The Portrayal of Male Characters in Video Games.

[Enthuril]

Whenever I get the chance to make my own character he always turns out ginger. I have no idea why, but it always looks better.

I think what we're seriously missing from the white 30 something male demographic is epic facial hair. Captain Price's moustache was a good start, but we normally only ever get some stubble or maybe a goatee. Why can't we have a hero with a wizardly level beard, it's not like it'll get in the way.

Yes, my solution to the portrayal of male characters is "More epic beards!". I see nothing wrong with this.

Epic beards are indeed the way forward, as they can add necessary depth to a character's personality. No, seriously, have you ever seen a character with a beard that isn't interesting?

 

[Spider RedNight]

I'm personally of the belief that western male main characters don't/can't show emotion because the Japanese characters are hogging it all. JRPG characters alone are so angsty it pretty much makes up for the lack of emotion displayed by every shooter character ever.
(Aside from anger. Western characters have the monopoly on anger)

I agree with this. Regardless of who started first, western male characters have to be more stoic because if they had a wider emotional palate, they and their games might be compared to a JRPG.

It's kinda like Silent Hill and having characters who aren't sad individuals who are hellbent on finding some lost family member who's probably already dead or something like that. Everyone's kinda just... used to it by now. Even though some characters could stand to take some humility from the Silent Hill bases. Granted, the Silent Hill boys aren't usually ANGRY, but actually kinda emo but not in the sense that makes you think "This reminds me of (JRPG)." Maybe if they made more BLOND or GINGER 30-something-year-olds?

One instance where I can clearly recall the game industry trying to change this fact was Lester the Unlikely. And lookie where that got us. He was so far from "brown-haired 30 something year old" that it actually pissed us off. Maybe they keep them bland because, as it's been mentioned, it's familiar and makes it so that the character doesn't stray too far from typical roots and they avoid any backlash from being "too different" of a character.

 

[Aurora Firestorm]

I would like to see more age variation and color variation. The one thing I'm not going to back in guys is body type variation, at least not 100%. Honestly, a fat and out of shape middle-aged man is not going to be able to do lots of the stunts that the video game community wants. Neither will a twig, under some circumstances. So you really can't go to the extreme in many games -- the person has to be physically competent, strong, have good endurance, etc.

If you want to play the middle-aged fat guy or the skinny 17-year-old kid, the game has to be pretty much made for that body type. (I could totally see a skinny shrimpy kid in a stealth game, where the whole point is that he *can't* fight, so he has to snipe and skulk. That would be awesome.)

 

[Hjalmar Fryklund]

Ha, this kind of relates to the conclusion I came to in one of the threads about women in games. The stereotypes exist for literally everyone involved, and quite honestly they suck for everyone. Men don't want to be stuck between brown-haired 30-something white males and extremely effeminate boys, women don't want to be used as something that's just there to be looked at and have no real character representation, black people don't want to just be stuck with the black stereotype... I could go on, but the point is there.

More than anything, I feel the issue that we have now is not one of discrimination but one of poor writing. The writers seem to see it as a kind of "why should I put effort into coming up with a character when there are already pre-established character types I can work with?". You see this attitude a lot in games, and it's actually clear to me that the effort usually just isn't made. There are some exceptions though, like in the Persona series which actually seems to handle minorities fairly well in some ways. The female characters in those games seem really well made, and their dealing with issues of sexuality and such in Persona 4 is apparently really good though I'm yet to actually play it.

To repeat myself for a bit, I think in most cases it is a matter of playing it safe, or being forced by marketing to play it safe, as most of the typical male character problems are mostly present in the protagonist, and less so in the supporting cast. So I agree that the issue here is often is just poor writing.

Off-topic: Taking a step back and looking at the broader picture, I am actually kind of wordering if I haven't spotted the reason for why we keep getting locked in these "Female character vs. male character: Whose got it worse?"-debates.

Bear with me being a bit lazy and let me quote another poster out of context from a different thread.

There's a word the Nostalgia Chick used which I think I'm going to borrow here. The word is linets.

Love interest, non-essential to story.

Okay, so in the typical male-targeted narrative the hero saves the world and gets the girl, but in many cases other than maybe needing her to take a few plot-advancing actions which aren't driven by anything unique about her character and could be performed by any minor character with roughly the same effect, the girl doesn't really need to be there most of the time. She is often literally just there to get some boobies and a perfunctory kiss on screen.

