What if I could play an MMO and choose to set it to fixed first person perspective, for example? Or opt not to use any of the available player character voices?

I’m not sure what loads of other gamers feel, but (and I’m now referring to an RPS article by Jim Rossignol I read: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/07/15/some-stuff-about-open-world-games/#more-14783) the way a game presents itself shapes the expectations of the player. Me, I’m very hesitant of playing games where the designer wants to make characters look as human as possible. Probably because this doesn’t work for me until they manage to cross my uncanny valley. On the flip side, more stylised character art (like with WoW) is far more acceptable.

Being a player and not a developer it is hard to dissect which things are issues and not simply personal opinions, but when it was announced that Star Wars: The Old Republic was fully voiced I recoiled inside. Mainly because when your own character has a voice in such a game (a game where you’re playing your character, not a character that’s handed to you) it’s often nigh-impossible to find a voice that fits the character you want to create.

I had the same with Baldur’s Gate (Neverwinter Nights has this as well) where you pick a portrait and then see sort of doll of your class. While as a player you may be able to live with a body-builder-type female character, but when you just picked a portrait of a character not looking anything like it, it’s jarring. Maybe it’s better to have one or the other if you can’t match them at least superficially.

Hmm. I may have had a general point, but it may have gotten lost. I’ll submit it in case it might stimulate further thought and discussion.

But these characters are still the main characters. And you couldn’t replace them with any member of the supporting cast: Tintin would be far less popular if it was about a drunk sailor. This lack of personality is exactly the reason why: it’s much easier for a reader (especially a child) to indentify with a character if this character is bland. These characters also allow the story to unfold itself without having their personality bog things down. You’re not reading a story about a character doing this, but a story about this, with a character walking you through it.

Thus being said, I wouldn’t say that Video games character shouldn’t be the base for the story, as your conclusion implies. Just like American comics (and recent Franco-Belgian comics) can be good with “personalized” main characters, video games can be good with a real main character. You just need to do it correctly.