How Do Young People Create Characters?

Making a game is by no means a solo project. While we continue on the path to bringing WoU Game to life, we are constantly working to develop the characters, landscapes and narratives.

One mission we have always worked towards is giving a platform for other voices – the voices of our community who inspire this work. Along the way on this winding route to our game we thought it was crucial to include young people’s voices in that conversation. As the game grows, so does our ability to dive into what young people think about the way we develop our online space and its inhabitants. We host regular check-ins on how the game looks and feels to these future WoU gamers and they often surprise us with their interpretations and perspectives. From ages as young as 8, we set them one task: to play. We want them to test and explore specific areas but how they do it is entirely up to them. 

With help from playtesters in Portugal, we got the opportunity to explore how they see themselves and others when it comes to designing the characters that they will navigate the WoU game with. Aspects they can adjust include, but are not limited to: colour, size, expressions and facial features. 

From such young minds we were glad to see an awareness of diversity taking a strong place in their decision making. Whether this is how they see themselves or their families they are acutely aware that as humans we all look different. Bianca who is 9, shared, "Every person in the world has different colours, so I made them like this so they would look different like the people of the world." Maria, aged 10, shared that idea and told us "I think all avatars can be fat or thin and any colour because we are all different colours and weights." Players also were asked if their characters had a specific gender and while some had factored this in, many felt that gender wasn’t a primary factor in choosing their avatars features. 

Some players created characters that they felt represented themselves in real life. Rafael, aged 9, made two identical characters as he is a twin and felt that this was something he would want to bring into the WoU world. Duarte, also 9, deliberately designed three avatars that would look similar but not identical, to communicate that these characters would be friends. This sweet detail demonstrates the joy that young people find in shared qualities. 

Alfonso, aged 8, made an interesting choice in keeping all the avatars a clear light blue to look like clear water but made the interesting observation that adding fiery features would be a great compliment to the water characters. This deeper way of looking at how elements can be combined is much beyond his years and the sort of thinking we love to see come out of these workshops. 

We will continue to test our work with young minds and use their insights as fuel for how we create a game that allows its players to feel most seen and heard.

After all, the most fun is had being exactly who you want to be.