Team Fortress 2 Character Breakdowns

Team Fortress 2 (commonly referred to as just TF2) is a multiplayer, team-based, first person shooter than can be played on Xbox, PC, or PS2.  While not experienced in the console versions myself, the PC version's multiplayer games normally consist of 20 to 32 people.  Just in a few seconds of querying servers to play on, over 600 popped up.  Not all the servers are filled to capacity, but it is obvious that quite a few people play it daily.  The playable characters constantly taunt each other, and while the art style is cartoon-like, deaths are extremely exaggerated.

TF2's 9 playable characters each have their own personalities and are created from stereotypes for a comedic element.  Even though it is intended for comedy, the fact that the characters' ethnicity are easily recognized from there stereotypical personality says something about how strong the stereotypes are.  The soldier sounds a lot like the common view of an American army drill sergeant.  The scout is a skinny, white, smart-mouthed New Yorker equipped with a baseball bat and cap.  The demoman is described as a "black Scottish cyclops" and is foul-mouthed and drunken.  The pyro is unintelligible and hidden inside a full-body flameproof suit.  The Heavy is a soviet style Russian who is very large and taunts others calling them babies.  Engineer is noticeably from Texas, complete with the accent and phrases like "Giddy Up" and "Yippekayahee."  The medic is German and is somewhat militaristic and disciplined.  The Spy is french, and is suave and polite, kinda like the personality of James Bond.  The final class is the Sniper in which I will go into more detail about.

The Sniper is clearly Australian, has the accent, a Crocodile Dundee getup, and says phrases such as "Go on then, mates" and "crikey."  Some of his taunts include calling people women or wusses.  The sniper takes pride in his job as an assassin.  In his introductory video (of which every class but pyro has), "Meet the Sniper," he attempts to justify his profession.  He states that as long as two people are left, one of them will want that other dead.  You get the idea that he thinks violence and killing are normal.  To him, sniping is a good job because it is challenging and is done out-doors, which makes it seem very manly.  My favorite line in the video is when he is talking to his father and his father calls him a crazed gunman.  The sniper says that he is different from a crazed gunman because his killing is a profession and the other is a mental illness.  If the sniper kills for personal gain, then what is the difference between a murder killing for personal enjoyment or other such reasons.  While it is supposed to be fun, the line shows that sometimes a distinction is made in why killing is done in an attempt to justify it.

Team Fortress is funny, but its comedic value can desensitize players to the violence and stereotypes it show. After all, the characters' personalities are pulled from some real world views.  I also find it more personal than some other shooting games.  The characters are likable, funny, and you really get familiar with them while playing, ignoring that they are all killers.

A very gory death scene.

The other "Meet the Team" videos.