Blizzard "Trying Not to Oversexualize" Female Overwatch Characters

[AlexReynard]

As a man, it makes me feel uncomfortable to see so many male video game characters depicted as hyper-capable. Game companies need to consider the feelings of average gamers who can't double-jump or survive thousands of assassination attempts. I want to see them make their male protagonists more relatable. Chubbier. Clumsier. So I don't have to feel bad about seeing idealized versions of people I can never be. And don't ask me to stop letting fictional representations of my gender define my self-worth, because then you're just being sexist.

[trollface]

 

[Nurb]

The people who would complain about it won't be happy, they'll just complain about something else.

Like the ones who complained Elle from Last Of Us wasn't "Strong and independent enough".

I miss when games decisions weren't made saying "What will ____ think of this?". It's the same wave of politically correct nonsense that ruined a lot of things during the 90's until people just got sick of it in the latter half of the decade.

 

[Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)]

Look Blizzard, we know about Windowmaker, we know what your saying is bullshit. You can have your sexy female characters if you want I have no problems with that but don't piss on us and tell us it's raining.

 

[Ladylotus]

The hypocrisy of SJW's never cease to amaze

It's even funnier when you look at her back story. She's the stereotypical french femme fatale assassin archetype that reinforces the idea that women suck at CQC. On top of that, she literally has no personality and is completely subservient to another

Compared to Bayonetta who answers to no one and is in complete control of herself and her sexuality.

EDIT: And of course, Nathan Grayson wrote that article.

I don't know which is funnier, the use of "SJW's" despite the fact that it only hurts your argument, or the fact that you believe one person represents an entire group.

Either way, your 'argument'has no merit.

 

[DementedSheep]

As a man, it makes me feel uncomfortable to see so many male video game characters depicted as hyper-capable. Game companies need to consider the feelings of average gamers who can't double-jump or survive thousands of assassination attempts. I want to see them make their male protagonists more relatable. Chubbier. Clumsier. So I don't have to feel bad about seeing idealized versions of people I can never be. And don't ask me to stop letting fictional representations of my gender define my self-worth, because then you're just being sexist.

[trollface]

Oh hey its this bullshit again. The problem is not them being too awesome. The problem is the "ideal women" is based around how pretty a place to put a cock they are. Most ways women get sexulized make them look more less competent. If you did the same shit to a guy (not just the clothes either, make them thin and have them poise that way aswell) they would get laughed at. They don't look strong, they don't look capable, scantly clad and doll faced is boring as hell and dragons crown level sexualization is outright repulsive to me. They end up looking like they should fuck off before they get someone worth a damn killed. So the problem is not that I will never be them, the problem is that would never want to be them.

 

[theNater]

I have never heard a woman describe the Marcus Fenix (sp?) body type as sexy. I'm sure they exist, but they're probably in the minority, if not a vast minority.

Indeed; a quick look at the history of People's "sexiest man alive" winners reveals no body-builders. I also see that Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt have two wins each; I wouldn't call either of them heavily muscled.

 

[Ticklefist]

Nevermind. Not a meaningful contribution to the discussion. Removed.

 

[Loop Stricken]

Now here's a point from a personal perspective, there is one character in this image that gives me a boner on an immeasurable scale in comparison to all others.

That robot between Tracer and Winston.

Seriously.

I KNOW, RIGHT?!

I just hope it doesn't turn out to be a male. That would be awkward.

 

[Dragonlayer]

Goddamnit: now that Blizzard has shown its true colours, the end is in sight for our brutal patriarchal gaming society!

 

[EternallyBored]

The hypocrisy of SJW's never cease to amaze

It's even funnier when you look at her back story. She's the stereotypical french femme fatale assassin archetype that reinforces the idea that women suck at CQC. On top of that, she literally has no personality and is completely subservient to another

Compared to Bayonetta who answers to no one and is in complete control of herself and her sexuality.

EDIT: And of course, Nathan Grayson wrote that article.

It's even funnier when you actually bother to read the article (preferably with a reading comprehension above a 10 year old's) and realize that the only thing that Grayson himself really contributed was praising the game for "represent[ing] a good number of different races, nationalities, and sexes" and agreeing with Metzen about there being "room to grow" for Blizzard's depiction of women. The rest is him reporting (that thing he's supposed to do remember? Or do you want him to make an article about his opinion now?) what Metzen and Kaplan said to him in an interview.

So to sum it up: you and that image are completely misrepresenting reality for the sake of whining about SJWs, which isn't surprising sadly enough.

The article, in case you'd like to actually read it before talking about it next time. [http://kotaku.com/blizzard-admits-to-over-sexualizing-women-trying-to-do-1656383872]

The image itself is even more stupid, the only word used in the Bayonetta 2 review that's in the image was the reviewer calling it sexist, the stuff about male gaze and misogyny seems to be entirely fabricated, and I can't seem to find anywhere that Grayson calls Bayonetta a fuck toy in the review. He also never actually calls Widowmaker acceptable, and in the article even mentions explicitly that the female characters are all super slim and some come in cat suits, so he even calls out that detail despite Metzen's assurances.

