Female Game Characters Photoshopped to Average American Proportions

[chikusho]

I am dismissive of such disorders because the are DUUUUUUUMB.

They might be dumb, but they're at least not as DUUUUUUUMB as mocking people suffering from crippling, next to incurable diseases just because they aren't aesthetically pleasing.

Forcing yourself to think that you will look better by not eating or by throwing up is something I am yet to see in any other region of our planet.

First off, no one is forcing themselves to think anything. It's a compulsion that's constantly telling you that you look like a hideous monster, and that the only way you can ever feel at ease in your skin is if you keep losing weight.
Secondly, if by "region of our planet" you mean "the earth", then yeah you are right. Compulsively throwing up to lose weight is something that has only been seen on earth. Anorexia or bulimia has yet to be observed at any other place in the universe. Spot on.

 

[RJ 17]

If you ask me this kinda has the opposite effect as intended. "Don't want to look like these flabby abominations? Better get yourself an eating disorder!"

More to the point: I'd imagine celebrity worship/idolization is far more detrimental to the average female's self-image than female game character design.

Which of the following statements sounds like a more realistic statement coming from the average American girl:
"I want to look like Scarlett Johansson."
"I want to look like Tifa Lockhart."

 

[Westaway]

How the mighty have fallen. The world is having a laugh at your expense, America.

 

[Baresark]

I hate to be that guy, but I'm around women who are in really good shape all the time. The thing that doesn't make any sense is that they are showing characters who are always really physically active. The issue here is that a lot of people are not physically active, or at least not to the point that any of these characters are. Lara Croft would never be that heavy with what she does, but she probably would need a breast reduction, lets be honest here. As a matter of fact, the only real issue with most of them is all the women have larger busts. If you were to take any of those thinner women, put smaller breasts on the, they would probably look like totally normal people. With good eating and exercise, most people could look like these women, at least in so far as their actually skeletal structure would let them.

 

[Staskala]

Yeah, obviously making these characters more "realistic" means making them much fatter, rather than giving them muscle mass to more realistically match the kind of athletic endeavors they pull off. Don't you have your priorities wrong here?
Btw, why should the characters that aren't even designed in the US match the astonishing obesity of the average American anyway? The average Japanese female's BMI is 21.7, for crying out loud.

 

[Ian Beattie]

Fourth. CHILL! Jesus Christ, it's people criticizing a lack of creativity in video games.

A lack of fat people isn't a lack of creativity

Good thing I didn't say that. Only ever creating un-muscular runway models that seriously need to eat a cheeseburger on the other hand, IS a lack of creativity.

You can't do back flips if you have a gut.

you ***** about cristie but ignore that she has a dancers body and she needs to be flexible for her fighting style, just cause you can see her ribs dose not automatically mean shes unhealthy ether

 

[chikusho]

... every one of theses girls is meant to be, at least partly, aspirational. You want to be as strong as them, you want to be as fit them. They're not thin because of eating problems (I doubt any one of these characters has been said to have an eating disorder) but because they work hard and train hard.

You do realize that you just spelled out the actual problem that's being protested right? You don't see the issue with putting an unrealistic and impossible standard as a model for what you should make yourself? Especially when the characters aren't depicted as
- being prone to infection due to weak and easily compromised immune systems
- tending to have low muscle mass, hair loss, and disrupted hormone regulation
- suffering from osteoporosis, anemia, or hyperthyroidism
You know, some of the known side-effects for being dangerously underweight.

 

[Erttheking]

Fourth. CHILL! Jesus Christ, it's people criticizing a lack of creativity in video games.

A lack of fat people isn't a lack of creativity

Good thing I didn't say that. Only ever creating un-muscular runway models that seriously need to eat a cheeseburger on the other hand, IS a lack of creativity.

You can't do back flips if you have a gut.

you ***** about cristie but ignore that she has a dancers body and she needs to be flexible for her fighting style, just cause you can see her ribs dose not automatically mean shes unhealthy ether

I'm not sure why you bring up backflips. It's not really a staple of female video games characters...or really in video game characters period.

Actually I ran it by someone who has knowledge on the situation and he said, and I quote "A more realistic portrayal would add 10-15 pounds of muscle. She NEEDS to have that musculature in her upper body, particularly her abs. It's supposed to impart power to a strike. And her legs look like sticks. Fucking fail"

 

[Erttheking]

How the mighty have fallen. The world is having a laugh at your expense, America.

Uh...wot? You're gonna have to elaborate on this.

(Christ, if anyone acted this way to any other country, people would flip)

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

I'd just like to say God Bless America for imposing it's values on other cultures once again.

Some of the models, sure, but Final Fantasy, Dead or Alive, etc. are from a completely different culture, with completely different attitudes to fitness and sex appeal.

Why am I getting flashbacks of "why aren't there any black people in Witcher 3?"

But on the whole, I suppose it's kind of okay. The GTA V one made me giggle a bit though, since GTA V is supposed to be a pastiche of American culture, as did Cortana since she's a fucking hologram.

 

[Quellist]

Um, that isn't giving them realistic proportions, that's what happens when you let an idiot loose with Photoshop...making them smaller, thicker and deforming them to fit isn't giving them realistic proportions.

