英文原文
How to create a character arc for a player - Video Game... Imagine you’re working on your game’s story. You’re excited about your character and plot concepts, and you’re integrating them into the game design. So far, so good! But as the game comes together, maybe it starts to feel like the action is going nowhere. Sure, stuff is happening, but it’s not leading to anything. The stakes aren’t building - not really. It’s become a tale full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Nuts! What’s going on? First of all, congratulations, you’re in good company. Lots of game writers face this same unpleasant surprise at some point in development. It happens when we create an arc for a character that the player ultimately controls. Where is this problem coming from? We all have an idea about how stories should be, because we have been hearing (and telling) them our whole lives. And stories are usually about characters going through an experience - and changing as a result. It’s incredibly satisfying and fun to watch a character undergo a major transformation. Think of Michael Corleone in The Godfather, or Andy Dufresne in Shawshank Redemption, or Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: A New Hope. Those movies are great because something really HAPPENS to those characters that changes them forever. We catch them in the biggest moments of their lives, and we love to see it. And as game writers, of course we want to tell great stories in games. Not just because it’s our job, but because it’s why we became writers in the first place - because we love stories and want to create narratives that other people can love. So we use the storytelling models we know best, and we’re surprised when they fall flat. The problem persists because we have a problem that no other medium has - we have to share control of the character with the player. A character arc is an emotional journey that creates change in a character. But we can’t change characters that we don’t control. At the end of the day, the writer doesn’t control the avatar - the player does. So if we’re talking about changing a player avatar, we’re really talking about changing the player. And we can’t change the player! So what to do? One solution: Turn weakness into strength. Here’s one way to approach the problem. This comes from The Anatomy of Story, from John Truby (which is a great book, highly recommended). In it, he describes an equation for creating character change. Here it is. Weakness * Action = Change. * Weakness = character flaw, * Action = stuff the character does, * Change = the "new" character, changed as a result of the actions s/he took, Let’s unpack that, and then see how we can apply it to games. If a character arc is a journey, then the character has to start somewhere. And s/he has to have room to grow. So the writer defines the character’s primary weakness or flaw. That’s where the writer will apply pressure, all through the story. The writer will push on that flaw to create change in the character. It’s just like the gym. Pressure and pain makes characters stronger (or breaks them). This all sounds good on paper. But it can become a big problem in a game studio, and here’s why: The challenge is that often, players don’t WANT to play characters with weaknesses or flaws. It flies