August 6th (Gaming Questions) GTA IV -Edited-

2. Does your chosen game's design of the avatar character help to immerse you in the story?

   Niko from GTAIV helped to immerse the player through putting the avatar in a similar situation to the player 'narrative wise' beginning a new game through the stereotype of being new to the area and being introduced to the unknown/uncertainty.

   Through interactions with Niko's cousin and random NPC's you bump into mentioning things to you  saying how different you look,the state of Romain's apartment, and other game world elements you realize that Niko's cousin lied to him showing he had no idea what was in store for him which matched up with the general player expectation.
   The dialogue said by Niko when Romain showed him his apartment such as "What about the mansion? Huh?" showed Niko as a character felt a range of things from being confused and angry about not knowing things which relates back to the players feeling of this unknown world and slowly being introduced to it.This also linked up to the players gameplay experience as they didn't know controls,the area,how the people around him normally act which created empathy for Niko's situation of new experiences ,learning new things and how this part of the world works. Niko's dialogue such as "What do you do for fun around here?" and slow confused reactions to the parts of the game world showed that he was not sure what to think of the place and that it was not like home.

  This stereotype/generalization of being in a new environment created empathy for the avatar as it could relate back to real life experiences of the player like:Moving home,first day of school/work,finding your way around a new place.This simple idea of being new allows the player to experience liberty city alongside or even as Niko making you feel immersed.