Short answers, pulled from the story.
AFGNCAAP stands for Ageless, Faceless, Gender-Neutral, Culturally Ambiguous Adventure Person. This satirical term emerged from the text adventure game Zork: Grand Inquisitor in the year 1983 to describe blank slate protagonists.
The early 1980s marked a pivotal shift in how player characters were perceived, moving away from the abstract space shoot em ups that had dominated arcades in the late 1970s. A new genre emerged known as character action games which prioritized the physical actions of the player character over the abstract mechanics of previous titles.
In fighting games and multiplayer online battle arena games, the player character becomes a strategic choice among a diverse roster of heroes. These playable characters blend a variety of fantasy tropes and offer distinctive abilities, strengths, and weaknesses to make the game play style different for each selection.
The distinction between a player character and an avatar lies in the depth of their identity and the extent to which they reflect the real world. Player characters are often blank slates without any notable characteristics or even backstory, while avatars are modeled after real-life athletes or historical figures to create a sense of authenticity.
Secret or unlockable characters are available only after completing the game or meeting another requirement. In some video games, characters that were not secret but appeared only as non-player characters like bosses or enemies became playable characters after completing certain requirements or sometimes through cheating.