Who Are You Here? The Avatar and the Other in Video Game Avatars

Abstract

Before the official launch of Dragon Age: Origins (DA:O) in 2009, Bioware released the Dragon Age: Origins Character Creator, a teaser character generator for eager players. This precursory software contained the first and most fundamental choices Dragon Age players would make for their own games in just a few short weeks. DA:O’s developers styled their game in the image of Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, and other titles from an illustrious legacy of Western-role-playing games (W-RPGs). W-RPGs, as video games, chase pure immersion and differ distinctly as cultural artifacts and representatives of a specific ludic genre from Eastern, typically Japanese, role-playing games (J-RPGs) in their attention to responsive environments, players’ choice-driven narratives, and player-centered player-character development. The artistic intent of DA:O is clear: the player shall act as the central figure of the game world and its narrative leading that world to peace or ruin. What separates the W-RPG design philosophy from other games, and even other RPG genres, is the purposeful privileging of player power in whatever aspects possible so that the players may shape their experiences with their own choices and fight and act as they choose through the characters they build within the game. W-RPGs inherit this philosophy and this aspiration of total player immersion from tabletop role-playing games, notably Dungeons & Dragons.