Character Development
in Role Play

Role Play is a dying art. The more I talk to people about role play, the more I realise people are interested, but have no honest idea about what role play is. This is especially true of role play in MMOs, where even the most hard core role players seem to have somewhat questionable ideas about what makes for good role play. Honestly, to each their own, but it concerns me when soap operas and cybersex are presented as genuine role play, people new to RP might be put off it. What I want to talk about today is that fundamental core of genuine role play: Character Development.

In this context I’m not talking about Character Creation. There is an increasingly pervasive perception that Character Development and Character Creation are the same thing; a belief that once you have created your character, that’s it, you’re locked in and any effort to change the template is bad role play. Role play is very much about immersion, so if you immerse yourself in a world you must in some way be affected by that world. If you are affected by the world, then you are changed by it, and by necessity, your vision for the character will change. If your character doesn’t change, then there must be something stubborn or even stupid about that character that holds them to their self definition, otherwise refusal to be changed by the world is what I would call bad role play.

I could talk for ages about psychology and game theory, but I doubt many people would find that terribly amusing. Instead I want to talk about the evolution of one of my characters, because most people tend to gain something from examples. I want to talk about Kesera Shepard, my Mass Effect character, because this character was created in a setting many people can relate to, and because she is outside what I normally play, she offered some special challenges to me. Hopefully my example might demonstrate how a character can evolve, even in a pre-set digital setting where there is nothing forcing actual role play. There will be a few small spoilers for Mass Effect, but nothing that should genuinely harm your experience if you haven’t played it yet.

Why Mass Effect?

I hate shooters, I really do. I have really thought about why I hate shooters and I think I finally understand. It’s not about the ‘shooter’ mentality; because the dregs of internet society can be readily found in shooters. It’s not the sci-fi setting; even though I have a strong preference for fantasy. It’s not even because I’m inherently bad at them; because given practice I’m not so bad at all. After much thought, I realise that while these other elements play a part, I hate shooters because I’m paranoid. I find the lack of peripheral vision makes me very uncomfortable, and as an immersive style of player, my limited field of vision stresses me out no end.

Given my list of issues above, you would be right to question why I decided to play Mass Effect at all. It’s a first person shooter set in a sci-fi setting which required a skill set I just didn’t have any positive background in. Yet I had just finished playing Dragon Age 2 and I was impressed with how Bioware understood role play, and how they made games where choices mattered. I wanted more of that, so the only real choice was to give Mass Effect a go.

I picked the game up on a Steam Sale, dived in and hated it. The combat was terrible and I really sucked at it. However, the story looked solid and that’s what I was there for, so I persisted. I opted for an Infiltrator, reasoning that the Sniper Rifle was newbie mode for these games. Also, it should mean my lack of peripheral vision wouldn’t hamper me as much as it would for a front line fighter. It worked, and by the end of Mass Effect 1, I could head shot a moving target with ease and even manage to not panic if the enemy got close. Then the combat system changed in Mass Effect 2 and I had to relearn everything, but I got there in the end.

Shepard: The early years

I wanted to really challenge myself with my character. I did a little reading of the manual and the wiki, not for cheats and spoilers, but to learn what the basic premise for the game was. I was playing as a battle hardened soldier, so I tried to get into that mindset. I was playing a woman in the military, which meant I would probably be a real hard arse in order to get by. I learnt there was a morality system, so I decided from the start that I wouldn’t let that worry me, I’d probably be a bit of an anti-hero, but I’d play Shepard as tough and brutal; an Amazon with a high powered sniper rifle. Initial character choices were really just on whim, opting for a Spacer background as that seemed a sensible gateway into the military. From there I dived in and just rolled with it.

As the story unfolded I found the story rewarded my chosen path for Shepard. Some of her companions liked her hard attitude, and appreciated that she wouldn’t let certain morals stand in the way of success. If people got in the way, fuck ‘em, they could either stand aside or be gunned down. Some scientist starts to panic and carry on, well, Shepard doesn’t have time for their histrionics, she knocked him unconscious and moved on. Shepard would do what it took to get results, and I started to really love her role in the game.

