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The Top Characters of January 2010

Hey, curious to know who the most popular characters of January were? I was, so I went digging.

Around three or four homepage designs back, we used to keep better tabs of what the most popular database pages were by slapping them right on the homepage. After hard science showed that no one was actually clicking on any of that stuff, we cut it.

(Though before we go much further, I agree with you that we should probably bring it back in some form, just not necessarily on the homepage.)

As I was sifting through the growing Quick Look Thread over on NeoGAF, a dude named Karram reminded me that we used to have all that stuff. While I'm not enough of a database query man to actually build a page that automatically does this, it did get me thinking about alternate ways to get that information together.

So I started digging through the traffic logs and pulled together this list of the ten most-visited character pages on Giant Bomb for the month of January.

  1. Miranda Lawson
  2. Bayonetta
  3. John "Soap" MacTavish
  4. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya
  5. Subject Zero
  6. Taokaka
  7. Captain Price
  8. Mad Moxxi
  9. Death (Darksiders)
  10. Jill Valentine

I guess I'm not surprised that Miranda's done so well for herself, though I did think that the boss man, Commander Shepard, would make the list.

So I'll put it to you guys--I know this list stuff is pretty fluffy, but I'm genuinely interested in knowing what you guys are looking at, and I'm willing to bet that some portion of you are, as well. So what do you think? Should I keep digging and do something similar for concept pages and some of the other types of entries in our database? Or should I drop it and keep this stuff to myself, only stopping to look at it in the dead of night, when I'm at my loneliest?
Jeff Gerstmann on Google+

187 Comments

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skrutop

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Edited By skrutop

I don't think this really adds any value.  In fact, highlighting characters in lists like this might make it a self-licking ice cream cone where the top people keep showing up because they're on the list.  Even if that's not the case, I remember when the site had the top 10 lists for people, places, characters, etc.  The lists tended to be relatively static, and the people were always the chicks with the big boobs and/or Jade Raymond.  I suspect that the tastes of the GB community haven't changed much since that time.

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Cazamalos

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Edited By Cazamalos

Uncharted's 2 Chloe will be always on my top characters of every month...well i mean Chloe's Ass

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funkmasterflare

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Edited By funkmasterflare

This could be dropped. I have no interest in what characters people are looking at, and I'm sure Jeff can find more awesome things to show us.  
 
I wouldn't mind hearing about this stuff on the podcast, though. The bare stats just aren't interesting enough, but commentary from the Bomb Cast for this and other trends would probably be fun to listen to.

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Zaapp1

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Edited By Zaapp1

I think it's interesting that supporting characters show up more than main characters, keep it coming Jeff.

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megalowho

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Edited By megalowho

I'm with the yes crowd. The database is one of the coolest parts about Giant Bomb in my opinion, and the more exposure it gets the more people might feel compelled to browse around and add to its awesomeness when they otherwise wouldn't. It's worth pimping from time to time if something interesting is stumbled upon.
 
But damn, bring back the front page trivia already! That is some shit I really miss.

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jakob187

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Edited By jakob187

I think it's necessary to say that I hadn't looked at the new Bombcast art.  That goofy TurboToaster and her awesomeness!!!  I think someone should make sure the NeoGAF thread knows that TurboToaster did that stuff.  =  /

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AndrooD2

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Edited By AndrooD2

I always enjoy it when you share interesting data culled from the site, but I don't think it needs to be done on a regular schedule.

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FunExplosions

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Edited By FunExplosions

I don't know... seems kind of creepy. I mean... Bayonetta's been out for awhile. I think we all know why she's still number two. I don't wanna be reminded of what some kids are doing, every month.

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ThatWasBrilliant

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Edited By ThatWasBrilliant

Back when I still visited Gamespot, I did like their "Most Popular" section, with the tabs for Coming Soon and Highest Rated. Something similar might be good. I don't have any interest in what characters are popular.

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Nemesis

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Edited By Nemesis

No Mordin? What the hell!
 
Most of the characters in ME2 blow away other games' characters. Bioware has gotten this down to a science. I truly feel sorry for other developers trying to compete in this area.

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Whisperkill

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Edited By Whisperkill

I like Boobs... and asses

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clubsandwich

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Edited By clubsandwich

hot stuff.

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MikeFightNight

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Edited By MikeFightNight

Keep it up Jeff. Tali should be #1 though.

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dtat

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Edited By dtat

Great stuff Jeff! I always love these kinds of traffic stats.
 
One of my favorite things about Giant Bomb is stat tracking. I didn't really care about achievements until I was able to see what rank I had in each game!

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TheHT

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Edited By TheHT

yeah dude, share this stuff! fun little bits of info.

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timeshero

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Edited By timeshero

You should share this stuff in a monthly video.  How about a Wiki Submission of the month, as well as a Wiki Submitter of  the month awards, given out to the users who wracked up the most wiki points in a month.  Call it "A Giant Month in review. brb, write all my ideas down now... I'll get back to you.

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jos1ah

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Edited By jos1ah

Sounds good to me. I find that stuff interesting if I know where it can be found..
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MisterMollusk

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Edited By MisterMollusk

I liked it when around Giant Bomb first launched and you had all of the most visited pages right before you. I remember hamburgers being up there for quite a while.

