I’ve just begun reading through Katherine Isbister’s Better Game Characters By Design: A  Psychological Approach, and I’m happy to say that I’ve enjoyed what little I thrust in front of my exhausted eyeballs today. So: this is probably going to be pretty self-indulgent, but I wanted to do a bit of thinking aloud blogging to help me consider some of the book’s concepts. One of these concepts is the significance of a player’s first impressions of a video game character. I wanted to relate it to an example I’ve come across recently. That would be the three men and a lady from Valve’s new zombie shooter, Left 4 Dead.

In the book, Isbister underlines that the first impressions we make as humans in any social encounter are hugely important. She states that we make the same surface impressions with game characters. She then goes on to carefully outline three “simple rules of thumb” that will help realize strong first impressions for a video game character. They are as follows:

1. Make (almost) everyone attractive.

2. Use babyfaces to inspire care and warmth, not respect.

3. Trigger stereotypes for speed and break them for depth.

All three of Katherine’s rules apply to Left 4 Dead’s cast, the four playable survivors. They are Bill, a ‘Nam veteran, Zoey, a college student, Louis, an office worker, and Francis who’s a biker. What’s great about that summary is that you can unashamedly work all of it out just from their appearance. For example, Bill’s ostensible age, his military jacket and matching beret pretty much sum him up. The same applies for the other three characters.

This obvious stereotyping may come off as lazy, but it’s more than acceptable because it keeps to Left 4 Dead’s theme of evoking classic zombie films. This is emphasized in various ways; the film posters with cheesy titles and taglines (such as above) shown at the start of each campaign, the B movie-esque audio cues for enemies, and the cinematic rise and fall of music depending on the current threat to the survivors. The gameplay itself also plays into this theme with its unrelenting unpredictability that feels measured and deliberate, thanks to the game’s trusty ‘AI director.’ Classic zombie films are filled with stereotypical characters who are lacking in depth, so rule #3 is not only acceptable in this case, but is in fact preferable.

However, Left 4 Dead only really uses the first half of rule #3. Breaking the stereotypes for depth wouldn’t fit with the theme, and the game isn’t really about the survivors anyway. Instead, Left 4 Dead’s stereotypes are embellished upon and expanded via occasional but brief dialogues. For example, Francis and Bill might engage in this conversation in an elevator ride during the ‘No Mercy’ campaign:

Francis: I hate hospitals… and doctors… and lawyers.
Bill: Francis, is there anything you don’t hate?
Francis: You know what I don’t hate? I don’t hate vests.

This all plays into the stereotype of a rebellious outcast created by Francis’ appearance, but at the same time it adds to it by giving him just a smidge of depth. Since the game promotes repetition of its campaigns, this depth increases surprisingly with more and more titbits of dialogue, all to a point where each of the characters feels more like a personality than a stereotype, but without actually breaking the stereotype.

Clearly a lot of thought has been put into the first impressions that would be produced by each character’s appearance. This is also demonstrable by looking back at the prototype character designs unveiled at 2008’s E3 conference:

There are subtle differences to Bill and Francis’ design, whilst Louis looks pretty much the same. However, the largest change is plainly visible in Zoey, who has lost her glamorous-looking long blue hair and babyface features, all for a more everyday appearance whilst retaining what could be described as an unconventional beauty. As Isbister declares in her second rule, this change is more likely to produce respect for her character rather than care, warmth, and to some extent attraction. This change makes sense within this context because players will have to play as her in a team situation, and they won’t want to feel like an inferior or weak member of the team that needs to be looked after. There’s no question that the final Zoey comes across as being a strong member of the survivors, an impression that’s visible in the above No Mercy poster depicting her in an assured, intimidating position. In short, they made sure she was badass.

The survivors and their design are just one part of Left 4 Dead’s enjoyable whole. However, like all constituents of a Valve game, they’ve been developed with care and attention, and the end result is a group of four characters who immediately resonated with me, just like the rest of this brilliant game did.

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