The message here isn't even laughable its just pathetic.

And Cortana, really? A character who doesn't even have a physical body so can look like what she bloody well pleases?

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

Weird. I thought the average American woman was actually larger than that (thanks TV). Either that or Australian women are creeping closer to the "American average".
I'll put my hand up and admit I've slept with a few women that size. Who gives a shit; nothing wrong with it. If I was a shallow narcissist I would have missed out on some good times. Just because they have a few extra pounds doesn't make them repugnant sub-humans.

Video games are fantasy, as is porn. If I based my bodily self worth on males in either area I'd be a shut in; cowering under my sheets and stewing in self-loathing.

 

[Weaver]

Maybe all my friends are just super sexy but most people I know aren't that large.

 

[CaitSeith]

Realistic proportions in Dead or Alive? Doesn't that kinda beat the game's purpose?

 

[Zacharious-khan]

This is why we can't have nice things

 

[Batou667]

Ugh. I hate how this kind of "article" is so de rigeur now; they don't even go to the effort of arguing a point, they just mock up a bunch of gender-swapped or size-morphed pop culture icons and presume the audience has had their eyes opened to some kind of poignant truth.

What I got from this article:

1) If that's a true representation of the average American woman, and I fear it might be, then they're unhealthily overweight. This should be a wake-up call for raised awareness about exercise and nutrition, not a cue for gamers to feel bad about enjoying games with athletic female protagonists.

2) These are fictional characters! They don't lead average lives or do average things; why should they *look* average? Hyper-capability and idealised body-shape is an accepted staple of many types of escapist or fantastic media, including some genres of comics, films and video games. And that applies to both genders. Where's the indignation about Superman not having an average American male physique?

3) Eating disorders are bad. So is obesity. Obesity-related disorders kill on the order of a hundred times more people annually than anorexia and bulimia do. Priorities, people.

 

[someguy1231]

Video games are not real life. They have no obligation, legal or moral, to be "realistic".

Face it, most people prefer to see idealized characters in their media. This is why the vast majority of Hollywood actors are so good-looking. Since video games are not a live action medium (and thus aren't even restricted by the appearance of real-life people), it's no surprise that most developers make their characters as good-looking as possible (unless they're supposed to be ugly). Even in games where players are given the option to make fat or ugly characters, most of them will not use it. On the rare occasion that they do intentionally create an ugly or fat character, they generally do so for comedic purposes rather than to make any kind of serious statement about body image or beauty standards or anything like that.

Obesity is not attractive, and no amount of "fat pride" imagery or plus-size modeling campaigns will change that. Even in those times and places when slightly fatter women were considered ideal (i.e. places prone to famine or food shortages), it was only because it meant she had good access to food and other resources, not because she was beautiful on her own merits.

As I said earlier, the only reason there's been such a push for more "body diversity" (a euphemism for more fat characters, particularly fat women) in recent years is because of the obesity epidemic. Deny it all you want, but ask yourself if we'd be having this discussion if America wasn't getting so damn fat.

 

[Dalek Caan]

But on the whole, I suppose it's kind of okay. The GTA V one made me giggle a bit though, since GTA V is supposed to be a pastiche of American culture, as did Cortana since she's a fucking hologram.

There is a joke in there relating to Bytes but I can't see it right now.

OT: Most of these aren't too bad and are nothing I would consider fat, though the last one is kinda weird. Aside maybe from Cortana and the Zelda one doesn't it make sense for them not to have as much fat on them since they move around a lot.

 

[bluegate]

Sons of a bitches, they dun made Rikku look fat and ugly!

Time you guys fought the stigma surrounding mental illnesses and started fighting for a healthcare system that gives these people easy access to mental help.

 

[ILikeEggs]

I'm curious how you can tell what muscle mass looks like on a fat person? Here is a picture of Holley Mangold.

She's fat. She is also a goddamn Olympic standard weightlifter. body fat and muscle mass are in no way mutually exclusive, and whilst in some athletic endeavors, slimness and high muscle mass go hand in hand, they don't in others. Fighters tend to be slim, but they also often have bigger frames and bigger waists/shoulders than in the original character designs.

I'm sorry, but you're kind of being pedantic. Yes, there are a few types of sports where having a higher bodyfat percentage is either fine, or beneficial, but honestly, how many can you name? Wrestling or weightlifting for sure, and maybe some golf, rugby and baseball players can get away with being 'fat' atheletes. On the other hand, you've got gymnastics, basketball, distance running, cycling, sprinting, swimming, tennis, volleyball, hockey, skiing, skating, rowing, surfing, soccer, mountain climbing and countless other sports where having a leaner physique is essential. I don't think it's a stretch to say that most types of 'athletic endeavors' are significantly easier with lower bodyfat percentage.

When someone is talking about their 'athletic' physique, most people(or at least most people I know) don't picture someone with 25-30% bodyfat or more, which is what pretty much every single 'average' image in this gallery is. Additionally, sure muscle mass and bodyfat aren't necessarily mutually exclusive, but by simple virtue of these images being of the "Average American woman", I don't see why they would have the muscle mass of a real athlete.