Does Game Playing Experience Have an Impact on the Player-PNPC Relationship?

Meet the Stars

The most talked about characters in video games, and those that have garnered the most attention in both the mainstream media and scholarly circles, are without a doubt the main protagonists. These characters are the ones that can be controlled/embodied by the player. Some of these characters are so famous (e.g., Lara Croft) they could easily give many Hollywood stars a run for their money in terms of popularity. In fact, the association of the film and video game industries has led to several crossover productions, and it is sometimes hard to distinguish between the flesh and blood and pixelated versions of a character. For example, there is little difference between the incarnations of Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider (Core Design, 1996-2003) video game and movie (Gordon, Levin, & Wilson, 2001; Levin & Gordon, 2003) franchises. This does not come as a surprise when considering that most video game characters are built on live models to begin with, making the transfer between screens a fairly simple affair.

Of course, one key difference between video game characters and the main protagonists in other screen media is that the player can actually control and/or embody the avatar as opposed to simply watching them on screen. This important distinction has been the subject of many studies. Some (e.g., Burn, 2006; Pearce & Artemesia, 2009; Rehak; 2003; Turkle, 1995) have examined the way players choose the attributes of their avatars (in games where this is an option) and tried to evaluate what impact, if any, this has on the player’s sense of identification with the character and sense of immersion in the game world. Others (e.g., Beasley & Stanley, 2002; Dietz, 1998; Dill et al., 2005; Downs & Smith, 2010; Haninger & Thompson, 2004; Ivory 2006; Provenzo, 1991) have focused their attention on the representation of gender and race in video games. While the body of research on main characters is quite extensive and goes back 20 years, the same cannot be said of research examining the supporting cast in video games: non-player characters, also known as game AI.

The Supporting Cast

While main protagonists in video games garner most of the attention, they often owe their fame and glory to a sometimes extensive cast of supporting characters made up of playable and non-playable sidekicks as well as hundreds, and potentially thousands, of non-player characters that can fall on both sides of the good versus evil equation. While the hero gets most of the glory, it is often the supporting cast, made up of NPCs, who pays the price narratively—often sacrificing their lives to get the main protagonist within spitting distance of the goal—as well as making a game interesting and the game play challenging and immersive. A game franchise like Halo (Bungie, 2001-2011), for example, would be a lot less appealing if it was not for the wide variety of enemies relentlessly challenging the Master Chief and his crew. The cast of alien life forms such as Elites, Brutes, Grunts, and Floods, to name only a few, provide the main hero and his unit with a variety of obstacles that keep the game interesting and the game play challenging.

By definition, NPCs cannot be controlled by the player. They are the hordes of zombies/infected in the survival-horror genre such as in Left 4 Dead (Valve, 2008-2009) or the countless aliens in science-fiction action-adventure games as mentioned above, for example. They may not be as central individually to the narrative but they are, and have been for years, the backbone of many popular video games. NPCs (also referred to as agents)

may fulfill a variety of needs. They provide the player with something to do—such as to kill or be killed. They can serve as allies or subordinates, allowing the player to give orders and play cooperatively. Agents might also perform a scripted part, advancing the story plot. (Ahlquist & Novak, 2008, p. 12)

In many ways, they can be perceived as being a part of the landscape and just as important as the richness of the environments and graphics to the overall success of a particular title.

Primarily, NPCs interact with the player in one form or another. They can talk with/answer questions from players and provide them with information that may help them progress in the game (e.g., Assassin’s Creed series; Ubisoft, 2007-2011). They may also play the role of the enemy and try to kill the player (e.g., zombies in Dead Rising; Capcom, 2006) or be part of a unit with the player (e.g., SAS Unit members in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare; Infinity Ward, 2007). Other NPCs may only exist to create a richer and more believable game environment and have no impact on the outcome of the game. In that case, they do not interact with the player but seem to have a life of their own walking around a village or screaming and running at the sign of danger, for example.

However, sometimes NPCs can play a recurring and significant role not only in the game play but also in the narrative. In this case, they are called PNPCs. Pinchbeck (2009) popularized the label PNPC when he conducted an analysis of 34 FPS games. He found that games like Bioshock (2K Boston, 2007) and Deus Ex (Ion Storm, 2000), for example, contain a significant nine and 13 PNPCs, respectively.

