Analysis of Bob and Bub as characters.

(The following is what I submitted as a paper for my Designing Interactive Characters class. I made some point which I wish to share and get feedback on.)

Many a well wisher has suggested to me that I change my characters before starting this assignment. “How are you going to actually analyze Bob and Bub?” they ask me. “With gusto!” I scream, as I put on my space commander helmet and jump out the window with cape trailing behind me. I think it’s important to point out that a game doesn’t have to have deep and well fleshed out characters to be fun. Fun being the overarching goal for any game, in my opinion. Yet at the same time, even simple characters need to make sense. Need to fit to their role in the world they’re inhabiting. And based on their appearance, world, actions (both on their own and under player control), we can still gleam a lot about their nature and mindset. Sometimes, being a vague character can even help the immersion of the game. The player is allowed to inflect their own story onto the character, and most times the story will be one the player can closer empathize with to be better connected with this character, or one which makes the character so outlandish that it deciding their actions and seeing what choices they’ll have to make in the future is so interesting the player is inclined to follow the character. I played Fallout 3 in both these ways, and the effect worked. When a character who is designed to be a blank slate is also the most interesting character, something about the role of characters in games as compared to other mediums needs to be examined.

But this is trailing away from Bob and Bub. A couple of dragons on a quest to defeat some monsters. We can start here by looking at the physical aspect of these two. They’re dragons. Classically dragons are huge creatures of myth with immense power and some control over the elements. If you allow bubbles to be an element, then this holds fairly true. If we hold all of these true, it even goes to say something about the monsters inhabiting the world. They are also huge, and so powerful that the only creatures more powerful then them are the legendary dragons. Being dragons lends to the fantasy setting of the game, and also manages to lend a element to the game play: without the spines on their backs, they wouldn’t be able to pop the bubbles containing enemies, thereby defeating them. I’m sure that there are other creatures they could have been, and the game wouldn’t have been all that different, but at the same time I can’t imagine any creature better then they could be. They’re imaginary, they’re powerful, and when something as majestic as a dragon is rendered in such a cartoon style, it’s impossible not to understand the lighthearted and fantasy setting that they were setting out to achieve (and did achieve, by my account at least).

Of course, that’s just the physical. While they accomplish their roles there very well, when it comes to the other aspects of their character they seem to fail. Bob and Bub don’t have a past other then “we’re dragons, we’re going on an adventure to defeat monsters.” No explanation as to why. Why do they need to defeat monsters? Why are there monsters? Why can they shoot bubbles? Was fire too good for them or something? Is it possible that they know they’re just PC’s in a game? And my question: Is that so bad?

They are characters born in a different era. An era of skill and points and quarters. People playing a game in an arcade – or just at the machine in the local pizzeria – didn’t have time to follow the adventures of some blond mercenary with a giant sword and a sorted past of dopplegangerism. All they needed was, “President Harry has been kidnapped. Are you a bad enough dude to get him back?” and then you got right to the punching and finding out. And then 3 lives later you ate your pizza and went on with your day. It was a short engagement mentality which followed on to the early home consoles. The only strange part about this was the fact that the lives system followed. Lives were something to keep people plugging in quarters, but when you’re at home it’s free to play. (If anything, this makes me question why people are bugging about the “hand up” system in the latest Prince of Persia game. It seems to me that it’s actually finally accepting something that’s been needed for a long time.) But it’s not like the new home setting required more story telling. “Bowser stole the princess. Get her back,” is a story that got inumerous people through 8 worlds of simple running and jumping and in fact instilled exhilaration into them when they finally rescued the princess. And then they went on with their lives. If you want to fill a game with character development and plot, there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just importaint to remember that  a game doesn’t need that. Books and movies do need that, but games don’t. As long as they’re fun to play, they can succeed regardless of story.

