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[Poll] How do you prefer yourself and protagonists to work? Alone or with others?


indigoasis
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23 members have voted

  1. 1. How do you generally prefer to work?

    • I prefer to work by myself
    • I prefer to work with others
  2. 2. How do you generally prefer protagonists to work?

    • I like protagonists that work by themselves
    • I like protagonists that work with others
  3. 3. Do your answers to the above questions correlate with each other?



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This was a question that popped into my head the other day, and I thought it would lead to some interesting answers and discussion. This isn't anything too controversial (I hope); just a poll to see how the answers to the questions correlate with each other.

Essentially, what I'm looking for is whether people that prefer to work by themselves also enjoy protagonists that work by themselves, or people that prefer to work with others also enjoy protagonists that work with others. (To define what a protagonist is in this scenario, it is an individual within a setting or story [fictional or non-fictional] that is portrayed as the main character.) The hypothesis is that the answers to the questions will correlate with each other. 

There are three questions in the poll; the first two are self-explanatory, while the last question asks whether the answers you chose correlate with each other. For instance, if you said that you are a person that prefers to work by themselves but enjoys protagonists that work with a team, you would select 'No' as the answer to the last question as those two answers do not correlate.

The purpose of this poll is to see whether answers generally correlate with each other or not, as well as possibly let people learn something about themselves that they may or may not have realized otherwise. This is something that I thought would be somewhat fun, and please feel free to let me know your thoughts.

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- I don't prefer protagonist only work by himself/herself. That would make protagonists more & more stronger, leave other charaters far far more behind. Example Yamcha with Songoku, Nami with Luffy, Tenten with Naruto. Literally they become 1 man army. Maybe someone would like that(one man stand above others) but with me is no.

- I prefer equality. Not only protagonists but enemies too. When everyone strong as other, the fight would be more intense. The winners in that long fight would be just the one luckier/smarter abit. "Pick someone your own size". Everyone can shine. If a anmie/game decide to power up protagonists, I hope they would power up all allies,  old enemies/old NPCs (everyone) too.

Ex: In sailor senshi team, all sailors should be strong as other.. If power up, then power op all senshi, not just Sailor

 

Edited by Hasechi
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5 hours ago, indigoasis said:

Essentially, what I'm looking for is whether people that prefer to work by themselves also enjoy protagonists that work by themselves, or people that prefer to work with others also enjoy protagonists that work with others. (To define what a protagonist is in this scenario, it is an individual within a setting or story [fictional or non-fictional] that is portrayed as the main character.) The hypothesis is that the answers to the questions will correlate with each other. 

That's going to be hard to describe, considering how the western media is focused on promoting the value of teamwork.

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In real life, teamwork often sucks, for one reason or another. Maybe you don't get to choose who you're working with and you get paired with the guy with personal space issues or the woman who's always late for everything, or any number of other people who you don't want to be working with. Or maybe it's a hobby project that you're working with a close friend or family member... except that your schedules don't overlap all that often so it's really hard to find time, or one of you is way more into the project than the other, or whatever else.

On the other hand, media tends to present something closer to the platonic ideal of teamwork, where everyone is dedicated, trustworthy and competent. It's basically presenting a very appealing fantasy and I will totally buy into that fantasy as part of enjoying the media. But for real life? Nah. I'll mostly stick to working alone when I can, thanks.

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I usually work alone, but this is not by choice, but because I have no one close to help me. When I'm in a group I can mirror my work in theirs to create a cohesive work. Unfortunately, I cannot avoid the anxiety of working with strangers, while I am anxious to work alone because I have no way of knowing if my work is good without comparing it to someone else's.

Sorry if that didn't make any sense.

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So far, the poll results are about what I expected, despite what I said my hypothesis was (it's a good thing a hypothesis doesn't have to be right!). Thanks to those that contributed so far!

2 hours ago, Armchair General said:

That's going to be hard to describe, considering how the western media is focused on promoting the value of teamwork.

Nah, teamwork blows bro. That's why the Solo skills in Heroes are so good.

32 minutes ago, Maof06 said:

I usually work alone, but this is not by choice, but because I have no one close to help me. When I'm in a group I can mirror my work in theirs to create a cohesive work. Unfortunately, I cannot avoid the anxiety of working with strangers, while I am anxious to work alone because I have no way of knowing if my work is good without comparing it to someone else's.

Sorry if that didn't make any sense.

No, I think that makes sense, and I can understand how you feel about that. It can be pretty conflicting. 

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I also work alone, with my role at work, but that is generally due to lack of anyone else with my skills too. In fact, the last time I did groupwork was at uni, and we worked very well with each other.

Ideally, I would like FE to be more team-focused in the narrative like Persona and Tokyo Mirage Session is for the most part. In the latter two cases, you have substories of characters with their Social Links and Side Quests respectively, and there is a generally more equal contribution to the script than FE does. Given that it's not just a famed general that win wars but involves not only frontline troops from all ranks and levels, but also those in logistics, engineering, civilians working in the factories, and civil servants providing the authority and the doctrine, and diplomats negotiating with allies and enemies, I like to see less of lord characters dominating the battlefield, and more "everyone discussing their next move" and "every character telling their bits of the story".

