What constitutes multiple protagonist?

[tanstaafl]

I write a lot in my spare time. I write short stories, novellas, even written a few AVNs. No development of course, I could do the ren'py side of things pretty easily, but I'm not an artist by any means. And to be honest, I'm too lazy to learn it. But it's a hobby I have. I'm currently working through the script of an AVN with multiple point of view characters, but only one MC that makes decisions.

The definition on this site of multiple protagonist is [**Used when two or more characters act as the protagonist.] which is rather vague. Would a point of view character that see's things the MC doesn't see as well as seeing that characters thoughts qualify as a protagonist even if they don't make any decisions that impact the story at all? The reason I ask is that in kinetic games with no choices at all there is still an MC, so to me it seems like this definition is kind of fuzzy.

 

[Meaning Less]

Would a point of view character that see's things the MC doesn't see as well as seeing that characters thoughts qualify as a protagonist even if they don't make any decisions that impact the story at all?

On actual games sometimes it is as simple as "you get to walk with that character" to call it the playable character.

Now for VNs where the "playable character" can be a bit less explicit it is probably more similar to books, where perspectives matter more and If you keep changing perspective to multiple characters then chances are it is a "multiple protagonist" VN.

 

[woody554]

just a guess, but I imagine it covers both separate playable characters and multiple POVs in a kinetic novel. as even without interaction people have strong opinions on whether they're subjected to experiencing a porn story from the perspective of a raped female protagonist taking it or a male abuser giving it, for example. I mean that's why we want to know how many protagonists there are, right? we're not interested if there's two protagonists who are both the same type, like two abusive straight men with different color hair. we're interested if the option is somehow potentially immersion breaking, like one PC being trans, then us (ironically) being forced into his/her's perspective in a sexual scene.

 

[tanstaafl]

Now for VNs where the "playable character" can be a bit less explicit it is probably more similar to books, where perspectives matter more and If you keep changing perspective to multiple characters then chances are it is a "multiple protagonist" VN.

Yeah, that makes sense. I'm not opposed to the idea, I was honestly more curious about how it would be viewed if I ever actually did anything with the story. The multiple perspectives would be for the sake of the story and background exposition, as well as tracking how the main decision making character's decisions are affecting certain other people.

I mean that's why we want to know how many protagonists there are, right? we're not interested if there's two protagonists who are both the same type, like two abusive straight men with different color hair. we're interested if the option is somehow potentially immersion breaking, like one PC being trans, then us (ironically) being forced into his/her's perspective in a sexual scene.

So far the two primary perspectives are from the main decision maker and from one of his (potential) LIs, who just happens to be estranged after a long absense. The story isn't far past outlining phase, so I haven't decided if the estrangement is due to drama or being related, yet, lol. So, nothing so drastic as forcing a reader into such differing POV contexts.

Edit: For context, not related by blood, but by marriage. Not looking to make an incest game. The background is a man leaves town after he and his girl break up after his dad marries her mom. Making them legally related. The ironic bit of the background is that they (his dad and her mom) met through the MC and LI dating in the first place.

 

[HarveyD]

I'd say if a scene lingers in a room after the protagonist has left, to show reactions to their actions, that's not multiple protagonists. Same as those scenes you might get in TV shows where someone in a dark office says something ominous to set up future events.

However, if you're jumping to an entirely different location, to show other events happening from another character's perspective, then that's multiple protagonists. Also if you can call them the "two primary perspectives" then I think you have your answer.