I've just thought that maybe game characters (and in particular player controlled characters) are too selfish, they don't make painful (or even annoying) sacrifices for the greater good / or the good of others. They are often very self-centred and focus on me,me,me. For example how many game characters would get pissed off if they had to look after a baby and it vomited on their new suit? Can you imagine the Doom guy doing this? How many would try to give up smoking to save up money for something else? Do you think this is the case? Can you think of any underlying reasons for this tendancy? (Ie. That would make a game less 'fun'? Or annoy the player). If so would there be a way around this? [Edited by - Ketchaval on May 18, 2005 6:03:01 PM]

I think it has to do alot with the motivation for the player. Single player games aren't very likely to illicit acts of heroism simply because the NPC's don't care, not really anyway since their static, the player knows they aren't real. In MMO environments though, like Planetside you'll see teamwork all over the place, people will run through the ranks with their med/repair kit and give whoever they can find a onceover, you'll be seeing people give other people cover-fire and support. This is probably because their real people, the player can be sure that they DO care and that their actions actually make a difference, general bonding and human interaction can have alot to do with it, asside from the general moral inclination of the player.

I think that may be true in some games, but off the top of my head, it seems like sacrifice is the more common of the two.

Sacrifice:
Mario tries to save the princess.
Doom's space marine tries to put a cork back in the hellhole.
Duke Nukem tries to save the world from aliens.
Gordon Freeman er, frees the everyman from alien oppressors.

Selfishness:
Boba Fett earns paycheck collecting bounties. Resolves personal conflict with longtime rival.
GTA PC runs dubious errands for cash.

Not that this is a reasonably sized list, by any means, but it seems like most games hype it up into some higher calling of saving the world or whatever.

But then again, in Alien Hominid, you are just trying to save yourself.

Hmmm. Must ponder...