1st Person Story - What are your thoughts on 'faceless' MCs?

[Risky.Klick.Kurisu]

So like so many others, I'm in the process of creating my first game. (It will be story-heavy.)

But I still haven't decided if I want to show the MCs face or not, since the story itself is written in the first-person.
How do you guys feel? Do you prefer to see the MCs face, or is a 'faceless' MC okay as well?
I've played games that use both methods, so it's hard to decide.

Sometimes when I see a MCs design, I just can't relate to or like how they look, which draws me out of the story, no matter how good the writing is.
But while 'faceless' MCs allow the reader to self-insert more, it can sometimes lead to awkward camera angles or render compositions.
Although, there's also the option to be first-person most of the time, with a few third-person camera angles from behind, especially during lewd scenes (My New Memories comes to mind, most recently).

What do you guys think?

 

[baneini]

Having tropes like faceless mute mc is awkward, makes the presentation look goofy, makes dialogue seem silly, indicates the story doesn't matter since its about some mysterious self-insert action where the world revolves around you somehow, when its pre-written in reality.
Consider how many big budget studio games find value in a faceless mc, not a lot? They still expect some immersion to occur while they might look like a black woman or something.

More often than not devs trying to appeal to this self insert group it just wrecks presentation and is off putting to the people who are used to normal stories. Specially when they go for 1st person sex scenes, those are worst.

 

[Risky.Klick.Kurisu]

Having tropes like faceless mute mc is awkward, makes the presentation look goofy, makes dialogue seem silly, indicates the story doesn't matter since its about some mysterious self-insert action where the world revolves around you somehow, when its pre-written in reality.

Well, I didn't say anything about mute. If anything, he's an overly wordy boi, haha.
Just that you wouldn't see his face.

And I agree with you! The 'silent protagonist' trope has always been a bit weird to me, and seldom works well.

 

[Zarathos27]

Take a little time with a scene you have in mind and test 1st person view vs not. Print screen and you can capture a few sequential images without rendering and can get a feel for what you're trying to convey. See what works for you. Personally, I've noticed hiding the face or only first person severely limits what you can do and convey.

 

[anne O'nymous]

Consider how many big budget studio games find value in a faceless mc, not a lot? They still expect some immersion to occur while they might look like a black woman or something.

Totally agree.

It's not the visual that define the immersion, it's the feeling you get from the story, that itself is for a big part based on empathy. And it happen that it's really difficult to have empathy for a faceless MC since he have no existence.
This don't necessarily mean that one can't immerse in such game, but he will do it due to the feeling he get from the secondary characters. Therefore, instead of self inserting in MC's shoes, he will do it in opposition with the MC that, because he's faceless, will seem as way too cold and indifferent.

 

[MissFortune]

The thing is, everyone can give you their opinion of what works best and what doesn't. But at the end of the day, someone's going to have a fit about it, whether you like it or not. So, then, what do you do when you know you wont please everyone? Whatever the fuck you want.

But to give you an answer, I was kind of in the same situation when I first started my second VN (Move The Chains). Using all first-person felt off, so I decided to just use a mix. First person, the half-face anime villain, and the conveniently-placed limb or object to cover the eyes. The latter obviously being a bit of pseudo third-person, in form at least. The middle-ground being that I don't show the eyes. Might not be for everyone, I guess, but again - you aren't going to please everyone. Sometimes the situation calls for showing at least part of the protagonist, sometimes you want to show them for depth or a measure of distance, or some kind of significance. Sometimes you just want to show an artsy angle or a wider scale of a scene. It's all contextual, what's popular or unpopular shouldn't be the scale that decides it.

At the end of the day, if your renders (I'm assuming you're using Daz + Ren'py for your VN/game since you brought up My New Memories.) are good and your writing is even above average, people will come around.

 

[Risky.Klick.Kurisu]

Thanks for the input everyone! I had an idea of what I wanted to do in the first place, but I was just curious to hear others' thoughts.

(I'm assuming you're using Daz + Ren'py for your VN/game since you brought up My New Memories.)

