Poll: Ugly Protagonists

[Lieju]

It depends on what you consider attractive. A big muscular guy is ugly to me, and I'd rather not play as one. But old and grizzled, especially a woman? Hell yeah!

I kinda often, when I can make my own character, make a petite female who has a nose that looks like it was broken at some point. I just want to give her something that easily looks unique.

Hahaha Oblivion.
OT: I think most of the games I play the most let you choose your appearance. Mass Effect, Skyrim, Fallout. You can make yourself as ugly as you want and no-one really cares, which kinda gives the optimistic view that appearance counts for little. In a perfect world, maybe...

Not really. You can't, for example, change the body-shape in many of those games, and as I tend to play female characters, their boobs are often ridiculous-looking.

I think it was in Dragon Age that I wanted to make my female-character really starved looking and skinny, like all skin and bones, and the elves were skinny, but she was still stuck with huge boobs...

I did make an effort to make one of my female characters look like they were hit on the face with a hammer, though. I sometimes try to make my character as inhuman-looking as possible. Like S/he belongs to an another species.

 

[spartan231490]

It's all about the universe. Someone like Vlad Taltos would be a villain in most series, but in the Dragaeran series, the world is so fucked up he's a likable saint. There are dozens of examples. "Ugly" is not equal to flawed. You can have a flawed character that is still a good person, it's all about balance. No one likes a story about someone who's perfect, but no one likes a character who is emotionally repulsive either.

 

[TheFinalFantasyWolf]

I don't really "prefer" either.
Whenever I come across a character, whether they be physically attractive or not, I just don't care about it. However, if and when the character does develop and open up in the game to be likable, understandable or endearing, that's when I begin to really like them, regardless of their appearance. It's kinda like in real life, the better the personality, the more attractive they become to me.

 

[Grottnikk]

I usually play the ugliest thing you can find in an MMO. Started with a big fat dumpy-assed Troll in Everquest .

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

I enjoy playing ugly characters (In my current Apocalypse World game, I'm a cowardly doctor who's becoming increasingly misanthropic and mean-spirited), but I think it's a fine line between ugly and perverted. You can have an imperfect character, but they can't be repulsive or contrary for no reason or there just won't be any connection.

Xan Krieger mentioned Alex Mercer, who I think is a good example of a lousy 'ugly' character due to poor game design. The guy spends every cutscene bitching about how people think he's a monster, then gets put back in the hands of players to slaughter thousands of people because it's fun. If they'd gone a different direction with the 'ugly'- if they'd had him deal with the fact that he loves ripping people apart and devouring them- he'd be much more cohesive.

Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew...
Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew...
I voted potato, how 'bout you?

Well, I wasn't going to, but since you sang that lovely song...

 

[Jayemsal]

Wheres the option for me not caring either way?

 

[Dosbilliam]

...hard-to-like personality...as well as being physically unattractive.

That would be Marcus Fenix for me, and I hated him beyond all reason.

 

[AsurasEyes]

Wheres the option for me not caring either way?

Potato is right there dude

 

[Dumbfish1]

Honestly I don't care as long as the characters and narrative are interesting.

 

[deserteagleeye]

Nah, I do however like it if they're always down on their luck Dickensian style or something so he/she can become the underdog so everything's all super-triumphant in the end.

 

[Pulse]

If the ONLY factor is ugly or not, I'm going to choose not.

But the OP seems to use ugly as anyone with character flaws/not as pretty as possible....

 

[Mikejames]

Well, that depends entirely on the protagonist, doesn't it?

Seconded. I'm not particularly fond of characters like Kratos, but the moralities and appearance of a good protagonist can vary as long as they're interesting.

I'd like to see a video game that had an unattractive FEMALE protagonist. Maybe a fantasy game where you play as a woman like Brienne of Tarth, or something. Hell, a video game that gave us a woman who isn't outright gorgeous like almost every other game with women in it. That'd be interesting.

I'm a fan of Heather Mason.

I never thought she was ugly, or even unattractive really, but she feels very realistic in appearance.
Freckles, messy hair, dark bags under her eyes, and a sense of being understandably haggard after everything that happens to her.