Short version (I know y'all don't want to read all that)
I learned a lot about a variety of people's opinions on mascots & how my designs both match and go against that. I'm going to do some iterations & style experiments on 6 of the original 15 characters I created, this might involve combining some elements from designs as well as taking the feedback I received from this exercise into consideration.
Long version (For you dedicated types)
My surveyors were a mix of gender, age groups and people that spent different amounts of time around games and played different genres. I felt this variety was really important because I might be able to hone in on subconscious trends and thoughts among a larger audience than just people who share my interests. The questionnaire I presented to people was a set of 16 questions that were completely based on opinions, so there were no right or wrong answers. Below I'll detail my general findings, compare these against my own answers and talk about some of the answers I received that changed my perspective and made me think a little differently.
I first showed this list of characters that I created and asked people two main questions about them: "Which of these characters would you buy a product or play a game based around?" and "Which of these characters are you most likely to remember?".
The most popular characters from a selling perspective were 4 and 1 - they had 7 and 6 votes respectively. One surveyor said that 4 felt the most humanoid to them; others pointed out that he looks cute and adventurous. 1 was most popular with surveyors who spent a lot of time around games, often platform games. It seemed that, through his design, they could get a good idea for how the character might play or what kind of personality he might have. Other notable designs included 2 and 5, which were appealing due to a sense of mystery that they invoked. 13 was also popular because of his animate nature and eccentric features as a clown, which, in the words of one of my surveyors, "means he's gotta be funny/silly!". In line with these, I liked 1 and 13 due to the abilities they might possess, I also liked 6 and 8 which were not very popular choices with other people.
When it came to the memorability of these characters, 5 was the most popular with 8 votes, the next closest was 1 with 5 votes. The fact that 5 was the only specifically alien character was a likely reason for this; one surveyor claims that this makes him "easy to remember". Others commented on how he was "cartoonish" and "cute". One surveyor, who chose both 1 and 5 as their most memorable characters, went on to say the following in regards to how memorable a character might be: "...characters are remembered more through their actions, personalities, etc. before their character design.". I thought this was an interesting perspective, it made me think about how I'll make my character act in their respective game as well as how they look outwardly to maximise their popularity. I said that I'd be mostly likely to remember 1, 7, 8 and 13 due to their unique body shapes and silhouettes and in a couple of cases their simple designs. This was quite different to the other opinions I was given, but interesting all the same.
My next batch of questions explored some facets of people's opinions on how a character looks. I first asked "Do you prefer anthropomorphic or human characters?" The opinions on this were surprisingly (in my opinion) polarised; Those of my surveyors who spent more time around games said this choices depends on the genre and style of a game, though it generally boils down to the story and use of colours in the world and on the character. It seemed that human characters were especially popular among people who spent less time around games, though there were exceptions to this. A lot of people commented on how humans are easier to relate to on an emotional level and that they are more accustomed to human characters. On the other hand, one surveyor talked about how anthropomorphic characters "can have a huge variety of traits and physical abilities" which makes them interesting both from a design and a gameplay standpoint. Others related anthro characters to their enjoyment of cartoons as a child; some also felt that anthro characters were a go-to for mascot types.
The next question I asked was whether people felt that a character should have a mouth and the ability to speak. Generally speaking, people felt that it wasn't really necessary for a character to have a mouth or to speak, especially with the character in question being a mascot specifically. Some people felt that words would add personality, but too much talking can either help or hinder the character, which is very risky. To further the point of a character of few words, there are a great number of characters who don't speak full lines of dialogue and are still highly thought of, in fact, silent protagonists are quite popular. Link from The Legend of Zelda series is one notable example of this. And, as they say, "actions speak louder than words" - I definitely think that applies here. One surveyor mentioned that, as humans, "we subconsciously read the body language of those around us" which leads me to think that portraying a character's personality through how they act might be the best direction to take: keeping a mouth so that the character can still be emotive, but limiting how much they speak/vocalise as well.
I next questioned people's preferences on mascot personalities. Though some people mentioned that mascots specifically tend to be happy and it's a tried and tested method, they would prefer to see a more complex character to avoid it being too bland. It was noted by one surveyor that "Happy or one-note personalities are less relatable". Some people felt that a happy character is easy to remember, like Mario. Though others felt that he, as a specific example, wasn't well developed and didn't see how he has been able to stand the test of time in that respect. I feel that a simple character who is always happy might limit my audience somewhat, as was pointed out by a couple of my surveyors. As a result, I feel that I'd want to strike a middle ground of an appealing personality that is still interesting and is generally non-offensive in its role as a mascot, but breaks the trend in some ways (an example of this, as brought up by a surveyor, is Conker's Bad Fur Day).
The next thing I asked was whether or not a character's face must be visible. It was overwhelmingly thought that facial features should be visible so that the character can emote; a few people noted that on promotional material this is especially important because people often make purchases based on being able to see the face of the character. To further this point, one surveyor mentioned that people "tend to look at the eyes of others" when they interact with one another. It was interesting that a lot of people found the mystery of a hidden face appealing, noting characters like Samus Aran from the Metroid series, who is notorious for her full suit of armour and the shock fans had when she was finally revealed as a woman. People also talked about their own experiences of choosing to wear armour over their character's face. Over all I feel that there is a great risk in covering the character's face so it's not a route I'd be likely to take.
