Split-up PC functionality - an IFDB Poll
by baf
RSS FeedIn a normal game, there is a single fictional entity that is considered to be:
- The protagonist: the character that the player is meant to identify with, and whose goals you are trying to achieve
- The viewpoint character: the character whose perceptions are described by the output text; sometimes an explicit in-game narrator
- The agent: the being who acts on your commands
- The PC: the fictionalized representation of the player's intentionality; the origin of player commands in the gameworld; the "you" addressed in second-person narration
Normally, all of these functions are fulfilled by a single character. I'm interested in finding games where it's broken up into multiple fictional entities -- for example, where the narrator is distinct from the character you control, or the player commands are treated as orders given by one character to another. Feel free to include games that split up the PC functionality in ways not covered by the above roles, but please be specific about how the game fits here.
| Fail-Safe, by Jon Ingold 9 votes "The..." [+]"The PC/protagonist communicates with the agent/narrator by radio." --baf... (No comment) [+](No comment) (  ) --smurfas666... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ) --Fredrik... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --lisapaul... (No comment) [+](No comment) --jmmelko... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( Vote for this game | |
| Counterfeit Monkey, by Emily Short 6 votes "The narrator isn't quite the person you control." [+]"The narrator isn't quite the person you control." ( ) --Ann R. J.... "The PC is a..." [+]"The PC is a literal amalgam of two people: Andra ("you"), the protagonist the player identifies with; and Alex ("me"), who narrates." --David Welbourn... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( - Full review) --Edward Lacey... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --jmmelko... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Sobol... "The narrator and..." [+]"The narrator and player-character share a body, but maybe not precisely the same motives." () --Sam Kabo Ashwell... Vote for this game | |
| Bellclap, by Tommy Herbert 6 votes "A rare triple split" [+]"A rare triple split: The PC is a god, the agent is a mortal carrying out his commands, and the viewpoint character is a kind of celestial go-between that delivers your commands and reports back on the results." --baf... (No comment) [+](No comment) --perching path... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( Vote for this game | |
| Violet, by Jeremy Freese 5 votes "A weird border case" [+]"A weird border case: The narration is the protagonist imagining what his girlfriend Violet would say if she were present. So technically he's the viewpoint character, but it seems a lot like Violet is." --baf... "The narrator is an imaginary version of the PC's girlfriend." [+]"The narrator is an imaginary version of the PC's girlfriend." ( ) --Ann R. J.... (No comment) [+](No comment) () --Karl Ove Hufthammer... Vote for this game | |
| Deadline Enchanter, by Alan DeNiro 5 votes "Work-as-object." [+]"Work-as-object.: The game is represented as a message from the author to the PC, composed beforehand to explain certain things that the PC needs to do. The narrator, therefore, is the work's fictional author; the PC is the person playing the fictional work; and the agent is the representation of the PC in that work." ( ) --perching path... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( Vote for this game | |
| Suspended, by Michael Berlyn 5 votes "The PC is in..." [+]"The PC is in suspended animation, and depends on robots with distinct personalities to act in the world and describe it." --baf... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Ghalev... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Matt Wigdahl... "You control a..." [+]"You control a bunch of robots who all have different senses or skills. I don't know if there's an earlier game which gives you control of so many entities." ( ) --Wade Clarke... (No comment) [+](No comment) --lisapaul... Vote for this game | |
| Úrquel, the black dragon, by David T. Marchand 3 votes "Viewpoint character/agent split" [+]"Viewpoint character/agent split: The viewpoint character and agent are separate characters who can be at odds. The player can help either or both." ( ) --Pinstripe... Vote for this game | |
