My mantra about politics, religion, and ideas

[Cantousent]

This is where I repeat my mantra about putting good arguments in the mouths of the NPCs. Make a real question as to which side is right and which is wrong. Want to include stereotypes? Sure! Include them whenever it suits your artistic vision. Don't just throw them out like asphalt in a pothole. Don't lean on them like a crutch. Give us real characters who believe in what they say and say it well. Give us characters who are so compelling in telling us what we don't believe that we almost believe it. Dostoyevsky feared that the anti-religious argument he put in the mouth of Ivan was so good he could not adequately answer it. Give us Ivan!

 

Where are the Shylocks of computer games? Where are the Raskolnikovs? Where is Oedipus Tyrannos? Where is Satan saying, "Better to reign in hell, than serve in heav'n?"

 

I think contemporary issues are perfectly legit and timely, but any issue can serve if the design team can refrain from creating characters all but sporting the words 'bad guy' on their forehead.

 

...And I'm going to hold forth for just a bit more on this issue. Compelling characters, whether a well placed stereotype or a complex villain, will carry the day. As long as they don't interupt gameplay and create a wall of text, compelling and adult characters will carry the day and leave the player wanting more. I understand the complications of the medium. I understand the constraints of the publisher. I understand the nature of the consumer. ...But I also know that there is a market out there for such characters. I believe fervently it is already there, waiting for someone to tap it.