Character Development Revisited

Again, my knowledge of current video game characters is pretty thin.  I played "Medal of Honor" a few times in the front offices of a screen printing company I worked at many years ago.  About 7 or 8 of us would be on computers walking around and shooting each other.  I think my character's name was "Pierre".  He shot people and got shot at.  And I watched a guy play "Assassin's Creed" once about a year and a half ago.  I never caught that fella's name.  He had a hood on and nobody in town really talked to him as he jumped on roofs and stuff.  The guy in the game, that is - not the guy playing the game.  He was wearing a t-shirt and jeans.

So, I must turn to the days of my youth and recall the games with characters I liked.  There's that dude in "Berzerk"...

He's stuck in some minimal, futuristic supermarket with big-shouldered robots.  He's probably still there, for all I know.  Somebody go check.

Ooooh - I know somebody.  The paperboy in "Paperboy".

You're only aware of his evil eyes by the artwork on the arcade console itself.

The only time you see his face in the game is on the title screen...

Seems like a happy, hard working lad there.  In the actual game, you only see him from far above - like you're following him in a hot air balloon.

The player can decide whether to believe his heart is full of anger and he despises all the good for nothin' rich people in their filthy rich houses on his route - or - he's a good, decent boy rising early to bring the news to everybody's doorstep, hoping to earn enough money for a giant gong.  I like that.  You're allowed to bring your own mood to the character.  You're not told how to be.  Deliver the papers as you wish.  

Your environment is American suburbia circa 1984 - meaning it's pretty much exactly how it is now, except there aren't any SUVs in driveways.  It's not a wacky, alien world that our hero's never seen before.  He sees it everyday.  This is his job.  It's the only game I can think of where the main character is simply doing a normal job.  Not one of a sexy secret agent or an oily volleyball pro - just an average kid doin' an average 1984 kid's job.  Sadly, kid's in 2010 don't know what a newspaper is and can hardly ride a bicycle past the end of the block they live on without feeling nauseous.

The environmental hazards of suburbia are the "villians" of this game.  (if you have no idea what I'm talking about, please click here to see a clip of somebody playing it) Things that harm the player in any game are always a part of the environment.  Unless you're dealing with some major inner turmoil in the player's psyche such as a childhood trauma, a phobia, a Red Bull addiction, or just your basic, old-fashioned bruised ego like Pac-Man had.  

This game would be cool if it was set in downtown Tianjin, China because Chinese newspapers weigh about 8 pounds each.  He could get caught up in the seedy underworld of the Chinese mafia and quite possibly work his way up to become head of the entire Asian heroin ring.  That would surely make the front page of "The Daily Sun"!