Bob and Bub are out to defeat the monsters, and the evil wizard who seems to be behind them all. Just the fact that they’re the characters and are the ones doing all the monster popping tells me that they’re characters of strong will with a sense of morality that leads them without failing them. To me, that’s more then engaging enough to make me want to help these guys defeat that wizard.

While I’ve just said that to fill their roles Bob and Bub don’t need to be deep characters, let’s continue this analysis by trying to figure out how they fall on the Big Five matrix. Because the given information about them is so limited (we’re not explicitly given anything except for “it’s adventure time to the cave of monsters.”), most of it is going to be either inferred or speculated or plain old made up through my views of them, as I am the one doing the analysis. Still, let’s see what happens.

Openness: If they are as steadfast to their morals that “the wizard is evil, we stand for good, we are the protectors of the land from evil.” then I can’t imagine these two to be to open. Not to say that they’re mean or unkind creatures, just that their world exists in terms of black and white, good and evil. For the simplicity of the game, I’m actually able to accept that as their world very well. Just means they’re not going to be open at all. But such openness just doesn’t exist in their world.

Conscientiousness: From the point of dependableness, I suppose that depends on how you play. The farther you manage to get through the game, the more dependable you are. But considering that through all the levels they leave food lying all over the floor and then will eat it without a second thought…it doesn’t say much for their organization, or cleanliness for that matter.

Extroversion: From the friendly noises they make throughout their games, I’d be willing to believe Bob and Bub are extroverted creatures. Kind and friendly, willing to do things for the good of everyone, they take this adventure together. In Bubble Bobble 2 there even bring two more dragons along for the adventure. This could be a fallacy, however, because we don’t see how the dragons interact with the rest of the non-monster populace. It’s possible dragons stick to themselves and they only went on this because the terrified populace had to seek them out. Once they found them they were nice and went on this quest, of course. But at least among dragons they seem to be extroverted, even if the dragon race is somewhat aloof.

Agreeableness: Bob and Bub are quite possibly the most agreeable creatures known to man. Always friendly, willing to help, doing their best to never be mean or critical, and possibly even being gullible to some extent.

Neuroticism: While it take a very large amount of stress to make these dragons crack, they have been shown in some of their games to be in situations with characters who make them cautious, even to the point of freaking out at times. We could actually take this back and have it be a argument for introversion, as the only thing shown to make Bob and Bub falter is when they meet new non-dragon characters who they are unfamiliar with. It even goes back to openness, as it’s only characters they’re not familiar with that makes them stress out. The only thing to make the hesitate is people who they aren’t familiar with. Other then that, these dragons seem to be in control and completely at ease in all situations that they find commonplace.

I honestly believe that a game doesn’t need characters to be a good game. Game and play are synonymous, not game and story. A good story won’t fix a bad game, but a good game can make a bad story good enough. Although a good game and good story combination is best. However, I think the story much balance the game. If the story starts to overshadow the game, it becomes a question of why even bother expressing your story through a game. Bob and Bub are a good example of story enough story behind a good and fun game.

F*R*A*G: If assholes could fly, this place would be busier then O’Hare.

Effects over time.

The purpose of the experiment was to find the effects on a subject over the proceeding time period. Professor Alan Devair used himslf as the subject, and his observations were recorded and are presented here:

0:01 – Feelin’ fine.

0:06 – Feel a fuzzy sensation on my lower leg. It was just the cat brushing up against me.

0:19 – Feel kind of hungry.

0:20 – Go make a sandwich and eat it. Delicious.

0:25 – Hunger disapates.

0:28 – Consider that I might be recording findings to often. Decided that’s true, and kick off to finish reading a book I’m in the middle of, Dapper Dan’s Dangerous Delivery.

1:34 – Wasn’t that bad of a book. It would be great if it wasn’t fiction, as Dapper Dan seems like an upstanding kinda man.

2:20 – Feel a chill. Upon inspection, find that kitchen window is open. Don’t remember opening it. Close it, and reconsider close scrutiny of events. Decided to Record even more events.

