Task 3 - Representation

Produce an account of stereotypes, charactisations and genders within video game story’s and use examples of how these help within storytelling, you will have to use some video games as a support for your theories and explanations

Within the gaming industry video games will be quite stereotyped when it comes to characters, environments and even collectibles. They will usually follow certain rules that allows the player to easily identify what that character or object will be as the game progresses.

Heros/Protagonists

When it comes to video games the hero usually has a brave stereotype and that surrounds him/her, they are quite courageous and carry traits that make them special. They have to be courageous due to the odds that they will be going up against, they also tend to be smart using fast decision making skills to get out of situations of peril or seriousness, they are also quite selfless and usual help people who are in need. One of the main features about the hero is the special trait they carry, across all games this changes drastically and can also be considered a special trait or not depending on your way of looking at it, by this I mean the character has a uniqueness about them that differs them from everyone else in the game. These skills can go from being the chosen one with ultimate power to simple parkour skills to just being able to shoot fire from their hands. In a lot of games the protagonist will also learn lessons and their personality will change as the story progresses, an example could be of the protagonist being quite naive at the start to later becoming cunning and learning from the mistakes of their naivety. Obviously not all characters will be follow every regular stereotype that is usually found and can sometimes differ highly from a lot of regular ways hero's act. Below are some examples of protagonists.

Jack (Bioshock)

Jack is a faceless protagonist from the first bioshock game. He is a normal person who ends up in a plane crash and having to wander around the underwater world of rapture, what makes jack special are the plasmids and weapons found throughout the game. Weapons are a usual part of video games that are used to fight through games and with bioshock the weapons are regular guns such as a revolver pistol, thompson submachine gun, spencer shotgun and more. What makes Jack special however, are the plasmids I mentioned earlier, these plasmids give Jack special powers such as being able to shoot electricity, fire and even wasps (possibly the weirdest and most random of the bunch) out of his left hand. This gives the protagonist this unique look and control for the player while sticking to the stereotype of giving the protagonist a special weapon/power. If you compare his first encounter of injecting a plasmid into his arm compared to the rest of the times, you can see a change that he has adapted to how they work. Where they still make him freak out during the changing stage they don't send him into this massive state of panic where he freaks out so badly that he accidently knocks himself out. Another part of Jack which makes him special is the fact that he was born in rapture and is under mind control when someone says "would you kindly." These specialties are what the game is based around with the player finding out that the antagonist created Jack and is using this mind control to make Jack complete objectives that would free the antagonist from rapture. These are what make Jack a unique individual to differentiate between him and other characters but he also shares some stereotyping with other video game characters. These stereotypes are that he is a silent character with no face to his name (unless people have gone into the files and found his character model) he is courageous and heads straight into danger but also not courageous at the stuff he finds, he is also quite naive at the fact he listened to what the antagonist said and believing in it. We can also see that change in character he has, especially when he finds out that he is under mind control influence, he recounts the memories that were placed in his head and then sees the actual memories of what happened through his life and hears the words "would you kindly" repeated over and over up until the latest command to kill Andrew Ryan.

Nathan Drake (Uncharted series)

Nathan Drake is the usual human being that you would meet in daily life, he's smart, funny, charming, improvises and more. He goes off on crazy adventures to find riches that would help set him up for life but always walk away from each adventure with a few trinkets, a book filled with drawings and his memories. He carries the usual traits of a hero by being courageous (to an extent) and defeating odds that a usual human would not be able to survive with. What makes Nathan so special is his climbing abilities, he can use parkour type skills to scale up monstrous sized structures such as buildings and cliffs. His personality is also quite unique as he is has both smart and stupid qualities about him such as being able to solve mind boggling puzzles but also getting proven wrong about simple thing such as climbing over a wall where instead he could have just gone through a door saving him time and effort. These traits make his character loved by gamers and the skills of his climbing abilities allow for great stories to be told that the player can become hugely intertwined with. You can also see the character development that Drake has as the games have gone by, in the beginning he would love to risk it all, he lived for the thrill of adventure and let relationships and friendships get broken as he concentrated on the goal at hand but by the end game you can see how he is willing to let this final adventure slide as he looks back over his previous and failed adventures. 

