
The difference is that Dave exists and will continue to exist outside the game no matter what happens to his avatar. Probably even more so, come to think of it I’m quite sure that if I’d built a squad from Dave ‘Tails’ Scammell and the like I would have been fine throwing them in the path of insectoids, and the devil take the hindmost. The character generation in XCOM 2 is detailed enough that you get attached even if you haven’t crafted your loved ones. In practice this turned out to be incorrect. I thought sticking solely to the random generation would maintain some distance for me, and I’d send them blithely into death with the emotional attachment of a First World War Field Marshal. I didn’t even rename my people amusing things. I didn’t do the thing people do and make recruits out of all my friends (my likeness was ripped off several times as soon as people became aware that ‘discount-value fauxhawk’ was a hairstyle option). Move and dash for double move, cover and half cover, actions and bonus actions it’s a tabletop roleplaying game.