Blender + RenPy actually! Though I haven't decided yet if I want to deal with diffeomorphic or sculpt my own characters.

 

[coffeeaddicted]

Having tropes like faceless mute mc is awkward, makes the presentation look goofy, makes dialogue seem silly, indicates the story doesn't matter since its about some mysterious self-insert action where the world revolves around you somehow, when its pre-written in reality.
Consider how many big budget studio games find value in a faceless mc, not a lot? They still expect some immersion to occur while they might look like a black woman or something.

More often than not devs trying to appeal to this self insert group it just wrecks presentation and is off putting to the people who are used to normal stories. Specially when they go for 1st person sex scenes, those are worst.

I don't play anymore any of these games really but i know true, there aren't many. Though i would say that most that have a visible MC, aren't very convincing imo.
I wouldn't say that film is valid to compare since it is a different medium and we are talking about porn games.
There are some games i liked like Light of my Life which hasn't a visible head MC.
Some people like to see some strange MC than nothing but personally i think not seeing it's face is a plus. There was a discussion about this some time ago in off-topic games.
The worst game i ever played was Milf Creek. I mean yeah, the character made my erotic dream come true.

 

[coffeeaddicted]

So like so many others, I'm in the process of creating my first game. (It will be story-heavy.)

But I still haven't decided if I want to show the MCs face or not, since the story itself is written in the first-person.
How do you guys feel? Do you prefer to see the MCs face, or is a 'faceless' MC okay as well?
I've played games that use both methods, so it's hard to decide.

Sometimes when I see a MCs design, I just can't relate to or like how they look, which draws me out of the story, no matter how good the writing is.
But while 'faceless' MCs allow the reader to self-insert more, it can sometimes lead to awkward camera angles or render compositions.
Although, there's also the option to be first-person most of the time, with a few third-person camera angles from behind, especially during lewd scenes (My New Memories comes to mind, most recently).

What do you guys think?

You should go with what you like first and foremost.

If you like faceless male MC's you should check Dirty Pool or Light of my Life. Both are very different from each other of story but have no face for the male MC.
But the consensus is, that MC needs to be fully in the game. Though i think breaking the rule may not be a bad thing. But again, if you want to make money, you may have to rethink again because most people (males) like to see the guy.

In the end you should follow your heart and do what you truly love to do and nothing else.

 

[EchoFoxtrot]

It's a very good question.

I started out trying the faceless mc. In fact my initial release or chapter 1 if you will. The mc is faceless.
I just didn't feel like it was right. I didn't offer renaming either. (I do now)
I write a story that is story and action heavy with just 2 LI and though there will be sex It's not the main focus.

I fully understand why so many do the self insertion mc, for sex driven games especially. Who doesn't wish he collected all the v cards in school lol.

If you go with a fully visible mc then you have to find the right character. Don't use the G8 male, find the one that is how you image him. One that isn't used overly much too.
I had a hell of a time finding an mc who wasn't an underwear model, because I needed an old soldier who wasn't really supposed to be out of the ordinary handsome and aged somewhere around 32-34

 

[fitgirlbestgirl]

Sometimes when I see a MCs design, I just can't relate to or like how they look, which draws me out of the story, no matter how good the writing is.
But while 'faceless' MCs allow the reader to self-insert more, it can sometimes lead to awkward camera angles or render compositions.

I mean, you already boiled it down. I prefer seeing the MC's face, until I play a game and the MC looks stupid. Which is subjective, kind of. Then I wish it was one of those cringe self-insert games that didn't show the face. I don't know what it is about male faces, but anytime I see a new one (so not one of those "oh it's that guy" models) as an MC it's bad.

 

[ShinyRock_Productions]

I am favorable to not seeing the MC's face, but does not bother me in anything, such as Midnight Paradise

But it makes some sense not to put the MC's face.

 

[nipwip]

You should do what you want to do.

Even if your goal is financial means, these games/stories take a long time and effort to produce. It's why so very, very, very many are never completed. It seems like a good idea -- you create a story you like, create some hot women, treat them to some D and everyone is happy, right?

