This project uses a grounded theory approach to investigate the relation between player and character in computer games where the character has been predesigned.
A model titled the Player-Character Position Model has been created based on data gathering from an online game forum and focus group interviews and explains how the player can obtain a position in relation to the character as a User and/or a Helper/Viewer or by relating to the character through Identification, Projective Identification, Projection, and Substitution. The data indicates that players obtain their position dependent on both influences from the character and the game system and can while playing shift between multiple positions.
A game specifically made for character identification was designed and created using the Bethesda Creation Kit as a mod for the Elder Scrolls: Skyrim game. The game has so far been tested as a first-person game and and an interview with 10 male participants indicate that players do obtain atleast the positions of User, Helper/Viewer and Identification but need further studies into the difference between Projection and Substitution.