I was reading this thread over at the ECA forums which got me thinking about how fascinated some gamers become with their own characters or even with other characters in the games they play. Game developers are now at the point where they can create characters and animations that become more and more realistic with every game. What is it about the characters in a video game that we seem to find so appealing?Quite alot of gamers get attached to characters they play in games – and yes, I’ll readily admit I am one of them (or at least I have been in the past). I ain’t afraid to fly my geek flag high. Customisation in games is also a hugely appealing factor for me. I can’t wait for the day when they will allow gamers to do this in games like Gears of War (currently, they don’t have a female model to play but I hear that might be changing with the next instalment).

When thinking of sex appeal and video game characters, Lara Croft springs to mind. It’s not too hard to figure out why she was created to look the way she does. And although I wouldn’t say that Lara Croft looks realistic by any stretch of the imagination, she does possess a certain level of sex appeal that hundreds of male gamers worldwide have found difficult to resist. Better for sales no doubt but the combination of Lara’s over-the-top vital statistics and an uncanny ability to kick copious amounts of butt all over the place proved overwhelmingly popular with a specific male demographic.

It’s a tad more difficult looking for sex appeal in a game character if you’re female, however. There just doesn’t seem to be alot of male characters in video games that one can find aesthetically pleasing. Maybe that’s primarily because the antagonists in most video games are all created by male game developers. Although if I really had to name names I’ve always found Kratos from the God of War series to be pretty cool – he’s tough without seeming like he’s trying to be a hero and has a moody and bloodthirsty demeanor to match. That said, The Apprentice from The Force Unleashed is pretty appealing as far as game characters go and I’ve always had a thing for Carmine from Gears of War – there’s just something about guys that wear masks And now that I’ve totally weirded you all out, I think I’ll go back to playing a ‘sex appeal’ free zone game like BFBC2.