Over the 40+ years that gaming has been a staple feature of entertainment, a billion characters must have been created, from across the spectrum of human imagination – from a simple Paperboy to the most mind-bogglingly huge and unknowable alien and the gamut in between.

I remember a day when gaming heroes were heroes and villains were villains – you’d always know where to level your weapon: straight at the douche bag. Were they kidnapping damsels like a douche? Then they were the villain and must be stopped. Were they plotting to take over and/or destroy the Earth? Douche-alert, grab the Claymore. Did they have a ‘tache? Bad douche, mate. Get ‘em killed.

Nowadays, the anti-hero is just about as common as the regular hero, not just in gaming, but in any medium of fiction. The lines have become blurred; that mean-spirited, withdrawn, violent douche in the corner could be the protagonist as easily as he could be the villain.

There have been many colossal douchebags in gaming that were either the main protagonist, or they were a villain that we eventually developed a soft spot for.  I’ve gone back through my gaming career to bring you just ten such occurrences.

So get your douche coat on, it’s about to get wet up in here.

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