No one is all bad all the time though, and Shepard had her softer side. She always took time out for her crew, moving among them after each mission and really listening to what they had to say. She would show compassion, but only when there was time for it, never in the heat of battle where she expected as much from others as she expected from herself. As a ‘Spacer’ in a world filled with aliens, Shepard had no prejudice against working with other races. When others pushed a pro-human agenda, Shepard would put them in their place.

As the story of Mass Effect unrolled I learned a few things about Shepard that wasn’t in my initial mental image of her. First of all, Shepard had little to no tolerance for politics, politics got in the road of real soldiers doing what needed to be done. I also learned that Shepard hates any violation of personal freedoms, unless of course such violations meant getting a more important goal done. People who messed with others often ended up with a bullet in the brain, as more than one Cerberus scientist can attest to.

Shepard also draws a strong line between military and civilian life. If you choose to be in the military then you will do your job, because if you don’t and you fall into the liability column, then you will be left behind. However, if you are a civilian, then allowances can be made for you up to a point. The military has no right to directly attack civilian populations, nor steal civilians for experimentation. The military serves the public, not the other way around, but the civilians also need to get out of the way if the military needs to get something done. When faced with the fate of the Rachni Queen, Shepard didn’t see an alien horror, she saw a civilian victim being enslaved against her will, so she freed the queen rather than kill her. Shepard was a hardened soldier, but she wasn’t a mindless killer.

In Liara T’oni, Shepard found her opposite. Here was an intellectual who was warm, and thought the best of others. Shepard envied Liara’s outlook and often sought her advice as devil’s advocate to Shepard’s harder life view. Opposites attract and Shepard, as a woman of the Universe, was more enthralled by Liara’s alien nature than she was turned off by it. A relationship blossomed.

By the end of Mass Effect 1, I had a firm personality for Shepard. The morality system labelled her a Renegade, but only just. While she acted as judge, jury and executioner on the field, she also knew when to show compassion, even if that compassion was just part of the job at times. When things were unveiled on Feros, Shepard opted to spare life where possible, finishing without any civilian casualties and even sparing a certain other entity, seeing her more as a civilian victim and slave than as a real threat.

Shepard had established herself as a protector, not just of humanity, but of all the races of the universe.

The Collectors

Going into Mass Effect 2, I now had a firm character whose personality I know well. However, over the course of the story, Shepard began to change again. Her brush with mortality mellowed her just a little, and the conditions of her resurrection turned her into a more pragmatic person. Fate had shown itself to be a real bitch, and as far as Shepard was concerned, she was living on borrowed time.

Shepard began to seriously look at her life, and initially she saw herself as nothing but a tool of Fate. Meeting up with old friends changed that, as Shepard was reminded that people needed her as herself, not as someone else’s tool. She began to fight for her own personal freedom, as much as she fought for the universe. She started to push back against the Elusive Man, eventually seeing him as her own tool to be used, not the other way around.

When contacted by Liara, Shepard didn’t respond immediately. She was shamed by the conditions of her resurrection, and by the terrible scars she still had, both emotional and physical. However, when the physical scars were healed, Shepard answered the call and moved to help Liara. What took place threatened to break Shepard’s heart. As she thought about it though she gained a new insight into life. Ultimately we all have our roles to play, and personal sacrifice is just something you have to live with at times if you want to get the job done. In this, the mission oriented side of Shepard warred with her emotional side. She gained a greater appreciation of all life, and as she looked again at the bigger picture of the Collectors and their wonton abuse of all life, Shepard got angry.

