Female Game Characters Photoshopped to Average American Proportions

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Adam Jensen_v1legacy

I never asked for this
Sep 8, 2011
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Dapper Changeling said:
This is one of the most ignorant ass posts I've seen for a while. There ARE people who have problems. Do all people who are overweight have serious psychological issues that effect them like that? No. I sure as hell don't. Some people have family histories that, no matter what they do, they can't lose a fucking ounce, or, if they can, it will all come rushing back if they eat a sandwich that has a pinch to much of mayo. Some have the other problem, where they can't gain an ounce, and look anorexic as fuck even if they shove cake in their gullet all damn day. Some are just lazy, and don't want to do it. Some people just strait don't give a fuck and are happy being heavier.I know it might be hard to comprehend, but there are more numbers than two, dude. That means there are more than two possibilities.
I never claimed otherwise. I just don't believe for a second that these people care about eating disorder awareness. Why would they specifically target characters to make them look fatter? Their agenda is obvious. It's also stupid for all the reasons already mentioned in this topic.
As far as my personal stance on bulimia and anorexia, calling them "eating disorders" is just a cute euphemism that hides the truth. They're born out of emotional and intellectual weakness, aka stupidity.

Dapper Changeling said:
Also, I'd bet hard cash that you're lying right now.
You'd like that, wouldn't you?
 

Denamic

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Aug 19, 2009
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My sister is apparently more physically fit than what fictional martial artists and super heroes at peak physical condition should be to be considered 'realistic'. And she doesn't even work out.
 

008Zulu_v1legacy

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Sep 6, 2009
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I think "plumping" up is counter intuitive for most of these. Female action heroes are by their very definition, in peak physical form due to their active lifestyles. Maybe if they chose a few examples of women in games with a more sedentary lifestyles, it would be more accurate. But here you have Tifa, who runs around with Cloud beating the crap out of supernatural monsters. Or Helena, a professional martial artist who by all accounts, plays a significant amount of beach volleyball.

You have to remember that "realism" is a two way street.
 

someguy1231

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erttheking said:
Uh, they're three games in a world made up of tens of thousands of games. And two of them are stuck in the same genre. Guild Wars 2 isn't even that popular, it only sold 3.5 million copies, which hardly makes it a heavy hitter that can show the opinions of everyone in gaming. And it's probably telling the WoW is slowly losing steam, so it's hardly the king of games that it once was, because people are getting bored and moving on from it. Hell if we're going by sheer numbers we should be taking the mobile market into account. Me pointing out the flaws in your argument is not moving the goalposts. And don't talk about moving the goalposts when I started talking about characters in general and you shifted it to customizable characters only. Your evidence is flimsy at best, especially Skyrim where the only argument you really have is "there are a lot of sexy mods". At least Guild Wars and WoW had numbers (That you didn't cite) Skyrim doesn't even have that, it has circumstantial evidence at best. Yeah pretty much. As it turns out, proving a demand for something exists is infinitely easier than proving that it's superior to all other demands. Because opinions tend to vary from genre to genre and you only included the opinions of MMO players, yet for some reason you kept pulling the "most gamers" card. I don't count Skyrim because of how insubstantial your claims were there.
Your attempts to dismiss my evidence just get more and more inane and absurd. By all means, keep moving the goalposts so that you never have to admit that most gamers don't want to play as fat characters. You're just making yourself look desperate and pathetic. I'm not trying to argue that one demand is "superior" than another. I'm trying to prove most gamers don't want to play as a fat character, given the chance.

erttheking said:
Could've said the same for you. Deductive reasoning usually requires a lot more solid evidence to go on. "This website has a lot of sexy mods" and "most Skyrim players have sexy characters" aren't really connected provided every single Skyrim player uses that website and downloads the mods out of mandate. And what about female gamers?

Did I say that they didn't? I'm simply pointing out that you can't take the results from a game that's really lost a good chunk of steam over the years and apply it to ALL of gaming.

Oh? The mere existence of a mod proves nothing? Glad we came to an understanding. So the existence of sexy mods prove nothing. (Pick one or the other. Either mods prove a demand for something or they don't, you can't have it both ways)
You seem to believe that unless there's a game that every single gamer plays, and every single one of those gamers does not create a fat character, given the option, then it isn't "solid evidence". THAT is why I think you're moving the goalposts. No such game exists or ever will exist. You're setting your standards impossibly high to dismiss all evidence that most gamers do not want to play fat characters.

