In some games, you play a brave hero, or a cynical crime-fighter, or a cunning robber. In others, you play an artificial mind, an alien, or an animal. In many, you play nobody in particular, just an average person of some kind, doing a job or falling accidentally into comedy or drama. But in some games, you play something below that, characters who dwell in the ordinary world but are markedly and deliberately below ordinary: characterized as timid, anxious or miserable, sometimes painfully straitlaced or finicky, often cowed or dazzled by the opposite sex, overborne by superiors, or limited by self-doubt or even self-loathing. This is their poll.
Rameses, by Stephen Bond 7 votes "Teenage hell" [+]"Teenage hell: Describes the protagonist's pain by limiting the parser. Surprisingly, it works great." ( ![]() | |
Love, Hate and the Mysterious Ocean Tower, by C.E.J. Pacian 5 votes "In this game you..." [+]"In this game you play a nerdy linguist, companion to the dashing hero who is supposed to save everyone and all that jazz." --Molly... (No comment) [+](No comment) --verityvirtue... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ![]() | |
Violet, by Jeremy Freese 3 votes (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ![]() | |
Episode in the Life of an Artist, by Peter Eastman 2 votes (No comment) [+](No comment) --Emily Short... (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ![]() | |
Fear, by Chuan-Tze Teo 1 vote "The PC must..." [+]"The PC must overcome various fears during the game." --David Welbourn... ![]() | |
The Story of Mr. P, by Hannes Schueller 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) --Ghalev... ![]() | |
Nightfall, by Eric Eve 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ![]() | |
Couch of Doom, by Megan Moser and Margaret Moser 1 vote "The PC is too..." [+]"The PC is too lazy and depressed to get up. " ( ![]() | |
BiCon, by rach 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ![]() | |
The Blind House, by Amanda Allen 1 vote "The PC is so..." [+]"The PC is so fearful of her own reflection and memories that it's unclear who she really is and what's really happening." --David Welbourn... ![]() | |
Monday, 16:30, by Alexander "Mordred" Andonov 1 vote "You are looked..." [+]"You are looked down on by your coworkers and are desperate to get the attention of the woman in the next building. " ( ![]() | |
Aisle, by Sam Barlow 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) --Ghalev... ![]() | |
The Mulldoon Legacy, by Jon Ingold 1 vote "Cowardly in a way that affects what you can do" [+]"Cowardly in a way that affects what you can do: There comes a point in the game where the PC goes through something of a transformation, and suddenly all of the fear effects are removed." --baf... ![]() | |
Suicide, by Dan Doyle III 1 vote (No comment) [+](No comment) ( ![]() | |
The Primrose Path, by Nolan Bonvouloir 1 vote "The PC..." [+]"The PC maddeningly refuses to even look at a particular object in the game." --David Welbourn... ![]() | |
Freedom, by Anonymous 1 vote "The author..." [+]"The author explains in the endnotes that it's written from the POV of someone with social anxiety disorder." --baf... ![]() | |
Poll created on May 17, 2010