And even if the character isn't a linets, it's often just because she's there to provide secondary motivation. "Oh no, the villain has kidnapped my girl! I mean I was going to fight him anyway because he's a dick and he's building a giant death ray to destroy the moon, but this just gives me even more motivation because now it's personal!" It's like having a support character die, it's a cheap way of ratcheting up the tension by showing that shit just got real.

Ignoring the context of which the quoted post was made in and strictly focusing on just the content what just quoted, I see this as a description of a very prevalent stock female supporting character. Again, note that it is supporting character. A supporting character that is very often derided for reasons you most likely already have heard of.

With the above in mind (and my reasoning for why male main characters tend to be bad) as context, I will present my hypothesis here:

When a discussion about the poor quality of female characters pops up, you will usually see somebody replying that the quality of male characters is just as bad, if not worse. Then cue the fighting where no one can find a middle ground and opinion polarization galore. And I think the reason for this predicament is that the debating parties are arguing from different perspectives.

See, if you approach this from a writer´s perspective you would find a dull and uncompelling protagonist (which in the case of video games is mostly likely a male) a bigger problem than a dull and uncompelling supporting character (which these "linets" often make for).

However, if you look at this from a "portrayal-of-women" perspective, you would find the fact that even female supporting characters (remember that supporting characters are supposedly where writers have some leeway to take more risk with) are portrayed dully a greater cause for alarm, especially when you consider the lack of female protagonists.

The two sides will never reach the aforemention middle ground or agree what to focus on first because of this.

I probably didn't articulate myself properly here, but such are my thoughts.

EDIT: Fixed some poor phrasings.

 

[Enthuril]

Ha, this kind of relates to the conclusion I came to in one of the threads about women in games. The stereotypes exist for literally everyone involved, and quite honestly they suck for everyone. Men don't want to be stuck between brown-haired 30-something white males and extremely effeminate boys, women don't want to be used as something that's just there to be looked at and have no real character representation, black people don't want to just be stuck with the black stereotype... I could go on, but the point is there.

More than anything, I feel the issue that we have now is not one of discrimination but one of poor writing. The writers seem to see it as a kind of "why should I put effort into coming up with a character when there are already pre-established character types I can work with?". You see this attitude a lot in games, and it's actually clear to me that the effort usually just isn't made. There are some exceptions though, like in the Persona series which actually seems to handle minorities fairly well in some ways. The female characters in those games seem really well made, and their dealing with issues of sexuality and such in Persona 4 is apparently really good though I'm yet to actually play it.

To repeat myself for a bit, I think in most cases it is a matter of playing it safe, or being forced by marketing to play it safe, as most of the typical male character problems are mostly present in the protagonist, and less so in the supporting cast. So I agree that the issue here is often is just poor writing.

Off-topic: Taking a step back and looking at the broader picture, I am actually kind of wordering if I haven't spotted the reason for why we keep having these "Female character vs. male character: Whose got it worse?"-debates.

Bear with me being a bit lazy and let me quote another poster out of context from a different thread.

There's a word the Nostalgia Chick used which I think I'm going to borrow here. The word is linets.

Love interest, non-essential to story.

Okay, so in the typical male-targeted narrative the hero saves the world and gets the girl, but in many cases other than maybe needing her to take a few plot-advancing actions which aren't driven by anything unique about her character and could be performed by any minor character with roughly the same effect, the girl doesn't really need to be there most of the time. She is often literally just there to get some boobies and a perfunctory kiss on screen.

And even if the character isn't a linets, it's often just because she's there to provide secondary motivation. "Oh no, the villain has kidnapped my girl! I mean I was going to fight him anyway because he's a dick and he's building a giant death ray to destroy the moon, but this just gives me even more motivation because now it's personal!" It's like having a support character die, it's a cheap way of ratcheting up the tension by showing that shit just got real.

Ignoring the context of which the quoted post was made in and strictly focusing on just the content what just quoted, I see this as a description of a very prevalent stock female supporting character. Again, note that it is supporting character. A supporting character that is very often derided for reasons you most likely already have heard of.

With the above in mind (and my reasoning for why male main characters tend to be bad) as context, I will present my hypothesis here:

When a discussion about the poor quality of female characters pops up, you will usually see somebody replying that the quality of male characters is just as bad, if not worse. Then cue the fighting where no one can find a middle ground and opinion polarization galore. And I think the reason for this predicament is that the debating parties are arguing from different perspectives.

