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May ‘08 Round Table – Updated 05/30
By Corvus | May 30, 2008
This month we continue our descent into the thematic underbelly of video games. After the exceptional posts last month, I cannot wait to see what you all make of this month’s topic! And so with no further ado, I present the May ‘08 Round Table Topic:
May ‘08
Diamonds in the Rough: Actress Karen Allen once said, “Eventually you love people – friends or lovers – because of their flaws.” It’s not surprising theatrical people tend to believe that the most compelling characters are the ones with the deepest flaws. There is, after all, a reason that Romeo, Juliet and Hamlet are still so widely known today. But what about popular video game characters? Are they mere two dimensional shells, or the result of frustrated teenaged boy’s dreams of power? This month’s Round Table invites you to discuss character flaws, or the lack thereof, in video game characters. Feel free to write about about a recurring character archetype, a specific favorite character, or specific least favorite character. Write about an avatar or mob, a tertiary character or primary adversary. Regardless of your approach, turn your jeweler’s loupe on these diamonds and expose their flaws to the world.
Suzie at Girls Don’t Game wasted no time in providing an excellent first post for the month! Join her as she muses about what makes a video game character significantly different than a literary character.
Mike “Rubes” Rubin joins the Round Table over at The Monk’s Brew and wonders what role character flaws really play in games, including his own IF project, Vespers.
Ian, of the 100 Foot Croc, puts his finger on a video game hero whose flaws are exactly what draws you in and keeps you playing. Beware of spoilers in his post on one of my favorite, yet uncompleted, games–Shadow of the Colossus.
Krystian of Game Design Review rejoins the table this month and uses Phoenix Wright as the launching point to discuss the Beauty of the Flaw.
Shamus over at Twenty Sided posted about flaws both obvious and endemic in Jade Empite in The Flawed Champion.
Scorpia joins us with a post on the impact of player choice in The Flaw That Refreshes?
Jason turns his eye on CoD4 in The Price is Right over at Unfettered Blather.
A pair of posts were submitted over the weekend that almost serve as each others’ yin and yang.
First off Kimari, frequent commenter and host of the newly established Indigo Static blog, posted some thoughts on character flaws and how they are relegated to the cut scene in Cutscenes, Interactivity and Story.
Then Max, of the Worldmaker blog, talks about Guybrush’s flaws and how they are expressed through gameplay in I Want to be a Mighty Pirate.
Chris the Artful Gamer joins in with a discussion of game heroes. It would seem the flaw he’s discussing is the flawlessness of the typical hero in So You Want to be a Hero: Have Gun. Save World?
Greg at Among the Dust joins us with a post examining the flawed mediocrity of crippled IP in Choice and the Tragic Hero. Be sure to add his RSS feed to the reader of your choice while you’re there. You’ll thank me for it later. (-_0).
UPDATE
Andrews has joined in the discussion with a look at an arrogant avatar in The Assassin Altair
Don’t forgot you’ve got until midnight tomorrow to get your entry in for May’s Round Table. Next month’s topic will be introduced on Monday. Thanks for all the excellent submissions this month!
As always, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about joining the Round Table that aren’t answered by the FAQ.
Tagged:Blogs of the Round Table, character flaws. | 2 Comments »
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:32 am
Suzie’s post link is broken Corvus, unless she writes at your blog
Anyway, sounds interesting, I’ll have to do something on this once I get a good idea.
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:36 am
Ah, took me a second to see the problem. Double quotes before the link. Thanks, Andrew!