Freaking.Space.Lasers

The alternate title for this post was “Starship Tropers”, but I was afraid that either people wouldn’t get the pun because it was too in-your-face smart, or that it would look like I can’t spell. Either choice is unacceptable, while also deftly edging in on the subject at hand - the beloved trope of the Space Marine (see, I told you I was clever).

The Space Marine is a rugged, manly main character who populates approximately half of all video games. He is generally a soldier, an ex-soldier, or he will become a soldier by the end of the game. Contrary to the name, he need not be a marine (or be in space) - the Space Marine is an ideal, a concept, a goal designers can fail to strive for. He is also a he - women are not invited. The Space Marine is usually faceless, or at the very least missing enough personality that he won’t obscure your view. Clad in the generic fatigues and armour of his position, he can be found in brown, green, black and grey varieties. His primary objective is to shoot objects until they stop. The Space Marine is a rock, an island, unchanged by people, circumstance, death or plot.

Examples include Master Chief (Halo), Marcus Fenix (Gears of War), as well as the glut of lead characters whose names don’t matter from Haze, Black, Killzone, Resistance, F.E.A.R. and anything which has been touched by the black, dull heart of Tom Clancy.

Theoretically, the Space Marine as a main character ticks all the important boxes. Because he is faceless (and sometimes nameless) any player can jump right in and feel like they’re a part of the action. Escapism is, after all, what many gamers have always been looking for - as well as being the reason real space marines probably wouldn’t play video games. In that vein, he also offers the easy opportunity for amazing situations like shooting aliens, shooting different aliens and driving a jeep. Such situations and characters are far from taxing on the mind, which also gifts the Space Marine an ease-of-use tag - there’s no need to wonder why you are here blasting heads, just do it!

And it’s pretty fucking macho, so there’s instant appeal for the two competing crowds of men that play video games: “I think I’m pretty manly so this game is a good alternative to punching my girlfriend” and “I wish I was manly and this will stop me from secretly sobbing at night”.

From a developer standpoint, the trope is a goldmine. Video games can be generalised as virtual simulations of cause and effect - characters interact with the world and stuff happens - which is why shooting is such a popular choice of mechanic. Pressing a button to make the thing in front of you die is a tried and true idea to build a game around, so making your character a mindless drone surgically welded to a bullet-spitting machine is a no-brainer.

No brains are involved in the writing either. Take your big dumb gun holder and tell him he’s on a mission to stop a bad guy. The problem is that it is lazy and dull. The market is up to its pulsing pectorals in these gun-toting nothings precisely because it requires no effort to create one. Just mix a hard jaw with a deep voice, add some gun skills and some mad skillz, repeat for ninety thousand bullets. And then for the sequel all you need to do is take the fight to them, possibly in an extreme fashion.