First-person video game characters: Should be voiced or silent?

Depends ;D

Depends on the game, on the char and how well it's voiced (or non voiced). Sometimes I wanted to stab some main chars everytime they spoke. (like mirror's edge, but the dubbing was terrible in italian, lol)

As sunlikely said, it depends on the game. In some games, it can be jarring, while in others it adds to the immersion.

Variety is always good, so I would vote for mixed, really depends on game as others said

As everyone said: it depends on the game.

I'm not sure how there could be a universalized answer. It's a stylistic choice. I don't think it has a right answer that applies in all cases any more than does what sort of background music your game should have or what kind of control scheme it should use. Design elements like these needs to be fitted to the specifics of a particular game.

For a good example, contrast the first and third BioShock games. I think they made a good call in each case, but in one game the protagonist speaks and in the other he is entirely silent.

Silent protagonists are more relatable than voiced ones, which sometimes break the inmmersion fantasy.

i need the optionn "depends"

I enjoy a voiced character but with some variety in his / her phrases. Fallout 4 really stumbles here, Ive crack over 100 safes.... Really tired of "Got it" each time...lol

If the game [ developer ] clearly explain to me that the main character is a deaf then i can handle it otherwise it's not normal for me but i can accept it if i know their decision had acceptable reason(s) like financial issues.

sometimes, silence is gold

View attached image.

i always liked half-life because freeman doesn't speak a single word.

Depends on the character:
if it's a player-made character, like the protagonists of the Elder Scrolls games, it's better for them to be silent;
otherwise, unique characters are better voiced, it helps in relating to them.

Technically no 1st person game is without voices, you at the very least get grunts from getting hit or falling, and even that conveys personality, Id say a 1st person game character must not have a voice, when I played Fallout New Vegas I found myself downloading a different voice pack because I didn't like the males grunts, and it made him sound like someone I was not portraying. So yeah, that's my stance on it.

Unvoiced is lazy. :3

It depends, although I generally prefer them to be voiced (if done properly). If my character sounded anything like those from Chaos Wars though, I'd take silent any day.

Depends on the game.

My pick for the best mute character would be the Doom Guy from DOOM (2016) - a man who just wants to kill stuff and smashes everything, because he is impatient.

As for voiced, however, idk. Have to dig deeper to find my pick.

I don't say too much so also prefer silent heroes.

Voiced. A silent Payday 2 would lose 50% of its value (and memes).

Depends on the type of game. For RPG's it sometimes is better if the character isn't voiced. That way you can totally fill in yourself how he/she says it. In shooters though, it doesn't really matter, since there usually isn't much choice or character customization anyway.

Silent ofcourse, thats why we are playing first person, to fully control character.

I hated fallout 4 for that for example

silent if possible :3

i like the idea of assigning a voice to a character in my head based on the experiences and bio of a character, it makes me feel the character is more... mine, and i relate to it better

but hey, thats just my opinion!

After many years I can finally live with mute Freeman - he's a robot sent by GLaDOS to kill everyone in Black Mesa. He doesn't speak because he knows everyone would recognize his synthetic voice.

He's very annoyed when he beats someone with crowbar for 2 minutes because said person have VERY IMPORTANT MONOLOGUE and just won't die until they ends it.