Final Thoughts

How emotionally involved will you be in a game where you don't identify at all with the character you're playing?

Well, perhaps a lot, if many other Emotioneering techniques are used.

However, to cast the player into a role and then not try to make the player identify with that role, is to actually diminish the player's emotional engagement in the game to a greater or lesser degree. It also means passing up a superb opportunity for increasing the player's emotional immersion in the game.

Role Induction and First-Person Character Arcs (see the next chapter) are two of the biggest hurdles in game design. Games that conquer these challenges and that also offer intoxicating gameplay will become signature fixtures in the next generation of games.