Shepard began to really value the relationships she had and she spent a lot of time helping out her crew with those things that ailed them. Her crew became the centre of her universe and no matter what they needed of her, Shepard would help. Even when Zaeed put her in a position of choosing between his vengeance and saving civilian lives, Shepard chose to help Zaeed. While she might not be able to save all the civilians, she’d at least kill the bastard that put them in the position they were in.

Among her new crew Shepard found real companionship, enough to fill the void left by Liara. Yet they faced the impossible, and Shepard needed everyone she could get to have any chance of survival. When the final attack was launched against the collectors, Shepard didn’t fear for herself, she was already on borrowed time. She feared for her companions because they chose to follow her on this insane mission. Amazingly, the bonds created by the friendships she had cultivated proved enough to save the lives of everyone.

The Reapers

Shepard is now a changed woman. She still believes in action and results, but she also believes the friends she has are what life is all about. At the end of the Grissom Academy evacuation it falls to Shepard to decide if the kids were going to be used as a front line war asset, or in support. Shepard had already discussed how ready the kids were with Jack, who said they were only really suited to support. Shepard really felt for Jack and was so happy she was doing so well with her life. Old Shepard would have put those kids on the front line without a second thought, but new Shepard looked into Jack’s eyes and knew she couldn’t do it. She relegated the kids to support because that’s where Jack said they would be best, and Shepard respected Jack too much to do otherwise.

So it has been over the course of Mass Effect 3. Again and again Shepard is having to view people as war assets, but she now has enough heart to draw the line in places original Shepard wouldn’t hesitate to cross. She encourages civilians to sign up for the war effort, but she won’t force people, because that would make her as much a slave master as the people she once executed in Mass Effect 1.

Even though she has been able to reconnect with Liara, there is still a barrier between them, a barrier created because they both have jobs to do and no time for anything beyond surface interaction. Shepard deeply cares for the people around her, even James Vega. Shepard hated James from the moment they met, seeing him as a whining meathead more obsessed with his own body than anything else. Yet James is a part of her crew, and he’s learning to keep his shit to himself. In a way, James is what Shepard used to be, so he’s an uncomfortable reminder of those aspects of herself Shepard would like to put behind her.

Final Words

That’s it for now, I’m only about one third of the way through Mass Effect 3. However, the way the game has let me immerse myself into the world marks it as one of the best games I’ve played. Shepard has evolved from a hard arse marine into someone torn between the mission goals and the people around her. She knows … I know, that if it comes to it, her friends might have to be sacrificed for the greater good.  I realise I actually put off playing Mass Effect 3 because I suspect this is exactly the sort of choices I will have to make, and like Shepard, I don’t want to have to make those choices.

Shepard went from being more Renegade, to being more Paragon by the morality system of the game. She evolved, from being inflexible and uncaring, to being compassionate yet pragmatic. She still hates slavery in any form, she will still fight like a demon to get a job done, and she still hates politics. However, her every action and reaction is now tempered by the world she lives in. She would have loved to punch that reporter in the mouth but she didn’t, because she has to consider how it might look on the news. Shepard would have loved putting a bullet into the Cerberus agent who took over Omega, and old Shepard wouldn’t have hesitated, but there is a larger picture now and this guy might have valuable intel that could save lives.

This is the essence of role play to me. A character is never set in stone, a good character is a part of a living world. A good character shapes the world, but is in turn shaped by it. I have heard terrible things about the ending of Mass Effect 3 but somehow I’ve managed to avoid any spoilers. The thing is, even if the end is a simple splash screen that just says “You all died”, then I’d still love the game for the journey it’s taking me on. At this stage no ending I can imagine will sour that journey. (Update: I have now finished Mass Effect 3. The ending made perfect sense and was a suitable way to conclude the saga.)

To reiterate what I said in my last article; All you need to do to be a good role player is to immerse yourself in the world. Allowing your character to change and develop is one of the journeys that defines a fun role play experience for me. I said that a good role play character changes the world and is in turn changed by it; I will add that a good character is changed by you, and in turn you are changed by the character.