Because they step out of the landscape, PNPCs often take on a more active role in the story arc of a game. They are particularly interesting because they are part machine, as agents of the game engine facilitating the flow of the game in acceptable ways, and part character, as they play a recurring and important role in the storyline. Most importantly, they can add considerable richness to an otherwise fairly simple game world and narrative. In a game series like Half Life 2 (Valve, 2004-2007), for example, the main protagonist Gordon Freeman, who was in stasis for 20 years, never speaks. Without Alyx Vance’s (the main PNPC) continuing monologue about what happened when Freeman was away and how to overcome obstacles, the game would be much less enjoyable. Half Life 2 (Valve, 2004) also makes significant use of PNPCs, employing nine of them according to Pinchbeck (2009).

So why are PNPCs worthy of study? It would be difficult to find any FPS, role-playing, or action-adventure game today that does not feature at least one PNPC. PNPCs are an extension of the designer/developer’s goals and limitations in a game. They allow them to facilitate the progress in a game in a way that is not too taxing on the game engine by acting in a manner that pushes the player in a certain direction. They are also helpful to develop the main character by affirming their actions through the eyes of the PNPC. However, while there has been a sizeable body of research devoted to the design side of PNPCs, almost nothing has been written about their impact on the narrative of a game and the affective responses they trigger in players. In an interview with Computer Graphics World (2005), the writer/director of Half Life 2: Episode One, Marc Laidlaw, confirmed Alyx Vance’s significance and complexity by saying,

All the time we spend with Alyx is in action, so we have to show her personality through what she’s saying when she’s in combat, and that creates her as a character. But what should she say while you’re standing around trying to solve a puzzle? Not random comments, either, but something that expresses her character and feeds into the player’s experience.

The programmer/designer for the game Robin Walker adds that a PNPC can also affect the player:

In some ways, having another character there that’s able to emote and respond to the world actually adds to our ability to make this thing scary. If cool, confident Alyx suddenly can’t handle something, it’ll have an impact on you.

For these reasons and because of their importance in the video gaming world today, PNPCs are worthy of a more holistic study.

Methodology and Limitations

The preliminary conclusions highlighted here represent a small portion of results from a larger study conducted in New Zealand to examine the relationship between video game players—and the characters they control/embody in the game world—and the many PNPCs that populate these environments. The study consisted of a series of 25 play sessions during which participants (18 men and 7 women between the ages of 18 and 45 years) were asked to complete tasks leading to the collection of both qualitative and quantitative data.

First, participants were asked to fill a comprehensive survey about their experience and preferences as video game players, as well as their general impressions of PNPCs. One of the goals of this initial survey that is of particular interest to the current essay was to establish whether the players perceived themselves as “not very experienced,” “somewhat experienced,” or “very experienced” and if their answers to more precise play habit questions supported their perception.

In the larger study, the participants were then asked to play one level in three different games: Half Life 2: Episode One (Valve, 2006), Halo: Combat Evolved (Bungie, 2001), and F.E.A.R. (Monolith, 2005). These particular games were chosen because they feature pivotal female PNPCs whose absence would significantly alter both the narrative and the game play in these three game franchises. They were also chosen because they represent different types of PNPCs: a physical presence (Alyx Vance in Half Life 2), a disembodied voice (Cortana in Halo), and a psychological/paranormal presence (Alma in F.E.A.R.). Within the scope of the present article, the focus will be on a single title—Half Life 2: Episode One—and the results presented will only pertain to player interactions and perception of the PNPC Alyx Vance.

The play sessions were captured and observation notes were taken during play. The footage was then analyzed. One focus of this analysis was to see if there was a difference in the way players interacted with PNPCs based on their level of experience playing video games. In the case of Half Life 2: Episode One, this was done by assessing the player’s reaction to commands or actions taken by Alyx Vance. For example, does the player react when Vance yells “Look out!” or does the player actually turn toward Vance when she speaks or ignores her.

After playing each game, participants were also asked to fill a survey about a variety of aspects including game play experience, their impressions about the PNPC, and the protagonist/player-PNPC relationship. This was done to capture the players’ thoughts and impressions of a game and its PNPC while the memories were still fresh in their minds.

Once they had played the three games, a short interview was conducted with each of the participants during which they were asked to answer three questions regarding which type of PNPC they preferred, which type made the game easier to complete, and which type made the game more enjoyable. This led to comparisons between the different types of PNPCs in the chosen games and how they were perceived by players of different experience levels.

So, for the purpose of this article, two aspects of the research will be explored to assess whether:

Before answering these questions, I would like to point out some of the limitations of the study. First, conclusions based on self-assessment (i.e., players estimating their own experience level) must be considered in full knowledge of the limitations of this type of reporting. A variety of methods were used to gather data about play experience and habits (i.e., survey, play observation) in order to alleviate this possible bias.

