Four Reasons You&#39;re In Love With That JRPG CharacterS   But
I didn't want to play sports or hunt for weird animals in the
lake. I wanted to think about video game characters. They were
more interesting than the people around me. And since I couldn't
spend all day in front of my Super Nintendo, I'd hang out with a
small group of close friends and we'd all pretend to be
characters from our favorite Japanese role-playing games. I was
Shadow.  Today, I don't spend a lot of time pretending to be
video game characters. But I do spend a lot of time thinking
about what makes video game characters work.  See, the word
"compelling" has become something of a buzzword in today's
gaming industry, but it's a fitting adjective for great gaming
characters. A good character is interesting, relatable,
sympathetic, entertaining, and just all around badass. Even the
silly ones.  But what makes a character resonate with an
audience? Why do we care about the people we play? What makes us
want to pretend we're them, even when w