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Bear

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Edited By Bear
@Hailinel said:
" I'd love to see these sorts of statistics make a comeback.  I was really disappointed to see it go. "
I agree
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Dan_CiTi

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Edited By Dan_CiTi

Bayonetta and Miranda have NICE booties. 

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ELpork

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Edited By ELpork

No love for Mordin?

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Eyepatch

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Edited By Eyepatch

Sweet, Taokaka made the list!
 
 I'm certainly all for seeing more such lists out of idle curiosity for random tidbits of information.

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Serker

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Edited By Serker

lol Taokaka. I should go play more Blazblue, I forget all about how to play as Tao

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Rayfield

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Edited By Rayfield

Hey Jeff the more I think about it, the more I think it ain't such a hot idea. For two reasons: 
 
1. Page views seem to be mostly about ass. 
 
2. You've probably got enough on your plate.
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FrankCanada97

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Edited By FrankCanada97
@Bear said:
" @Hailinel said:
" I'd love to see these sorts of statistics make a comeback.  I was really disappointed to see it go. "
I agree "
Yes, bring back those Top Ten Lists to the frontpage.
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geirr

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Edited By geirr

Do it Jeff, do!

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goodwood

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Edited By goodwood

Im guessing that Jeff is MonsterDunk on NeoGAF.

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chililili

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Edited By chililili

Yeah I want some lists back! Also this might make more people edit pages, which would be great!

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brydello

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Edited By brydello

Yeah, I visited Miranda's page a few times...

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RandomInternetUser

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Sure, sounds good to me.

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Scrumdidlyumptious

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More Charlie Tunoku

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Bandit

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Edited By Bandit

I am always interested in knowing stuff like this, its a nice reminder that I'm normal when i've visited the same pages that are on the top 10, so yes Jeff, more of this please!
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Brackynews

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Edited By Brackynews

@Jeff: I really enjoyed the "(New) pages that need help" or somesuch.  Was usually interesting and good for some wiki points.
I'm not a forum guy, but if the Forum tab gets a Popular list, then yes I'd like to see some kind of popular pages list.  I don't think I care if each category has its own list, but if it's the Top 100, say, then a filter should be simple.
 
$0.02

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felixlighter

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Edited By felixlighter

Yeah I miss the most popular wiki section of the homepage.  It was the one problem I had with the first redesign.  It would be nice to see it come back in some form.  Oddly enough I remember bringing it up way back then on neogaf.

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octaslash

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Edited By octaslash
@Dan_CiTi said:
" Bayonetta and Miranda have NICE booties.  "
Yeah, but Miranda's model is based on a real person. I'll leave it up to someone else to do the ass comparison.
 
No Caption Provided
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Hector

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Edited By Hector

Miranda! Miranda! Miranda!

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Hamz

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Edited By Hamz

Yeah I'd like this to be a regular article on the site. I'd still love to see that old table detailing the most popular pages within the database make a return as well. Even if it means not having a front page slot, seeing it somewhere else on the site would be great :)

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Teirdome

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Edited By Teirdome

Go go Gadget SQL!

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DJJoeJoe

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Edited By DJJoeJoe

Open up the stats to the users! A full on stats page with sections for top views on concepts, achievements, characters and all that jazz. As fancy as you can get with graphs is also something to aim for.

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Jackel2072

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Edited By Jackel2072
@Octaslash said:
" @Dan_CiTi said:
" Bayonetta and Miranda have NICE booties.  "
Yeah, but Miranda's model is based on a real person. I'll leave it up to someone else to do the ass comparison.
 
No Caption Provided
"
well if they ever make a Mass Effect movie that casting decision should be easy.... wait its Hollywood never mind =p
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dillinger

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Edited By dillinger

its definitely an interesting read.  i recommend you keep it up!

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Arjuna

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Edited By Arjuna

I didn't realize I wasn't the only one interested in Miranda.  That hair is SO freakin' hot!  Brilliant character design.

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Claude

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Edited By Claude

Go deeper and find some obscure shit. You'll like it, and we'll read about it.

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Zainyboy

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Edited By Zainyboy

Do it! If only to share with us what keeps you going when you are at your loneliest!

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unsolvedparadox

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Edited By unsolvedparadox

I really like the lists, bring 'em back!

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Krystal_Sackful

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Edited By Krystal_Sackful

 I HATE Miranda.
"In theory any biotic could do it" my ass!

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smokepants

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Edited By smokepants

Yay, Tali... I should visit that page.
 
She is the most well-executed love interest in any Bioware game (or game for that matter). It's kind of a bummer to know that being a love interest and having no guarantee of surviving the events of ME2 (not a spoiler, everyone can die), disqualifies her as a party member in ME3. I just hope they come up with something better than they had for Liara and Ashley/Kaiden. Wrex was okay, but I hope we get more Tali than that.

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monster9999

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Edited By monster9999

YAH more lists would be awesome. Back to the classic GB

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ajamafalous

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Edited By ajamafalous

Sure, Jeff. I'm up for any type of analysis like this.

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Hailinel

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Edited By Hailinel

Oh, and although this is only tangentially related, what are your feelings on the addition of a "Page of the Day" link on the front page to selected wiki pages?