Girls in Gaming

[gellert1984]

I inevitably prefer women with at least a realistic personality in a game. Its one of the resons I love bioware games, fine the characters tend to be idealized but at least they have a personality.

Incidentally anyone who has problems with with lowlifes on MMORPGs should send them to EvE to look for the Hellcats, a women only corp of incredibly skilled pirates.

 

[SoulChaserJ]

The thing is, even when the character isn't an exaggeration of sexuality, they are still always depicted as attractive, even characters like Alyx Vance (one of my favorite characters of all time). However, this may be unrelated to sexuality, and more to do with aesthetics (people, regardless of gender, like looking at attractive people).

But on the other hand, what about the opposite? The male characters are almost always "manly" men, with rugged good looks and gigantic muscles. (In Gears of War, ALL the male characters, even the old general, have huge and impossibly large muscles.)

At least I don't have to be the voice of reason here. You beat me to it. Games that objectify anyone(not just women) aren't for everyone...Hell do I get mad every time a black person is a villain in a game/movie? Does the gay community get into an uproar every time a game like GTA features an overly gay character? In other words some people are too friggin sensitive. I guess we shouldn't make any more alien shooters because the aliens might get offended..??

As for female gamers...They are considered a minority regardless of how true that is. And to the claims that they can't play a game in peace without being harassed...take this into consideration; There are a large(very large) number of gamers who are either children or man-childs who have yet to date or even have known a woman's touch(yeah I put that gently). These little bunch of retards spoil it for those of us who really don't care that you're on the same team unless you're a liability in the game. Gee I guess I've offended retarded people at this point and should feel some way about that...Well I don't.

If everyone played/purchased/saw with a bit more maturity then it wouldn't matter if you were male, female, black, asian, hispanic, spoke with an accent/language other than english, etc.. But the cold hard fact is that's not the case. I'd love to see the day where it did because I wouldn't have to hear sub 18 year olds spouting the "N" word every time I jump into a game

Ladies...game on.. Fellas...grow up.

 

[BluenetteDiviner]

to be perfectly honest, i don't really mind the skimpily dressed women in gaming. It gives me something else to look at ;P. But I wouldn't object to some properly dressed female game characters either.

And I do get a little stick for being a female gamer, everybody seems to think that a female gamer is some fat chick who never leaves the house and couldn't attract a flea from a dog, or as you said, just play really not very exciting games like cooking mama. :/ I, for example, mostly play horror survival games such as Resident Evil and Silent Hill, and would go nowhere near Cooking Mama. Though I must admit that most of my friends can't play Silent Hill without screaching the building down everytime a nurse or other creature pops up. >.<

 

[BlueInkAlchemist]

The parts above are the parts I've seen in every single one of these posts ever since I joined the Escapist. These topics come out once a month or, if the flavour of the week is feminism, a lot more.

The parts in bold are the parts I find patronising to women in general. Women do not need a 'call to arms' and, if I was a woman, I think having someone step in an tell me, basically, 'don't let men bully you', I'd be a little bit insulted.

But hey, I'm a middle-class white-guy, so what do I know?

I won't pretend I'm the first person to say these things, and I'm pretty sure they've been said better by others. But I just get pissed off and feel I need to speak up on behalf of people who have a functioning frontal lobe when I see something like this:

 

[Harmondale2]

Are male characters in games not rediculiously handsome and hollywood beautiful too creating an unrealistic standard of beauty for us to aspire too???? How come you never see threads about people in video games being unrealisticlly beautiful, yadda yadda?

 

[Alakaizer]

I myself started a thread much like this one. Here's the link:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.187052-VG-women-you-actually-respect#5706902

I didn't go as in depth, but kudos for doing so.

Unfortunately, gaming trends are dictated by the masses, and the masses love their jiggle physics. Also note that the sexualization and overemphasis of both genders didn't really begin until games went 3D. The focus on "realism" in gaming has brought to the forefront the supposed fantasy of the everyman: to be a tough, grizzled, manly man with a Jessica Rabbit clone on your arm.

Opposite end of the spectrum in modern day gaming wouild probably be the Ratchet & Clank series. Beautiful and imaginative worlds, characters, and weapons with the right level of comedy. The love interests in those games are mostly directed toward the hero, not the person controlling him, and the hero himself is a short, fuzzy guy with a big wrench(yes I know he's a Lombax).

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that if we didn't focus on "realistic" games, or even games starring humans, there'd be less of a need to go with the buxom babes and badass Marines.

 

[happy_turtle]

RE: the call of duty box art above, I just showed that to my female housemate, who is also a gamer. She damn near wet herself laughing. Personally I don't see any harm in the sexes poking fun at each other.

 

[BlueInkAlchemist]

to be perfectly honest, i don't really mind the skimpily dressed women in gaming. It gives me something else to look at ;P. But I wouldn't object to some properly dressed female game characters either.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying girls in games can't be sexy. I just think that, for my money, I should get some depth to a character regardless of what he or she is wearing. If I just wanted to ogle rendered glistening girl-parts I have Google Image Search with the filters turned off.

And I do get a little stick for being a female gamer, everybody seems to think that a female gamer is some fat chick who never leaves the house and couldn't attract a flea from a dog, or as you said, just play really not very exciting games like cooking mama. :/

That's just the sort of stereotype I'd love to dispel. I know I have about as much chance of doing that as becoming King of Londinium and wearing a shiny hat, but I'll do what I can anyway, dammit.