Jak (Jak and daxter series)

Jak has multiple characteristics that make him stand out from the regular protagonist, at first glance you will notice the oddly coloured hair and pointy ears that gives Jak this weird unique appearance, another characteristic within the first game is that he is a mute giving the game a silent protagonist. He has the usual stereotypes in any action, plat-forming game with how he fights, jumps, manoeuvres etc. He is also the stereotypical hero that fights to protect those he loves and stop the world from being destroyed or taken over. During the second and third instalments Jak begins to gain power ups that he cannot control, especially his dark side. After being experimented on with dark eco he can turn into a "mindless beast" which makes him stronger, faster and more dangerous than normal, it also somehow leaves him with a voice box and its an angry one. In the third instalment he gains the powers of light eco to combat the dark ones that plague and threaten the planet.

Side kick's

A side kick is usually quite different from the protagonist, they offer a different personality and provide support to the protagonist whether its advice or physical help. A lot of sidekicks will be linked to the protagonist closely either being family or a best friend. Sidekick's are quite weaker in comparison to the protagonist but they are a helpful resource that allow the protagonist to succeed. Without the sidekick video games wouldn't have a good story, sidekick's help to advance the story not only with game play elements but with story and entertainment elements such as the connections between the sidekick and protagonist and the information and stories they have to provide the game with.

Daxter (Jak and daxter series)

Daxter is the best friend of Jak and was originally a human until he fell into a pit of dark eco, this transformed him into an ottsel (half otter, half weasel) which meant that he had to ride on the shoulder of Jak from now on due to the fact of his size. During the first game Daxter was there to offer a voice due to Jak being a silent protagonist. He will crack witty humour and one liners giving the game a more humorous light on the series. He is the opposite of Jak in the fact that Daxter is quite scared of enemies and takes a lot of situations non seriously. During the second and third instalments he becomes a more helpful character as the player can take control of Daxter during certain segments of the game to complete missions, due to his height Daxter can fit into smaller areas compared to Jak allowing for him to help Jak progress. 

Elizabeth (Bioshock Infinite)

Elizabeth is a female sidekick in this bioshock title, she is an important factor for this game as the whole story is centred around the player rescuing her and getting her out of this floating sky so the character, known as Booker, can pay off his debts. The reason she is so important and imprisoned is that she has powers allowing her to open rifts to other dimensions. Elizabeth provides aid to the player as the game spans out by handing the player helpful items for gameplay such as throwing ammo or salts to the player when needed, she also finds money for the player to collect and can help open rifts to allow items from other universes to appear in game which can aid the player. As for her personality she differs hugely from Booker's, you can see this from the fact that she is a carefree human with high amounts of intellect, a passion for exploring and the morality that she has against killing. Booker on the other hand isn't as phased about killing, has a serious attitude and wishes to get out of the city as fast as he can without any exploration. She wears quite rich type style of clothing with dresses being her main choice, her clothes portray that she belongs to quite a wealthy family (as she is being held hostage by the man who created the floating city.)

Ellie (The last of us)

Ellie is a 14 year old human born into an apocalyptic world, her mother is deceased and her father has never been mentioned so she has no family. Ellie plays a main role in the last of us as she has the cure to the fungal disease that plagues the world, the player, who takes on the role of Joel, must take Ellie from one state in America to another so that scientists and doctors can use Ellie's immune cells to create a vaccine. As the game progresses Joel grows a strong bond with Ellie this is due to the fact that as the outbreak happened Joel lost his own daughter who was 12 at the time. Even though Joel wasn't fond of Ellie as the time of meeting her he slowly becomes attached and starts to treat her as though she is Sarah, Ellie also grows a strong bond with Joel probably through the fact that she never knew her father. As for Ellie's personality, she is a hopeful type of person, due to the fact of being born in an apocalypse she is quite optimistic and wants to have fun, she is also quite brave getting involved in gun fights against scavengers. At one point of the game she must nurse Joel back to health due to the injury he has rendering him almost dead, this means she has to go and find supplies including scavenging for medicine and hunting animals in the wilderness for food. Her style of clothing portrays the average teenager as she wears the casual clothing combination of a long sleeved shirt or top, jeans and sneakers. 

Villains/Antagonists

The villain usually has a menacing appearance and characteristics that make them evil, they have no morals and will attempt to cause as much destruction or chaos in order to tip odds in their favour, they will also have an army of NPC's to fight for them. The way that villains act are quite high and mighty with this thought of their plan going to fully succeed even gloating in the face of the protagonist and trying to discourage him before the plan is complete. They will stop at nothing to achieve their goals including tricking people into helping them, murdering innocent civilians, torturing people and more. Not all villains follow these standards and some aren't as extreme but what makes a villain evil is the rules they break when they commit certain actions. The stereotypical villain will look unique to all other enemies in a video game, having a certain dress code or look about them that show their evilness

Vaas Montenegro (far cry 3)

