SpawnPoint - Where Game Begins

This Looks Like a Job for the Player Character!

Have you ever noticed that whenever something important has to be done in a video game, it always falls on the shoulders of the player character? Even in a game that's full of NPC champions, soldiers, or heroes, it always falls to the main character to complete the mission. There are several RPGs where your character is the leader of the party only on the basis that he's the player controlled character. Often you'll pick up party members who are smarter, with more experience, and even a high military rank, yet somehow your character is unquestioned as the leader.

First Person Shooters are notorious for this. You often play the role of an ordinary soldier, but find yourself being the only one capable of various missions that include expertise in demolitions, sniping, stealth, and tactical assault. There's a whole army supporting you, but when it comes down to it your allies are barely capable of fending off common goons while you're tasked with the sole responsibility of taking out the big bad guy.

The Mass Effect games are full of this. We see at the end of the first Mass Effect that Earth has an impressive fleet of ships, but somehow when it comes to saving the universe, Commander Shepard is the only one available. Even though you're busy saving the world, Earth will still call you first to send you on additional missions and side quests.

It happens in all the Halo games too, but that's expected. Since you take the role of Master Chief who is by all accounts a well trained genetically-altered super soldier. Still it is annoying in Combat Evolved that Master Chief seems to be the only one capable of driving a vehicle. Fortunately they fixed that in later games, allowing you to take a gunner position while one of your allies takes the wheel.

The same issue is all over the Grand Theft Auto games. Even when a character comes specifically to give you a ride, he always scoots over and lets you take the wheel. The most obvious example of this is in a Vice City bank heist that requires you to recruit a gunman, a safecracker, and a driver. Yet in the end your recruits do nothing and you end up taking all three tasks on yourself.

It isn't terrible when the main character is a superhero or vastly superior to the others, but most the time that isn't the case. Just look at the Half Life series where the only guy who can get anything done is a geeky technician with a crowbar. So no matter what your role is, as the main protagonist you can except to always be the one who is the ultimate expert whenever a task needs to be done.