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Readers' Top 30 Characters Results Revealed

reader vote

by Bryan Vore on December 03, 2010 at 01:46 PM

52,892 Views

398 7

We gave our readers the chance to vote for their favorite characters of the decade. Did your favorites make the list?

Our readers' choice poll has been up for weeks with votes flying all the while. Readers voted for characters created in the year 2000 to the present day. Nearly 70,000 votes were cast, with voters weighing characters on a scale of 1 to 10 points. These points were totaled and distilled into the Top 30 Readers' Choice Characters of the Decade (okay, 11 years) that you see below.

30. Max Payne (Max Payne)
29. Clank (Ratchet & Clank)
28. Jak (Jak & Daxter)
27. The Illusive Man (Mass Effect 2)
26. Alan Wake (Alan Wake)
25. Dominic Santiago (Gears of War)
24. The Boss (Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater)
23. Alyx Vance (Half-Life 2)
22. Claptrap (Borderlands)
21. Auron (Final Fantasy X)
20. Desmond Miles (Assassin's Creed)
19. Cole MacGrath (Infamous)
18. HK-47 (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic)
17. Starkiller (Star Wars: The Force Unleashed)
16. Ratchet (Ratchet & Clank)
15. Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
14. Niko Bellic (Grand Theft Auto IV)
13. Dante (Devil May Cry)
12. Sam Fisher (Splinter Cell)
11. Andrew Ryan (BioShock)
10. Marcus Fenix (Gears of War)
09. Altaïr ibn La-Ahad (Assassin's Creed)
08. Captain John Price (Call of Duty)
07. GlaDOS (Portal)
06. John Marston (Red Dead Redemption)
05. Kratos (God of War)
04. Nathan Drake (Uncharted)
03. Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Assassin's Creed)
02. Commander Shepard (Mass Effect)
01. Master Chief (Halo)

Congrats to Master Chief for earning the top character of the decade from GameInformer.com readers! To see how the numbers panned out, check out the chart below.

This chart displays the point totals for the top 30 characters. Click on it to see a bigger version.

Write-In Winner

Readers also had the option to write in their favorite character who was not on the list of preset candidates. Many write-ins fell outside the criteria of the vote, appearing before the year 2000 (Solid Snake, Mario, Link, Gordon Freeman, Prince of Persia, Batman, Lara Croft). Other people wrote in characters that were already in the poll (Master Chief, Sora, Starkiller). Below are the top three write-in candidates that were embarrassingly not included in the regular voting.

1) Isaac Clarke (Dead Space)
2) Sackboy (LittleBigPlanet)
3) Revan (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic)

Thanks to everyone for voting!

Email the author Bryan Vore, or follow on Twitter, and Game Informer.

Filed under: News, reader vote, reader poll, Reader's Top 30 Characters

Comments

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by maxweinberger Friday, December 03, 2010 at 03:08 PM

I am so glad Master Chief won
by Christina Rose Friday, December 03, 2010 at 03:09 PM

I'm happy to see Sora made the list :D

Also glad to see Kratos, Auron, and Drake!!!

A glaring omission is Wander from Shadow of the Colossus, though. Thankfully he was on the editor's list.
by atlas2341 Friday, December 03, 2010 at 03:11 PM

great list, but i wanted batman in the list :( but still, great list :D
by Shadeshooter Friday, December 03, 2010 at 03:14 PM

I'm alright with the list, just would rather have had Commander Shepard at number 1 and Garrus had won a write in, but Isaac Clarke, Sackboy, Revan are pretty hard to argue with. Dom could have been higher up though, I actually had him in front of Marcus. How did Jak end up so low on the list?
by Derrick Galvan Friday, December 03, 2010 at 03:15 PM

No Pyramid Head?...wtf
by Warthog911 Friday, December 03, 2010 at 03:15 PM

Ya my top two vote where the number 1-2... Good job to my favorit first Commander Shepard, and my number 2 Master Cheif.. Both Xbox boys YA!! don't worry though I know ME2 is on PS but not yet fools..
by gippnrock Friday, December 03, 2010 at 03:16 PM

