Gaming Could Really Use More Straight White Male Protagonists
Remember when Joel’s head was turned into mush at the start of The Last of Us Part 2? Abby hit a hole in one right into the dude’s cranium as thousands of gamer boys watched on in horror, powerless to the stop of the death of their favourite sad dad. We were witnessing the death of gaming’s favourite straight white male character, a demographic which is becoming increasingly uncommon across the medium as diversity makes its mark.
There was welcome outrage, with thousands taking to the internet and protesting the fact that their post-apocalyptic adventure was being hijacked by a lesbian and her bisexual partner on a chaotic revenge tour across the streets of Seattle. Girls holding hands, kissing, and placing an emotional burden on one another that requires them to be vulnerable and honest? You don’t see any of that worthwhile development in straight white male characters - and that’s why they’re so good! Be a ludonarrative dissonant murderer like Nathan Drake instead.
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Joel’s untimely passing was just the start, ushering in the beginning of an agenda that has spread throughout the industry with diverse heroes and progressive politics infesting our virtual worlds like they are actually intended to reflect our own society in a compelling and somewhat realistic way. We can’t have any of that. Games should be all about burly emotionless men and violence, ripped of any narrative meaning because who wants to actually engage with the art they consume am I right? Just gimme content I can consume!
Remember when heroes like Desmond Miles, Nathan Hale, Cole McGrath, Marcus Fenix, and whoever the guy from Spec Ops: The Line was
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