I wasn't talking about mods themselves. I was talking about which mods are the most popular and downloaded, something that nexusmods.com does keep track of. Have you even visited that site? If you haven't, let me give you some numbers:

The third most popular overall mod from that site (yes, overall, not just from the "sexy female characters" category) is a mod called Caliente's Beautiful Bodies Edition, and from the name, I think it's pretty obvious what it does. It currently has about 7.5 million downloads. On the other hand, the most popular fat mod I could find on the site only had about 22,000 downloads. So, there's your hard numbers once again. Let's see how you dismiss these...

erttheking said:
You know, I don't recall specifically making any arguments about character customization and more about characters in general, not sure why you keep bringing it back to that. And yes, that's what I'm trying to say, specific games have specific audiences, MMOs have their own and those audiences don't speak for all of gaming.

Still seems pretty arbitrary. I mean just because I never went out of my way to customize a black character doesn't mean I wouldn't want to play a game with a black character as a main character.

Like I said above. Just because a person doesn't go out of their way to create a character that doesn't look a certain way, doesn't mean that they would refuse to play a game with a character like that. And question, how many players actually put that much time into customization? I would think a good chunk of them would either randomize their character or go with a default. Hell, most of the time my customization is limited to getting a hairdo and eye color I like.
Now you're indulging in wishful thinking. If most players don't create fat characters, even when given the chance, it seems perfectly logical to me to conclude that most players don't want to play as a fat character. Do you really think that there are so many closeted chubby chasers among gamers just waiting to come out? If so, do you have any evidence for that?

erttheking said:
Hard numbers about WoW and Guild Wars II. Not all gamers. And you keep making claims about "most gamers" despite WoW's fanbase not even making up 10% of gamers, and not sharing the same tastes as all gamers. Because of the constant demand for them that seems to be loud enough to get forums like this one into a frenzy every time it gets brought up? Certainly seems like there's a rather significant demand for it. Question. How many games actually ALLOW you to make fat women? I've played quite a few games where you can customize. Only ever saw it in the Souls series and Dragon's Dogma. Hell, most games don't even let you make muscular women.
Again, it's the "opinion poll" analogy I made earlier. Extrapolations are made all the time about a general population, and often based on sample sizes far smaller than 10% of that population. If that is considered a valid and legitimate method to gauge public opinion, I don't see why the same principle can't apply to gamers. Of course games have different audiences, but real-world political ideals also have their own audiences, yet those polls are considered valid all the same.

erttheking said:
I said she looks like she's anorexic, not that she's got the condition. Read what I say. No, I'm not against being corrected, I'm against people being dismisses without base. So if you want to correct me, give me a reason why I'm wrong and don't just say I'm wrong.

Yeah see? Your argument there was "No" and all you had to offer was personal experience. I offered my personal experiences too, how does that make me wrong and you right? And tell me, where those people that you knew IRL supposed to be brawlers, ninjas, mountain climbers, police officers, and soldiers? You know why they look anorexic to me? Because they are way too thin for the jobs they're supposed to be doing, it makes them look unhealthy and unreal. And no, I've run Akali by a female friend in the past, and she also agreed that she looked unhealthily thin. You know, you just kinda declared that without much backing it up.
"Looks like she's anorexic" = "she's anorexic". Period. Keep twisting yourself into logical knots, though.

Whether someone is "anorexic" or not has no bearing on their occupation. A person is either anorexic, or they aren't.

I find it utterly hilarious that you're complaining those characters look "unhealthy", while also demanding more fat characters.

erttheking said:
Considering that a good chunk of these games are single player, I find it questionable that you knew that. Sounds like you're going back to MMOs again, and as I've said many times before, MMOs don't represent gamers as a whole. They represent gamers who like MMOs. Simple. When you make those assumptions, you don't speak for ALL gamers. Say "This type of character is popular among gamers" not it's popular among most gamers" because you can't prove that and it makes it look like you're projecting your views onto gaming as a whole.
The reason I use MMOs is they're more likely to have multiple playable races (and thus more likely to have one that's a bit on the chubby side), and the developers are more likely to release information about what their player base choose to create. Yes, despite your repeated attempts to dismiss any evidence I bring up, I'm specifically using MMOs because they're the most solid evidence regarding this subject.
 