4:37 – Promptly forget. Not just to record things more often, but the entire events of the past two hours and seventeen minutes.

4: 45 – What was that noise?

4:59 – Believe I’m becoming paranoid. Watch TV to try and relax.

5:20 – Vince convinces me to purchase ShamWow’s.

7:12 – I think Wilfred Brimley can see into my soul.

7:30 – Who Wants to be a Millionaire comes on, and fearing that that test on top of my own experiment would put me in double jeopardy, I turn off the TV.

7:33 – Get dizzy. Thinking about Jeopardy made me think of Wheel of Fortune. Decide I’m thinking too much for now and go to sleep.

9:41 – Awoken by breeze from kitchen window. Did I not actually close it before? And how did the breeze reach me across the house? Leave it open this time, but turn up heat.

10:00 – Hours reach double digits point. I eat a cupcake with two candles in it in celebration of this momentous occasion.

10:25 – It occurs to me that I do not own a cat. After a search, no cat is found on the premises.

14:10 – Fold some laundry. It seems stiffer then usual, must be cold in here. Turn up heat.

15:20 – My ShamWow’s arrive. That was fast.

16:00 – Wonder what the world will be like when everything becomes dystopian.

16:05 – Wow, so this is what dystopia is like…

17:10 – I never noticed before how longs my arms are.

17:14 – Begin contemplating moving to Europe so I can use the metric system to record length of arms and have it seem longer then using American measurements.

17:50 – Have allready filled two notebooks with scribbles and note on the best ways to exploit various conversions, measurements, mathematical formulas, and Catholics.

19:12 – I think I just debunked some fundamental principles of economics, quantum physics, and Judaism.

22:04 – Beleive that higher temperatures will make my brain function better. Turn heat up.

22:21 – Notice that the water in the toilet is boiling. Turn heat down.

24:30 – Under the findings of Jim Croce that you cannot hold time in a bottle, begin experiments in holding bullet time in a bottle.

24:56 – I don’t get it! Bullets are held in magazines, and Time IS a magazine! Why doesn’t this work?!

24:59 – Oh, this bottle is already full. Of whiskey.

25:00 – Now that that’s solved *hic* back to experiment.

27:00 – I swear I’m no longer breathing due to use of my diaphragm, but because the walls are expanding and contracting and changing the air pressure of the room forcing air in and out of my lungs.

27:74 – Now I’m pretty sure the entire time space continuum is starting to fuck with me.

30:03 – Dapper Dan shows up. We play some Super Smash Brothers Brawl.

30:31 – Dan throws down his controller in disgust, complaining that my use of sonic is cheap. I kick him in the balls and he leaves whimpering in pain. I am clearly the victor.

37:20 – I, Victor, champion and ruler of the realm, put out this decree over my lands: I demand cookies! BWAHAHAHA!!

45: 44 – My throne buzzes loudly and I realize I’ve been sitting on the washing machine. I come back from my imaginary realm, but promise the populace I will return to lead them one day.
50:01 – That goddamn cat is back. He’s in the kitchen. But I’ve got his number. I’m not going to look into or listen to the kitchen, to be sure I never have proof of his presence or absence. He will dissolve into a pool of quantum indecision.

50:15 – I’m not sure if my theory to get rid of the cat is entirely correct, so I refer to my notes from [17:50]. The books are filled with all of the lyrics to the Red Hot Chili Peppers discography. They do not backup or dissuade my fears.

64:12 – Hunger returns.

0:20 – With the line between reality and memory blurring, instead of making a new sandwich I relive eating the sandwich I had earlier. Still delicious.

64:15 – Hunger dissipates.

