Would it be a good or bad thing for mc to have character development?

[Vash_Reign]

Don't know if anyone asked, but would it be a good or bad thing for mc to have development in the game? Honestly, I can't tell because people usually complain that "he's bland" than turn around and go "he's a vehicle for the player" whenever someone suggests he should've had more development. When I started looking back on ddlc, I sometimes wonder this considering the game's theme of subverting harem tropes with mental health and characters realizing their roles in it, and ddlc abandoning the dating sim route altogether with the introduction of MES

Personally, for me I'm honestly not sure despite defending him so much a long time ago. It's complicated. Even when Dan at one point in his 2020 anniversary stream said he was okay with people seeing him as a character, I'm still not sure. How does he know about all the fan stuff like mc fan works is beyond me.

[kukuhimanpr]

mc already has his own character story and development, despite how bland some people say he is, even bland characters can have unique characteristics and variations of their own. i think the best description for mc's character is in one of his conversation with either natsuki or monika (i can't remember) where its stated that sayori is like a balloon floating away, and then mc said that he's her rock that would become her anchor. without mc, sayori would feel much more depressed and lost, like as if mc was most likely an embedded part of her core program, whether its how it is designed by the MES from the start or whether monika trying to break into metaverse layer of reality heavily affected mc's existence

[Vash_Reign]

Originally posted by kukuhimanpr:

mc already has his own character story and development, despite how bland some people say he is, even bland characters can have unique characteristics and variations of their own. i think the best description for mc's character is in one of his conversation with either natsuki or monika (i can't remember) where its stated that sayori is like a balloon floating away, and then mc said that he's her rock that would become her anchor. without mc, sayori would feel much more depressed and lost, like as if mc was most likely an embedded part of her core program, whether its how it is designed by the MES from the start or whether monika trying to break into metaverse layer of reality heavily affected mc's existence

lol you don't even have to spoiler it, but i see what you mean.

[kukuhimanpr]

sorry i have to spoil it, but i think in regards to understanding the difference of perspectives whether mc is his own character or just your typical bland visual novel male protagonist as players vehicle to progress game's story. mc had enough quirkness of his own to be his own character in my opinion.

if i want a character that is truly a total vehicle for myself as my avatar, i'd rather have a male character whose appearance, voice and dialogue personality choices can be customized to be as close to myself as possible.

[Vash_Reign]

Originally posted by kukuhimanpr:

sorry i have to spoil it, but i think in regards to understanding the difference of perspectives whether mc is his own character or just your typical bland visual novel male protagonist as players vehicle to progress game's story. mc had enough quirkness of his own to be his own character in my opinion.

if i want a character that is truly a total vehicle for myself as my avatar, i'd rather have a male character whose appearance, voice and dialogue personality choices can be customized to be as close to myself as possible.

Soulsborne and western rpg protagonists im a nutshell

[Tregrenos]

There's some hidden info in DDLC+ that actually explains a bit on why the MC is the way he is, lore-wise.

Spoiler, though it's just my interpretation of the information presented.
The MC was never an intended part of the simulation since outside interference would take away from the controlled experiment. He''s either an unintended manifestation in an attempt for Monika to make contact with whoever was watching over things OR the unsanctioned side-work of a group member who wanted to make contact. Either way, his lack of depth would likely be due to him being an afterthought of the experiment.

The non-lore answer being that he, like the other characters, are characteristic of an overused trope in these kinds of games. However, the why, how and subversion of expectation is what make this story stand out from its base design. In the MCs case, he's meant to represent player control, but the subversion is that the player LACKS control. He has no meaning to Monika, he's just a window to the outside world.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2804299642

[Vash_Reign]

Originally posted by Tregrenos:

There's some hidden info in DDLC+ that actually explains a bit on why the MC is the way he is, lore-wise.

Spoiler, though it's just my interpretation of the information presented.
The MC was never an intended part of the simulation since outside interference would take away from the controlled experiment. He''s either an unintended manifestation in an attempt for Monika to make contact with whoever was watching over things OR the unsanctioned side-work of a group member who wanted to make contact. Either way, his lack of depth would likely be due to him being an afterthought of the experiment.

The non-lore answer being that he, like the other characters, are characteristic of an overused trope in these kinds of games. However, the why, how and subversion of expectation is what make this story stand out from its base design. In the MCs case, he's meant to represent player control, but the subversion is that the player LACKS control. He has no meaning to Monika, he's just a window to the outside world.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2804299642

hmmmmmm. I see what you mean, but i was expecting a yes or no answer lol.

