We’re walking MacGuffins. Not characters. We react to what everyone else is doing rather than enacting some kind of change due to individual agency. We receive no character development, nor do we cultivate any kind of relationship with any characters beyond basic recognition of accomplishing whatever goal they assigned to us.
We’re plot devices, no matter how central to that plot.
I’ve never really understood the sentiment of people feeling resentful of NPCs getting credit for the big kills. A number of the same people who claim not to care about lore get mad that Thrall has taken the credit for taking down Deathwing.
I guess it is MMO Andy’s who didn’t play Warcraft previously? I dunno. The heroes have always been big name heroes, if anything Thrall getting credit is a return to the roots of the franchise.
That would be me!
king anduin wrynns son
prince desnutsis wrynn
Very few know that Daniel Warcraft is the main character.
Millhouse Manastorm
???
I never said him taking credit was the reason I didn’t like him. Don’t put words in my mouth.
Yea, although there are many “main” characters. Thrall is probably the main character in more parts of WoW than anyone else.
You could say Jaina on the Alliance side in the same way.
Wow main character should be thought of in the same way you think of the power rangers, except the the rangers would remain unnamed and not as clearly defined in terms of their specific abilities beyond their power levels.
The characters who enter and clear dungeons and raids are the rangers, who some move through expansions, such as the rangers from turbo to ninja or whatever, are the players who are the champion from BFA -SL.
Where as sometimes different generations of rangers with a whole new group, while still the rangers, are not the same, but serve the same purpose, like mighty morphing, not being the same as lost galaxies, just as those who defeated cthun, may not be the same who defeated argus.
That’s kind of how I view the MC of wow, as more of several groups who serve the same purpose in the universe, under the same name but also canonically nameless.
Danuser’s waifu of the expansion.
We react to what everyone else is doing rather than enacting some kind of change due to individual agency.
I mean, the meme is that they’ve recently attempted to provide player characters with “meaningful choices”, such as through covenants in Shadowlands. The story you journeyed through and the relationships you had with the covenants in the shadowlands was different based on your choice. But generally, our “good guy” tendencies are part of our implied agency, which most people playing a roleplaying game will be fine with. Roleplay in general can fill in the gaps.
I couldn’t believe anyone who’s played WoW wouldn’t be able to pick up the signals from the writers that they want your character to be the primary protagonist.
To me, this is like playing a video game called “Superman”, where you play as Superman, and your reaction is “You know, I didn’t really enact change due to my own agency, I just did whatever others needed me to. I wonder who the main character was.”
I will do quests where I torture or poison people. I will also do quests where I pick flowers or put the lost soul of a child to rest. I have saved nations from certain doom. I have been complicit in genocide.
Superman wouldn’t poison people. Nor would he commit genocide. He has a defined characters - those actions fall outside those bounds. We do not have such limits.
Our characters are not characters. They have no personality. They have no ethos. We are completely subject to the whims of the narrative and characters with actual agency. We only participate to the degree that allows us to view the events firsthand.
We are central to the narrative. One can make the argument that this centrality would define us as protagonists. But actual characters in the story? Not at all. We are tools that the real characters are forced to use in order to create room for gameplay to happen.
Azeroth
We are central to the narrative. One can make the argument that this centrality would define us as protagonists. But actual characters in the story? Not at all.
I think I agree with this; I guess it’s just a disagreement of what a “real” character can be. I think it’s fine to say some of our agency is implied, and other elements of our characters, such as backstory and personality, are defined by us through roleplay. I do, however, think the actions of many WoW “real” characters are just as head-scratchingly inconsistent as we are. “I have saved nations from certain doom. I have been complicit in genocide” sounds like many WoW characters.
You can make the argument that other characters have done both while still comparing those actions to their values and seeing how they can justify themselves. Or you can simply deem that they are acting out of character due to shoddy writing. But in order to say someone is acting out of character, you do need to define what their character is in the first place. I don’t think you can do that for “adventurers.”
As you say, the players themselves need to define their characters for themselves. But the writers give us woefully few opportunities to express that. Everyone who plays D&D has had that one DM that completely railroads the experience to tell their story. That’s the WoW writers. In their defense, given the format of the game, you can’t do much else.
I just take issue with saying that “adventurers” are the main characters of the franchise when there is nothing defined about us in the actual narrative as anything other than amoral mercenaries.
Notkwiterite is.
CHAMPION is the main character
John Warcraft
You. Your character is the main character.