The line seems to be whether they were created to be a person or to perform a task, with the former being androids and the latter being golems. I think Boolean's characterizations of androids and golems is easier to work with actually, though it does saddle golems with a problem.FrankTrollman wrote:But I'm not feeling you on the Androids and Golems. The primary source material on Androids is Metropolis, and the image of a blighted city covered in soot, smashed glass, and little scraps of paper blowing in a dry hot wind is just about perfect. On the Golem end, they can also be Pinocchio so having them have access to a nightmare dreamscape is a very good fit on that end as well.
For androids, Metropolis mostly works for that characterization but Blade Runner works better. The time of the setting is a bit off, but they don't know that they're androids or only come to that realization during the film. Implanted memories and dreams (of bullshit unicorns no less) suggest the wilds more than the reflection to me. The only things that suggest the reflection in either movie is the physical background setting, which doesn't necessarily motivate the characters at all and seems to be at odds with them on occasion. Lowe's golem, on the other hand, was created to defend and grew increasingly violent and darker as he went about that task, which suggests the reflection more than the wilds to me.
Even if you're not sold on that, using that dividing line makes it easier to determine which camp a character belongs to. It also sets Pinocchio firmly into the android camp, since he was created to be a person, not to endlessly perform a task or for defense. If you're not using that line, I actually have no idea what you're using to divide the two camps.
The problem it gives to golems is that they were built to perform a task and would know it, and as such they just don't get the "I'm not a Human?" moment that the other playables generally have. Lowe's golem could instead have a "I'm not a mindless automaton" moment instead where it acquired or recognized its sentience, but I don't know if that covers the same ground that you seem to want on the first page.