characters in films and games

This post is to discuss the differences between characters in films and games.

I can hardly find any relevant topics from the Internet, i mean i cant find any actually, perhaps my searching skills need plenty of improvement, so i'll just briefly discuss about the topic based on my own understanding.

I think the major difference between these is the interactivity. As when we are watching films, all the characters are pre-set and they goes along the storyline without us interrupting any of the processes. Meaning, us as the audiences follow the flow, watch the stories as how scriptwriters and directors want them to be. We do not have the chance or the right to change the storyline or the character like how we want them to be.

However, in the games, we can choose our own character, which character we want to be (if there is a list to choose from), or even customize our own characters. We can choose a character that best represent us, choose how it looks and mostly how it works in the game. The flow of the game depends on how we play it. So in a game, characters are customizable and controllable. Mostly we are the ones to decide the next step to take, or the next place to go.

Another main difference between characters in films and games is the level of involvement by the audiences. I would say generally the level of involvement for games characters will be higher than that of film characters. This is simply because in a game, you are the character itself and you'll need to give more attention to bring the character to the next step whereas in a film, the most that you can do is to "feel" the character. There is no much interactivity therefore only low involvement for the film characters.
So these are the differences that i can identify so far. Might add more when i discover more about this topic.

Happy reading!