| Terminal Interface for Models RCM301-303, by Victor Gijsbers 3 votes (No comment) [+](No comment) ( Vote for this game | |
| LASH -- Local Asynchronous Satellite Hookup, by Paul O'Brian 3 votes "The viewpoint..." [+]"The viewpoint character and agent is the robot; the PC is the person controlling the robot; the character whose goals and motivations you are meant to identify with shifts over the course of the game." --Sam Kabo Ashwell... (No comment) [+](No comment) --Cheryl L... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ) --Felix Pleșoianu... Vote for this game | |
| Voices, by Aris Katsaris 3 votes "The PC and narrator is Joan of Arc, while the player takes the role of God." [+]"The PC and narrator is Joan of Arc, while the player takes the role of God." ( Vote for this game | |
| Spider and Web, by Andrew Plotkin 2 votes "You're not quite yourself." [+]"You're not quite yourself.: Due to the game's unusual structure, you end up (unwittingly, at first) playing not your character, but your character's description of your character's own past activities. Missteps in gameplay become retroactive falsehoods, and you may end up playing several contradictory accounts on the part of the character you're representing." ( ) --Sobol... Vote for this game | |
| The Primrose Path, by Nolan Bonvouloir 2 votes (No comment) [+](No comment) ( Vote for this game | |
| Piece of Mind, by Giles Boutel 1 vote "The central..." [+]"The central character is aware of the player as a distinct entity, giving him commands that he's compelled to act on. It alarms him greatly." --baf... Vote for this game | |
| Transilvania Corruption, by Kambre, Delavader, Lord Kanington 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ) --IFforL2... Vote for this game | |
| Crystal and Stone, Beetle and Bone, by Jenny Brennan 1 vote "The character..." [+]"The character performing the actions is a girl; you are her god. Sometimes if you tell her to do weird things she'll give you funny looks." ( Vote for this game | |
| Casi Muerto, by Juan Antonio Paz Salgado 1 vote "Your space suit is the agent." [+]"Your space suit is the agent." --IFforL2... Vote for this game | |
| Ugly Chapter, by Sam Kabo Ashwell 1 vote "The story is told..." [+]"The story is told in the second person from the viewpoint of a not present third party who narrates the events to the protagonist in the past tense, and comments upon the actions." ( Vote for this game | |
| Color the Truth, by mathbrush 1 vote "You play as a..." [+]"You play as a detective trying to solve a murder. As you interview the suspects, you play through the stories they tell from their perspectives." ( Vote for this game | |
| The Beetmonger's Journal, by Scott Starkey 1 vote "The frame story..." [+]"The frame story gives you control of a famous explorer, but is narrated from the point of view of his assistant." --Emily Boegheim... Vote for this game | |
| Sir Ramic Hobbs and the High Level Gorilla, by Gil Williamson 1 vote "Narrated by a..." [+]"Narrated by a disembodied wizard with a poor opinion of the protagonist's intelligence." --baf... Vote for this game | |
| Terminal, by C. Everett 1 vote "The PC is a..." [+]"The PC is a body-less computer terminal and the agent is the drone through which the terminal performs the necessary actions. " ( Vote for this game | |
| Repeat the Ending, by Drew Cook 1 vote "Distinct narrator, protagonist, and player." [+]"Distinct narrator, protagonist, and player." --Drew Cook... Vote for this game | |
| Speculative Fiction, by Diane Christoforo and Thomas Mack 1 vote "Wizard is trapped..." [+]"Wizard is trapped in his familiar's body" ( Vote for this game | |
| Red Door Yellow Door, by Charm Cochran 1 vote "Four girls play a game" [+]"Four girls play a game: You're playing a psychological/supernatural game in which your sister is immersed in another world and you have to give her instructions" --Wynter... Vote for this game | |
| Forsaken Denizen, by C.E.J. Pacian 1 vote "Narrator is an NPC in the game" [+]"Narrator is an NPC in the game" ( ) --Tabitha... Vote for this game | |
| Fairest, by Amanda Walker 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ) --EJ... Vote for this game | |
| TWEEZER, by Richard Goodness and PaperBlurt 1 vote "The PC is a..." [+]"The PC is a tourist in a fantasy land, and the narrative voice is their local guide" ( Vote for this game | |
Poll created on April 21, 2010
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