What happened to helmets?

[pulse2]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure running into battle without the appropriate safety measures and safety attire will most likely result in your death, so this has lead me to wonder why game characters in 3rdPS and FPS titles are now no longer wearing helmets. Does thier sheer badassness prevent them from being headshot (which I know is not true because I've headshot in multiplayers (which probably wouldn't have happened if they wore helmets)) or are they just foolish?

What are your opinions on this phenomenon?

PS: Don't take me 100% seriously, I just thought it would be interesting to bring up.

UPDATE: I noticed that 'emotions' has been mentioned a lot, but I find that questionable considering the men not wearing helmets don't show any emotions to begin with, lol, they swear, kill and F**k S**t up, theres no time for the expression of emotions. Even twisling the screen around during a gun fight won't reward you with a single tear shed by Marcus after planting bullets into another fiend.

However I understand the time and consideration spent gelling one's hair-do (not that they have hair, they are usually bald, because bald = badass) and that helmets would only mess their hair up, but would it not be better to design a helmet that would shape nicely around that hair-do?

 

[Internet Kraken]

Because it's a lot harder to make a character emote properly when all of their facial expressions are obscured by a helmet. Notice how most of the generic red shirts that don't have any character are almost always wearing helmets. It might seem a bit silly, but it's perfectly understandable.

 

[NotSoNimble]

Video games aren't real. I think that explains it. We need to differentiate characters in these stories. That's tough when they all wear the same helmet.

 

[Blue_vision]

In some situations, the better vision an un-covered head provides may be a greater benefit than the protection that a helmet does.

Obviously, it doesn't make sense sometimes, but there's an explanation right there.

 

[noxymoron19]

Same reason why you never want to wear a helmet riding a bike when your growing up. You think its cool, till you flip over the handle bars and boink your noggin.

 

[emeraldrafael]

because real men dont wear helmets.

Oh, and this:

Video games aren't real.

 

[pulse2]

I just found Killzone and Gears laughable as every other motherfroggy on the battlefield actually used intelligence and wore appropriate protection, yet still, they all get mowed down by gun fire or brutally torn apart in some way or form, yet, our heros over here who are one step away from just wearing boxers run through the battlefield unscathed.

How come Crysis Nomad and Master Chief were smart enough to wear a helmet?

 

[SilentCom]

I just found Killzone and Gears laughable as every other motherfroggy actually used intelligence and wore appropriate protection, yet still, they all get mowed down by gun fire or brutally torn apart in some way or form, yet, our heros over here who are one step away from just wearing boxers run through the battlefield unscathed.

How come Crysis Nomad and Master Chief were smart enough to wear a helmet?

Master Chief doesn't wear a helmet, that's his face =P

 

[Zarthek]

The guys in Halo, Crysis and Killzone stole all the helmets, there simply aren't enough to go around.

 

[Necrofudge]

If you've ever played Gears of War 1 or 2 then you'd know what happens if you wear a helmet.

I think it's just some sort of mysterious force in video games where, if you don't have an identity, bullets and other projectiles tend to fly towards you more often regardless of their original direction.

 

[pulse2]

If you've ever played Gears of War 1 or 2 then you'd know what happens if you wear a helmet.

I think it's just some sort of mysterious force in video games where, if you don't have an identity, bullets and other projectiles tend to fly towards you more often regardless of their original direction.

Lesson to learn from this: Go into war naked.

 

[Zhukov]

Fuck helmets.

I like being able to see character's faces. In games where I can choose equipment I never use helmets even when they are available.

Granted, if I was storming the battlements or fighting the alien hordes in real life, then yeah, I would want some nice thick metal headgear. But surely that's the beauty of games. You can enter a gunfight without a helmet and not have to worry about getting your stylish haircut ruined by passing bullets.

(Well, okay, except for Mount & Blade. That's one game does not let you get away with that shit. When the crossbow bolts start flying, anyone without a helmet is risking early death.)

 

[Wayneguard]

because as soon as you put one of

Spoiler: these

on, otherwise competent soldiers turn into

Spoiler: bumbling idiots

 

[Freechoice]

Because it's a lot harder to make a character emote properly when all of their facial expressions are obscured by a helmet.

Cheaper though.

 

[darth.pixie]

In some instances, you can headshot NPCs that do wear a helmet. Plus, for all the running the PC has to do, it would get so stuffy in there. And no one wants to stop in the middle of the battle to cough and wheeze because they have no air.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

First, video games do not subscribe to the real rules of the universe. Second, no helmet in use today is designed to protect you from being shot in the head. One can certainly make a helmet that will stop a round of reasonable caliber but the end effect is you are still getting slugged in the head hard enough to give you severe brain trauma and lead to instant death. The only difference is you'd be slightly more likely to have the opportunity to have an open casket funeral. Smaller caliber handgun rounds can certainly be stopped by helmets and the wearer could expect to survive the wound but then one must consider the difference. Where a .45 ACP round (say from an M1911A1) has roughly the same kinetic energy as a baseball being thrown at 90 mph, a 7.62.51 NATO (say from an M240, M60, or any number of battle rifles) carries energy equivalent to being struck in the head by a baseball bat swung by a homerun champ. The reality is, the odds of surviving a gunshot to the head by a military weapon, even if wearing a helmet, is low. And any real chance of survival hinges upon the round not hitting squarely on the helmet (and as such not imparting all of itss energy on the wearer).

What helmets actually protect your fragile head from are things like shell fragments (they carry little energy but go through bone like it isn't there) and blunt trauma (hitting your head on something).

 

[Aris Khandr]

I put a lot of effort into making my characters in RPGs look the way I want them to look. There is no way I'm going to spend the entire rest of the game running around with a bucket on my head.

 

[Frotality]

to avoid expendable emotionless mook syndrome. faces are a defining characteristic, which is why so many minions have theirs hidden so we dont care when they die and why the main characters keep shoving the faces in our...faces at every opportunity.

that still doesnt explain why characters in some military-esque group with a combat uniform wouldnt wear the same helmets as everyone else though....as an above poster noted, helmets are to protect from blunt trauma and shrapnel, not keep your face pretty, so why cant they just have normal army helmets that dont hide the face?

 

[Tonimata]

Because it's a lot harder to make a character emote properly when all of their facial expressions are obscured by a helmet. Notice how most of the generic red shirts that don't have any character are almost always wearing helmets. It might seem a bit silly, but it's perfectly understandable.

I remember thinking that the guys in Black Hawk Down would be infinitely easier to tell apart if I could see their hairdos.

 

[Brandon Lum]

If you've ever played Gears of War 1 or 2 then you'd know what happens if you wear a helmet.

I think it's just some sort of mysterious force in video games where, if you don't have an identity, bullets and other projectiles tend to fly towards you more often regardless of their original direction.

Don't forget F.E.A.R.

Poor Delta Force bastards...

Anyway, realistically, Elclectic already nailed it.

As for video games, some let have a helmet, some don't. The reason for it is probably, y'know, people think it's cool to not do as your told.

Though in RSV2, helmets increase your chance of getting killed.

Honestly, I don't know. Just seems like not wearing gear dons you a 'badass'.