We’ve probably all over-identified with characters from media. Whether you’ve written fanfiction, scrolled through other’s in-depth analysis of a character’s motivations on Twitter, bought products an influencer recommended, or cried when Jenna Marbles or Mat Pat from Game Theory retired from YouTube, it’s a common hazard of our modern age. These identifications are called parasocial relationships, which are the one-sided ties between individuals who consume media and the characters (or people) they consume. The definition is increasingly growing to encapsulate the blurred lines between knowing and being known in a digital world. Parasocial relationships dominate new technologies and social media and have particular implications for how we should think about characters in video games and ourselves when we play them.
How do Video Games Differ from Other Media?
Video Games, as discussed by Jesper Juul in Half-Real, are “real in that they consist of rules,” and real in that winning and losing the game is a real thing that happens, and “fictional in the actions you do.” Essentially, they are “real rules in a fictional world” (Juul). Video games, especially games with a strong narrative, use many of the same tools as other forms of media — storylines, music, and visual art follow many of the same characteristics you see in movies and TV — but the difference is spoiler alert, they are games. You are put in the middle of the action, in many ways just as immersive or even more immersive than other forms of media, but as a player in a game, you are constrained by its rules. And, even more importantly, your connection to characters in the game and other consumers of the game isn’t relegated to you simply viewing a character and discussing your love of them on a Reddit board; you can interact with characters, be a character, and (depending on the type of game) connect with other fans on the medium itself.
Getting to Know Your Friendly Neighborhood NPCs
NPCs, or “non-playable characters,” are the bread and butter of video games. How you interact with NPCs is based on the rules and norms of a particular game; in some, your character can marry NPCs; in some, you can just buy a sword and be on your way. Sometimes they just kill you. NPCs are a hugely important part of our interactions with games and often are part of our attachment to them.
One example is Animal Crossing. In Animal Crossing, you play the only person on an island with cute animal townspeople where you help to build a town for your furry & feathery friends. The newest version, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, came out on March 20th, 2020, and saw incredible popularity among various age groups during the pandemic & beyond. Part of this is inherent to the culture and vibe of the game — people resonated with having domestic goals in a sunny town after weeks at home. I think the other reason it’s so popular is because of parasociality. Connecting with happy and cute NPCs and walking around a little town gave people a taste of what they were missing during lockdown. It’s not just that it gave people a break from the anxiety-inducing news coverage of 2020; it also represented one of the critical aspects of parasocial relationships, especially with NPCs: there are almost no consequences for your social interactions.
So what does that mean? The lack of consequences for interactions with NPCs means you don’t have to worry about the “fall-out” of a social interaction with an NPC. In a game like Animal Crossing, the rules don’t allow anything bad to happen. Even in other games with higher stakes, killing an NPC is unlikely to have any negative consequences. Outside of the fictional world, this had real implications during the pandemic. Especially during the early days of the pandemic, there were real consequences to interacting with others in physical spaces in the form of breaking laws & social norms and spreading disease. Certainly in Animal Crossing, but also with all video games, you don’t really have to worry about that, especially with NPCs! During the pandemic, it allowed people to have a semblance of social interaction without the consequences of doing so. And in Animal Crossing, it’s relaxing, the townspeople are happy to see you, and in March 2020, I was certainly excited to see them!
Why Does it Matter?
Even beyond the pandemic, our connection with video game characters is culturally significant. The popularity of video games like The Witcher and The Last of Us has led to huge TV series following the main characters, where our connection to characters spans not just series but mediums. Video games allow for a blurring of lines between what is known & unknown, who we connect & interact with, and the medium itself has important implications for the meeting spaces of the future (thinking, unfortunately, about the corporate nightmare of the Metaverse, but also video games as places where you can interact with your friends from the real world). Because video games allow for connection with characters in a way no other medium allows, the social interaction feels more real. You can buy the lipstick an influencer tells you to, but you can’t fight a dragon with them. You can write fanfiction about a character from a movie, but can you play the character in their world? I don’t think so.
Sources:
- https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/arts/animal-crossing-covid-coronavirus-popularity-millennials.html
- https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-319-08234-9_463-1
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9779800/#:~:text=A%20parasocial%20relationship%20is%20a,the%20development%20of%20parasocial%20relationships.
- Juul, Jesper. Half-Real.
Really cool post Brynn. I’ve seen more and more conversations surrounding parasocial relationships in media especially considering the prominence of “stan culture” and online personalities who share intimate details, but rarely have I seen this idea applied to video game characters which I found very interesting. It seems we are among the first generations to really be affected by this phenomena, likely due to the internet always having been a prominent part of our lives rather than other generations who adopted it later in life. I feel like I see it most with social simulation games such as Animal Crossing. Perhaps this is because these games allow for repeated interactions with NPC’s where the outcomes are not necessarily predetermined. With scripted video game interactions while we may enjoy the characters and their stories, it is a different feeling of connection than those of social simulators. I think your statements about The Last of Us are fairly accurate but I see the relationship as more of a fondness for the character and their story just as you would with a literary character you might enjoy. It seems to me that player agency for who they interact with and how they interact with them is key to making this kind of parasocial connection.
