# Do You Sympathize/Care For Characters In Video Games and Movies More Than Books?



## TheCrystallineEntity (Mar 10, 2017)

Or the other way round? Or Anime more than Manga? 

I've only ever cried at the deaths of characters in Clannad [anime], AIR [anime], Final Fantasy VII [video game], and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle [Manga]. I relate more to visual things than words.


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## Saigonnus (Mar 10, 2017)

In a sense. 

The ending of Red Dead Redemption made me angry... I thought, "how typical". Make a deal to let the guy off the hook, then go back on your word.

I felt sorry for Ellie and Joel and even Tess in The Last of Us.

I hate the redneck trailer trash Trevor Phillips from GTA V... 

Ezio Auditore from Assassin's Creed likewise made me laugh and pity him at various points. 

But truthfully there are only a handful of characters that have provoked any sort of emotional attachment in me. Like, I care about my Skyrim characters, but it doesn't bother me that they die occasionally.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Insolent Lad (Mar 11, 2017)

I'll admit that I have cried when I killed off characters in my own books.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Mar 11, 2017)

^Me, too, but only in a previous draft of my first book, weirdly enough. 

Oh, I forgot Pokemon Explorers of Sky [video game]--one of my favourites ever.


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## valiant12 (Mar 11, 2017)

I enjoy  mainly strategy games, and I don't care at all for the all the redshirts who died for my fun.
I liked  Wynne from Dragon Age Origins. I like heelers characters in generall.


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## TheKillerBs (Mar 11, 2017)

Do pokemon count? Because otherwise not really. Mostly because if I don't really sympathise with at least one major character I'm not likely to get very far in a book.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Mar 11, 2017)

^Pokemon do count, especially since I listed Pokemon Explorers of Sky. 



> if I don't really sympathise with at least one major character I'm not likely to get very far in a book.


I'm the same.


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## DragonOfTheAerie (Mar 12, 2017)

I definitely sympathize better with book characters but neither seems more or less likely to get an emotional reaction from me. I don't cry often when reading or watching things. When I do, it's usually because "that was so beautifully and poignantly expressed!" rather than because something was sad.

I can't really see any difference in books and movies as far as that goes. (I don't play many games.)


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## Penpilot (Mar 13, 2017)

If a story is engaging, it doesn't matter what form it takes. I connect with it.


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## FifthView (Mar 13, 2017)

For me, sympathy depends, and like most things, it's really about _which_ book/movie/television show/video game.

*Video games: * very, very rarely. _Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons_ and _Ico_ were two cases where I sympathized greatly and became very emotionally attached. Near the end of _Final Fantasy VII_, I was surprised to become emotional, teary-eyed, but that's been a long time ago, and I don't remember how sympathetic I was during most of the game.

*Books:* This is the major _depends_ category. Type of character and story make a great difference. OTOH, if I feel almost no sympathy, I need to put it down and won't finish. Strong feeling and attachment seem rare for me except for special cases–again, type of character/story.

*Movies:* Much of the time, I don't feel strong sympathy. But again, type of character and story make a huge difference.

*Television:* This is one of the areas where I'm much more likely to feel attachment to characters. I think this is partly due to the fact that a season/series can last so long and there's a lot of time to grow attached. I find myself growing attached even when the show itself is not especially great, if I stick with it; afterward, I might move on and forget the show or even wonder how the heck I let myself become so wrapped up in the characters.

*Anime:* Similar to other television, I'm very likely to grow attached to characters while I'm watching, if I stick with a show beyond 4-5 episodes. Lately, incidentally, I've been noticing that one of the "tricks of the trade" in anime is to make almost every character eccentric in some way and even to exaggerate peculiarities, and I've been wondering if this is one of the reasons I can become so engrossed in the characters.

Of course, for all of the above there are different levels of sympathy, ranging from the mild to the strong, so the question is a little difficult.


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## Demesnedenoir (Mar 14, 2017)

While I am drawn to some stories for the emotional connection, I am mostly unaffected by character deaths. And an animated character, never, they could all die, no sweat. I love animated movies but I have zero emotional connection with their deaths. Boromir's demise was poignant when I was 12 and reading the LoTR for the first time... Spock! Spock's death was sad... but then he came back... huh, but seeing his death in the theater the first time, that was sad. Butch and Sundance dying... 

But nope, most characters don't mean a thing except a good story. Oh! And I cheered silently when Dr. Dreamy (or whatever the hell his nickname was) on Grey's Anatomy finally friggin' died after years of my wife torturing me with that show... does that count? It was emotional!

Otherwise, in general, I am far more "connected" to the emotional journeys of book characters, but still, in the end, their deaths really don't phase me.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Mar 15, 2017)

^That's interesting.


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