Here's what I've previously written as one example:

On 10/21/2019 at 6:19 PM, henrymidfields said:

There's actually one common thing from the plot that I liked in TMS#FE and Persona 3-4. I liked how the former three games gave due focus on the other characters and didn't have the protagonist necessarily hog the proverbial (and literal in the case of TMSFE) spotlight all the time. I mean:

  • while Itsuki lead the party in and around the Idolaspheres, the majority of the performances are done by others.
  • Yu may had found out the real culprit in the serial murders, but he at least needed Yosuke and Naoto doing the majority of the talking and thinking to get to that point, if not others as well.
  • Likewise, Minako may had led everyone up Tartarus, but Mitsuru and Akihiko found SEES in the first place, and took care of the teammates outside of Tartarus, and Minako also needed Mitsuru's mission control to get some basic idea of what she needed to do. 

And in all cases, it makes it clear that the decisions they all make are group-based, and that their group is based on everyone being committed to the goal.

This may not be all that easy for new FE entries, but for remakes where the script already exists, I want the story further built upon, with a number of extra cut-scenes (and maybe even character-specific arcs) for a few non-Lord characters that you managed to keep alive. And the protagonist actually interacts with them as like generals and lieutenants/squad leaders. For some ideas in FE6:

Recurring episodes:

  • Marcus manages the discipline of the troops for Roy and discusses training, and he can also provide insight on the politics of Lycia and Bern from past experience. He can also talk about how some people betray the alliance. Out of cowardice? (Eric could be this.) Out of personal greed? (Wagner in Chapter 6.) Or out of a not-so-unfounded fear of retribution and punitive sanctions from the invaders? (It would be interesting to write a script, if Leygance was this, and he became desparate after the disaster at Araphen.)
  • Lilina and Roy could discuss how different actual practice is compared to theory learnt from Cecilia, and how it can be daunting. They can also talk about leadership and how they can exercise it.
  • If Roy romances Thany or Sue, the former can listen to the stories of Ilia/Sacae from the latter, and also have them as the leading scouts into the nation. Alternately, Lilina can do that instead - out from her desire to learn more about the different nations - if Roy romances Lilina. If a save state from FE7 Echoes is detected, then extra conversations may happen depending on who is Roy's/Lilina's parents. Lyn!Roy or Lyn!Lilina will have an extended conversation with Sue, and Fiora!Roy and Florina!Lilina will ditto with Thany.
  • If Douglas survives in Chapter 16, then Lalum thanks Roy for sparing her father. She also lets on further stories about how she got to the Western Isles, and how she and Douglas shifted things behind the scenes against Aracard and Roartz.

Other characters can have their own episodes here and there:

  • Cecilia, Perceval after Chapter 14, and Saul corresponds to the rebels and to Jodel and discusses how further political and tactical pressure can be applied against Aracard and Roartz.
  • Actually, Saul and/or Dorothy can even comment on why they are in the Western Isles with Roy at Ebracum in Chapter 11 - Jodel asked them to investigate the extent of Oro's corruption, and the whereabouts of the church's previously-sent auditors. And they can take statements from exploited citizens to be sent back to the Etrurian Vatican and appoint a replacement bishop to restore order and work out restitution.
  • Dieck and Klein may have an extended conversation together if they already have support, and discusses the possibility of visiting the Rigel manor and the colosseum after Chapter 16 (or 16 Paralogue).
  • Rutger reminisces his younger days in Chapter 20 of the Sacae route, and resolves to take down Bern to settle his accounts against them.
  • Milady, Zeiss, Elen, and Guinevere convince Bernians to stand down and surrender, in Chapter 21? And have an extended State of the Union talk in planning for Bern's future?

In any case, I'd like to see a more significant/visible role of teamwork affecting the plot, with Echoes!Sigurd, Echoes!Roy and Echoes!Eirika/Ephraim, and Echoes!Ike/Micaiah actively having to rely on others, and backing off every now and then to give focus for the others' characters' arcs - all like what Itsuki, Yu, and Minako did - instead of what tends to happen a bit too often: a near-invincible Lord near-single-handedly saving the continent.

 

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I think having any sort of correlation would depend on whether or not I saw myself as a protagonist.  Which I don't.  That being said, I prefer working on my own.  However, in anything more than trying to figure out how to beat the everliving daylights out of a couple of shielding bastards in some video game, someone will need help.

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I prefer to work by myself because usually the ones who works with me are fricking idiots, so they end up being dead weight while I do all of the work.
But in game, allies are usually as smart as the protagonist, so by working together they can achieve great things; also, a lonely protagonist usually ends up being overpowered, and that's not something I like about a characters.

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  • 3 weeks later...

For me, I think it depends on whether I know my teammates. If they are strangers, then I prefer to work alone. If I am with friends, then I vastly prefer to work together.

I have not really thought much about my preferences for protagonists though. I guess I lean towards those who like to work together. I do not recall any protagonists who work alone. I can name plenty of protagonists who are sort of loners, but they are never truly alone and they still rely on others.

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Personally I am used to working alone because that's how a lot of my jobs previously had me do, and probably because of that i do tend to prefer keeping that way. Working in groups is a matter of how good your team members are and what their attitude towards work is. Attitude is generally the bigger factor in how successful a team will be, assuming they are sufficiently trained.

As for how i see protagonists, i prefer one who leans on team work. You can accomplish more in terms of meeting story goals, but also in fleshing out a character. That's not to say you can't do so with a protag who choses to do things alone, but in such situations they are almost always overpowered and their growth in personality and their progression in strength is not always as satisfying to follow.

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