 

[BlueInkAlchemist]

RE: the call of duty box art above, I just showed that to my female housemate, who is also a gamer. She damn near wet herself laughing. Personally I don't see any harm in the sexes poking fun at each other.

Poking fun is one thing, telling women where their place should be with a completely straight face is quite another, and I've seen it used for that.

Maybe I'm just a crotchety old man before my time.

 

[Maquette]

I hate it when this happens. Drives me nuts. The answer is always no. Always. Yet they keep asking, like if they're persistent it's going to change, when it reality all it gets them is a report.

God, I can identify. The problem is when you're being sexually harassed and do go on to report it rarely is anything actually done about it. If you politely ask them to leave you alone they'll spew forth a torrent of abuse.

When I play MMORPGs these days I play as a male character and am generally left alone. I never use my microphone on XBox LIVE either, but every now and then I'll get a message asking me to cyber/send pictures because they've looked at my profile and seen that my name is Lucy.

 

[Booze Zombie]

There are just some games where the main characters are obviously meant to be sex symbols and this can happen with male and female characters, though the more popular idea is that "only pervert-men want sexy characters" (whilst all of the "bad-boy" panty-moistening Snake Plisken characters stroll on by like everyone's blind).

I think we good writing, you won't notice sexuality, just like you don't focus so much on a woman's body if she's an amazingly intresting person and not an airhead.
I'm not picking on women when I say that, I've met airhead males, too.
A lot of them, actually...

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

snip

Was there even any doubt what so ever that DoA:VB was for anything but seeing bouncy virtual tits. Seriously though did anyone actually take this game seriously at all or any of its incarnations?

OT: How has anyone seen Lara Croft as serious. She is a complete and utter greedy harlot that is only interested in money. Although this was made a lot more evident in movies than games in my opinion. How could people not see is there like that solely for eye candy. The size of those things. I don't see why you can't use them as a melee weapon.

As a side note I don't think all girls play casual games like Cooking Mama and etc. Any real gamer knows they all play MMORPGs(joke). Most female gamers I have met and I know they are because I have heard them on TS or they have a damn feminine voice were from MMOs.

One thing that does annoy me about any gamer is one that feels the need to broadcast their race/sex/religion/beliefs/etc. Why would you do this? If we are all supposed to be equal and all that jazz why does it matter what the above are and why do you feel the need to broadcast it everyone. I feel these people are as much to blame as the people doing the harassing.

 

[JEBWrench]

One thing that does annoy me about any gamer is one that feels the need to broadcast their race/sex/religion/beliefs/etc. Why would you do this? If we are all supposed to be equal and all that jazz why does it matter what the above are and why do you feel the need to broadcast it everyone. I feel these people are as much to blame as the people doing the harassing.

In my times of gaming online, I've actually had people argue over whether or not I was male or female, because I specifically never broadcast a thing about my gender.

Bloody hilarious it was.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

One thing that does annoy me about any gamer is one that feels the need to broadcast their race/sex/religion/beliefs/etc. Why would you do this? If we are all supposed to be equal and all that jazz why does it matter what the above are and why do you feel the need to broadcast it everyone. I feel these people are as much to blame as the people doing the harassing.

In my times of gaming online, I've actually had people argue over whether or not I was male or female, because I specifically never broadcast a thing about my gender.

Bloody hilarious it was.

Seriously that is actually quite funny. What I like to do though is in MMOs I get a female character and walk around without any armor and count how many stop and stare. It actually varies to a very small amount to a very higg amount it depends on whether or not school is on.

 

[Katana314]

The problem isn't NECESSARILY that girls are unrealistically depicted as skimpy and shallow. Because if you think about it; all the GUYS are being depicted strong, take-no-bullshit, and again, shallow. The overall problem is no characters being written that well, and just absorbing whatever characteristics would make them look awesome.

I think the one main thing that would convince game makers to think otherwise is the fact that they're really not as interesting as we believe. It's like those first screenshots of any game with modern graphics; it LOOKS amazing, and seems to defeat Crysis. Then you see it in motion and play it and it's still the same as screenshots, but something is really off.

I see most of these 'boobalicious' characters pretty much being the same. DOA Volleyball is a perfect example, because I'm honestly not sure if many people were aroused by it; the girls in it are just so difficult to believe because they're on the wrong side of the Uncanny Valley. And the jiggle physics weren't titillating, they were...wrong. Like that particular organ was desperately trying to escape from the rest of the body.

 

[Totenkopf]

A fact that just came to mind again: women are able to endure more physical pain than men. So I think a tough female soldier could be a believeable character while being a character whom you can identify with and all that without being misogynic. Does anyone else like the idea?

I also support women to get into the armed forces of the Bundeswehr.

 

[Scribjerky]

The parts in bold are the parts I find patronising to women in general. Women do not need a 'call to arms' and, if I was a woman, I think having someone step in an tell me, basically, 'don't let men bully you', I'd be a little bit insulted.

But hey, I'm a middle-class white-guy, so what do I know?

Mostly, it's refreshing to see threads like this crop up, especially if it's been a while. Do we need a call to arms? No, you're right. We don't. It is nice when someone acknowledges a problem though. It's one of those 'the thought that counts' things, despite that pretty much anyway you word it would come out a little patronizing (and it would work that way with just about any other 'buck up kid' thread you could find too).

And your post was pretty informed, so don't sell yourself short either, dude.