Second, while the results of the study indicate possible larger trends in video game play, their reach is limited by the small scale of the study and the lack of sophisticated equipment (e.g., Emotiv headset, biofeedback system) to measure, among other things, how players move and act in relation to PNPCs (game metrics) and what emotions (biometrics) they might feel in relation to PNPCs (e.g., amusement, frustration). To try to compensate for this lack of equipment, the methodology used here tries to assess these measurements by analyzing play footage and noting how the players move or act in relation to the PNPC and using observation notes that indicate how a player seemed to react emotionally to the PNPC during play.

The Difficulty in Assessing Experience

In order to assess whether the level of experience has an impact on the relationship between the player/main protagonist and the PNPCs in a given game, it is important to first define experience in the context of the study. Experience as a video game player can be measured in many ways. One obvious way would be to calculate the number of hours spent playing video games in general. Another way would be to count the number of games the player has completed. Finally, experience could also be viewed in terms of specialty in a particular game genre or on a specific platform.

For the purpose of the study, experience was assessed in three ways: self-evaluation, survey answers related to play habits including time and frequency of play, and observations during play sessions. First, players were asked if they characterized themselves as “not very experienced,” “somewhat experienced,” or “very experienced.” Almost 48% of participants described themselves as “very experienced,” while 44% placed themselves in the “somewhat experienced” category. Only 8% of the players indicated that they were “not very experienced.”

When these figures were assessed in light of data on the amount of time spent in a single play session and the frequency of play over the course of a month, it became clear that each person’s evaluation of their experience level varied. For example, 71% of the female participants considered themselves “somewhat experienced” despite the fact that they played three to four hours a day. Male players with similar play frequency described themselves as “very experienced.”

Despite the difficulties inherent is self-reporting one’s level of experience, overall, participants who described themselves as “somewhat experienced” and “very experienced” played between one to five hours or more a week, which seems an accurate assessment of above average experience. The 8% of players who considered themselves “not very experienced” played less than two hours a month, which also seems like a fair evaluation.

During the play sessions, another difficulty in assessing experience surfaced in the form of skills in relation to a particular platform. The sessions were run on the Xbox 360 game console and it became obvious that players who may have described themselves as “very experienced” but were not used to the Xbox system struggled to master the controller and the main character’s movement and actions. This was especially true of PC players who use a completely different input/control system. It was also more pronounced during Half Life 2: Episode One because it was the first of the three games they played during the sessions. That said, experienced players became more adept with the controller fairly quickly, which may be due to their overall gaming experience. The “not very experienced” participants continued to struggle with the controller throughout the play session.

Does Experience Influence a Player’s Reliance on PNPCs?

The first question at the core of this essay is whether inexperienced players are more likely to rely on the guidance of PNPCs to progress in the game?

In the case of the 8% of players in the “not very experienced” category, they were so focused on trying to master the controller that they barely paid attention to Alyx Vance. When they did listen to what she said, they took her words very literally. For example, one participant started looking for a map after Vance said “I wish we had a map.” When asked in interview, which type of PNPC they thought would make the game easier to complete, these players did not choose Vance, complaining that “she gets you to a place and then doesn’t give you a clue.” Despite the fact that these players focused more on the controller than Vance, these responses and frustration seem to suggest that they expected a lot more direct guidance from the PNPC.

The “somewhat experienced” and “very experienced” players, who were not familiar with the Xbox system (i.e., 40% of all participants), is the category that was the most divided in terms of their reliance on Alyx Vance for guidance. About 60% of these participants focused their attention on her commands and regularly looked back to make sure that she was following them. The rest of the players only paid attention to the PNPC when they needed her to progress in the game or when she warned them of danger. These results seem logical because, although these players were not familiar with the Xbox controller, they were still experienced overall. It would be difficult but highly interesting to evaluate if the most reliant players in this category were also the ones who had the most trouble manipulating the protagonist with the unfamiliar controller.

Finally, the most experienced players (i.e., those in the “somewhat experienced” and “very experienced” segments who were familiar with the Xbox system), representing 52% of all participants, seemed to get bored or impatient with Alyx Vance. At the beginning of the level, all the participants listened to her when she told Gordon Freeman (protagonist) what happened during the 20 years he was in stasis. But the great majority of the players in this category (i.e., 85%) quickly found a balance between exploring and solving puzzles on their own and waiting for Vance when they needed her to facilitate the next step (e.g., opening a door with the sonic screwdriver, a special tool that produces an electric charge). Their impatience was clearly illustrated by comments such as: “Are you coming down?” exclaimed by one player waiting for her to jump off a balcony, while another participant said, “She stands around a lot” and “Where did she go?”