I really enjoyed this post, especially the NPC bit. The interactions with NPC can often be boring unless you really get into it. But your point on Animal Crossing really made me think about the design/art style of the game. With games like Skyrim where the game is expansive and grim looking, I found that NPC conversations were boring and I often skipped them. But in a smaller game with a very unique art style like Animal Crossing, with its cutesy characters, dialogue seems more important and interactions more fun. The NPCs are also much more tied to the plot than other games, so actually interacting with them is much more engaging. It is also a really fun aspect of NPCs to have this sense of free will, even godly power over them. You don’t have to follow the rules necessarily, or accept their side quest if you do not want to. But you can also help them! This choice makes games wonderful! I think it would be a real feat if large, open world games were able to have those sincere NPC conversations. Baldurs Gate 3 has gotten pretty close I believe. Thank you for a wonderful read!
Incredibly well written post Brynn! Parasocial relationships are an incredibly relevant topic nowadays with the consequences of the internet and the greater connection between people that the world has. It’s interesting that you relate this topic to games, because like Henry said in his comment, it’s rare to find any commentary of it in relation to games. I find the idea interesting in concept, however I do have to disagree. Games do not have any actual weight in reality. While it is true that you are fully immersed in the game as you say, there is still an invisible boundary there that distinguishes reality and fiction. You may have an immersive interaction with an NPC, but at the end of the day, that NPC is an insentient, programmed, piece of code, and most people know that. Once we reach the point where NPC’s can react and have truly interactive back and forth conversations, then there will be something to worry about, but that’s a whole other can of worms. The problem with parasocial relationships is that they are rooted in reality. Even thought there is a physical boundary between us and the object of parasocialism (celebrity for example), the relationship and interaction feels real, which is why it’s an important issue today. Nevertheless, I appreciate the topic of conversation that you bring up here, and as an extension, I wonder what broader consequences are there for games where you have actual human interaction such as with FPS and MMORPGs.
The concept of parasocial relationships and interactions is becoming increasingly relevant as more of people’s lives are lived in the digital world. Your article does a great job of applying that concept to a different medium of videogames, and I think this idea will be super relevant to this class as we delve further into the differences between mediums. I agree and think you’re 100% correct when you say that videogames allow for deeper parasocial experiences than other forms of audiovisual media like film. A part of this is the fact that most videogames contain experiences that last longer than a couple hours, either due to the size of content or replayability. Another part, which you already mentioned, is the interactability of videogames compared to other forms of media. Both of these aspects combine to create an experience with characters that can remain memorable in the hearts of players for years. I still have a deep love for Shovel Knight and get excited when I see him pop up in other games even though I haven’t played that game for years. My favorite game of all time is Super Smash Bros Ultimate, which contains dozens of characters from dozens of beloved game franchises, and part of the appeal is that fact that you can play as one of your favorite characters that you already love. The parasocial relationship with characters in games is what allows for this type of crossover hype.
This is an extremely insightful and timely deep-dive into the concept of parasocial relationships as they relate to video games. I’ve been noticing this become more and more of a phenomena, with people making TikTok edits of video game characters, and even in some cases using artificial intelligence to chat with their favorite character. However, I’d never thought about how parasocial relationships could develop with NPC’s. It would seem like, on the surface, a character would at least need to be able to control a character to form a deep, parasocial connection with them. Nevertheless, your explanation of the connections people form with the NPC’s in Animal Crossing proves that people can form parasocial connections with these characters easily. All it takes is the right combination of global circumstance and character dialogue. Thinking back to when I was in middle school and would watch let’s play’s, I remember YouTubers always forming some sort of connection with the animals within certain games. Take for example the wolf in Until Dawn. By all means, the wolf is not a playable character, but players get so attached to the wolf that they would risk the playable characters’ lives to save it. I wonder if it could be said that in some games, if the playable characters aren’t easy to empathize with, NPC’s are more liable to be on the receiving end of a parasocial relationship? This could be a very interesting question to explore in the future!
This is a really well-written blog post, Brynn! Your insights into NPC characters, specifically within the context of Animal Crossing, added a fascinating layer to my understanding of the game and NPC characters in general. I found it really interesting how you connected the game to what was going on in the world when it was popular. I never thought about how interactions with NPCs in Animal Crossing was a “replacement” for social interaction in the real world, but it certainly seems like it was. It’s intriguing to consider how the game functioned as more than just a virtual world but also as a reflection of our social desires during the pandemic.