That post reads as really emo.

I've always read "emo" as a synonym for "angst."

They do go hand-in-hand. However, while you can have angst without emo, it's not possible in the reverse.

I read emo as a synonym for melodramatic. Which could also be a synonym for "teenaged angst", or that unique kind of sadness that you can only experience when you're young enough to believe that you really are a special snowflake with a brilliance that no one appreciates.

I think the "emo" moniker is an accurate descriptor of a lot of video game protagonists, not because they're angry or sad, but because they're generally pretty ham-fistedly written, and poorly written negative emotions read as melodrama, aka "emo".

I guess the easy way to put it would be that an "emo" is a large, flightless bird.

Wait, that's not right...

An emo is someone who reacts to problems (real or perceived) with an exaggerated sense of despondency and frustration, and makes sure everyone around them knows it. Melodrama, basically. It's associated with teens because a good part of it is a lack of perspective, which is something teens have in spades. There's also a fashion facet to it; simple black clothing, horn-rimmed glasses, and a sort of hairstyle that covers one eye (emos will tell you that this represents how everyone who is not emo goes about life half-blind, unwilling to give up their happy little lives in exchange for enlightenment and the revelation that everything sucks).

I think the reason people dislike emos is that they tend to complain about things to excess without actually doing anything about them. They also write really bad poetry, and nobody likes that.

I don't quite get the raw hatred you see toward the whole "emo movement" at times, typified by comments like, "If you're so depressed why don't you just kill yourself and do us all a favor?" but they have a special mix of arrogance (believing that their perception of the world is sharper and less deluded than that of non-emo) and non-constructive whinginess that does make them thoroughly obnoxious.

But to answer your question, people call JRPG protagonists emo because they spend more time monologuing melodramatically about how sad they are than actually getting their sh*t in line.

A short history of Emo
A long and boring dissertation on the many waves of Emo
The term has become a lowest common denominator descriptor for anything remotely resembling its original incarnation. Having been an 'emo kid' since long before it was cool, the word has come to invoke a blind rage in me. On that note, enjoy the read. The man is much more eloquent than I on the subject.

At first I thought that this was the OP's first trip into the Rockband store.

But, strangely, much like a fellow asking when did Nirvana become "classic rock?" Emo is sh*tty music that teenagers and tweens listen to these days. It is kind of funny, because it is sort of the white suburban reaction to every music revolution ever. Generally music genres and changes come from the impoverished. Blues, Bluegrass, Rock from poor rural boys. Jazz, Rap, Hard Rock-Heavy metal from poor urban boys. Emo is like those groups creating a genre of music, out of hardship, and strife, and horror. But rather from the horror that is privileged white suburban life.

Now, either we have reached a total saturation of ghetto chiq, or kids today are just that lame.

"At my lemonade stand I used to give the first glass away free and charge five dollars for the second glass. The refill contained the antidote."

I was about to invoke Lost Odyssey, but you beat me to it. People kept calling Kaim emo. Seriously? Because he's indifferent, emotionally distant/distraught under the surface?

I often think these days...

emotionally complex == emo

And that is sad. I just finished COD4. I'm playing through Half Life 2 right now. Both have great stories, so I'm not saying anything bad about these games. But more complex emotions in games would be nice. Oh, and less shooting. I think aside from goofing around in GTAIV multiplayer and Halo 3 MP I need to lay off shooters. I'm kind of burnt out on the emotion-free killing machines.

Oh, I dunno, Paine from FFX-2 could be considered emo.

"If you want to be a non-conformist, you have to look like us, think like us, and listen to the same music we do."

As some have stated it is hard not to label a character Emo when most games have been made,for years, without any kinda of emotional backdrop at all: good cops who do the dirty justice, good space marines who do the dirty job, ace pilots,footbal managers(), yellow savage circles eating ghosts without remorse( ),etc and only recently have producers tried to make us connected to the characters we play(and most of it it's still the effort of RPG's).

Also it is hard to get used to a guy who feals sorry about killing some one or is afraid to even shoot some one, when we've slaughtered millions before(with superior skills even from un-trained scientists, no offence to HL) and all we got were slightly humorous 1 liners with a superior tone ("aaaaahhhhhh your self" anyone?) also it must be noted that most people don't wish to be reminded that life is a bi*ch when playing a game(after all would you shoot some one in muliplayer or play final fantasy 8 after your girl/boy friend left you?)

Emotions are quite easy to apply to a game if your willing to go past what the game shows you:

how many humans die when a battleships explodes?(Starcraft)
how many people were maning the ship you just sank? (silent hunter)
how many of the germans you shot had families waiting for them? (MoH,CoD,etc)
how painfull must it have been for your star player to get his leg broken? (...etc)
how much death and distruction would a nuclear missile be responsible after you drop it on the city the enemies base is in? (red alert)
what are my hoplites thinking when i send them against an army of hydras(AoM)

do my soldiers/allies/enemis curse my name or think of their familes when they die in huge explosions or gunned down on my orders?

and so on... these questions can be applied to all games so far if we so chose, however recent games take that choice away from us and we get hit in the face with emotions,questions and actions that makes us question our actions and our selves, and some peoples don't like that, they refuse to play a 'loser' char (in their eyes) althow he acts as most will have acted had they been in his situation (familiy slaughtered, betrayed,etc)
Most people don't wish to act like they would normaly act in real life, they enjoy doing what they want without fear of remorse or repercutions for just a couple of hours a day (probably why GTA is so popular)

I haven't played the game but... surely you could just play more of one game rather than 1-2 hours of several?

That sounds like every teenager, ever.

I'm pretty convinced that the modern-day use of "emo" comes back to fashion. That's really all it is. Normal teenagers with bad haircuts and bad taste in music (e.g., pop-punk bands that scream some of their lyrics for a super-dramatic, pained effect). They'll probably look back and laugh in a few years.

This makes me feel emo

Serious Sam! The grenade dudes