I’ve been called gay, a misogynist, a racist, an insecure male….. and I forgot what else.
Well your original post does come across as misogynistic. But rather than name calling, I'll bite and address your original post.
I just don’t find them relatable. I don’t understand why this is considered a blasphemous opinion.
That's fair. I also prefer to play as a man if I'm given the choice.
The same people lambasting me for holding it, are the ones pushing for female protagonists on the basis of inclusivity.
Female protagonists are not new. However, should we not have games that put women as the main characters? I'm struggling to see what's wrong with this? Why not both?
Okay, so having a male protagonist excludes women and we should have female protagonists instead…
No, because there are still plenty of games with male protagonists.
well, why does this logic not work in reverse? Why can’t women just accept male protagonists the way I have to for female? How do female protagonists not exclude me using the same logic?
They would only exclude you if you felt uncomfortable playing as a women, which appears to be the case. Women should be comfortable playing as men and vice versa.
There are some exceptions where I’m okay with it, such as Lara Croft or Jill Valentine.. I still prefer playing as Nathan Drake or Leon, but I can accept those others.
But you can accept some game protagonists being women, yet still prefer the male counterparts. It just seems that you don't like playing as a women at all. Can you see how this might come across as misogynistic?
What I can’t accept though is Ghost of Yotei, Chloe/Nadine, Assassin’s Creed Kassandra, Ellie, Kait in Gears of War, etc.
I understand this point to a degree. Those games used to have male protagonists, but now they've been switched to women. You want to continue the story as the male protagonists. That's fair.
The fact is, the majority of men don’t want to play as women, and the only way they accept it is if it’s a highly attractive woman whose ass they can stare at. That’s reality
Again, this really comes across as sexist.
A well written female character will have female issues. Why would I as a man enjoy experiencing that?
I don’t. At all. And if you’re going to write in male issues for her, then the game falls apart entirely because women aren’t men and they’ll never be men.
This statement assumes that stories centered around "female issues" are irrelevant or unrelatable to men, which is both limiting and dismissive.
Experiencing a story through a female protagonist can broaden your understanding of the world. It’s also an opportunity to explore narratives outside your own experience, which is one of the core appeals of fiction, games, and art in general. It's one of the reasons I love reading fiction as I get a point of view from different races, sex and cultures, even if i don't always agree with the views I'm presented with.
I know there will be an argument that games already require a significant degree of suspension of belief. However, those people are missing the point. Good fantasy is an extrapolation of observable innate characteristics, not a turning of reality upside down.
Example: Special Forces commando comes home and wages a one man war against the mob to save his town. Unrealistic but enjoyable. Woman picks up a sword and slays every man in sight… men are cowards and relying on her to save everybody… stupid.
But you're cool with Lara Croft saving the day?
I kinda get where your coming from. I sometimes roll my eyes seeing a tiny women beating the shit out of guys twice her size and height, but on the other hand if it's well written then there isn't an issue. Even then I don't refuse to play Street Fighter because Ryu gets decked by a women half his size.
In history women have been warriors, picked up swords, led armies to victory and shot guns on battlefields. It's not totally over the top. Although it was very rare, it has happened in our history.
It seems what you want is games to feature mostly all men and women shouldn't feature in action games where they're shooting guns or swinging swords, which frankly does come across as misogynistic.
If we use the argument that video games are art, then game developers can make whoever they want as a protagonist and make them as powerful as they want. It's their story. You can of course refuse to play these games, but that shouldn't stop them from being made to suit your own personal tastes.