There are no unicorns. You cannot please everyone. No matter what you make, someone will complain.

So, if you want to make content a certain way? Do it your way. Keep it focused on what you want it to be about and presented in the way you want to present it. You don't want to be the person creating content that bores you or saps your interest in your own project, just to appease people for patreon dollars. There are a million better ways to make pocket change, which is what most of these games earn, if they earn at all.

It's better to do it your way and enjoy both the process and the results.

That said, I don't really have a preference when it comes to seeing the main character or not, except when he looks like an unintentional douche. Intentional is fine -- the main character of Once in a Lifetime looks like a douche, but the author played off it in a humorous and even endearing way. He also evolves and changes over the course of the story, in interesting and not necessarily blatant or obvious ways. He's a lot less of a douche by the end of the game.

Anyway, just roll with it how you want and people who appreciate your style will gravitate towards your work.

 

[Saki_Sliz]

Time for my 2 cents! not even bothering to read other peoples comments so I'll keep this brief

When I can see the MC's eyes, it gets me in the mind set that the MC is important, that the story is about them. Typically I don't care about the MC because other peoples store aren't important enough, (see

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for a better explanation) and MC without eyes is more abstract and thus I know that who the mc is isn't important to the game creator, thus isn't important to be and that the MC is just an avatar for the player. However, there are expections, such as Superhuman, where the MC eyes are hidden, but because it is a power fantasy game, the mc does get cooler in my eyes, even to the point where when the mc does show his eyes, its is important (ie glowing because of his superpowers, or intimidating because of the ugly scarring which supports the vibe that the project is going for, but may not work for your project).

 

[Deleted member 1121028]

I personaly hate it. Especially for narrative driven game. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't mean by any way you can't make something great from that perspective - far from that. Imho a terrible school, writting skill aside.

 

[coffeeaddicted]

I don't know. LomL is very narrative driven but has a male MC you don't see the face. Does it take away from the immersion?
Not really. Sure, you don't see the face so you can't really connect to the MC physically but through dialog you kind of do.
If you were ask me, which no one does, most games are rather dull and i'll get it. It is incredible to write a noir story where it's about the story and it helps to visualize the protagonist. See how is reacting etc... but in most games the MC looks rather dull and it doesn't really convey what he or she is going through. Mostly happy faces where i ask myself, wth.
To me, a male Mc with no face is a win. Unless he is made in a convincing way that i can feel with him or hate him.
The only game i played where i felt emotions at all was lomL. Any other game did not do that. Maybe Fashion Business to an extent or Dating my Daughter, but not really.
Of course i haven't played all games.
Perhaps in a visual novel you should show every ones face. Though i always think that no one really want's to break the script. Not experimenting with new ways of telling a story. There is so much more that goes into a story.
It's the same with actual novels. The one book that captured me really was Frankenstein. Well written.

But since we are talking about Porn games, it kind of boils down if get hot with a male MC you may or may not like. I am not sure if anyway plays a porn game for the narrative alone.

 

[Deleted member 1121028]

To put it more bluntly, write VN like you would write a book imho. There is no great book without that figurative main protagonist. Well there is tho, but they are exeptional.

Sometime I read like Half-Life was some kind of hard hitting narrative success and I die a little bit inside. It's not. It's cheap. It's cost reduction (a lot). I guess it come from DnD stuff "you are the hero" but there is nothing more boring to be the hero. Fucking bullshit. Writting works because of your capacity to project yourself (ie your own humanity).

As video game compare Cyberpunk77 with the Witcher. Tell me who tell a better compelling story (*).

It's also incredibly boring render wise, you just trick yourself to do same render trick each time. This time a bit of a neck, next one a bit of a jaw. That's what is like, you put yourself in a corner.

Friday drunk posting oh yeah .


(*) dang yo

 

[crabsinthekitchen]

I only ask for one thing. If you go with first person view all the time, don't do french kisses. I haven't seen one that doesn't look like this yet