Remus

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Nov 24, 2012
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Lightknight said:
Elementary - Dear Watson said:
There are 7 pages of comments above mine, and I don't have the time to read all of the,, so I imagine this point is there already... but surely the characters SHOULD all be toned if they achieve what they do? I'd like to see the average American tubby lass outrun a T-Rex like Lara, or last 3 3-minute rounds with someone in a fight to the death like Jade form MK, or trek the entire globe beating monsters with her bare fists like Tifa...
How about hanging from a ledge by your fingertips for long periods of time? I'd love to see one of these doing that in real life at Ninja Warrior... Oh wait, every female that gets to that point have an even smaller body fat ratio than Lara due to having smaller breasts.

Quick, someone photoshop her to look fat so that people don't get the wrong idea about what a "healthy body type is..." :

http://www.self.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/22KaceyCatanzaroRealityShowHistory.jpg

So unhealthy... Oh wait, she is really healthy? Oh...

How dare the girl who was in shape enough to win American Ninja Warrior be in good shape!?? What kind of an example is she setting for women everywhere? [/sarcasm]
A good one I'd hope. Seeing the guys work that course makes me want to do some crunches (so I do.) The great thing about that show is it's 2 hours of ordinary Americans - yes, despite their bods, most are quite ordinary, with ordinary lives, ordinary jobs, and ordinary goals - getting their 2 minutes to shine on national television and a possible shot at $1M. This show does the thing that older, more institutionalized sports ceased doing decades ago - it inspires people to be better. I don't want my videogame characters to be average. If they were average it wouldn't be a power fantasy as most videogames are - it'd be The Sims. Pics like the ones shown remind me of Bob Chipman's reaction to Pixels, as I would have the exact same reaction if all videogame characters suddenly started looking like "average Americans".
 

WindKnight

Quiet, Odd Sort.
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Jul 8, 2009
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http://www.boredpanda.com/athlete-body-types-comparison-howard-schatz/

These are various top athletes showing off their various bodytypes, both male and female.

Its fair to note that even those women with more slender physiques generally have curves and bodyshapes closer to the photoshopped images in the op than the originals.
 

MBE

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Jul 1, 2009
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"Laura Croft: Tomb Raider"? More like "Laura Croft: Buffet Raider"!

It's interesting that all these unrealistically athletic female characters were given obese proportions. You'd think that with all the running and jumping, etc., they do, they'd have lost their "freshman fifteen".

How about some realistic depictions of male protagonists? Instead of ruggedly handsome men with six-packs that look like (to plagiarize from Yahtzee) refrigerators with chia pets on top, they'd be homely looking guys with beer bellies. Looking at all these unrealistically handsome men make me feel insecure and hurt my self-esteem.

[Insert comment about Chris Redfield in Resident Evil 6 looks like he's smuggling cantaloupes in his biceps.]
 

Paragon Fury

The Loud Shadow
Jan 23, 2009
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Yeah, no.

Most of the altered images are just showing that the United States has a problem with fatasses, not the other way around. Just look at Helena or Riku for chrissakes. Original Helena's doctor would say she is perfectly healthy and to just keep doing what she is doing; Original Riku's doctor would just tell to maybe have some 2% or whole milk and a bit more meat so she gets a bit bigger.

The altered images? The doctor would be putting them on a major diet and exercise program, maybe even warning them of or recommending surgery to solve their weight problems because of the health risk they pose.
 

Paragon Fury

The Loud Shadow
Jan 23, 2009
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Burned Hand said:
Paragon Fury said:
Yeah, no.

Most of the altered images are just showing that the United States has a problem with fatasses, not the other way around. Just look at Helena or Riku for chrissakes. Original Helena's doctor would say she is perfectly healthy and to just keep doing what she is doing; Original Riku's doctor would just tell to maybe have some 2% or whole milk and a bit more meat so she gets a bit bigger.