Vaas is a crazy villain in the far cry 3 video game, he has no patience for human life and does not care about the morality of his actions. He will be quite crazy towards the player by acting all kind and reassuring one minute and then the next shouting and threatening him in a violent manor. Vaas is defined from his hair cut (tried to bring the mohawk back) and sense of style. For a villain he doesn't wear much armour or special clothing, he sticks to this usual tropical island look, but it is the crazy personality which has defined Vaas and shown that a villain is always mentally unstable. Another reason Vaas in a favourite villain for a lot of people is his insanity speech which he gives to the player before attempting to murder him, in the one cutscene it sums up Vass' character as a whole. The more encounters you have with Vaas means the bigger you want to put him out of his crazy misery.

Ganondorf (Legend of Zelda)

Ganondorf is a dark character placed into a colourful and vibrant world, his ominous looks and awesome evil outfit make him a very demeaning antagonist. He is a powerful character and a massive trickster, he is so powerful and cunning that he took over Hyrule by taking control of the throne and sent the world of Hyrule into an age of darkness. Ganondorf is a tall and brooding character that wears a full suit of black armour along with a red cape, his skin is a greyish green and his ginger hair makes him all the more evil. When the player encounters Ganon he will usually laugh in the player's face talking about how his plans can't be defeated and how link should give up now and hand over his third of the triforce so Ganon can have full power over the world.

Collectibles

Collectibles in video games stereotypically stand out, they are scattered along the paths of the game and are a type of guidance for the player. Collectibles can have a rarity status labelled on them and the rarer the collectible in the game the harder it will be to get. Depending on what type of game it is will make the collectible vary, for a simple 2D run and jump game like Mario the collectibles are easy to get and offer aid to the player during gameplay. As for harder games such as dark souls, collectibles will be the life source for the player and will be the objects that allow the player to progress but only if they have acquired it.

Teensies, lums and more (Rayman seires)

Rayman is a colourful game filled with bright skies and vibrant environments but what stands out even more are the collectibles you can gain, in this game you can collect multiple collectibles. The teensies are a main feature to collect for the game, they are needed to progress from one environment to the other and must be rescued from the cages they are trapped in, teensies are usually hidden in secret areas that you must find throughout each level. Lums are a common collectible in rayman, they are placed all along the floor of the level making it easy for the player to collect, if the player collects enough lums by the end of the level they will receive two extra teensie collectibles and a coin for bragging rights.
Riddler trophies (Batman arkham series)
The riddler trophies are scattered throughout the dark and open worlds of the arkham games, they are usually fluorescent green and are placed in the game for the player to collect for a side mission. Some of these trophies are easy to collect while others use the gadgets and skills that you have acquired along the way. Once all trophies have been collected you will be brought to the task of apprehending the riddler and earning an achievement or trophy.
NPC's

NPC's in video games are characters that the player will meet along the way, sometimes they can be of help to the player and offer quests, items for sale or advice while other NPC's could just be there to add life to an area and emphasise it. They don't offer a whole lot of purpose to the main story but will help to make the environment and game seem more realistic. They will have a bland and dull look to them making them stand out less and usually will wear similar clothing to the surrounding NPC's in the area. Some NPC's however, will stay with the player throughout the journey and these NPC's are quite different to the regular ones. Although they will do the same thing such as offer advice or items, they will help to progress the story. You might be able to have a relationship with some of them or you might be able to become enemies with them through the choices you make, whatever it is they do they will progress the story in a certain way.
Civilians and soldiers (call of duty series)
These NPC's are here to add depth to the story and environments. Civilians will be placed in certain areas of the game to show the effects of war, they will scream, run and plead for help as they try to get away from the heavy crossfire between you and enemy soldiers. They offer a challenge to the gameplay as you attempt to save them and not harm them in the crossfire and also make you feel as though you are really in a war in towns inhabited by people. As for the soldiers, you will have friendly soldiers who you will see die and help out in battle, they are there to show that you are part of this massive battalion and not fighting alone. Some becomes allies who stick around for further missions and who you grow attached to while others are just simple everyday NPC's who die every second showcasing once again the dreadful effects of war.

Borderlands NPC's (borderlands series)

Borderlands has a wide amount of NPC's who offer multiple features, in some areas guns, health, shields, mods, upgrades etc. can be bought off of people to help you progress through the game while other NPC's will offer either main or side missions for you to accept and complete to gain loot, money and experience. Each NPC's mission has some lore to it and a comedic story that revolves around them giving the player an experience that they are doing an actual job for somebody as the NPC continues to tune in telling them what the next objective it.