games are to exploit their language of interaction and performance, this awareness needs to be developed further, and instilled in more games. Performance is a vital part of play. As games slowly begin to understand this they can offer experiences that bypass the heavy handed narratives, borrowed from blockbuster cinema, that mark their majority and begin to speak in a language of their own.