Booker DeWitt is a Chode

Booker DeWitt has exploded as a popular character. He is being cosplayed to death, which is fine, but what shocks me about his new fame, is that people seem to admire him. Booker DeWitt has no empathy, no concern for his fellow man. He can see racial injustice and calmly continue on his way. He can be thrust into a revolution where those who have never had anything desperately strike against their oppressors, and say dark evil things like, "And what happens when the rebel leader takes over? More of the same if you ask me." Booker DeWitt is indifferent, out for himself, fighting to increase his standing, achieve his personal goals, the welfare of others never plays into his decisions, and to me, that certainly isn't deserving of anyone's praise.

Video games create these characters occasionally, and almost all of the examples I can think of have gotten pretty popular. Sam Marston here, just wants to tend his ranch and live out his days in peace. Too bad he lives on the Mexican border during the perfectly named Mexican Revolution, and is forced to witness some of the atrocities that tend to accompany regime changes. Like DeWitt though, Sam Marston sees it all as a waste of time, a struggle to replace a leader with a similar figurehead. This way of thinking is lazy, but the gaming industry tends to lean towards these characters, and I think it's because playing a character like that elevates the player above the questions the story is asking. To feel smarter than all of the other characters by being indifferent, watching things play out. Seeing a revolution as a futile attempt to obtain your rights isn't a smarter way of thinking, it's just dickish.

Now Tidus is rarely called cool, but I would admire him long before DeWitt or Marston. Tidus makes mistakes, and is incredibly naive, but his heart guides his actions. He cares, and risks his life to ease the pain and suffering of others. He loves his friends, and more impressively, he loves the people he has just met, instantly placing himself in someone else's shoes as soon as he learns of a hardship. I feel the same way about Solid Snake, (who is an exception, very popular, very moral), who reluctantly practices the craft of espionage, refusing to let the bad win over the good. These are men we should applaud.

Sure, it's cool when Booker DeWitt jams his pinwheel knife into some soldier's neck, or when Sam Marston wins a shootout against forty-five bandits, but isn't it cooler when a protagonist resists temptation and does the right thing anyway? Isn't it cooler when Solid Snake tells Otacon that his only goal is unconditional world peace? Isn't it more admirable, when Tidus dies protecting a country that he has lived in for a month? I'm not saying don't dress up as evil femshep for your next convention, I'm just asking that those characters who accomplish truly noble things are talked about too.