[kukuhimanpr]

yes, mc is like an afterthought background story addition to sayori. imo, the two metaverse employees paula and ive seems to have close connections as college best friends... which were based on paula's letter to ive... it seems their past bff college friend stuff had some influence on how they designed sayori's background (she said to natsuki or monika that she had a childhood best friend she seems close to from what we see in the side stories control group) when ive laster first proposed to the metaverse employees... that is, his idea of making the matrix scenario research be more enjoyable to them as visual novel game rather just be tedious number crunching work.

curious thing is, mc also had past connection with monika... in which they share the same class last year, which feels pretty closely analoguous to sayori-mc childhood friend theme... imo, monika somehow found out about ive and paula's past bff connection, and then tries to form stable connection to ive's computer by manipulating mc's negligible data in sayori's database to be more substantial, even inserting herself as part of mc's background as 1st year classmate before ddlc takes place... we also had to remember that one of the MES employees' letters indicates that they were going nuts on vm1 experiment (ddlc simulation machine) to get accurate data asap since their deadline of being fired if they proved unprodictve is fast approaching...

which means... both monika and the MES employees had heavily involved themselves in modifying mc's character... you can say that the MES employees are the first people who created mc just as a sentence as part of sayori's background, then monika found out about this and paula's letter, then she 'ascended' mc, so to speak, perhaps fleshing out more details on mc's personality so that she could form more stable connection to MES network for freedom from her 'rgb nightmare torture' through the method of getting closer and more intimate to mc, while the MES employees probably also adds more to mc personality along the way...

so... mc is like a text file that ascended into an ai mimicking a bland visual novel male protagonist... due to how vm2 (project libitina) heavily implies supernatural stuff messing up with MES' research... who knows, maybe mc's personality will develop more through his own self learning or through more 3rd party interferences...

so... mc is a character that has unique personality, but players can also mold his personality to their liking in some limits.

dang, this is some deep stuff...

makes me wonder why monika didn't just pluck one of mc's eye and keep it alive in an alcohol jar infused with nano tech stuff or something so she can have connection with MES through mc's one eye 24/7, while she could also be just manipulate mc's one eye crippleness story as an accident he had before ddlc happens... that way, both monika and the 3 dokis can have mc 24/7 fairly... mostly... if the other 3 dokis can share that one eyed mc without succumbing to their core personality flaws...

sorry for rambling so much... but ultimately, i think its good that mc had personality of his own, even through his personality creation happens through bizarre interferences between 3rd parties of different realities.

[Vash_Reign]

Originally posted by kukuhimanpr:

yes, mc is like an afterthought background story addition to sayori. imo, the two metaverse employees paula and ive seems to have close connections as college best friends... which were based on paula's letter to ive... it seems their past bff college friend stuff had some influence on how they designed sayori's background (she said to natsuki or monika that she had a childhood best friend she seems close to from what we see in the side stories control group) when ive laster first proposed to the metaverse employees... that is, his idea of making the matrix scenario research be more enjoyable to them as visual novel game rather just be tedious number crunching work.

curious thing is, mc also had past connection with monika... in which they share the same class last year, which feels pretty closely analoguous to sayori-mc childhood friend theme... imo, monika somehow found out about ive and paula's past bff connection, and then tries to form stable connection to ive's computer by manipulating mc's negligible data in sayori's database to be more substantial, even inserting herself as part of mc's background as 1st year classmate before ddlc takes place... we also had to remember that one of the MES employees' letters indicates that they were going nuts on vm1 experiment (ddlc simulation machine) to get accurate data asap since their deadline of being fired if they proved unprodictve is fast approaching...

which means... both monika and the MES employees had heavily involved themselves in modifying mc's character... you can say that the MES employees are the first people who created mc just as a sentence as part of sayori's background, then monika found out about this and paula's letter, then she 'ascended' mc, so to speak, perhaps fleshing out more details on mc's personality so that she could form more stable connection to MES network for freedom from her 'rgb nightmare torture' through the method of getting closer and more intimate to mc, while the MES employees probably also adds more to mc personality along the way...

so... mc is like a text file that ascended into an ai mimicking a bland visual novel male protagonist... due to how vm2 (project libitina) heavily implies supernatural stuff messing up with MES' research... who knows, maybe mc's personality will develop more through his own self learning or through more 3rd party interferences...

so... mc is a character that has unique personality, but players can also mold his personality to their liking in some limits.

dang, this is some deep stuff...

makes me wonder why monika didn't just pluck one of mc's eye and keep it alive in an alcohol jar infused with nano tech stuff or something so she can have connection with MES through mc's one eye 24/7, while she could also be just manipulate mc's one eye crippleness story as an accident he had before ddlc happens... that way, both monika and the 3 dokis can have mc 24/7 fairly... mostly... if the other 3 dokis can share that one eyed mc without succumbing to their core personality flaws...

sorry for rambling so much... but ultimately, i think its good that mc had personality of his own, even through his personality creation happens through bizarre interferences between 3rd parties of different realities.

No need to worry dude. This explanation was fun to read! Even though i like MC, you have a point about his creation. I'm glad to see this whole thing been civil