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2011), and it can be substituted for anything the player desires at the start of the game (though I’ve never seen him referred to as anything but Link except in instances of naming that occur during spates of extreme drunkenness and/or childishness).īut no amount of bad nominal jokes can change the fact that Link is a full character unto himself, complete with character arc and personality. According to Sensei, even his name refers to the “link” that the player is meant to have with him ( “Silent Protagonist”, The Art of Gaming 101, 15 Aug.
He doesn’t speak, non-player characters talk to, around, or through him, and only every now and then, the player gets to decide if his head shakes or nods during a dialogue sequence. Granted, Link does “hiyah,” “eyah,” and “ahh” his way through all of his post-64-bit adventures, but no amount of elfish interjections can change his status as a silent protagonist. This fact can be illustrated by examining one of the most famous characters used to promote this misunderstanding’s veracity: Link from the Legend of Zelda series. These instances of non-verbal speech are generally brief, but since they lay outside of the player’s control, they define the playable character to the player rather than letting her agency shape its characterization. Although it may not utter a single line of dialogue throughout an entire 30-40 hour campaign, a silent protagonist does employ facial expressions and use body language. To begin with, a silent protagonist is often anything but silent.
However, this misconception arises from the belief that a player’s voice, emotional responses, and subconscious thoughts become those of the playable character by virtue of its silence. Misconception: A silent protagonist is a blank slate for the player to write onĪ player will always leave a unique fingerprint upon her gaming experience. A closer look at these misconceptions reveals that simply muting a game’s hero does not enhance the player’s immersion any more or any less than games with talking protagonists. However, I understand this notion to be restrained by three misconceptions regarding the silent protagonist and its relation to the player, to non-playable characters, and to the story. Greater agency breeds more interactivity, and more interactivity equals a deeper level of immersion. The less input that a developer has on a playable character’s personality and character development then the more agency the player should have. This idea essentially reverses the dynamic found in traditional narrative forms such as cinema, in which the character’s voice, thoughts, and personal journey are his own and are only displayed to the viewer. “Silent Protagonist”, The Art of Gaming 101, 15 Aug. We are no longer forced to accept the character’s emotional responses if they are different than the way we would behave. When another character in a game talks to the silent protagonist our emotional reaction becomes the hero’s reaction. Having a silent protagonist is one of the best ways to ensure the player has a more personal connection to the protagonist. When playing a game with a silent protagonist there is no clear distinction between your voice and theirs. As the theory goes, inserting a speechless playable character into a narrative-centric game yields the digital equivalent of the tabula rasa, and upon this blank slate, the player may imprint whatever personality she wishes. The confusion comes not from what a silent protagonist is but from what it is thought that it can do for the player’s gaming experience. Yet, despite how enduring and wide-spread its usage may be, the silent protagonist remains one of gaming’s most misunderstood tropes. Even video game poster boys Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog began their careers as taciturn adventurers, and after a decade of imitation-Italian gibberish and “too cool for school” rhymes, I wish things had remained that way. In the late 70s, the text-based RPGs Colossal Cave Adventure and Zork featured silent protagonists borrowed straight out of the D&D tradition, and the advent of graphical interfaces gave the first Ultima game’s playable character an overworld to explore, though it scrimped on the verbal niceties. In fact, it is only a slight exaggeration to say that the silent protagonist has been around as along as the medium itself. As far as narrative and gameplay mechanics go, the silent protagonist has a long and venerable history in video games.
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