Male Protagonists

Vredesbyrd67

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Apr 20, 2009
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I think the basic difference between a "manly man" and a "macho man" is that "manly men" recognize, accept, and do what NEEDS to be done, while "macho men" are obsessed with showing the rest of the world what they CAN do.
 

Alakaizer

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Aug 1, 2008
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I think Cole McGrath was both a manly man and a macho man. Manly when playing nice, macho when playing dick.
 

Viperish fall

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Apr 27, 2009
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A good read, and nice to have another update on Fun space game: the game. I look forward to playing it, especially knowing the effort that has gone into it.
 

Sovvolf

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Mar 23, 2009
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Well I guess macho-men aren't too bad as a gameplay character... I mean look at Kratos... he pretty much fits the entire description of a macho-man. Though I do get your point, manly men are macho-men with personality and maybe a brain.
 

MasAcERd

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Nov 9, 2009
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A good read, although i disagree slitly with marcus fenix (he is macho , I don't deny that, but the writers did try to make him more, how to put it, human ?)
 

hamster mk 4

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Apr 29, 2008
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That was a good tirade on Manly vs Macho, and a good reference point for the children who don't know the difference. Interesting idea using engine freezing over as a game play mechanic, I look forward to seeing how it plays out.
 

thethingthatlurks

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Feb 16, 2010
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Nicely put! I think the main problem with the macho protagonist is in games that actually take themselves seriously. Think Tommy Vercetti from GTA:VC. He's abut as macho as anyone who can't swim can get, yet I don't find him pathetic, mainly because the whole game is just so damn hilarious.
Looking back at my time playing Halo3 (last week, out of boredom, and so that RDR would seem even better by comparison), Master Chief comes across as a) fucking stupid, b) having a tendency for stating the obvious, c) incapable of social interaction aside from a creepy fascination with a hologram and the admiration of those annoying sycophant soldiers, d) did I mention fucking stupid? I suppose I can understand why games with macho protagonists are so popular, after all the socially inept, overweight, hideous parental basement dwelling gamer that (stereotypically) enjoys them can fantasize about how awesome his life would be if only he could flip tanks and utter badass (sarcasm, obviously) one liners.

If humanity is really too much to ask for in a protagonist, could we just play as robots? The Terminator is just a step below your average macho protagonist in terms of relatability imho
 

Rect Pola

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May 19, 2009
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You already talked about female characters before, but what is the terminology for female variants of manly and macho?
 

Sylocat

Sci-Fi & Shakespeare
Nov 13, 2007
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There are few things more irritating than when a game expects us to take a macho protagonist seriously, but few things funnier than when the game DOESN'T expect us to. Tommy Vercetti is another example, so (I hope) are Leon Kennedy and Chris Redfield.
 

AnarchistAbe

The Original RageQuit Rebel
Sep 10, 2009
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Why is the Macho-Man so hated in the gaming community? Am I the only one who likes playing an 80s Action Hero as my video game persona? I love the Rambo/John McClain macho badass banter, but it seems that it is constantly ripped apart in the games media.

Have all gamers been so emotionally ripped apart by "bros" and "football jock douches" that they can't enjoy the macho-man for fear of being thrown in a trashcan and given a wedgie? All joking aside: really, what is the issue with having a character that has muscles on his muscles and uses a gun as big as he is?
 

Deofuta

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Nov 10, 2009
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I love the fact you put Niko (Spelled right?) into the Manly men characters. Althougth there is a lot of dislike for GTA4, I think they did an awesome job on the characters, Niko(sp?) and the characters from TBOGT especially.
 

Flying Dagger

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Apr 14, 2009
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I think the route of the problem is bad writing.
It doesn't mean we just get lackluster stories for the characters to exist in, we also get lackluster characters to inhabit the lackluster worlds.
 

Eldarion

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Sep 30, 2009
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AnarchistAbe said:
Why is the Macho-Man so hated in the gaming community? Am I the only one who likes playing an 80s Action Hero as my video game persona? I love the Rambo/John McClain macho badass banter, but it seems that it is constantly ripped apart in the games media.

Have all gamers been so emotionally ripped apart by "bros" and "football jock douches" that they can't enjoy the macho-man for fear of being thrown in a trashcan and given a wedgie? All joking aside: really, what is the issue with having a character that has muscles on his muscles and uses a gun as big as he is?
Nothing really. I like the characters on the opposite extreme personally. I don't feel anything is inherently wrong with he slightly effeminate, softer male characters either. To each his own?
 

Seneschal

Blessed are the righteous
Jun 27, 2009
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Sovvolf said:
Well I guess macho-men aren't too bad as a gameplay character... I mean look at Kratos... he pretty much fits the entire description of a macho-man. Though I do get your point, manly men are macho-men with personality and maybe a brain.
Well, yes, the games can be functional, but it's better if some though has been put into it. Kratos, for example, does not have the exaggerated looks typical of what Yahtzee once called "a twelve-year-old's vision of masculinity." He wears a skirt and some sandals. And the fleece, but that has a purpose.

And besides, the games do their best to show just how demented Kratos is, letting you have fun, but showing you at a lot of points that your actions are quite questionable. If anything, it's a self-aware macho game with a dark parody of the macho protagonist.

Anyway, nice to hear FSG:TG is progressing. Piloting a faulty ship and making it part of the gameplay sounds like a good way to introduce a sense of urgency. Only, the freezing thing isn't believable without some further elaboration - space isn't really cold (despite what The Phantom Menace tells you). If the ship had a faulty cooling system, with the coolant unable to stop circulating, you would have to run the engine to avoid it being frozen. But, if it's actually more intuitive for the average player to have space be an Antarctica-like environment where ships get hypothermia, it's a valid choice.
 

AnarchistAbe

The Original RageQuit Rebel
Sep 10, 2009
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Dark Templar said:
AnarchistAbe said:
Why is the Macho-Man so hated in the gaming community? Am I the only one who likes playing an 80s Action Hero as my video game persona? I love the Rambo/John McClain macho badass banter, but it seems that it is constantly ripped apart in the games media.

Have all gamers been so emotionally ripped apart by "bros" and "football jock douches" that they can't enjoy the macho-man for fear of being thrown in a trashcan and given a wedgie? All joking aside: really, what is the issue with having a character that has muscles on his muscles and uses a gun as big as he is?
Nothing really. I like the characters on the opposite extreme personally. I don't feel anything is inherently wrong with he slightly effeminate, softer male characters either. To each his own?
To each his own. It all comes down to personal preference, and softer characters can be good as well (Nathan Drake comes to mind), but ,as I stated, I'll stick with Marcus Phoenix as my character =)
 

Yureina

Who are you?
May 6, 2010
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Great article. The sad thing is that the whole "manly vs macho" business is not confined to games either. The "macho" men of the real world might not be spending their time running around wielding swords, but that attitude of "everyone different from this is a pussy/gay/woman/etc" is something that is unfortunately all-too common amongst people that I have met. Those people, like their gaming equivalents, are always uninteresting and obnoxious to deal with, especially for someone like me who has a strong dislike for "set standards" and those who live by them.
 

Kapol

Watch the spinning tails...
May 2, 2010
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So basically, Manly men are masculine while remaining humanized during the coarse of the game while the macho man just wants to kill stuff and looks for reasons to kill stuff? That, of coarse, being the broadest definitions of the two. I think both can be interesting in any case. It just depends on the way the character is presented. A macho man in the real world where people actually punish him for what he does would be funny, though wouldn't make for a good game. A 'manly man' seems like they'd fit perfectly into any situation though.