The Top 7... Lazy Character Clichés

Copy, paste, unoriginality! The most overused archetypes of all time

Words: Charlie Barratt, GamesRadar US

Game design must be super, super hard. What else can explain the number of shortcuts being taken in almost every one? Genres are repeated, environments are recycled and storylines all begin to sound the same.

Most copied, however, are the characters. Dreaming up an entirely new personality with entirely new traits is a daunting task, so the majority of folks you meet in games end up feeling identical to the folks you met in previous games. If they don't look alike, they act alike. If they don't act alike, they at least talk alike. The only things that change are the name and the background. Maybe.

Sure, the following seven character types were probably original once upon a time... but that time was long, long, long ago.

 

Description: A mainstay of role-playing games for as long as we can remember, the Brooding Pretty Boy is capable of impossible extremes. He is both softly feminine and ruggedly masculine. With a tortured and mysterious past, he can play either hero or villain. And although one of the most attractive and popular characters in the game, he usually acts the most depressed and downtrodden. To some, he is an intriguing enigma; to others, a big self-pitying baby.

Common characteristics: 

  • Pensive expression, with eyes cast downward in deep and oh-so-very-important thought.
  • The slightest of frowns. Is he angry? Hurt? Or just getting a widdle sweepy?
  • Elaborately coiffed hair that wouldn't look out of place in a modern art museum (preferably silver, yellow or blue).
  • Desperate attention seeking through flamboyant and unnecessary accessories like capes, cloaks, feathers, ruffles, upturned collars, metal jewelry and oversized zippers.
  • A ridiculously large weapon to overcompensate for all of the above.


Possible Inspiration:

 


The Antidote:

 

Holy crap, what is that on his face?! Oh wait, it's just an emotion. Travis Touchdown of No More Heroes may share many superficial similarities with the Brooding Pretty Boy (hair, accessories, weapon), but his crude, cocky and LOUD demeanor is anything but familiar.

 
4 Comments
CuddlyBomber - 1 month 9 days ago
Ah Man i just listened to talkradar11 and the top 7 was hilarious.
MSCR - 29 days 3 hours ago
Pretty good article, a bit preachy sometimes and I fail to see how that raziel thing is a prettyboy. Moody and shit sure, but the guy runs about naked, has no visible genitals and isn't half his face missing?

Other than that, pretty insightful stuff.
Coolbeans69 - 22 days 14 hours ago
That was pretty funny
Psyrate - 8 days 12 hours ago
The truth has never been so hilarious.
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