Female Game Characters Photoshopped to Average American Proportions

[Hyrist]

I just want to say that I disagree with the notion that these women are 'unrealistically' thin. I have met several women, numerous even who display similar body proportions, my cousin being one of them most of them, especially the noted cousin, are quite healthy.

Nor can I agree that being thin automatically depicts being unhealthy on the same level that being stocky constitutes being fat.

I feel that for me, the depiction of 'average American female' actually does more to highlight out obesity problem in the United States than to promote acceptance - because these modified women don't look fit and healthy to me, and I don't agree that we should simply accept being unhealthy as a norm.

And that goes more than just body image. I'm of the opinion that if you're healthy, (and your doctor confirms you are healthy) than it does not matter what you look like. And we should have the medical support in our nation to help people be more healthy. Other than that. Be confident with your body image and identity, however you may choose it. But don't take the current wave of growing in acceptance of equality of sex, acceptance of gender identity and sexuality, as an excuse to promote acceptance of an unhealthy lifestyle as a norm. We've got a major problem in the United States with simply accepting the hand we're given and doing little to change it. Instead of trying to force acceptance of these problems, we really should be promoting healthy lifestyles and proper recognition of healthy individuals. These pictures? I doubt a doctor would approve of them.

Video Game characters aren't meant to depict 'the average' they're meant to depict a fantasy. And even then, those body proportions? They're met by people in real life that do incredible cosplays of these characters. We can argue if those cosplayers are healthy or not, but this cry that these body proportions are completely unrealistic is patently false.

This feels more like an attempt to garner shock value for attention than an actual clear message - and I don't feel engaged appropriately to be having this conversation on the right foot. Once again a good message was given poor delivery. I really wish we would have a more proper approach to these things.

 

[Azure23]

It's really more of a social point, that point being "eating disorders can be lethal, don't develop one by pursuing a body image in an unhealthy manner." I mean who can't get behind that? And no one is taking shots at gamers with this, that's just our collective reflexive paranoia talking. Seriously the worst thing in this article is a mild request that game devs include more body diversity. Which, you know, you're free to feel like that's a bad thing if you want. Mostly it just talks about how dangerous eating disorders are and provides a bunch of information on identifying them and finding help. Because this IS Bulimia.com doing this, not some moralizing conservative mouthpiece or killjoy feminist. Although, considering they've dedicated themselves to helping people with eating disorders, a problem which disproportionately affects young women, they probably are feminists.

As for "flipping the fuck out," you can check the comment section of any gaming lifestyle site hosting this article, you can check the previous sixteen pages in this thread, twitter is pretty ugly right now too, but it's kinda always that way.

In fairness to the original article the intent may not have been to denigrate gaming or to imply the fatter versions were "improved" designs - although those are kind of the implications that unfortunately are associated. Certainly those are the take-away messages the media took when republishing the images: fat power! Big is beautiful! Those silly boys masturbating over their digital Barbie dolls, amirite?

People are free to take pop culture characters and subvert them in whatever way they like - there's a lot of Rule 34 and incredibly niche fetish fanart out there that attests to this being something of a time-honoured tradition. To each their own live and let live. Some goofy f*cks playing around on Photoshop affects me not an iota. But it's the implied justifications that act like nails on a chalkboard to me.

First: the idea that being unhealthily big is an acceptable alternative to being unhealthily thin. I don't have the figures to hand, but obesity-related illnesses kill FAR more people than anorexia and illnesses related to critically low BMIs. I remember reading a somewhat old source from relatively-slim Canada, and the ratio of deaths attributed to fat vs thin physiques was on the order of 100:1. I consider it crazy that obesity is being normalised and even glamourised, on the poor logic that, well, being anorexic is bad, so the opposite must be good. That's like saying that stress is bad for your wellbeing, so why not take up smoking to help unwind?

Second: if this is a call for body diversity, it's a very poor one, because the new characters are uniformly fat. A diverse ensemble of women would surely include a mix of thin, average, and fat women? Instead, the thin and athletic women are being erased. Another poster called this "fatwashing" and I tend to agree. Calling this "diversity" is simply disingenuous.

Third, perhaps us gamers are a bit of an oversensitive bunch, but with the track record of how our hobby is portrayed in the media, isn't that justified? Just about every social ill has been pinned on video games at this point. Epilepsy, hyperactivity, violence, criminality, sexism, obesity AND now body dysmorphia. Some of us are sick of our hobby being used as a political punch-bag by the lazy, the hysterical, the self-serving and the intellectually dishonest.

And lastly, what is the relevance of body-morphing the attractive and athletic female characters of games that cater primarily to a male demographic, when the justification is that the media consumed by girls and women affects their body image? Shouldn't bulimia.com be going after celebrities, beauty magazines, the actors in soaps and chick-flicks, in short the types of media that overwhelmingly cater to women?

If I slip into snark occasionally please don't hold it against me, sixteen pages of people missing the point so badly it should be criminal has gotten me a bit annoyed.

I don't really care what the mainstream media uses these images for, they were created with a specific intent and use in mind and then some other people started editorializing, so what?