See, if you approach this from a writer´s perspective you would a dull and uncompelling protagonist, in the case of video games mostly a male one, a bigger problem than a dull and uncompelling supporting character (which these "linets" often make for).

However, if you look at this from a "portrayal-of-women" perspective, you would find the fact that even female supporting characters (remember that supporting characters are supposedly where writers have some leeway to take more risk with) are portrayed dully a greater cause for alarm, especially when you consider the lack of female protagonists.

The two sides will never reach the aforemention middle ground or agree what to focus on first because of this.

I probably didn't articulate myself properly here, but such are my thoughts.

I completely agree, if I've understood what you've said as much as I feel I have. Lack of willingness to take a risk on a main character causes the majority of characters to feel bland and therefore removes any kind of interesting aspects they could have had. This is the same kind of thing that plagues female representations in some ways, as the writers would rather stick with a pre-conceived format that works than try and make a female character that's not like that because of the fear of some kind of backlash. I feel that neither males or females have got it worse, but that perhaps everyone gets it in a different way. While males are treated unfairly by only having male main characters that fit a stereotype they in no way can relate to, females and many other minorities have the same kind of issue with side characters and the fact that they're not represented as main characters much. Does that mean that men are treated less unfairly than anyone else? No, not really. The fact is that relating to side characters still doesn't provide much for males, as far as I know. I guess that's why I play RPGs more than anything, the ability to craft a main character I can actually relate to and place myself into in some ways.

 

[Naeras]

we want our male heroes to show some emotions but if they do everyone calls them "emo like Cloud"

I haven't ever heard anyone call James Sunderland "emo like Cloud".

 

[Bobic]

I'll post this so no one else has to.

Yep, there is hardly much variety when it comes to guys in games, it's a shame. At least Mario is fat, he has that going for him.

I kinda think that Niko Bellic should be replaced on that pic. Yeah, he's a brown haired 30 something white male. But he's also Serbian, which I think makes him more unique than those other dudes. An ex-soviet countryman really stands out against a sea of white american male protagonists.

But yeah, the point still stands.

I think half the problem of male protagonists being quite similar in games is that so many games involve mowing down tonnes of dudes. That kinda calls for tough macho men.

Not that there can't be exceptions.

We need more Zhang He's...

Spoiler

 

[Lieju]

My biggest problem, in all honesty, is that people are paying attention to the sex of their protagonist. It's the same with any social issue. It's not that we have too many weak male or female characters, it's that we have too many weak characters. This goes for male protagonists, female protagonists, and side characters. Just, in general, characters tend to lack good writing and solid bases for their personalities, emotions, wants, and desires. Most characters lack any such when taken out of the context of the game.

It's not that I can't identify with a protagonist who isn't of the same sex, sexual orientation, age, ethnicity etc, but I wish I wouldn't always have to.

It would be nice having a bit diversity, and instead of saying that I want more female of gay characters, that's what I'd like. Diversity.

A lot of protagonists are dull, because they are sort of blank slates. (which is a one way to tell the story, it's also possible to tell a story where the protagonist has a very strong personality and goals)
So I think that's why there are so many dull male protagonists. Protagonists tend to be male, and protagonists tend to be dull.

I would like to see more age variation and color variation. The one thing I'm not going to back in guys is body type variation, at least not 100%. Honestly, a fat and out of shape middle-aged man is not going to be able to do lots of the stunts that the video game community wants. )

Depends on the game.

Eternal darkness, for example, had normal people, including a fat and out-of-shape middle aged man (or two), as it's protagonists, and I loved it.
They were normal people sucked in these weird events. Something like a horror game, or where the protagonist doesn't need to do physical stunts, but fights with magic, for example, could easily have someone more normal as the protagonist.

 

[Davey Woo]

I don't really care who the main character is in a game, or what they look like. I think that the characters are designed so that they fit in with whatever world they exist in. Gears of War for example, would be a pretty stupid game if Marcus Fenix was a skinny teenager with glasses, so to fit in 's a burly hunk of man with extra man added, and I really don't mind that.

The only games where I project myself onto the character I'm playing as are ones where you create your own, then I make them look like me, and choose dialogue options and whatever that are as close to what I'd say in the situation.

Games are for the most part, a fantasy, and I want my fantasy characters to be fantastical. Whether that means muscley guys in huge suits of armour or attractive girls in revealing clothes.

