I do too, so I can maybe finally get a seat.

Sure. Because things like Hotline Miami, Kung Fury, Expendables and other throwbacks to 80s over the top characteristics exist. Will people get wound up about it now? Sure. But his character isn't deep. You can take him at face value and you either get it and appreciate it for what he is, (or isn't,) or you're the stodgy parent in the room, you don't get it, you probably won't get it, and you might as well move on to something you will enjoy. Much like anything else in the entertainment space, people get wound up in "muh representation," "muh stereotypes" among other common whines, but Duke is Duke. There's still enough of us older gamers that there's still a space out here for characters like him.
I don't believe that at all, especially with the current love affair with 80s tropes, music, old popcorn action flicks and nostalgia. I think a lot of people use this as a lazy argument to dismiss a character because it doesn't fit with their personal "art" narrative. Not everything needs to be a metaphor, and Duke, to me, still has legs because of the current climate.
I've always wondered just how much stupidity that Gearbox was responsible for in DNF, because the original design docs for DNF are nothing like how the game itself ended up.

(18+ warning)

duke isn't masculine. He is a male whore.

I think he has niche appeal, but I think his mainstream appeal is limited. When DNF came out, quite a few people felt like he didn't age as well as they had thought...kind of like a video game Austin Powers who fit (kind of) into his original era, but who just felt out-of-place after he got out of cryostatis.

Mainstream games these days place a bigger focus on narrative than games from the 90's. Doom's story fit onto a single page of the instruction manual and the only narrative you got were short blurbs at the end of each episode. Duke's an extremely shallow character who works well as a caricature, but quickly becomes grating if you aim to establish a narrative that goes beyond "blow stuff up". It's worth remembering that Trump got 3 million fewer votes than his opponent and during the GOP primaries, more voters voted for a non-Trump candidate than for him, only to rally around him in order to avoid the Clinton apocalypse. There's an argument to be made that if the GOP primaries hadn't featured so many candidates that they had to host separate "underdog" debates just to give all of them some screentime, Trump wouldn't have been able to come out on top.

Just because lots of republicans wave away his specific hyper-masculinity traits like banging porn stars while his wife's recovering from child birth doesn't mean those traits are his main, or even secondary, appeal. For all we know, Trump would be more popular if his personal life lacked that layer of sleaziness. One of the complaints republicans will occasionally allow themselves to make is they wish Trump would just learn to shut the hell up already, tweet less and just focus on governing.

Strongly disagree. The 'humor' in DNF wasn't the same as it was in the classics. Further many jokes failed because the game was trash.

Take:
"Power armor is for pussies."
A complete flop of a joke because he has regenerating health. Duke is in NO position to make fun of another series. In Duke 3D he could poke fun at other franchises like Doom and Quake because the game was an actual contender.

Again, look at the new Doom. Hyper masculine kill fest. It might be missing the one liners but basically make a modern Duke game with actual good level design and some actual decent jokes and it would likely do well... assuming the brand hasn't been tainted by the pile of shit that was DNF. Took me a while to finally get Alien Isolation after Colonial Marines because it actually hurt the brand and I didn't want to play another Alien title... at least for a while.

EDIT: Shadow Warrior is another example of a return of the smack talking protagonist done right. There's a market for the return of these types of games... they just need to be done well... good level design and writing... something DNF failed at.

Everything can be done, as long as gamers unite and fend off against the cancer of political correctness, censor, oppression, butchers of free speech and free artistic expression... Agony, for example!

True enough. Besides, every rule has at least one exception! And obviously, there are "family friendly" games out there, that are enjoyable for all ages range, as well.

I hate to break it to you but wet dreams don't dry. ;-)

Frankly, I'd be ok with the Duke character even if he weren't a parody of manly action heroes.
(or maybe, the result would be hilarious for taking itself too seriously)
The game would still be a simple action title with fanservice, targeted to males.
Not every game has to be inclusive or with "strong independent women".

I'm reporting that game to the EU Sexual Harassment Authorities.

Blow it out ur ass!

In the game's defense, walking around in public with your willy out gets you arrested for indecent exposure.

But after those incel-inspired massacres in Isla Vista and Toronto, I imagine the notion of blowing one's brains out because of failing to lose one's virginity would raise a question or two nowadays. I'm not even sure if that death is even in the remakes.