Psychology Of Our Character Selection

[PKStoopKid]

Disclaimer: This article( I guess) is written in only my perspective and so I guess its to mention its only my opinion though i'm open for discussion
Any views stated in the bottom article are purely for interesting entertainment and shouldn't be taken too serious but feel free to take it serious if you want... have fun with it.

Do we psychologically pick our characters based on preferences in our lives? Decision making can be identified as choosing alternatives based on the values and preferences of the decision maker. " Every decision produces a final choice"-James Reason (1990).Human Error Ashgate. That is not to say that we do not choose characters outside of our personality, just we stick to the characters that relate to us. Choosing a character is a process so intricate yet overlooked, that we often don't notice there was a process to begin with. This process is formed through Research, Testing, and Assessment or simply 20th century RTA and 21 Century RTA.

20th Century RTA
Research: We hear of a fighting game, we either went on line (briefly...you know...dial up) and read the character's backstory or playstyle or read the booklet( what are those?)
Testing:/Tryouts: WE play said character usually 3-5 times
Assessment: We determine if the character suits who we are personally, we evaluate if this character is comfortable enough for us to play as in we deem this character worthy of our time

21st Century RTA
Sadly with the amazing patch to the internet, the old ways of establishing the "you" character are slowly creeping away. Nowadays we see a video of said fighting game, and just look at character videos. Not a bad thing at all, but here's the problem.

Research: Watch character video, read character guides, watch combo video
Tournament Tier: Is this character good for tournaments? After a couple tourny appearances, where do they rank? After the patch, where do they stand?
Assesment: Can I use this character in tournament?

While I have no beef with the tourny scene ( I plan to be apart of it), people have stopped playing the characters that compliment who they are in favor for strategies that win and characters with exploits and uber useful moves (yeah i'm talking about vergil/doom). Now don't get me wrong there are those who actually just like these characters and they just happen to be good, but it seems the tourny scene eliminates personality in our character selection being we have to practice with the team that works.

Still, one must ask, what makes us select who we select? Using myself as an example, growing up in the 90s I had noticed there were a lack of female lead roles in the games and shows I played/watched. I also had a female friend who shaped many of the ideals I hold today. Psychologically and subconsciously, these events would lie dormant in my psyche till around the time I turned 13. It was through constant failure and lack of emotion with the characters that I realized playing the female characters were more impactful on me. It all started with Nanase of Street Fighter that noticed I was playing females more than males.

I am a man who likes to put on a show while I play(using supers, taunts, and all types of ill sh!% ect) I found thata the female characters did that better. I also found that females were usually faster and that suited my impatient ways. Of course I traded vitality for speed, but I was never one who cared about the win, just the fight satisfied me. Weird or odd characters were a thing for me aswell (shuma, arakune ect) but there's no super long backstory for that reasoning, I just like odd characters(this applies to Ammy which i classify as odd).

So All in all, the next time the character select screen appears, take the time to evaluate why the character(s) is(are) being selected. And remember, these characters define one's self


Thoughts? Comments? Questions? feel free to discuss.

tl;dr: Read the damn article i'm not shortening it

 

[KaboomKid]

I agree that higher exposure to tournaments has probably influenced people's approaches to choosing their characters, and how they play fighting games in general. However, I think that still mostly applies to people who are actually interested in participating in tournaments, which is still a very slim margin. When it comes to the broader gaming audience, I don't think opinions on character choice have really shifted that much over the years. People still just pick what they like, or look for traits in characters that they're familiar with (or Guest characters even). Perhaps people are more open to playing female characters these days, but it helps that now there are more female characters for them to choose from anyway.

As for when I select a character, I suppose I approach it as if I'm hiring someone for a job. In the case of fighting games, since I'm playing a game where I want to punch people in the face, I want to play a character that likes punching people in the face. Even if the character isn't the best in the game, we can still share a common goal, and I can depend on that character to pursue that goal to the best of his/her ability. I HATE playing characters that are apologetic, or regretful all of the time. We'll beat up our opponents together, and we'll do it proudly!

 

[dragonos451]

Solobella...yup, fits me pretty well. Not gonna say why, just wanted to show I agree with the idea.

 

[WaterMystic277]

TBH, the 'scene' doesn't impact me, I literally just chose who suited me better, IE Squigly and Eliza.

 

[Guymelef]

How I formed my team. Squigly/Filia/Parasoul.

I already knew I wasn't gonna go solo. Starting off I picked solo Parasoul because I liked her the most visually, and I thought it would be more effective to learn one character at a time. I really liked Valentine too, but her combos seemed too weird for me at the time. Once I learned a bnb and got the hang of her, it was time for a 2nd character. At this point it could've been anyone, but since I'm impatient and wanted to play people already, I chose Filia, because I heard she was the easiest character to pick up, even though I didn't liked her. So for the longest time I played Filia/Parasoul debating whether or not I should add a 3rd character and do less damage. However, since I was doing ok as a duo, I kept it like this. Then, when Squigly came out I was getting bodied so hard by her. I was like "Yo, this character is so stupid." So she became my 3rd addition. I later became fond of Filia (gameplaywise), but I had to stop playing her like everyone else, and play her a bit different.

 

[Medzy]

I think I understand the idea, but would you consider the random button to apply in this thought process? Because random is always best girl.

 

[PKStoopKid]

Random selection applies as well it could actually show how trusting you are as a person to leave fate in something else's hands it could also introduce you to characters you may have never tried on your own,

 

[DDB]

I pick a trio of characters and play them until I get tired of one of them.

Then they get inserted into a little wheel and I spin it to see who gets replaced.

 

[Muro]

I'd explain the psychology behind my character selection, but Steam forums already did that a long time ago.

 

[dragonos451]

When I saw the alert telling me muro replied to this thread, I already had a pretty good idea of what was going to be said...but steam forums too stronk.

 

[Nevins]

Interesting topic. I pick characters that I like & fit well w/my playstyle. Tier placement doesn't have an impact with my choice, but it's interesting to know it for the cast for a game. Peacock could be a bottom tier grappler & I'd still use her.
I guess I don't like using villains too much in fighters. Except Omega Red. 0.0

 

[Smarts]

I stick with characters that I grow an attachment to. Best example of this being Squigly. In my opinion, she is a difficult character to play, but I don't mind. The bond is strong enough to the point where I just can't bring myself to replace her with anyone else.

Characters I replace are often because I just don't feel any connection with them, and that's what is really important to me when deciding on characters I'd like to play, the connection. Whether they are good or not doesn't matter to me because I always felt any character can be good if the player puts their heart into learning the character.

 

[chickenwithtie]

I like big boobs but butts are also very important

 

[JinKazama'94]

You can't say no to a Black Saxophone man...


And no to a kawii Blue teenage zombie Oprea singer... named Squigly...

 

[Muro]

Guess I'm more assertive than I thought.

 

[SONOFCAVEMAN]

Well, I guess I'll put why I play certain characters.

Normally, the first thing I go and do is just see what sizes all the characters are, I then have a go at them largest to smallest, and then inevitably pick the biggest (or most Interesting) one even though they are probably large hitbox heaven which means whenever I play online I often fail, probably due to my own Incompetence, and I then just go and keep playing that character as I love how they play, and often It's the large/large-ish ones I end up loving. And this all means I play a half-decent Big Band, and a half-decent Tager. But this all means little to nothing as (Almost) everybody I play has put in about 100 hours more than me(but then again, I could just practice more/try harder). Well that and my controller is hilariously bad.

Spoiler: Hilariously Bad

Yes, The button decals have rubbed off