  Games allow us to construct and explore identities and offer us role models,
good and bad. Game characters are a reflection of us -- players and creators
alike -- or could be. But do games also encode identities, values, and
orientations that transcend diegetic categories and player self-insertion? I
explore the notion of game characters as conduits of transcendent models
through the case study of Link from the Legend of Zelda series. I propose that
designers embed tacit, nondiegetic patterns of praxis and complex value models,
such as user-centred design, when crafting the embodiment of characters in
gameplay, even unawares.
