For example it isn't new to hear about how video games are slightly sexist. When you think off a hero you automatically picture a big, strong, brave, courage’s man, someone who is strong enough to take bullets, someone who is wearing tough, bold armour. For example Marcus Fenix out of gears off wall is a huge man who wears big, tough armour all over his body. Or Jim Rayners from the star wars series, His outfit is yet again basically rough, hard, armour...You can tell how protective his clothing is just by a quick glance.
One more example of a hero is Dovahkiin from Skyrim. He may not be wearing huge armour like Marcus Fenix but you can easily see how impressive his body/character is, His clothing may be thin but his big muscles which gives a 'protective', 'fierce' appearance which every hero is stereotyped to be.
Video games try their best to make their hero look their part, a hero is someone who is brave and strong and up to now every hero within a video game plays their visual part amazingly. However, when thinking off a heroine which is a female hero/protagonist-video games give their female characters the opposite appearance.
Video games stereotypically give their heroine hardly any clothing compared to the heroes. For example Female characters wear clothing’s such as low cut tops, shorts/low cut pants and usually have bare arms. In fact 41% off all females in video games are big busted and are dressed so the main attention is brought to their body because their clothing usually emphasizes their breast which creates an attention off sexuality. In fact, the heroine in video games who do have low cut clothing’s are still rated E which means young males are able to play these games. The reason girls are stereotyped this way is usually because they bring more attention from males which again it is stereotyped that males play more video games than girls however 52% of games are girls. Having big breasts, low cut clothing is considered more eye-catching due to their sex appeal.
Although the same can be for heroes, not every hero does wear armour. Some are dressed to be eye-catching towards female players as well such as Kratos who doesn’t wear armour but has a 6 pack which is considered attractive or maxi from soul calibur who yet again isn’t wearing armour etc. and is wearing revealing clothing. Examples of heroines who wears un-cut clothing includes Jennifer Tate from Primal, she wears a revealing black outfit. Nariko from heavenly sword is another example of how females wear little-nothing with their clothing’s. The last and most popular example off a heroine who wears 'sexy', 'low-cut', flattering clothing is Lara Croft from tomb raider. She is one of the most popular heroines within the video game industry, her outfit usually involves her bare arms and legs and she also has a thin figure as well as a big bust.
So overall a protagonist is usually a man because they are seen as more dominant, brave, bad-ass, heroic, daring and strong. And even though females are becoming more popular as a protagonist, stereotypes are still strongly involved.
The sidekicks and Collect able also have some sort of stereotype about them in the games industry. For example when thinking off a side kick you think off someone who helps the main character, someone who is a close campaign. The most popular sidekicks include Rush from mega series who is loveable, loyal and is helpful. Another example of a sidekick is Navi from the legend of Zelda who was also necessary to the game due to how helpful Navi was and another example is Caratana from Halo who goes above and beyond to help and give advice to the player.
From the examples which I have listed you can tell that having a side kick in video games is really popular and important, which was first inspired by comic books. A side kick isn't someone who is main attention in the game but is also one of the most important characters in the game, they let the player get close to their 'campaign' which gives it more of a personal and emotional feeling towards the side kick. Sidekicks can be small, large, robot - Anything. A side kick just plays a huge role in the story telling while being loyal, fearful and giving help/advice.
An antagonist is usually the 'bad' guy. They stereotypically hate the protagonist, Are ugly, insane, criminal, dangerous, scary, powerful and controlling. So basically an Antagonist is the complete opposite to the protagonist but obviously stereotypes are still included for example, Just like the protagonist the most popular stereotype is that antagonist are male. Doctor Neo Cortex from Crash Bandicoot fits the stereotypes pretty well for instance; Doctor Neo Cortex is mad, weird looking and is male for instance Wheatley from Portal 2 who is basically a homicide maniac robot Or Wario from super Mario who is a male, ugly and insane. There is a lot more antagonist but just from the few I have mentioned you can tell that the antagonist have been stereotyped as much as the sidekicks, protagonist and so on.
Links
http://www.gamesradar.com/top-100-video-game-heroes/
http://www.uky.edu/~dlowe2/documents/4.BeasleyStandley2002GenderRoleStereotypinginVid.pdf
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.277137-Why-Do-Video-Game-Females-Almost-Never-Wear-Practical-Armor
http://www.deviantart.com/tag/nariko
http://mcgarrybowen.co.uk/icons-are-better-55-lara-croft/
http://deadliestfiction.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:SevenArrows/Commander_Shepard_vs._Marcus_Fenix
https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/dragonborn-vs-scp-682.258997/
http://www.dorkly.com/post/49357/the-greatest-videogame-sidekick-of-all-time/page:3
http://www.dorkly.com/post/49357/the-greatest-videogame-sidekick-of-all-time/page:3
http://www.gamesradar.com/top-100-villains-video-games/