 

[Lt._nefarious]

What I want is developers of AAA titles to a) Play through Silent Hill 2 b) Do what Konami did and make a protagonist with flaws and emotion and c) If they MUST have GRRR Macho Broships do what Army Of Two did and make them fist bump and play rock paper scissors cause that's way mor amusing than stone faced, emotionless seriousness in games like that...

Oh and more Garcia Hotspur... Much more Garcia Hotspur...

Spoiler

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

I don't really care who the main character is in a game, or what they look like. I think that the characters are designed so that they fit in with whatever world they exist in. Gears of War for example, would be a pretty stupid game if Marcus Fenix was a skinny teenager with glasses, so to fit in 's a burly hunk of man with extra man added, and I really don't mind that.

The only games where I project myself onto the character I'm playing as are ones where you create your own, then I make them look like me, and choose dialogue options and whatever that are as close to what I'd say in the situation.

Games are for the most part, a fantasy, and I want my fantasy characters to be fantastical. Whether that means muscley guys in huge suits of armour or attractive girls in revealing clothes.

And this pretty much sums up what is wrong with the lazy writing in games today. Think about, for a moment, why people remember movies like Platoon, Saving Private Ryan or Das Boot. Because those movies took stereotypical power fantasies related to the archtype of the manly soldier and turned them around. Even in its' most flag-waving USA-patriotic SPR is still a movie about the futility of war and how it ruins lives.

Gears of War [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccWrbGEFgI8] and Halo [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOLR4WjJqIs] (or this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjhSp7xGsMc&feature=relmfu]) even used the emotionally evocative in their commercials to try and boost their sales. Which means that the gamemakers and/or their marketing department realizes that there's a market for the emotional in gaming. Yet we still get "silent genetically-engineered super soldier" and "muscle bound mountain of a man with a gun mounting a chainsaw" as the main characters.

The capacity is there obviously, since even the two poster-games for "mindless murder" manages to infuse character and emotion ino their commerical, so what is lacking is simply the will. Which speaks volumes for the audience of games today.

 

[Hjalmar Fryklund]

I completely agree, if I've understood what you've said as much as I feel I have. Lack of willingness to take a risk on a main character causes the majority of characters to feel bland and therefore removes any kind of interesting aspects they could have had. This is the same kind of thing that plagues female representations in some ways, as the writers would rather stick with a pre-conceived format that works than try and make a female character that's not like that because of the fear of some kind of backlash. I feel that neither males or females have got it worse, but that perhaps everyone gets it in a different way. While males are treated unfairly by only having male main characters that fit a stereotype they in no way can relate to, females and many other minorities have the same kind of issue with side characters and the fact that they're not represented as main characters much. Does that mean that men are treated less unfairly than anyone else? No, not really. The fact is that relating to side characters still doesn't provide much for males, as far as I know. I guess that's why I play RPGs more than anything, the ability to craft a main character I can actually relate to and place myself into in some ways.

I disagree that both genders have it equally bad. If I would line up the major writing issues that typically afflict the two genders in video games it would look like this:

Male character problems: Poorly portayed protagonists.

Female character problems: Poorly portayed supporting characters. Lack of protagonists.

Not only do females get laden with two problems, but I would also say that the lack of portrayal is bigger a problem than poor portrayal.

On the other hand I would also question the need to actually relate to a character. I know I sure didn't really care or relate much about most main characters I have played as, but I am also not convinced that I would necessairly hold it against them.

I know he keeps popping up in these debates from time to time, but let's use Kratos as an example (again) here. Now I haven't played the God of War games so I am very much speaking from a position of ignorance here, but in any case, Kratos is very, very often described as a typical male power fantasy. And I would actually challenge that idea, to a degree a least. There may very well be kids and man-children who would really like to be him, but for myself (and what little I know of him) I could only really bring myself to care about playing further out of some kind of morbid curiosity to see what new brutality he is going to perform next.

It is for the same reason I kept reading on in Therèse Raquin. I didn't relate at all to the two main characters nor did I care about them as people (in both cases same as how I'd likely see Kratos), but because I wanted to see what boundaries they were going to overstep next. They were just simply fascinating to watch. Same with the Boss in Saints Row 2. In both these cases what the characters do is far more interesting to watch or perform.

Sidenote: While recently playing Dragon VI´s remake on the DS I am kind of starting to wonder if silent protagonists aren't a blessing in disguise, when I consider my own point about pandering main characters.

