Democracy

Gordon Freeman looks to be the winner of the GameSpot 'All-Time Greatest Game Hero' competition. In the annual GameFAQs polls he also tends to do rather well. Even though I'm aware that these sorts of events are meaningless I still wish embarrassing injuries and unfortunate illnesses down on people who vote for Gordon Freeman.

Now if I had readers I'd probably be accused by fanboys that I'm just a sore loser because my character didn't get picked. Well the jokes on you hypothetical reader, as my favourites never even make it into these competitions. Yeah take that, I theoretically showed you up.

And besides that not even the main reason for my hate of Gordon's success.

Gordon is a silent protagonist. Other characters in Half Life games will talk to him and apparently accept (and expect) no response. The idea is that by not speaking it makes it easier to imagine that you are Gordon Freeman.

I like this sort of feature in the right circumstances, like games with some sort of roleplaying element or when you are able to make important game-shaping choices. Half Life games are linear first person shooters. You can only ever take one course of action so the only real thing left to your imagination is how Gordon feels about this: 'I don't want to go through Ravenholm but I've got no God-damn choice. And Alyx I swear I'm going to slap you next time I see you.'

Further more, although he doesn't have a voice or personality, Gordon still has a name and appearance. To me this seems to greatly hinder the whole 'imagine it's you' idea.

Hear that Valve? I think your concept is overhyped and flawed.

On a side note, why the fuck is the crowbar Gordon's signature weapon. With the exception of right at the start of the game when do people use it? The gravity gun would make a lot more sense as it has relevance in game, and is more unique than the obligatory melee weapon. It's not like the wrench is Jack's Signature weapon in Bioshock or so forth.