The altered images? The doctor would be putting them on a major diet and exercise program, maybe even warning them of or recommending surgery to solve their weight problems because of the health risk they pose.
It's funny to see people fixated on the USA, which has plateauing obesity rates, while the rest of the world is in a mad dash to catch up. Where it hasn't passed us already that is. You do have a few nations like Sweden that aren't too busy laughing to realize they're blowing up like balloons too, and are learning from our mistakes. Most of Europe, South and Central America, and the Middle East is blowing up, and I don't mean warfare.
That's the US's fault too. Due to things like NAFTA and other trade agreements, Europe and other continents are being force-fed the US's shit food and shitty food practices too as our food companies slowly take over, buy out and force changes or force out native companies and products.
 

Elementary - Dear Watson

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Nov 9, 2010
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Burned Hand said:
It's magic either way, but I guess fat really breaks immersion for you. I don't have much of a comment beyond that, and how obviously "believability" is a highly subjective measure.
I'm in the military. I work with people that have to be fit for a living. There are still different standards of that fitness however.

Now... go to a military confidence course, look at the different people partaking, and tell me that you can't predict the ones that complete the course with good time, high levels of prowess and without breaking a sweat just by their body types... Nothing subjective about that.
 

Eterna

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Jul 24, 2015
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BiH-Kira said:
Serious question to all fit women on the site. Don't you find things like this insulting?
I'm not even in shape and I find it insulting. I'm not tiny but smaller than the photoshops they've done (UK 14 = US 10).
I worked pretty hard to get healthier and not be winded just by walking stairs, but apparently I'm already unrealistic. lol


Anyway, If they're using the American bodytype shouldn't they be using more... y'know, American characters? The only ones are Sonya Blade and the GTA girl. If you're going to make them average to your country, atleast use characters from that country. That's not to say that there aren't a lot of overweight people in other countries, but shouldn't they be using that country's average for those characters? Tifa and Rikku are assumedly Japanese - Japanese girls usually typically are smaller. Their clothing sizes run super-small compared to US sizing. and Lara? If she was average, she'd be a 16 (US 12) and curvier. Still not in shape enough to run from dinosaurs and wolves, but not what they made her look like.


Besides, instead of romanticising unhealthy lifestyles, shouldn't we be promoting excercise over minimising one's diet? But no, people would rather starve themselves than do a few push-ups.
 

McMarbles

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HavoK 09 said:
This just makes me wonder how Lara Croft or Riku could keep doing what she does with +15kg around their hips.
The same way they used to be able to do it with triple-D-cups?

The same way a noticeably obese plumber can jump several times his own height?

The same way Yangus or Torneko can mow down tons of monsters without keeling over from a heart attack?

We're talking about video games, pleading reality is disingenuous.
 

Danny Dowling

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May 9, 2014
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Yay or nays on attractiveness
Lara Croft: Nay
Zelda character: Yay (although I suspect the proportions are more artistic direction)
Helena: Nay
Jade: Nay
Sonya: Nay
Christie: Oh christ no
Cortana: Nay
Tifa: Yay
Bikini girl: Nay
Rikku: You're ruining my young teenhood.

Come to think of it: all these "recreations" are just fat. They're tubby. Sorry. Actually, no I'm not. America; you are a fat nation, don't go making everyone feel bad for that fact and don't you dare go expecting the rest of the world to get fat with you.

I like in the UK, and I don't girls that fat very often. In fact most are way similar to the game versions just far less toned/chiselled and smaller boobs. Maybe I just live in an attractive country? No, I don't. It's just America's average is overweight.

If I've offended anyone, I'm not sorry. Video games is often about fantasy. "I play games not because i dont have a life, but because i want many", and why shouldn't we have perfect women in this make believe life? I work my ass off 5 times a day in the gym, I watch what I eat, I'm not asking everyone on Earth to do so but don't you dare go insulting people that work hard to look good. Actually not sure why I feel personally insulted by this tbh.

But the point is; all these pictures highlight is the fact that American's average for weight/size is too big. Have a nice day.
 

Ignatz_Zwakh

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Sep 3, 2010
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I actually find some of the altered images more attractive. They look more like actual women to me rather than stick figures. Granted, Rikku's bigger than I go for.
 

