Poll: Best Male Characters?

[Mikeyfell]

Female characters get a lot of attention: Are there any good ones? Who's the best? Are her boobs sexist? and so on and so forth

But when I put my mind to it, I think there are more good female characters than good male characters, and I never notice that getting discussed in the forums.

So my question is: Who does the Escapist think are the best male characters in gaming?
(And also do you agree or disagree with my hypothesis up there)

 

[IllumInaTIma]

Well, almost all my favorite characters from any medium are females, Chie from Persona, Arya from Game of Thrones, Ellie from The Last of Us. But that doesn't really mean that female characters are better, these three just really click with me. I have a whole lot of male characters I really like, Kanji and Junpei from Persona, Jose, Kazuki, Ryogo from Front Mission 3. But I do realize that there are simply more male characters than females.

 

[Hero of Lime]

If we're talking about gaming, female characters have a lot of competition against the overwhelming amount of male characters. For me personally when I think of my favorite characters in gaming, it is usually the main character, since main characters are usually males, I guess I would go with males. Although I wouldn't disagree with the OP, if someone likes female characters more, so be it, there are still a bunch of great female characters to choose from. Despite a whole bunch of female characters I like, but they are usually overshadowed by the main(most likely male) characters simply because I'm a bit of a sucker for main characters in general.

 

[balladbird]

if you feel that way, you likely have very limited experience with games, or don't realize how desensitized you've become to male characters.

Considering that I'm being generous in saying that there are 10 main male characters for every 1 main female in your average game's story, even if the majority of them are crap, odds are there'll still be more deep and memorable male characters than female ones. Personally, I read/watch/play my games backwards, in that I adore antagonists, and tend to find protagonists boring, since they're bound by narrative PR. Legitimate female villains who are a.) not just there to have a high-heel face turn and be the token good teammate of the antagonist team, b.)an actual threat to the protagonists, and C.) actually complex and interesting characters are so rare as to almost be a mythical creature, whereas I could easily name 20 interesting male villains off the top of my head.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Male characters eh? Well, I have a hard time arguing with the Practical Incarnation from Planescape: Torment. Jesus christ man, talk about cold.

 

[LetalisK]

I'd say male for no other reason than playing the odds. Most of them kinda suck, to be honest.

 

[oreso]

Hm. Yeah. In a completely unscientific and anecdotal way, female characters do seem to be better written in the games I like.

I really like Sonic though, I guess, the hyperactive fuzz-ball that he is.

And Kratos. Sure, his only defining feature is that he's angry, but he really does carry it off.

 

[TehCookie]

Dante is a great male character, and his pecs are delicious and I don't care if it's unrealistic or sexist.

You probably notice more good female characters because that is what people are discussing. Kanji also gets a lot of discussion for being a good gay character. Good male characters are just good characters since straight male is the default. Take Gordon Freeman, you've probably heard him as a good silent character, but since he's male doesn't that also make him a good male character? Same with Kanji.

Though for seriously well written male characters I'm going to go with Vincent from Catherine. His reaction to everything is believable and since you can influence his choices, you help build his character. Of course it's also by the Persona team and you could name off almost any character from that series as well written.

 

[attackshark]

if your going by numbers, then the dongs have it. there are more male characters by volume alone, so statistically speaking, they would be better on average.

if you're asking for my opinion (my opinion which is backed by a college degree, mind you), the best FF (and speaking strictly from a FF stand point) character in existence is Wakka from FFX. he's the only three-dimensional character in the entire game, the only one who experiences an arc worth while, and he's voiced by john dimaggio. you can't say no to that as a sensible person.

 

[SwagLordYoloson]

To be honest most video game characters are pretty bad. I can't even recall a 'good' game character off the top of my head.

 

[Diddy_Mao]

I don't know that I'd agree that there are more good female characters than male. While it's true that some of my favorite NPCs and PCs tend to be female.

Samus Aran
Sylvannas Windrunner
Kos-Mos
Celes Chere
Lulu

It's a pretty sad and short list when one considers that it's culled from a lifetime of gaming...and that one of them is a robot.

Just operating within the past generation or two I can name, off the top of my head, a list of my favorite male characters that is twice as large and doesn't need to delve into technicalities to round itself out.

Cole McGrath
Rau Utu
Jak
Davian Thule
Harry Mason
James Sunderland
Snake (Solid/Old & Naked)
Garrus Vakarian
Cairne Bloodhoof
Roxxas

 

[Ryotknife]

I would say about even. While there are many more male characters, male characters are also more likely to be bad or throw away characters compared to females (which is fine in some cases, not every character is important or has to be important). Female characters probably receive a bit more scrutiny on average because a bad female character generates bad press (and your game will basically be judged solely on that female character) whereas a bad male character is forgotten.

Although personally ive been enjoying female characters more so than male ones lately. About the only area where good male characters dominate is in the villain section (I can only name a few good female villains off the top of my head. Meredith Stannard from DA2. Although Sylvanias from warcraft might make it to the list, but she kinda skirts between villain and anti-hero. Kerrigan from StarCraft was also a great villain, at least in Wings of Liberty. Her character took a nosedive in Heart of the Swarm in my opinion)

 

[Phrozenflame500]

Most of all video game characters are male. Mostly this is because of laziness, and because of this laziness most male characters are boring and awful. However, because of the sheer volume of male characters pretty much every well written game that comes along has at least a couple of good male characters, which adds up over time.

Only a very small minority of video game characters are female. This is because due to main target demographic usually being males, and that most of the cut&paste stereotype writers normally use to design characters are designed towards male characters. Because of this, whenever a female character pops up it's usually in a story-driven game where the devs have taken the time to write out a good character.

The end result is that there are more good male characters then female characters just because of how often they are written. However, the ration of good female characters to bad female characters is far higher then the ration between good male characters to bad male characters.