Following this, when asked what features people were most likely to notice on a character. Naturally, this varied a lot from person to person, but there were a lot of commonalities. Most people were drawn to the clothes a character wears (or lack thereof). This is often a good way for people to gauge how a character might play in a game (if they have armour, they might be slow and strong for example), it is also often a bright colour which draws the eye from the main body. On this note, a lot of people also mentioned that they pay attention to colour palette of a character, the other popular choice was the facial features of a character, such as their eyes; as mentioned in my last paragraph, being able to see a character's face as part of their design can impact purchases.
I know that there is an over-abundance of male characters among the most popular mascots, I decided to try and challenge this by asking people why they thought this might be the case. A lot of it seemed to have boiled down to stereotypes that were in place in the earlier days of gaming (late 80's - early 90's), like how "the male is said to be the 'saviour' for the princess, female etc." - also, the target demographic in these days was predominantly male so it was natural that male characters would be more relatable for this audience. These days we're a lot more open to gender-neutral and female characters (take Lara Croft or Samus Aran for example, or characters like Kirby or Pikachu who don't really look a particular gender). One surveyor discussed why they think male designs are more popular and why they think the androgynous nature of Link works so well for a larger audience: "I think people are scared to experiment with women... attractive, slim, samey good looking and thus unoriginal and forgettable, whereas males are more likely to have experimental character designs that stand out... I think [Link is] designed so female players can easily project onto him, so he has a higher pitched voice when grunting and doesn’t actually talk.". With all of this in mind, I'd like to experiment with breaking the typically male formula found within mascot characters.
The next thing I looked into were various preferences in appearance, such as age, height and whether or not the character's proportions were realistic. While there are always exceptions, and a lot of people didn't really mind either way with these particular questions, the general consensus that a short, young character with unrealistic proportions was the right direction. However, it is worth noting that things like the proportions of a character are style permitting, having an unrealistic character in a realistic world would be very jarring. People felt that younger characters in general are more up for adventure, energetic and they felt protective of characters like that. Older characters, while wiser and more experienced, might be slower or easier to tire. Short height on characters seems to correlate to being more friendly, cute and is open for more round character designs (round/smooth shapes are generally more non-threatening than sharp ones, I'll go into this more in the next paragraph). Unrealistic proportions can emphasise aspects of a character, on this note I also asked people what their specific opinion on characters' eyes were, generally they like bigger eyes because they're linked to cuteness, expressiveness and, as mentioned previously, we tend to look at the eyes to see whether someone/something is genuine.
I used the above image as an example when I asked my surveyors about their opinions on whether or not the style a character is drawn in can affect how their personality is displayed. My personal thoughts are that sharper lines add more attitude and can make a character seem edgy or threatening, bolder lines make a character come across as cool, while smoother and rounder shapes add cuteness to a character. The opinions of other people fell in line with mine, 9 times out of 10. To add onto this, people commented on thicker lines coupled with dynamic poses adding an "animated or cartoon aesthetic" to the character, as well as showing that they're "ready for an adventure". Sharp features are generally associated with sly and unkind traits, but also cool and edgy characters, while softer characters are seen as more friendly. Sonic himself is a combination of both ends of this scale, since he has round features like his nose and eyes but he also sports spiky quills. Someone also said that line thickness were a form of proportion and, to them, can emphasise the cuteness of a character. I felt this was an interesting perspective and I'd never thought of line art in that way.
The last two questions I asked were about character motives and personality (specifically, if mascots share personality types or motives), and whether the character's design should reflect any abilities they have. A lot of people discussed personality earlier in the questionnaire and felt it was a very important trait for a character, so it was interesting to see people talk about pre-existing characters' personalities and motives. One person commented on the importance of a personality, even if it's a simple one, saying the following: "A personality is important because it sends consumers a message... It definitely needs to say something, but it should be something simple you can sum up in one word. ". Motives among pre-existing gaming mascots are closely linked; they're often saving someone or something, often for the greater good and thwarting a baddie in the process. They have an admirable resilience, unwavering dedication and they never seem to give up. These characters are sometimes linked to having a keen sense of adventure as well. The reason these tropes work so well is that it is a motivation to complete the game, to see the world put to rights.
Moving on to how a character's design might reflect their abilities, I didn't feel that this was super important but it could help to communicate what the game might be like before you play it. Most people seemed to agree with this statement, it's not a necessity but it can make a character design more interesting to look at. "It's
not required, but it's cool to look at a character and think “Yeah
I think I know what this guy can do”. It gives you an idea of what
kind of game you're gonna play just from looking at the character.".
Based on the above, I want to take a closer look at designs 1, 4, 5, 13 as well as a couple of my personal favourites being 7 and 8 - maybe I could combine elements from each of these designs, as well as considering the opinions I learned above, to create stronger character designs. I want to see how I can maximise their selling value as well as how memorable they are. I think one key thing I've taken from this exercise is that people try to look and see how a character might act or how they would play in a game based on their design, so that's something I'd like to explore with my design iterations. I feel like, even though there are many tried and tested answers to my questions, it's all subjective and open for experimentation. I'd like to try and break some boundaries if I can, but keep my character faithful to some of the mascot character tropes at the same time.
Thanks to anyone who has taken the time to read all of my thoughts here, it's been a thought-provoking exercise and I've taken a lot more from it than I expected to. Thank you again to all of you that were able to contribute to this in some way (even if you offered and were unable to complete the questionnaire - your thought is still appreciated!)
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