Yeah, I didn't agree with his Bayonetta 2 review at all, but he isn't being a hypocrite here, he seems to be acting consistently with the things he's written in the past, the article is almost all quotes from Metzen anyway, and Grayson's only personal words are praising the games cultural diversity, which seems true enough, and giving Metzen the benefit of the doubt despite the revealed female characters having a few of the standard sexy female character cliches running for them.

Just because Grayson found the strip pole moves and sexualization detracted from Bayonetta, does not mean that his beliefs are the simplistic caricature that they are being painted as here. It is entirely possible to find one particular portrayal to be really distracting or off-putting, whilst finding another portrayal to be not nearly so negative. Context and circumstances matter, he might very well be off-put by Widowmakers catsuit (and even calls on the tight clothing in the article), but the other characters may assuage his opinion and cause him to look at it as less of a negative, because the context of Bayonetta and Widowmaker is very different between their two games.

 

[O maestre]

I don't know why but I am getting a Timesplitters vibe from this, and that is a good thing. Speaking of which why is that franchise in oblivion?

 

[Falling_v1legacy]

How sad that gaming companies have to be forced to announce this kind of statement in the vain attempt to "appease" gamers with political and social agendas... Makes me very depressed that we allowed RL social issues to enter gaming communities and culture. Someone please make me a time machine where I can stay permanently in the 80s-early 00s gaming forums.

Are you sure that's what happened? From the sounds of things, these game developers became fathers, and their daughters are starting to play their games, and are questioning why the females are portrayed that way... and these fathers are thinking, you know what... they might be on to something.

And I think that's a perfectly reasonable reaction to have as a game developer and a father. I read Shamus Young's blog, and through him, I hear his daughter has a similar frustration with the lack of cool female characters she can play. That's a thing. But I suspect the whole issue moved from a generic, over-arching issue to something up-close and personal. And that got some minds shifting, and some gears turning in Blizzard. It might take awhile for a full shift, but I think it's a good shift for good reasons. Certainly nothing to sneer at because the PC guys got to Blizzard and now we're going to lose all our bikini babes that for some reason existed in a fantasy world with guns.

Mercy and Widowmaker also still clearly have the whole molded boob outfit thing going on.

*snip*

Its nice that Pharah is there, she seems alright but eh her suit/design is so gender neutral and kinda boring

Well clearly there's no winning with you.

Their would be if this supposed super talented billion dollar company could hire some artists who knew what the definition of interesting character design was. The male designs aren't exactly amazing either but compared to the females at least have decent variety.

No. At one point you hate form fitting clothing and another you claim to dislike the fact that Pharah's armor is gender neutral. You are DIRECTLY contradicting yourself. The point of form fitting armor for visuals in a game like this is to show that the character is CLEARLY female. So fine... you've got options with Pharah... but apparently you don't like her because you can't tell she's a female from her armor. Like... I don't know where to go with you man.

No I'm not I said Pharah's design was uninteresting because it is so neutral. Gender neutrality is an easy/lazy alternative to 100% form fitting body suits, disliking that doesn't mean I hate it means I think they could have still done better. They could have easily found a perfect middle ground and achieved a much cooler look for her if they had. You don't need to have a character be in one extreme or the other and that seems to be all blizzard is capable of; either 100% CHECK OUT THAT ASS GUYS or 100% IS THAT A GIRL OR BOY? I can't tell!

My primary complaint is the laziness of these designs and the lack of creativity. I want more of the latter and less of the former.

If you can't see how needlessly hard to please your standards are, than I don't know how to help you. Pharah is well designed. Her character was suppose to be armored and if she'd had boob plate than people would have just complained about that too. Armor by its very definition is gender neutral when worn most of the time. I mean even than she still has a cartoonish exaggerated design that makes her distinct from the wrest of the cast.

It really isn't though. Not when you think about what LazyAza is actually saying, rather than becoming difficult about it. There is a wider spectrum of clothing designs between Skin Tight and Power Armour. It's not a binary choice. A or not A, where A is skin tight and not A is... Power Armour and Power Armour alone.

Like 90? 99%? of women's clothes that you see everyday corresponds to this middle area in the spectrum, that middle spectrum that is supposedly 'needlessly hard to please.' The vast majority of women's clothing is definitely feminine, and yet definitely is not A) skin tight or B) Power Armour. It's really not that difficult.

Having said that, I have nothing against Pharah's Power Armour, although I prefer Trace's design better.

 

[DementedSheep]

I have never heard a woman describe the Marcus Fenix (sp?) body type as sexy. I'm sure they exist, but they're probably in the minority, if not a vast minority.

Indeed; a quick look at the history of People's "sexiest man alive" winners reveals no body-builders. I also see that Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt have two wins each; I wouldn't call either of them heavily muscled.

As a man, it makes me feel uncomfortable to see so many male video game characters depicted as hyper-capable. Game companies need to consider the feelings of average gamers who can't double-jump or survive thousands of assassination attempts. I want to see them make their male protagonists more relatable. Chubbier. Clumsier. So I don't have to feel bad about seeing idealized versions of people I can never be. And don't ask me to stop letting fictional representations of my gender define my self-worth, because then you're just being sexist.

