A research team led by Professor Young Yim Doh from the Graduate School of Culture Technology investigated how the relationship between a player and a game character influences the overall satisfaction of the player with the game. The research was conducted in the context of The Last of Us Part II, a popular console game that received highly polarized reviews from its players.

With the growing popularity of video games, there is an increasing interest in analyzing how players engage with games. One of the most important aspects of this relationship is the player character (PC) — a character through which a player interacts with the game world. In narrative-driven games, a PC takes on a dual role as the persona of a player in the game and as a narrative device for game developers. While the latter of these roles has been extensively researched, studies on the interaction between a player and a PC are still lacking. To cover this gap, Professor Doh’s team conducted a study that explored how the player’s subjective experience of forming a bond with a PC connects to the overall game satisfaction in a story-based game.

The Last of Us Part II was the researchers’ game of choice for conducting this study. Developed as a sequel to an immensely popular console game The Last Of Us, The Last of Us Part II can be described as a story-driven action-adventure shooting game. The particular plot device that caused much controversy among fans of the series is the forced switch of PCs midway through the game. After playing with Ellie, the main protagonist, for the first half of the story, players are then required to play with Abby, the main antagonist who killed the prequel’s main character. This mechanic led to highly polarized game satisfaction, which can be tracked through the user scores on Metacritic: only 5% of the reviews were mixed, while the majority was either positive or negative.

To get more insight into player experience, the research team interviewed players of The Last of Us Part II from different backgrounds with varying opinions on the game. Through the thematic analysis, the team identified three recurring themes that arose in the discussion of how the participants related to their PCs. The first theme is a given player’s tolerance of forced character switch. Although all participants were initially reluctant and confused by the idea of playing with an antagonist, those who reported a high satisfaction with the game commented that they later learned to appreciate the opportunity to view the story through a different perspective. At the same time, dissatisfied players commented that the forceful switch intrudes their only agency in a story-based game. The second theme relates to the flexibility of character attachment. The players who were highly attached to the games’ protagonists, Joel and Ellie, reported lower satisfaction than those who were open to building a new bond with a new character. Lastly, the third theme concerns the malleability of character image — that is, how open players are to reshaping their mental images of PCs.

The team believes that the implications of this study will provide game developers and story writers with new important dimensions through which a game’s success with players can be predicted.