To address your points, I don't see this article or these images as promoting an unhealthy lifestyle. It is perfectly possible (and common) to have a heavier body type and be healthy, and frankly I don't think any of these women would be considered obese, hell I thought Tifa even looked better, less doll like. It's certainly more risky to pursue a body image so fanatically that you develop health problems than to just be happy being healthy and a bit heavier. People keep saying that obesity is being normalized, but none of these women are obese. And they didn't just add fat to them all, certainly some are better done than others, but Riku, for example, they actually gave an apple body type. They changed Jade too, she's thicker, but she doesn't have a protruding belly or anything, she's still fit, she still has muscled arms and legs.

I disagree that the characters are uniformly fat, I believe that they put some effort into changing the bodies in more significant ways than just adding fat, but whatever, opinions. And no, athletic women are not being "erased" as you so dramatically put it. They still exist, those characters still exist in their "real forms" and characters just like them will continue to be made en masse. Are Disney princess being erased In favor of steampunk versions of themselves? No, of course not, two interpretations can exist at once. And arguing about the semantics of diversity hardly seems constructive but okay; before the photoshops we had a group of photos of busty, thin waisted women. After the photoshops we had a group of photos of busty, thin waisted women plus some women with heavier frames and apple body types and at least one pear. So strictly speaking more diversity is present. But like I said, the article is mainly about Bulimia and anorexia in young people who game.

Gamers ARE over sensitive. Make no mistake, there's no "perhaps" about it. We see the slightest and most harmless things as personal attacks and spend hours arguing over the significance of it and making bold, declarative statements into an echo chamber of our peers. Look, I get it that blowhards like to shit on games to get cheap political points with idiots, but that doesn't mean that the largest entertainment industry in the world is somehow victimized. And honestly? Some games are just an epilepsy risk, just like any other visual media with flashing lights.

As for your last point, look, can we stop pretending that every single social action needs to reach some sort of "critical mass" or else it's entirely worthless? A lot of people play videogames these days, some of those are people are going to have body image issues, hopefully a percentage of those people will read the article and feel a bit better about themselves, or learn how to get help they might need. They wrote an article, it doesn't need to change the face of Bulima advocacy to be worth something. Those characters are taken from a variety of different genres and time periods, so I'm sure a variety of gamers value them, not just men. And as a matter of fact, Bulimia.com has written about all those things (celebrities, soap actresses, A LOT on the fashion industry) in the past, this is not the first article they've written. Videogames are media too, they should be subject to the same criticism and scrutiny, I could do without the traditional witch hunt but if films and rock music had to put up with it videogames will probably be fine.

 

[Redryhno]

snip

I'm just gonna keep saying what I've been saying. If this was about promoting body diversity in games, they'd have added muscle to most of these girls,not fat, and brought out Ellie from BL(even if I think she's a poor excuse considering it's mentioned she's got a shit heart because she can't be bothered to slim down and still thinks everyone MUST desire her, though that could just be a family thing with the "ME-ME-ME" mentality), Helga from Loadout(I think that's her name...), half the girls from DOTA, the Dungeon Mother in Dwelvers, Half the women of Xcom, Mount&Blade. These are games that give a wide variety of body types and varying degrees of "beauty" already. There was no need to shop these for any other reason than "OMG MAINSTREAM FROM FOUR YEARS PLUS AGO". And even then, the shops are shoddy and portray the extreme of what they're going against, not a variety.

Some people have body image issues, that doesn't mean these need to be changed, it means they need to be told about other games that have what they so desperately need if it is THIS bad. That was literally just me randomly clicking around on my Steam list, there's alot more out there.

If this was about bulimia and telling people they don't need to have an "unobtainable" body(because the excuses range from "I'm stuck in a wheelchair and am quadpol" to "My genes are allergic to exercise" some are understandable, most are bullshit) Then they should've been shopping real people. Models and other celebrities that people are hit with all day long that have "perfect" bodies. Shop them to have more, maybe even uglify them up a bit to drive the point home a bit and make them more relatable.

This? This is just lazy and amounts to a kid that just found out about the blur and copy/relocate tool in addition to layers being useful in Photoshop.

 

[ILikeEggs]

People keep saying that obesity is being normalized, but none of these women are obese. And they didn't just add fat to them all, certainly some are better done than others, but Riku, for example, they actually gave an apple body type. They changed Jade too, she's thicker, but she doesn't have a protruding belly or anything, she's still fit, she still has muscled arms and legs.

Uh no, as myself and someone else demonstrated earlier, they did not simply give Rikku an "apple" body type, whatever the hell you think that's supposed to mean. All they did was completely screw up her proportions and make her look like a person of small stature. Not really sure how that fits into a bulimia campaign. As for Jade, you should probably take a more analytical, informed look, as I see no way of discerning whether or not there is muscle underneath her thick legs and torso. There could be, but there's no indication of it. Hell, if you look at her forearms, they're as "muscular" as in the original, which is not very muscular at all. Oh, and I speak as a traditionally trained artist, well-versed in anatomy, not just a digital/concept/character artist.