Oh really Master Chief deserves number 1 spot so just deal with it SYKE
by Anticitizen-One Friday, December 03, 2010 at 03:16 PM

Yay for John 117, he may not have the best personality of gaming, but he is sure a videogame icon.
by thedude Friday, December 03, 2010 at 03:22 PM

1 master chief *** him hes like the worst charecter out everybody on that list that *** won jesus
by Reconventional Friday, December 03, 2010 at 03:26 PM

What is wrong with people? Master Chief is one of the most generic and tasteless characters ever. A super soldier badass that kills aliens and only makes snide remarks a couple times? Yeah, thats completely original. If anything from the Halo Universe was to win I would have picked Sgt. Johnson or Cortona those characters have so much more personality than a faceless spartan.
by DesertFox023 Friday, December 03, 2010 at 03:30 PM

just because a game is great doesnt make its protaganist a great character
by derek lewis Friday, December 03, 2010 at 03:30 PM

Dante #13!!! Take that Game Informer (still love ya)!
by Matt Campbell Friday, December 03, 2010 at 03:34 PM

i don't get everybodies hatred for master chief being number 1????
i'm not a huge fanboy of the guy but halo has been one of the BIGGEST franchise of the last decade and NOTHING has had the same staying power as it. Call of Duty has only had the same level of love after modern warfare 1, and nobody else has had the same draw as the guy.

Glad to see this list! i may b in the minority, but i'm glad about this one b/c it's better than the editors....
Hard to argue with the top 15 for me and i'm glad to see claptrap as well as all three protagonists from AC on there, and jak from jak & daxter
by Jake Friday, December 03, 2010 at 03:35 PM

No Mandalore?? Well FUUUUUU! Isaac should of been top ten!
by Bazookashark Friday, December 03, 2010 at 03:44 PM

People complaining about Master Chief not deserving number one are wrong. I admit I was skeptical. But for a character of the decade award I can see no one else more deserving. From Combat Evolved to Reach, Halo has made a HUGE mark on the gaming world and it's thanks to Master Chief. Who else has changed the face of gaming more in the last decade? I find this list surprisingly satisfying all the way down with few exceptions.
by Brandon Whiting is back Friday, December 03, 2010 at 03:45 PM

Wow, Captain Price number 8? That's good. But Master Cheif No. 1? C'mon, he's FACELESS! But I guess he's a badass so who cares.
by Dustin Rodda Friday, December 03, 2010 at 03:45 PM

I can't believe master chief won. He has no character progression. I thought we were voting on best characters not peoples favorite games and retrospective protagonist. That's what happens when you leave it in the hands of the public.
by AlexC516 Friday, December 03, 2010 at 03:46 PM

So Solid Snake is one of the few protagonists that have been out for more than a decade, yet he is not even in the top 30. I understand he didn't meet the Criteria, but seriously, the master chief? The most bland, one of the most emotionally lifeless characters in a video game. When I saw that, that's when I realized that young little fan boys made the list, thank god the editors list wasn't as bad. Game Informer Community, you fail!
by Raven K. Friday, December 03, 2010 at 03:47 PM

The voting was silly because people still had to vote on stinkers like the Illusive Man, who as cool as he is in ME2's fiction, shouldn't be on the list. I feel like the characters making up the last 10 of the thirty only got votes because they were offered instead of characters people actually would have voted on. Oh well, whatever. Just seems like a silly poll if people can only vote on characters from the same pool of entries that GI'd already put on their own top 30 list. Love GI, but they're far from 100% right whenever it comes to lists like this.
by AMSacco91090 Friday, December 03, 2010 at 03:50 PM

I find it weird Master Chief was top, he was a speechless character. It just didn't seem he had enough personality. I think that more or less based on the game. Not Master Chief.