Finally, I will say one more thing about relating to characters. I do not see why men can only really relate to men or women can only really relate to women. There are some things that only men will experience and something only women will experience, but in most other cases, we share the experiences and feelings. To think that you can only truly relate to someone of your own gender seems like a very pointless, artifical wall between the sexes, and I think everyone needs to take a long hard look at themselves to if there is something they can do to tear that wall down as much as possible.

Hoo boy, that was long. Time to eat!

 

[Rednog]

I'll post this so no one else has to.

Yep, there is hardly much variety when it comes to guys in games, it's a shame. At least Mario is fat, he has that going for him.

1st row:Nathan Hale,Naked Snake,Nathan Drake,Chris Redfield,Mike Thornton
2nd row:???,Norman Jayden,Old Sam Fisher,Commander Shepard,Starkiller
3rd row:Cole Macgrath,Alex Shepard, Tomas "Sev" Sevchenko,Jason Fleming,Max Payne
4th row:Alan Wake,Alec Mason,???,NIko Bellic,Frank West

I'm surprise not see any COD characters like Soap MacTavish or Yuri. Hell I'm surprise not to see Baldur from Too Human that dude screams generic space marine look for a Norse God.

I think your '???' is Jack Slate from Dead to Rights.

 

[Enthuril]

I completely agree, if I've understood what you've said as much as I feel I have. Lack of willingness to take a risk on a main character causes the majority of characters to feel bland and therefore removes any kind of interesting aspects they could have had. This is the same kind of thing that plagues female representations in some ways, as the writers would rather stick with a pre-conceived format that works than try and make a female character that's not like that because of the fear of some kind of backlash. I feel that neither males or females have got it worse, but that perhaps everyone gets it in a different way. While males are treated unfairly by only having male main characters that fit a stereotype they in no way can relate to, females and many other minorities have the same kind of issue with side characters and the fact that they're not represented as main characters much. Does that mean that men are treated less unfairly than anyone else? No, not really. The fact is that relating to side characters still doesn't provide much for males, as far as I know. I guess that's why I play RPGs more than anything, the ability to craft a main character I can actually relate to and place myself into in some ways.

I disagree that both genders have it equally bad. If I would line up the major writing issues that typically afflict the two genders in video games it would look like this:

Male character problems: Poorly portayed protagonists.

Female character problems: Poorly portayed supporting characters. Lack of protagonists.

Not only do females get laden with two problems, but I would also say that the lack of portrayal is bigger a problem than poor portrayal.

On the other hand I would also question the need to actually relate to a character. I know I sure didn't really care or relate much about most main characters I have played as, but I am also not convinced that I would necessairly hold it against them.

I know he keeps popping up in these debates from time to time, but let's use Kratos as an example (again) here. Now I haven't played the God of War games so I am very much speaking from a position of ignorance here, but in any case, Kratos is very, very often described as a typical male power fantasy. And I would actually challenge that idea, to a degree a least. There may very well be kids and man-children who would really like to be him, but for myself (and what little I know of him) I could only really bring myself to care about playing further out of some kind of morbid curiosity to see what new brutality he is going to perform next.

It is for the same reason I kept reading on in Therèse Raquin. I didn't relate at all to the two main characters nor did I care about them as people (in both cases same as how I'd likely see Kratos), but because I wanted to see what boundaries they were going to overstep next. They were just simply fascinating to watch. Same with the Boss in Saints Row 2. In both these cases what the characters do is far more interesting to watch or perform.

Sidenote: While recently playing Dragon VI´s remake on the DS I am kind of starting to wonder if silent protagonists aren't a blessing in disguise, when I consider my own point about pandering main characters.

Finally, I will say one more thing about relating to characters. I do not see why men can only really relate to men or women can only really relate to women. There are some things that only men will experience and something only women will experience, but in most other cases, we share the experiences and feelings. To think that you can only truly relate to someone of your own gender seems like a very pointless, artifical wall between the sexes, and I think everyone needs to take a long hard look at themselves to if there is something they can do to tear that wall down as much as possible.

Hoo boy, that was long. Time to eat!

I guess half of this was my flaw in wording what I was trying to say. The point I was trying to make is that everyone has it bad, so why focus on one group of people? How about we stop saying "there needs to be better female characters in games so that women are more represented" or "there needs to be better gay characters in games" and just say "there needs to be a more diverse range of characters in both personality and physical appearance"? And your points about relating to characters are entirely true, I just feel that the argument about being able to relate to characters is tossed around a lot which is kind of silly in itself. Being able to immerse yourself in the world of the character and understand the character you're playing as is important, but relating to the character can sometimes do more harm than good in terms of the overall experience.