And arguing about the semantics of diversity hardly seems constructive but okay; before the photoshops we had a group of photos of busty, thin waisted women. After the photoshops we had a group of photos of busty, thin waisted women plus some women with heavier frames and apple body types and at least one pear. So strictly speaking more diversity is present. But like I said, the article is mainly about Bulimia and anorexia in young people who game.

I'm sorry, but all your classifications of "body types" as various fruits is ridiculous, misleading, and hilariously oversimplified to me. Also offensive.
I have a problem when someone says "So-and-so has an apple body type", because it often simultaneously implies a number of things.
1) Said person has X bone structure, Y bodyfat percentage, and Z muscle mass(This is potentially the least offensive implication)
2) None of the above can be changed very much(In reality, two out of the above three can usually be changed significantly)
3) If one of the above can be changed significantly, the end-result will still be an "apple body type".

The problem is that the vague, sometimes arbitrary classification of body types as apple/pear/whatever is that the person making the classification probably has no understanding of body composition in the first place.
To illustrate, what is the most common definition of an apple body type? A woman with broader than average shoulders and/or narrower than average hips, slimmer than average thighs, butt and legs, and greater fat distribution in the chest and abdomen. Sounds like a pretty decent definition, doesn't it? Wrong.
What would happen if an "apple body type" woman were to cut down on her carbs, increase protein and start strength training with something of a focus on squats and lower body exercise? Well, 6-12 months down the line, you'd probably see a woman with slightly wider than average shoulders, an average waist, wide hips, large thighs and butt. In other words, a woman who probably looks more like a "pear" by your standards now. Hell, if the woman were to focus more on lower body and core, you'd probably end up with more of a "rectangle" body shape.

Ugh, now I feel dirty having used names of fruits to characterise body types.

 

[R Man]

I'm going to have to say no. While I do appreciate that anorexia and bulimia are serious problems, I'm not sure this is the best way to go about it. After all, the new figures don't exactly look normal, they look weirdly proportioned. I think the problems comes from a series of misunderstandings which I will explain as follows:
1) No accounting for body type. Not all body types have fat/muscle in the same place. In these pictures it looks like the artist has just added a thick layer all over which looks weird, not normal.
2) It makes no account of the life-history or profession of the individual involved. Some of the characters are Japanese, and should be measured against Japanese health standards, not American. Others are certain ages or in certain professions. Comparisons with their peers would give more accurate results than simply placing them in an overgeneralised spectrum.
3) We don't actually know what the height, weight, or overall mass density of any of these characters actually is. So how is anyone supposed to add 'weight' to them in order get them into the 'right' place? It just strikes me as obvious that you need a starting point/comparison before anything like this can be attempted.

And on a last note; while body image problems are serious, I doubt games are a contributor. Body image problems come from the relentless photo-shopped photo's we are fed through advertising, which are all pervasive. Games are not really like that. Characters are active, and they exist in an active context. They do things, which alters the way were perceive them and understand them in relation to ourselves. They are different. And we can easily shut them off. They don't follow us around when we don't want them to.

 

[AgedGrunt]

I'm still enjoying how many people care about attractiveness and diversity when it comes to their feelings on realism yet apparently are ready to suspend their disbelief to watch fat characters do martial arts and volleyball equally as fit characters.

 

[FalloutJack]

Sorry about the double post. How do you delete posts?

I'm afraid you don't. Maybe mods do, if you ask 'em, but really...you didn't mean to, so I doubt you'll be smacked for it.

Regarding your comments on organic food, since it caught my eye. I can't really say one way or the other per se about effects on health, but there is something to say about environmental impact. That is, the more natural it is, the less the surroundings would be harmed by it.

 

[Batou667]

Meanwhile, elsewhere on the Information Superhighway...

This is the trending photoshop depiction of realistic Disney princes:

Spoiler

If there has been any backlash about how bad these images are for male self-esteem, it's been relatively muted. Has anyone else noticed that when describing women, "real" tends to be a euphemism for "flawed"?

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

Meanwhile, elsewhere on the Information Superhighway...

This is the trending photoshop depiction of realistic Disney princes:

Spoiler

If there has been any backlash about how bad these images are for male self-esteem, it's been relatively muted. Has anyone else noticed that when describing women, "real" tends to be a euphemism for "flawed"?

Well real is flawed. I mean in general people are flawed. It kind of defines us and makes us ,um, human. You know errare humanum est and all that jazz. Besides, flaws are where the fun is.

 

[someguy1231]

I'm still enjoying how many people care about attractiveness and diversity when it comes to their feelings on realism yet apparently are ready to suspend their disbelief to watch fat characters do martial arts and volleyball equally as fit characters.

Yeah, it reminds me of when I see female gamers criticizing sexy and revealing armor as "unrealistic", but have no problem with a 3-foot 60-pound gnome woman being as physically strong as an 8-foot 500-pound bull man. (That's a female gnome and male Tauren in WoW, for those who don't get it).

Everyone has certain aspects of reality they'd prefer to be set aside in the games they play. When I see anyone use the word "unrealistic" as a form of criticism, they immediately lose all credibility for me.