Game Characters You'd Never Want To Date In Real Life

Developers devote significant time to filling their video games with interesting characters. As players embark on adventures in lands of fantasy or journey beyond the stars, a lineup of characters usually accompanies them and offers support along the way. Whether a protagonist or NPC, these personalities can prove real standouts of their games, to the point that players often feel real connections to and invest in the fictional individuals they interact with across their journeys. 

Whether it is the gruff, alien charm of Garrus Vakarian or the beauty of Lara Croft, developers tend to make their casts quite attractive. This, combined with interesting and deep personalities fueled by the narratives, makes a lot of characters seem like they would be great to date even in real life. Unfortunately, many of these virtual beings would not translate well to the real world — or just wouldn't work well in relationships to begin with. Here are some of the video game characters you would probably want to reconsider asking out.

On the surface, Nathan Drake seems like a fantastic catch. He's attractive, funny, brilliant, and could take partners to countless breathtaking locations. Throughout the four "Uncharted" games, the developers also portray Drake as a caring person as his relationship with Elena Fisher grows and he takes care of his close team of friends. Drake's job travelling the globe to secure ancient artifacts and solving the mysteries of the past also looks exciting to tag along for.

However, Drake's career also sees him killing hundreds of people. While the bulk of these individuals would have killed him if he didn't get them first, many were just hired to do a job. The fact that the sheer quantity of people he dispatches doesn't seem to have any emotional impact on him makes the situation even worse. He cracks jokes the entire time and never has any doubts or guilt over ending the lives of the people who get in his way, which leads to some serious questions regarding his morals. 

Protagonist Geralt of Rivia serves as one of the most integral parts of "The Witcher" franchise. Throughout the books, video games, and Netflix show, countless characters swoon over Geralt and, in many cases, throw themselves at him. It makes sense, as he has a great voice, rugged good looks, and is extremely capable. Geralt also reveals over time that beneath his grumpy exterior he has a more poetic and hopeless romantic side. With all of that in mind, it's hardly a surprise that players would also find Geralt attractive, especially during his notorious bath scene. 

However, players familiar with "The Witcher" will know that a key aspect of Geralt's personality is his emotional immaturity. He constantly pushes people away when starts to form an attachment to them in an attempt to protect himself from getting hurt. He lashes out at others in anger because of his bottled-up emotions, and he has a difficult time being introspective in any way. All of that, on top of the fact that his occupation could see him getting killed at any moment, indicates entering a romantic relationship with Geralt just isn't a good idea. 

Samus Aran is one of the most classic video game characters ever made. She's a universal hero, a badass, and has a penchant for wearing very tight outfits that highlight her curves. Given her heroics throughout the "Metroid" series, it makes sense that players would see a lot to admire in Samus and might think that she could make a good partner. 

However, Samus has also committed a lot of terrible deeds. From genocide to robbing graves, there seems to be nothing that Samus won't do to reach her goals. Additionally, her love interest would only be able to spend time with her if they joined in galivanting across the galaxy. This would be extremely dangerous and require her companion to be able to fight clones of Samus, fend off terrible diseases, and even kill (or at least run away from) colossal bosses.

It is honestly difficult to make a strong case for why anyone would ever want to date Duke Nukem at all. Sure, he is extremely fit and has saved the world from alien invasions multiple times, but he is also a complete jerk and misogynist. So, it's pretty strange that Duke manages to get any dates — even in his own games. 

Duke's misogyny runs so deep that it reared its ugly head in the multiplayer of "Duke Nukem Forever" in a notorious gaming moment that took things too far. The mode in question saw two teams battling over women in revealing clothes as objectives for matches. Even if his romantic partner could somehow get past his awful views toward women, Duke Nukem also has a reputation for getting on players' nerves. He constantly spouts one-liners that never quite land, is overbearingly cocky, and only wants to kill aliens and smoke cigars. Not much of a personality.

Almost everything about Solid Snake is appealing. His gruff voice, affinity for tight suits, great physique, and frequent saving of the world all make him seem like a dream partner. One would never have to worry about not feeling safe either, as there is little doubt that Snake would be able to protect a person he loves from anything that could threaten them. But those skills come at the high cost of having to care for Snake, a guy that is constantly followed by danger and a zillion government conspiracies.

Snake's partners would have to spend a lot of time alone at home while Snake was away on missions — possibly even dying. He also would not be able to share much information with his significant other about what he does or anything bothering him. Even if Snake did decide to tell his partner what was going on in his career, it would be so difficult to keep track of thanks to the convoluted timeline of the "Metal Gear" series. 

The default "Minecraft" character, Steve, has enjoyed a rise to fame alongside the game, becoming so iconic as to be invited to join the roster of "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" in an unexpected twist. Despite his status, dating Steve would be a horrible idea. If one did become Steve's significant other, they would have to either live with him in the wilderness or allow him to move in with them.

If someone chose to move to the wilderness, they would have to constantly work for everything — even just a simple meal. They would have to punch items to break them, which would shatter most people's knuckles, all while fending off zombies and creepers constantly. If Steve moved in with his partner, however, it would not be much better. Steve would break the bed out of habit while trying to arrange the bedroom in a different way. His loud chewing would reverberate off the walls of the apartment, loud enough to drive anyone to potential violence. And who knows if Steve would even be willing to just go enjoy a movie or hang out watching Netflix.

Max Payne is another character who suffers the consequences of a tortured past. After his wife and child were brutally slaughtered by home invaders strung out on drugs, Payne embarked on a path of revenge that quickly consumed his entire life across all three games in the series. While his anger over the murder of his family is definitely understandable, the baggage of his sorrow and internalized guilt would be a lot for a new partner to deal with. 

Payne's drive for revenge is also so all-encompassing that any potential love interest would have to be okay working toward his goal alongside him. This means constantly putting oneself in danger, killing countless people, and doing all of it for deceased individuals they've never even met. Add on the fact that it seems unlikely that Max would ever be able to return to a normal life even after achieving his goals, and it's clear the relationship would be doomed to fail eventually.