It would appear that experience does play a part in how a video game player interacts with a PNPC. The less experienced players seemed to get frustrated by what they perceived as a lack of guidance from Alyx Vance. As the level of experience rises (including a greater familiarity with the gaming platform), it appears that players are more selective in the way they rely on the PNPC, only focusing on her when they know it is necessary. It should be noted that Alyx Vance is a PNPC of a particular type, one that is very present physically in the game. As such, players have to make a conscious effort to ignore her as she follows their progress throughout the game.

Does Experience Facilitate a Player’s Appreciation of PNPCs?

The second question at the core of this essay is whether experienced players are more likely to appreciate the quality and complexity of PNPCs as characters and their role in the game because they are less focused on controller mechanics than less experienced players?

First of all, considering that 40% of participants in the “somewhat experienced” and “very experienced” categories had never played on an Xbox console before, it could be argued that they had to learn to use the controller, thus diminishing their ability somewhat to focus on the more narrative elements of the game. That said, it did not seem to affect perception one way or the other as players expressed both negative and positive comments about Alyx Vance no matter what category they were in.

On the positive side, many players appreciated Vance’s physical presence saying that it made the game more interesting and socially interactive. They compared it to playing with someone else with her own skill set: “She keeps me company. It’s like playing with a friend,” said one player, while another said, “You work with her to solve puzzles.” Overall, 64% of the participants indicated that her absence would “make the game less enjoyable.” Others also argued that Vance fills the gap opened up by the main protagonist’s complete lack of emotions. One participant said, “She humanizes the struggle because Gordon Freeman is silent,” while another said, “She was the emotional lynch-pin to a world being explored by an emotionless protagonist.” When comparing Vance with the other PNPCs in the larger study, one player said, “She’s the only one I cared about. She helps you.” Finally, many believed that the PNPC helped players get immersed in the story and added depth. One participant said, “She facilitated a connection between the player and the plot.” Another argued that he felt “more engaged because of Vance’s physical presence” and the fact that they constantly had to save each other.

On the negative side, some players felt that Alyx Vance was always in the way and that she slowed down game play forcing the player to be responsible for her, to constantly wait for her. Twelve percent of the participants even felt that her absence would “make the game more enjoyable.” Others resented that she controlled the pace of the game and argued that her presence was too intrusive. In fact, when asked who they felt controlled the flow of the game, 48% of the participants answered Alyx Vance compared to only 4% who believed the main protagonist alone was in control of the game. A further 32% believed that both Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance influenced the pace of the game.

Whether positive or negative, the number and variety of comments about Vance clearly indicate that the players thought about her as a complex character with a multifaceted personality. Interestingly enough, positive comments had a lot more to do with the PNPC’s attributes as a character playing a significant role in the storyline while negative comments were mostly focused on the more mechanical aspects of game play. However, experience did not seem to be a significant factor in how players appreciate the quality and complexity of PNPCs as characters in video games.

When asked how they viewed PNPCs in general, an overwhelming 96% of the participants indicated that they saw them as characters playing a role in the story, while 16% viewed them as just another part of the landscape with no consequence on game play and 12% saw them as an obstacle to overcome. This seems to indicate that PNPCs are viewed first and foremost as an element of the narrative/storyline rather than as a cog in the game mechanics. This is significant since most of the research thus far has been centered on the latter rather than the former.

Giving PNPCs Their Spot in the Limelight

This essay aimed to assess whether a video game player’s experience had any impact on how much guidance they required/expected to receive from PNPCs and how much they were able to appreciate the complexity of PNPCs as game characters. The results highlighted indicate that player experience does seem to have an impact on a player’s need to rely on a PNPC for guidance. Inexperienced players seemed to get frustrated by what they perceived as a lack of direction while experienced players were a lot more selective in how and when they chose to rely on Alyx Vance.

In terms of appreciation of PNPCs as characters, the key factor did not seem to have much to do with a player’s level of experience. Some players seem to view PNPCs more as agents of the game engine created to facilitate the flow of a game. Most of these players had negative comments about Alyx Vance because while she does help the protagonist’s progress in the story, she also follows her own pace and thus, according to them, hinders the flow and their control of the game. Participants who had positive comments about Vance painted her a lot more as an important character in the story, facilitating a connection with the protagonist and adding depth to the narrative and the game world.

This division encapsulates the complexity of PNPCs because they are a hybrid form of character. They are not the heroes, but they are not faceless NPCs either. This dichotomy is what makes them so interesting and deserving of much further study. PNPCs are an important fixture in modern video games. While their significance as agents of the game system and the most efficient ways to design and create them is an ongoing stream of research in the industry, very little has been done to understand their potential as agents of the narrative and as a crucial element in the enjoyment of the game. Hopefully, the larger study from which this essay was pulled will begin to fill this gap.