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YOU or HE? Help me with the narration. (Patreon)

Published:
2025-07-09 09:33:20
Imported:
2026-06

Poll

YOU or HE? Help me with the narration.

  • HE 74
  • YOU 626
  • 2025-07-09
  • 700 votes
{'title': 'YOU or HE? Help me with the narration.', 'choices': [{'text': 'HE', 'votes': 74}, {'text': 'YOU', 'votes': 626}], 'closes_at': None, 'created_at': datetime.datetime(2025, 7, 9, 9, 13, 39, tzinfo=datetime.timezone.utc), 'description': None, 'allow_multiple': False, 'total_votes': 700}

Content

The side project will feature narration that offers exposition and gives deeper insight into every moment. There is one issue that I haven't found an answer to yet. Help me figure it out.

Should the narration call the male protagonist HE, or YOU?


An example from the game for HE:

n = narration
y = male protagonist

n "He closes the door behind [girl], still struggling to process the situation."
y "How the fuck are you here?!"
n "He blurts out."
n "The words much harsher than he'd wanted."

An example from the game for YOU:

n "You close the door behind [girl], still struggling to process the situation."
y "How the fuck are you here?!"
n "You blurt out."
n "The words much harsher than you'd wanted."

Comments

Robert McClenahan

I think the difference is the level of immersion. "You" will have more immersion than "he". I like more immersion.

395games

What wories me about "You", is that when the narration gves you emotions or reactions, those might clash with the actual players emotion or reactions. How do you feel about that?

Memorial

I agree with Robert McClenahan. The "He" feels more like there's a distance between the narrator and us, like if he was talking about someone else. Meanwhile the "You" feels like it describe what we are doing, we understand clearly that it's us, the player who are doing the action right now.

MuteButtonHero

I think the right answer is 1st person narration, Like if the MC is telling you the story. To use your examples: I closed the door behind [girl], still struggling to process the situation. "How the fuck are you here?!" I blurted out The words were much harsher than I'd wanted. This gets you more immersion than 3rd person but also allows for the player not to have the same emotions or agree with the choices of the MC. It's like listening to a friend tell you what happened to him. You also have to figure out tense. The above example is in past tense but you can make it more immediate with present tense: I close the door behind [girl], and struggle to process the situation. "How the fuck are you here?!" I blurt out. The words are much harsher than I want.

Salzprinz

I strongly prefer You. It feels more immersive to me and you don't need an all-knowing or unreliable narrator that knows what the protagonist feels like in the fourth sentence which might lead to inconsistencies (why does the narrator know what the protagonist feels but is clueless about other things?).

Comma28

Might I suggest “I” as a consideration? It gives the player a more immersive feeling than “he”, by eliminating the third character, but still gives the distance that would prevent clashing emotions and the like.

Renagede77

"You" is best for a playable character, since we're actively in control. "He" would be more suited for an actual book, where we'd more so just be watching.

395games

I like "I" in theory, but in practice the story will also feature events the male protagonist isn't aware off and I'm not sure if I want that story-telling vibe of "Let me tell you a story of my past", that could close that logical gap. I'll think about it though, a good idea that I didn't even consider before!

395games

"I" is a possibility, but there are events the male protagonist isn't aware off. I'm not sure I want to folklore story telling vibe off "And then something terrible happened I couldn't even have imagined. Later more about it." But I'll consider it! It's an interesting idea, I didn't even think about before.

Comma28

Events like that would probably only work if the story is told in a past tense then. Something along the likes of “I didn’t know it at the time but at a different location X was doing that and he did this”. Where the protagonist and narrator would then take the third person perspective. They’d be all-knowing as they’re telling a story which they have lived through and know *all* aspects of, having been told them by people afterwards. At least that’s how the logic’d work out

Long Tran

I'm more into 'you' bc immersion

395games

Yeah, exactly. Not really what I want. How do you feel about it personally? Would the possible emotional breaks be a problem for you when narrating with "you"?

Comma28

Also I just read the other comments, my point has already been made by yourself so feel free to ignore the above xD

Hollow49

I is much better than either of these, in my experience. And you can always shift to 3rd person if you need to narrate a scene with the MC not present.

Merlin

I agree with Hollow49. But it depends on what kind of immersion you want in the story. Although, "you" is much more personal than "he", there is nothing like using "I". The player is more likely to feel that they are living the story. But you only want to use "you" or "I", IF that is what you want from the story. Some stories cannot be written that way because they are meant to be "less" personal.

Vegekuson

I've dabbled a bit in Narration and writing. Best way for me to put is He: Usually makes sense if there is a character narrator that isn't the Player Character. This could be a dedicated character for the tale or a character retelling the events You: The narration is the game itself, no character or being telling the story. Bonus I: This one can be a little tricky. I personally avoid using I but there are certain situations where it fits the narrative. That being flashbacks where the player character recalls an event and goes through the event being their own narrator in their own memories. Course everyone has their own opinions and style. This take for me is what I feel fits and is comfortable for me when I write something out.

RMZ

I mean, you can also just switch POV if it's a scene MC isn't part of. If you really want the player to know something the MC doesn't though, that falls flat.

Memorial

By taking into account the fact that the MC will have different emotions from us the good answer would be to do an hybrid between "You" and "He". And no, you can't use "I" because you narrate the scene, when you want to describe someone else you have to either use "You" or "He". An hybride could look like this: n = narration y = male protagonist n: "You close the door behind [girl], still struggling to process the situation." y: "How the fuck are you here?!" n: "He blurts out, surprising even himself." n: "The words came out much harsher than you'd intended." The "You" is used for the actions and immediate feelings of the player and the "He" is used like if an external voice descrive the mc emotions. That way you can separate the MC emotions from the players emotions.

Long Tran

'You' 9 times outta 10 bc immersion.