Have you noticed how many games feature male protagonists? Really, it's true! Something about the primary demographic or some such. Truly, the blockbusters of the generation, the likes of Call of Duty, Far Cry, Grand Theft Auto, and Assassin's Creed, while all featuring meaningfully cast women, comprise a sausage fest. Ignoring the decrepit horse of an argument calling the abundance of dudes in games the end of all things, add up and compare the time in the spotlight, and you'll find that the men of gaming hold the lion's share. Of course, that trend is changing as rapidly as the consumer demographics that prop it up. Upcoming sequel's Rise of the Tomb Raider and Mirror's Edge 2 will attest to that, as will Bayonetta 2, who is still bludgeoning angels in the rear-view mirror. But for the time being, "manly man with manly men" is a common theme among games, and the results are often hilarious. From biceps that throw anatomical accuracy out the window to voices so gruff even Christian Bale needs to down a spoonful of gravel to keep pace, the fun-house mirrors upon which many male characters are projected yields very colourful results. We see the same thing with the women of gaming as well, but scarcely with main characters. Lara Croft, Samus Aran, Faith, Nariko and so on are both the lead and best characters in their games, and all show none of the sexualisation or damsel-ing you see in Grand Theft Auto or many a fighting game. This speaks to the reasons for choosing a particular gender for the protagonist, and what expectations we associate with each. Right then, back to beards and hitting things.
A freelance games writer, you say? Typically battling his current RPG addiction and ceaseless perfectionism? A fan of horror but too big a sissy to play for more than a couple of hours? Spends far too much time on JRPGs and gets way too angry with card games?
Well that doesn't sound anything like me.