October 2nd, 1872 – ‘Very well, then. What time do you make it?’ ‘Eleven twenty-two,’ replied Passepartout, pulling an enormous silver watch from the depths of his waistcoat pocket. ‘Your watch is slow.’ ‘Pardon me, sir, but that’s impossible.’ ‘You’re four minutes slow. It is of no consequence. What matters is to note the difference. So, starting from this moment, 11.29 a.m. on Wednesday, 2 October 1872, you are in my employ.’ Whereupon Phileas Fogg got up, took his hat in his left hand, placed it on his head with the action of an automaton, and vanished without uttering another word.

77:07 – Does my face look pale to you?

78:49 – I’ve given up. All that which I had once found to be sure and truthful have turned against me.My paranoia is true, my works are meaningless. Life is a dream, and I am become death.

79:40 – I’m going to go lie down in the snow in my room. I guess my room is aspen now.

The records of the experiment end here. The Professor Devair was dissapeared from his apartment sometime after the last observation, and has not been seen since. The signs of his last actions are a number of opened but still full cans of cat food placed in animal traps, and the kitchen window is closed and has been shattered. Tatters of his shirt are discarded in front of the window.

These records are to be stored in the archive.

F*R*A*G: Die Hard 3 was a documentary filmed in real time. So was Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

How many cans?

You know, I blogged earlier and I liked it. I really miss it. It’s a weird…thing? Experience? Activity? Yeah, sure. It’s not exactily like talking with someone (what with today’s world of email and IM ,you can see the comparision), but it also doesn’t feel completely like I’m making a public service announcement type thing, either. It’s a rant, pure and simple is what it is. Pick a topic and then let your mind follow the trail of that thought until it runs out of time, energy, or vespian gas trail. It’s like thinking, but only like a quarter the work of normal thinking! Plus is a solitary activity (the way I’ve always done it, not nessissairly always true), which is the kinda thing I’m usually up for.

Man, I really love the music in Cave Story.

It’s wierd tho, becaue it combines not talking to anyone in particular, and talking to everyone at once. And since anyone who wants can read it, you get some interesting responses. For me, usually, none at all. Or nothing substatntial, at least… *shrug*

See, in Psyc we learned about this thing called “learned helplessness”. It works kinda like this:

In part one of Seligman and Steve Maier’s experiment, three groups of dogs were placed in harnesses. Group One dogs were simply put in the harnesses for a period of time and later released. Groups Two and Three consisted of “yoked pairs.” A dog in Group 2 would be intentionally subjected to pain by being given electric shocks, which the dog could end by pressing a lever. A Group 3 dog was wired in parallel with a Group 2 dog, receiving shocks of identical intensity and duration, but his lever didn’t stop the electric shocks. To a dog in Group 3, it seemed that the shock ended at random, because it was his paired dog in Group 2 that was causing it to stop. For Group 3 dogs, the shock was apparently “inescapable.” Group 1 and Group 2 dogs quickly recovered from the experience, but Group 3 dogs learned to be helpless, and exhibited symptoms similar to chronic clinical depression.

In part two of the Seligman and Maier experiment, these three groups of dogs were tested in a shuttle-box apparatus, in which the dogs could escape electric shocks by jumping over a low partition. For the most part, the Group 3 dogs, who had previously “learned” that nothing they did had any effect on the shocks, simply lay down passively and whined. Even though they could have easily escaped the shocks, the dogs didn’t try.(Wikipedia)

See, it goes back to what I’ve been saying for a long time (kinda hit the subject in my video blog even!). Because you had some experience that you weren’t in control of, you start thinking that you never have control, and you don’t even try, which means you never realize that you actually do have control. It’s a shame. I feel really bad for those dogs. And I’ve know a number of people who have fallen victm to this. I need to find a fix to it one day…

(I suggest you read the rest of the wiki article. It’s something I find very interesting)

Okay, that’s it for me for now. Sleep needs to come, because college starts earlier then I’d like it too. In a sense, at least high school got me up early so by the time I woke up I was allready moving. Kinda like if you start driving your car in the back of a moving truck.

F*R*A*G: MINE MORE GAS.