 

[Nemesis729]

While I would like to see more diversity among protagonists, I think the more pressing issue is to make the characters themselves deeper. I don't particularly have a problem with a 30-something white male as a protagonist, as long as I get the impression that he's a real person, with a wider range of emotion than "I'm happy" and "I'm sad." Just being a prosaic "badass" character doesn't really cut it anymore... I did think Old Snake was a good change of pace though, Old people can be more badass than their young counterparts, more experience being those eyes.

 

[XMark]

Whenever I get the chance to make my own character he always turns out ginger. I have no idea why, but it always looks better.

I think what we're seriously missing from the white 30 something male demographic is epic facial hair. Captain Price's moustache was a good start, but we normally only ever get some stubble or maybe a goatee. Why can't we have a hero with a wizardly level beard, it's not like it'll get in the way.

Yes, my solution to the portrayal of male characters is "More epic beards!". I see nothing wrong with this.

Epic beards are indeed the way forward, as they can add necessary depth to a character's personality. No, seriously, have you ever seen a character with a beard that isn't interesting?

My Diablo III characters are almost all female, because I think the female character designs are far more intersting than the male ones (especially Demon Hunter). The one exception is the monk, by way of epic beard!

I will also cast my vote for more epic beards.

 

[Hjalmar Fryklund]

I guess half of this was my flaw in wording what I was trying to say. The point I was trying to make is that everyone has it bad, so why focus on one group of people? How about we stop saying "there needs to be better female characters in games so that women are more represented" or "there needs to be better gay characters in games" and just say "there needs to be a more diverse range of characters in both personality and physical appearance"? And your points about relating to characters are entirely true, I just feel that the argument about being able to relate to characters is tossed around a lot which is kind of silly in itself. Being able to immerse yourself in the world of the character and understand the character you're playing as is important, but relating to the character can sometimes do more harm than good in terms of the overall experience.

Keeping an overall view of what you would want accomplished is all fine and well.

But when the mission statement reads "There needs to be a more diverse range of characters in both personality and physical appearance", that is a goal that doesn't say alot on it´s own.

Focusing on who has the worst representation is good place to start with in this case. Why? Because starting with the toughest job first means that you will be tiptop shape when taking it on.

Of course, one must take care to not work oneself to the ground on just the one big issue. That would mean that one would not have the energy to work with the other problems. Maybe that is the point you are trying to make.

In any case I have been dragging you off-topic.

 

[Gorrila_thinktank]

Whenever I get the chance to make my own character he always turns out ginger. I have no idea why, but it always looks better.

I think what we're seriously missing from the white 30 something male demographic is epic facial hair. Captain Price's moustache was a good start, but we normally only ever get some stubble or maybe a goatee. Why can't we have a hero with a wizardly level beard, it's not like it'll get in the way.

Yes, my solution to the portrayal of male characters is "More epic beards!". I see nothing wrong with this.

I think that may be it. Is it possible that the color pallet of brown, dirt and grey only support a brown haired protaginist? it could be a systematic problem.

 

[PrototypeC]

I'm a fit, twenty-something brown-haired straight pasty white male. I don't understand the problem... everything seems fine. I can find my representation in every game, can't everybody?

In all seriousness, women have problems men don't have in this industry. For instance, Solid Snake is sexy, wearing a skin-tight suit over a rippled body, very flexible and whatnot. Does that mean he's a boring character? Does that mean that what he wears is gratuitous? Does that mean that the camera centres on his butt and pecs whenever it has the chance? He's a character men can look up to because he's an honest-to-god badass. No cool one-liners, just cool, collected professionalism that sets him apart. Sure he's a white, 20-40 brown-haired guy, but he's also a well-written character with human flaws and weaknesses.

People honestly compare him to Lara "F+ cup" Croft. You don't see Solid Snake with his hands behind his head sticking his crotch out in all the advertisements, but you do see Lara Croft bending this way and that to show off her body in HER ads! It's because the market they're attracting isn't girls; it's sweaty 14-year-old boys (and the mental equivalents thereof). Her character is a sly treasure hunter who lives in a mansion but often goes out into the wilderness and old temples to find treasure, like an amoral Indiana Jones. Technically, her outfit isn't impractical, but the issue is how she's presented.