Coruptin

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Jul 9, 2009
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Holy shit, fat acceptance is kind of stupid, but congrats on the people ITT calling the shops fat for proving a stupid point.
When fat acceptance reaches mainstream, remember, you have only yourselves to blame.
 

Danny Dowling

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May 9, 2014
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Burned Hand said:
She's also 4'11", and sounds like a toddler. There's nothing wrong with that, but like most athletes she's an outlier.


I'm 6' 2" sound pretty standard and was training a full time athlete for 15 months. i sit at around 6% body fat and have been out of full time training for over 6 months.

I am not unhealthy. And if anyone here thinks I'm some sort of exception to the fact they can take their ignorance and stick it somewhere. The only "exceptions" I can claim from Average Joe is that I naturally have a low body fat %

It what twisted fantasy is Lara Croft going to be able to pull up to hand stand if she's tubby? I can't even pull up to handstand ffs. She does gymnastics, her proportions are correct.
 

Czann

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Jan 22, 2014
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First, those are not impossible figures. Hard work and a healthy diet will achieve them. Nothing good is easy to get!

Second, they just added unhealthy fat to these characters, nothing else.

Third, God forbid physically active characters to have healthy looking bodies.
 

Xeros

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Aug 13, 2008
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They're not insulting, or condemning these characters for being fit, as obviously they would be from the lifestyles they lead. They're simply showing what they would look like as an average American.

They're not saying all Americans are fat, it's an average; the middle-ground. If the former were the case, the average would be a hell of a lot worse off.

Their call for more realistic body type diversity does not condemn healthy lifestyles, or the characters that lead them. They just feel it would add to our constant drive to better digitally replicate our reality.

Those average body types are damn sexy.
 

Lightknight

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Nov 26, 2008
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Burned Hand said:
Lightknight said:
Elementary - Dear Watson said:
There are 7 pages of comments above mine, and I don't have the time to read all of the,, so I imagine this point is there already... but surely the characters SHOULD all be toned if they achieve what they do? I'd like to see the average American tubby lass outrun a T-Rex like Lara, or last 3 3-minute rounds with someone in a fight to the death like Jade form MK, or trek the entire globe beating monsters with her bare fists like Tifa...
How about hanging from a ledge by your fingertips for long periods of time? I'd love to see one of these doing that in real life at Ninja Warrior... Oh wait, every female that gets to that point have an even smaller body fat ratio than Lara due to having smaller breasts.

Quick, someone photoshop her to look fat so that people don't get the wrong idea about what a "healthy body type is..." :

http://www.self.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/22KaceyCatanzaroRealityShowHistory.jpg

So unhealthy... Oh wait, she is really healthy? Oh...

How dare the girl who was in shape enough to win American Ninja Warrior be in good shape!?? What kind of an example is she setting for women everywhere? [/sarcasm]
She's also 4'11", and sounds like a toddler. There's nothing wrong with that, but like most athletes she's an outlier.
Outliers are samples that are so rare that they shouldn't be included in consideration of the average.

She is not an outlier. She is on the thin side of the bell curve. So are any number of professional and amateur athletes as well as so many women who just monitor what they eat and exercise regularly.

Honestly, I see her body type all the time. The gym, running down the street, at work. They're all over and by no means an outlier.

What's more, their physique is attainable. It is a lie to try and convince people that they can't be in shape. Making people happy with being obese does far greater harm and impacts far more people than the very few who fall prey to an eating condition because they cannot do things in appropriate moderation.

But if you honestly believe that thin people are outliers, then... wow.
 

Coruptin

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Jul 9, 2009
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Danny Dowling said:
Burned Hand said:
She's also 4'11", and sounds like a toddler. There's nothing wrong with that, but like most athletes she's an outlier.


I'm 6' 2" sound pretty standard and was training a full time athlete for 15 months. i sit at around 6% body fat and have been out of full time training for over 6 months.

I am not unhealthy. And if anyone here thinks I'm some sort of exception to the fact they can take their ignorance and stick it somewhere. The only "exceptions" I can claim from Average Joe is that I naturally have a low body fat %

It what twisted fantasy is Lara Croft going to be able to pull up to hand stand if she's tubby? I can't even pull up to handstand ffs. She does gymnastics, her proportions are correct.
Honestly, you don't look healthy. I'd be worried about your bones shattering if I bumped into you.