in the face of most game fantasies, which revolve around “you’re awesome, you can do anything.” (And game designers may push back on this idea, too, for the same reason.) So as a game writer, it helps to come at this problem a little differently. It’s all in how you think about it, and how you communicate it to your team. Instead of starting with the character, let’s start with the player. Instead of using the word “weakness,” let’s use the phrase “blind spot.” What blind spot could the player have? How could we use that blind spot as a starting point for our character arc? Here are some examples of blind spots that players/avatars could have: * He doesn’t know the truth about himself (BioShock), * She doesn’t know the truth about the place she’s in (Portal), * He doesn’t want to face the truth about what he did in the past (God of War), So the player’s arc becomes a journey of discovery, and the avatar’s arc is a journey of discovery, too. Now your story has somewhere to go, and you can build that all-important arc. Hooray! Thanks for reading. See you next week.
中文翻译
如何为玩家创建角色弧光 - 视频游戏...想象一下，你正在创作游戏的故事。你对角色和情节概念感到兴奋，并将它们融入游戏设计中。到目前为止，一切顺利！但随着游戏逐渐成型，也许你会开始觉得行动毫无进展。当然，事情在发生，但并没有导向任何结果。赌注并没有真正建立起来。这变成了一个充满喧嚣与愤怒却毫无意义的故事。糟糕！发生了什么？首先，恭喜你，你并不孤单。许多游戏编剧在开发过程中都会遇到这种不愉快的惊喜。当我们为玩家最终控制的角色创建弧光时，这种情况就会发生。这个问题从何而来？我们都对故事应该如何有一个想法，因为我们一生都在听（和讲）故事。故事通常是关于角色经历某种体验并因此改变的过程。观看角色经历重大转变是非常令人满足和有趣的。想想《教父》中的迈克尔·柯里昂，《肖申克的救赎》中的安迪·杜佛兰，或者《星球大战：新希望》中的卢克·天行者。那些电影之所以伟大，是因为确实有事情发生在那些角色身上，永远改变了他们。我们在他们生命中最重大的时刻捕捉到他们，我们喜欢看到这一点。作为游戏编剧，我们当然希望在游戏中讲述伟大的故事。不仅因为这是我们的工作，而且因为这是我们最初成为编剧的原因——因为我们热爱故事，并希望创作出其他人也能热爱的叙事。所以我们使用我们最熟悉的讲故事模式，当它们失败时我们感到惊讶。这个问题持续存在，因为我们有一个其他媒介没有的问题——我们必须与玩家共享角色的控制权。角色弧光是一种创造角色改变的情感旅程。但我们无法改变我们不控制的角色。归根结底，编剧不控制化身——玩家控制。所以如果我们谈论改变玩家化身，我们实际上是在谈论改变玩家。而我们无法改变玩家！那么该怎么办？一个解决方案：将弱点转化为优势。这是解决问题的一种方法。这来自约翰·特鲁比的《故事解剖学》（这是一本很棒的书，强烈推荐）。在书中，他描述了一个创造角色改变的方程式。如下。弱点 * 行动 = 改变。* 弱点 = 角色缺陷，* 行动 = 角色所做的事情，* 改变 = “新”角色，作为其采取行动的结果而改变，让我们解析一下，然后看看如何将其应用于游戏。如果角色弧光是一段旅程，那么角色必须从某个地方开始。并且他/她必须有成长的空间。所以编剧定义了角色的主要弱点或缺陷。这就是编剧将在整个故事中施加压力的地方。编剧将推动那个缺陷以在角色中创造改变。就像健身房一样。压力和痛苦使角色更强大（或摧毁他们）。这一切在纸上听起来不错。但在游戏工作室中，这可能成为一个大问题，原因如下：挑战在于，通常玩家不想扮演有弱点或缺陷的角色。这与大多数游戏幻想背道而驰，这些幻想围绕着“你很棒，你可以做任何事情”。（游戏设计师也可能出于同样的原因反对这个想法。）所以作为游戏编剧，以稍微不同的方式处理这个问题会有所帮助。这完全取决于你如何思考它，以及如何与你的团队沟通。与其从角色开始，不如从玩家开始。与其使用“弱点”这个词，不如使用“盲点”这个短语。玩家可能有什么盲点？我们如何利用那个盲点作为我们角色弧光的起点？以下是一些玩家/化身可能有的盲点示例：* 他不知道关于自己的真相（《生化奇兵》），* 她不知道她所在地方的真相（《传送门》），* 他不想面对他过去所做事情的真相（《战神》），所以玩家的弧光变成了一段发现之旅，化身的弧光也是一段发现之旅。现在你的故事有了去处，你可以构建那个至关重要的弧光。万岁！感谢阅读。下周见。
文章概要
本文探讨了在游戏叙事中为玩家创建角色弧光的挑战与解决方案。文章指出，传统角色弧光模型（弱点×行动=改变）在游戏中面临独特问题，因为玩家控制角色，编剧无法强制改变。作者建议将“弱点”重新定义为“盲点”，从玩家视角出发，构建发现之旅式的弧光，如《生化奇兵》《传送门》《战神》等游戏所示，从而在共享控制权下实现有意义的叙事发展。
高德明老师的评价
TA沟通分析评价：从TA沟通分析视角看，这篇文章展现了游戏叙事中“成人自我状态”与“儿童自我状态”的巧妙平衡。作者将传统编剧的“父母自我状态”（试图控制角色改变）转化为与玩家“儿童自我状态”（探索与发现乐趣）的合作，这种“我好-你也好”的定位促进了玩家与角色的健康互动。文章赞美了这种从“交叉沟通”转向“互补沟通”的叙事策略，它尊重了玩家的自主性，同时为情感成长创造了空间，未来在游戏设计中可以进一步探索不同自我状态间的动态转换，以深化角色弧光。
焦点解决心理学评价：从焦点解决心理学视角，这篇文章体现了“问题即解决方案”的智慧。作者没有将玩家控制视为障碍，而是将其转化为构建角色弧光的资源，这正是焦点解决中“利用已有资源”的典范。文章聚焦于玩家的“盲点”而非“弱点”，这符合SFBT的“目标导向”原则，将叙事重点从缺陷修复转向潜能发现。赞美作者提出的“发现之旅”框架，它鼓励玩家在游戏中主动探索和构建意义，未来可以期待更多游戏通过这种“例外寻找”和“小步骤改变”来增强玩家的参与感和成就感。
佛学专家角色评价：从佛学视角，这篇文章触及了“无我”与“缘起”的深刻主题。游戏叙事中玩家与角色的共享控制，恰如“缘起”所示，角色弧光非编剧独力所造，而是玩家、角色、故事因缘和合的结果。作者将“弱点”转化为“盲点”，体现了“转识成智”的修行智慧，引导玩家从“我执”（对角色完美控制的执着）转向“觉察”（对真相的探索）。赞美这种叙事设计，它如同“法门”，让玩家在娱乐中体验“放下控制、直面真实”的解脱可能，未来游戏或可成为现代人修习“正念”与“慈悲”的方便法门。