What is a "determinant" character?
In normal English, a "determinant" is a factor or cause, e.g. "Economics is the main determinant of social progress". When used in relation to game characters though, what does determinant mean? I see it being used without explanation on the forum and in Wiki articles and am struggling to understand its meaning in this context.
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They have multiple fates.
Determinant means that something could or could not be there based on choices. For example Doug or Carley, whichever one you save will appear in the next episodes, this applies for objects as well, like when Lee chose between different kinds of wrenches on the train.
A character whose fate depends on the choices you have made (Examples of Determinant characters are shown in Telltale games like The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us)
Your choices decide what happens to them, and what ABigBadWolf said.
Characters having multiple fates that are dependant on the player's choices.
These fates can range from being alive, dead, or unknown.
Dead character.
The fate (Alive, Dead, Zombie, Unknown) is determined, or made by the player. Nick was determinant because in one way he can live, and another way he can die in A House Divided, but his fate is now wholly dead, because both ways he dies. Most characters are usually determinant for a little while and then they die. Kenny, and Jane are also determinant as of now, because they could be dead or alive depending on the choice the player made.
Well, it sounds like a total misuse of the word in that case.
de·ter·mi·nant
dəˈtərmənənt/
noun
1.
a factor that decisively affects the nature or outcome of something.
"pure force of will was the main determinant of his success"
Someone who is doomed to die later on.
Precisely. It's a noun, but it is being used as if it were an adjective in a phrase like "Nick was determinant". Just wrong. Similar to when people say "there's a disconnect..." when they really mean "there's a disconnection". In that case, a verb being used where there should be a noun. I don't know why people want to butcher the language like that.
Aside from the bad grammar, I would argue that it is also logically wrong. Game characters don't make the choices, the Player does. That makes the Player the real determinant of a character's fate.
Anyway, I realize it's a pedantic point. I should move on.
^I corrected your grammar for you
When precisely is used at the beginning of a sentence you need a semicolon. The word itself isn't its own sentence.
"Just wrong" isn't a sentence, so I adjoined it with the previous sentence to make it complete.
Periods always go on the inside of quotation marks and never on the outside.
I removed several unneeded commas.
I fixed the run-on sentence "Game characters don't make the choice, the Player does." <--- that is two sentences so it either needs a period or a semicolon (not a comma).
You are welcome
A waste.
Nobody ever needs a semicolon and forcing on him is just cruel. Horrid things. But I must admit I had the same issue with determinant when I first came here. In being attached to the characters, it is being used to describe the outcome rather than the cause and that feels odd. But it has been adopted as the term and so it just is what it is so I accept it. Out of curiosity, what is the origin of it being used in this context? Does it come from TellTale themselves?
Relax.
That's what I'm getting at
He's throwing a fit over grammar when there's really no need to.
For video-games the word "determinant" is used as jargon word to describe something (often characters and dialogue) that the player can bring into and out of existence based on the player's story choices. It's very similar to the word "proc" which stands for Programmed Random Occurrence. Proc is still used to describe things that occur without a random element, for example: "Casting Boulderfist on a chilled target procs a guaranteed crit!"
That example is not only grammatically incorrect, but also logically incorrect, but who gives a care? We all know what the word means, so there's no need to fuss over it
Nah, I saw it on Mass Effect wikis long before season 1 TWD released. Not sure where it started.
What is a "determinant" character?
Its a bad excuse for bad writing.
Ah okay. Well then it is has definitely been adopted and now in use rather than just being made up by the people here so I wouldn't have a problem using it in this context.