[trollface]

Oh hey its this bullshit again. The problem is not them being too awesome. The problem is the "ideal women" is based around how pretty a place to put a cock they are. Most ways women get sexulized make them look more less competent. If you did the same shit to a guy (not just the clothes either, make them thin and have them poise that way aswell) they would get laughed at. They don't look strong, they don't look capable, scantly clad and doll faced is boring as hell and dragons crown level sexualization is outright repulsive to me. They end up looking like they should fuck off before they get someone worth a damn killed. So the problem is not that I will never be them, the problem is that would never want to be them.

That's actually a really good point. When you ask most women about their ideal body image, it's always hulked-up and desperately unattractive. People just prefer to ignore the evidence in favor of going with this "women would prefer to be pretty if they could" myth. I mean, if that were true, the cosmetics industry would be doing billions instead of just barely holding on. People know on an intellectual level that the average female power fantasy is "obese and strong, given to fisticuffs" instead of this "sleek, sexy, and deadly femme fatale" nonsense we're always spoonfed.

Right, because there absolutely nothing between hideous hulk and hypersexualised T & A and of course liking sexualised stuff some for the time or being pretty (which always lines up with oversexualized) means that's all that ever should exist and needs to take centre stage to the detriment of all else all the time even in a game centred around combat.

You can be attractive without heavily sexualized and something can be visually appealing without being what you'd call pretty. Guys in games don't generally go around scantly clad, striking ridicules sexy poses or with their ass hanging out like it's the main attraction. Dose this mean guys don't want to be physically attractive to women in any context? Guys aren't going to say gorilla or orc if you just go up and ask them what their ideal body type would be but since that's not the be all and end all for a man that doesn't stop that being made because it funny/interesting, a different type of fantasy than sexual.

Women fantasies about being stalked, having men have to fight over and save them because they can't do shit themselves, being in abusive relationships and even being raped. Are you gong to argue that's a good thing? Yeah, a lot of women are fucking stupid and perpetuate this shit to. I never said otherwise. What do you expect anyway? it get pushed from the get go that a women worth and success is all about her attractiveness to men not capabilities.

 

[A'tuin]

Ive got a little look at overwatch and I like it.
I really despise the way all female League of Legends characters looks the same and have "sexy" as one of their primary attributes. I also dislike TF2 being a sausage fest.
I am however totally fine with characters being sexy, as long as it doesn't get into the way of their job and doesn't comprimise them being badass. (it also helps if its not just the women being focused on in such a way especially in promotional art)
Overwatch has an interesting looking rooster of characters.

TDLR: sexy is fine in the right place and the right amount.

But now I gotta see more of actual gameplay. after all: its a game.

To be fair, there is (or was) someone on the League team who was trying. Annie, Kayle, Diana, Tristana, and several others are fairly well done, without oversexualization.

And then there's characters like Janna, Caitlyn, or Cassiopeia, who have no reason for the way they are dressed.

That being said, I still dislike the fact that so many characters are oversexualized, and that female characters who aren't the 'normal' model are few and far between.

Speaking of LoL champions who are illogically dressed, oiling your muscles and going shirtless in arctic tundra sure seems smart: http://www.leaguesplash.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Tryndamere-Classic-Ch.jpg

Here's another topless tundra dweller, Braum http://ddragon.leagueoflegends.com/cdn/img/champion/splash/Braum_0.jpg

The bicep of Muay Thai Lee Sin is larger than his head http://www.leaguesplash.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Muay-Thai-Lee-Sin.jpg

The corruption of Varus's lower body is quite careful not to cover his killer abs, or maybe he trims it between battles http://ddragon.leagueoflegends.com/cdn/img/champion/splash/Varus_0.jpg

Now I'm not saying LoL doesn't have too much fan service on female champions (Nami is a fish/woman with large boobs, Elise is a spider/woman with large boobs, Zyra is a plant/woman with large boobs and so on), but at least it is equally dumb with some of the guys.

 

[Verlander]

Oh noes, there censoring er gayms!

OT: There's a difference between de-sexualising and refusing to oversexualise, and from what I've seen this game is walking that line majestically. Men and women can be sexy, there's no crime in that, it's just making sure that's not all women are there for.

 

[OldNewNewOld]

I wish Tracer had smaller boobs. She would be the perfect tomboy with the haircut and personality.
Chance missed Blizzard, try again with Hanzo. I want him to show more skin. No seriously, I want more lewd Hanzo, don't disappoint me Blizzard.

Also only on my second time viewing the trailer did I realize that the blue robot (Pharos?) was a girl and that the Gorila was wearing glasses. That's quite a nice touch. And as far as sexualization goes, in my opinion, I would only consider the sniper to be "oversexualized" and not because of the body but because of the posture and "personality". Watching her feels like watching someone screaming "LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT MY BOOTY!". Rest is fine. Healer is sexy, but then again, it's an angel and angel are sexy. At least in fiction. But a long, white robe would be nice as an alternative skin, a more classic angel. Or an Bayonetta angel for when you're really high.

catpcha: my beating heart
Yeah, it started beating really hard when the trailer showed the close up of Hanzo.