Virtual Character Design for Games and Interactive Media

Robin James Stuart Sloan

• Publisher: A K Peters/CRC Press
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781466598195
• eBook ISBN: 9781498760263
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Computer Graphics
• Index: Computer Science

While the earliest character representations in video games were rudimentary in terms of their presentation and performance, the virtual characters that appear in games today can be extremely complex and lifelike. These are characters that have the potential to make a powerful and emotional connection with gamers. As virtual characters become more

II

Performance

In the previous three chapters, we looked at factors that can impact on the presentation of characters within games and interactive media. From basic biological and artistic principles to issues of identity and representation, our concern here was primarily how we can display and interpret characters. In the following three chapters we move beyond visual appearance to consider how characters perform. First, we examine the psychological theories that can inform our understanding of character personality, emotion, and nonverbal expressions. We then consider the context in which virtual characters are placed, encompassing both narrative and game-design theories. Lastly, we look at how theories of acting, movement, and animation underpin the creation of the virtual character performances.

Chapter 4

Personality, Emotion, and Expression

We should begin our discussion of performance by first examining the psychological concepts that underpin human behavior and actions. If our goal is to design characters audiences can relate to and empathize with, then it’s essential that we have some understanding of the nature of personality, emotion, and expression. From the overarching attitudes and traits that define how we behave to the short-term feeling states that affect our thought processes and immediate actions, an appreciation of both personality and emotion is vital for good character design. By extension, how we use nonverbal communication to express who we are, what we are thinking, and what we are feeling is fundamental to the creation of authentic and emotive performances.

Psychology is, of course, a vast subject domain, encompassing a range of research traditions and methodological approaches. It is beyond the scope of this book to comprehensively review and discuss the psychology of human personality, emotion, and behavior. Indeed, there are already a number of books and academic papers that specifically target a psychological discussion of character design, most notably the excellent book by Ibister (2006). For a broader and deeper understanding of psychological principles, it would be advisable for readers to start with Ibister’s work before delving deeper into the literature to study human psychology. For now, the aim of this chapter is to specifically target concepts that will help us to both design and analyze characters in terms of their personalities and emotional journeys.

First, we look at three useful approaches to breaking down a character’s personality: the five-factor model for personality measurement, the role of individual attitudes in defining personality, and the Nolan chart for plotting political views and beliefs. Moving on to emotion, we look at the psychobiological nature of emotions (what emotions are and what role they serve in an evolutionary sense). Finally, we consider how we communicate nonverbal information using our faces, bodies, and voices.

Personality

Personality Traits and the Five-Factor Model

Personality can be defined as the pattern of behaviors, traits, and characteristics that make any individual unique. Unlike emotions (which are short-term affective states), a person’s personality is fairly stable throughout his or her life. Although environmental factors and significant life events might impact on an individual’s personality, we can generally consider personality to be a long-term and relatively permanent state.

In psychology, researchers and theorists have made attempts to describe personality in terms of a small number of factors. As discussed by Digman (1990), the roots of this research in the modern era can be traced to the 1930s, with the following 50 years seeing a flurry of activity in the development of models based on personality factors. Digman stresses that there was general agreement on the notion that personality could be expressed according to just five factors, but notes that psychologists often had different opinions on the definition of these factors. For example, early research by Fiske (1949) lists the factors as social adaptability, conformity, a will to achieve, emotional control, and intellect. Other definitions include surgency, agreeableness, dependability, emotionality, and culture (Tupes and Christal 1961), and power, love, work, affect, and intellect (Peabody and Goldberg 1989). However, one of the most well-known and frequently used models is NEO-PI-R (or the Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness Personality Inventory, Revised). This model was proposed by Costa and McCrae (1985) and can be useful in both the design and analysis of characters. While any validated model of personality in the five-factor paradigm could be valuable in your own research and practice, for now we focus on Costa and McCrae’s model as a good and well-supported example.

The NEO-PI-R operates by measuring personality according to the factors of neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. These are subsequently broken down into six facets that help to shape and define each personality factor (see Table 4.1). All in all, the five factors and 30 facets provide a means of assessing the nature of a personality.

Table 4.1

The NEO-PI-R Model

Factor	Facets
Neuroticism	Anxiety
	Angry hostility
	Depression
	Self-consciousness
	Impulsiveness
	Vulnerability
Extraversion	Warmth
	Gregariousness
	Assertiveness
	Activity
	Excitement seeking
	Positive emotions
Openness to experience	Fantasy
	Aesthetics
	Feelings
	Actions
	Ideas
	Values
Agreeableness	Trust
	Straightforwardness
	Altruism
	Compliance
	Modesty
	Tender-mindedness
Conscientiousness	Competence
	Order
	Dutifulness
	Achievement striving
	Self-discipline
	Deliberation

Neuroticism measures the extent to which someone is likely to become distressed, including whether she is freely anxious, has a tendency to experience anger and frustration, has a tendency to experience sadness and despondency, is shy, is impulsive, and is prone to becoming stressed. In binary terms, we can summarize either end of the neuroticism scale as nervous or confident. Extraversion concerns the level of energy an individual feels toward social interaction, including whether someone is interested in others, enjoys others’ company, is forceful, is active, requires stimulation, and commonly experiences positive emotions. The two extreme categories of extraversion can be described as being either solitary or outgoing. Openness is a measure of someone’s appreciation of experiences, including whether he enjoys fantasy and imagination, appreciates art and nature, is open to emotive experiences, is open to new experiences, is interested in the world, and is prepared to evaluate his own and others’ values. The two extreme categories for openness are curious and cautious. Agreeableness concerns whether someone is compassionate or uncompassionate, including whether she believes others are sincere, are frank, are concerned for others, are compliant, are humble, and are tender. For agreeableness, we can consider someone to be either friendly or cold. And finally, conscientiousness encompasses persistence, control, and motivations, including whether someone has belief in his own abilities, thinks things through, feels a sense of duty, feels a need to achieve things, feels a need to complete tasks, and tends to think before acting. We might consider a conscientious person to be organized, while someone who is not conscientious is careless.

NEO-PI-R, as with other measures for pers...

Table of contents

• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Introduction
• Section I - Presentation
• Section II - Performance
• Section III - Practice
• Glossary
• Ludography