Embarking on any video game mission is an endeavor in the name of vanity, really. Repelled the alien invasion on an arcade cabinet? Tell the world about it in three initials on the high score screen. Just scored a goal in FIFA? Time to bust out the salmon celebration while the other player furiously stabs X trying to skip the cutscene. Beaten Elden Ring, have you? Well, that’s all very well and good, but what did your character look like while you did it?
These are virtual spaces where we get to be the god-king, the center of the universe, or in the case of Saints Row IV, just a swole dude in a purple three-piece suit who can somehow fly. Having some agency over your in-game avatar, then, is crucial to the experience. It lets you invest all the deeper in the fantasy that this is you, achieving these impossible feats, becoming the NBA’s all-time great, chokeslamming random pedestrians… yep, Saints Row IV again.
