Sexist gaming moments (that's sexist not sexiest)

[xscoot]

A whole bunch of stuff.

So, at this point, you're arguing over the definition of the word discussion? Gyaghh.

On topic, I hate female gamers that aren't really gamers. Not casuals, I don't mean that. Just the girls that throw around a couple of big name titles like CoD and Street Fighter just to get boys, even if they have no idea what they hell they are talking about. I'd hate it when guys do it, but I don't think that has ever happened yet.

 

[LackofCertainty]

A whole bunch of stuff.

So, at this point, you're arguing over the definition of the word discussion? Gyaghh.

On topic, I hate female gamers that aren't really gamers. Not casuals, I don't mean that. Just the girls that throw around a couple of big name titles like CoD and Street Fighter just to get boys, even if they have no idea what they hell they are talking about. I'd hate it when guys do it, but I don't think that has ever happened yet.

Oh god, have you ever even looked at the music industry? Most male band members of pop groups assure people that they are hardcore gamers and talk about CoD. Now, I'm sure that some of them do, but a decent chunk of that has got to be PR trying to make the band look "young" and "with it" ug.

 

[Anchupom]

It being a big thing when a woman is the lead role in any game
And then that woman being scantily clad and purrrdy

 

[LackofCertainty]

Devil's Advocate Warning:

So does that mean that Female characters in games cannot be pretty/scantily clad? Aren't most male leads similarly attractive?

What if the character in question is using her body to make men hesitate? It's not sexist to say that the majority of enemies you're going to fight in the average game are going to be male. I mean, if you look at the typical baddies (Nazis, Gang members, mafia, PMC's, Terrorists, Militaries of all kinds) they tend to be organizations where men are much more prevalent than women. And the average guy is going to hesitate a moment longer when presented with an attractive female as a target instead of a burly dude, if only out of surprise.

 

[Multi-Hobbyist]

Being female I feel that I should be outraged by every sexist thing in gaming.

...I'm not.

Okay, why do we female always end up as the sidekick? The majority of games have a female sidekick, where's the male sidekick to the female lead?
Honestly, it doesn't really bother me.

Women are NOT an item gaming wise, i.e. games where you marry, etc. Or at least, they shouldn't be.
But hey, men what do you think of us as? Other than pleasure objects?
(note my sarcasm)

In the words of Yahtzee, most men think girls are: "Dogs you can stick your knob in."

That pretty much sums up sexism as far as female gamers go.

 

[Multi-Hobbyist]

All caring will do is make me have to put effort into something other than gaming and masses of work. I haven't got the time to care about being a female gamer. If I was paid to care about being a female gamer, that'd be great, but I'm not, and getting paid takes precedent over most things.

For someone who doesn't care, you sure won't shut up about not caring. In the time it takes you to explain that you don't care (and, by golly, you've taken time to explain that you don't care), you could care. But then that might require effort and a leg to stand on. D:

Maybe it's because this thread is for discussion, did that ever cross your mind?
And it takes no more than a few seconds for me to type and post, it would take years to assert being a female gamer in the male dominated world! I don't care about being outnumbered by men, but I do care about having an opinion and not letting men think they're the superior race just because.

I'm not sure how you define discussion. I certainly don't define it as, "Oh, this is a place for me to state my opinion and cop-out of any and all counter-arguments by saying I don't care." That's the image you give off by saying it over and over and over again, right before stating your opinion. You obviously care, you're just too lazy to do anything about it because that would require work, or you're afraid to fail.

An opinion should have a leg to stand on, otherwise it's worthless. You obviously 'care' that the gaming industry is dominated by men, but you don't care enough to do something about it. So you're a whiner. Fair enough, don't pretend you're something you aren't.

Do you read what you type? "I don't care about asserting myself, but I do care about what men think." Funny thing is, you can change the way men think by asserting yourself. But you don't, because you don't 'care'. That's some half-assed opinioning, comrade.

:O

People like you are the reason nothing gets done promptly. When something actually gets done you'll just piggyback on the glory by saying, "I was there! I was a girl gamer suffering through the sexism of the 2000s!"

"I don't think men should think they're better than women at videogames."
"Why?"
"Because {SOME ARBITRARY REASON}."
"Well, they do. What are you going to do about it?"
"Oh, nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Yes, you see, I don't care enough to do anything."
"Why?"
"Because I only work for money and Cthulhu forbid I support my ideals with actual action. That'd be too much work!"
"I would like to subscribe to your newsletter."

Excuse me, when did I say I care what men think?
So far all I've said is that this gaming world is DOMINATED by men (and idiots, it seems).
Yes, I'm afraid of failure, because of a fear of failure I dropped out of school and had to get extensive therapy, do you really want to talk about that, because seriously, we can.
I LOVE WHINING, GOD IT'S GREAT. Complaining is what I'm best at, and not doing anything about it is what I'm second best at.
If you're so assertive and sure of yourself as a fellow female gamer why don't YOU try to make a difference.
But, what are you doing right now?

Ok, so you both make valid points. Maybe time to disagree to agree to disagree to agree?

 

[Mirrored Jigsaw]

The only one that really comes to mind is Ninja Gaiden for the giant tits on Rachel. That goes for Soul Calibur as well. I'm sure there are more, and just the whole of video games in general, but those are the only ones I can come up with off of the top of my head. (And yes, I read that as SEXIST, not SEXIEST.)

 

[laserwulf]

In Left Behind: Eternal Forces, male characters had more professions available, such as builder or soldier, while the females were stuck as nurses and singers. I can't help but wonder if the religious context of the game affected the sexist design choices, or if it was just a sad coincidence.

I'm rather glad that the game faded into obscurity.

 

[mysticite]

The strange thing is when you have games with strong female leads (Wet is going to be the most up-to-date reference, but I guess all you guys bought it just for the view )

Read please. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/6662-Extra-Punctuation-Wet]

I already have; what was your point? ;D

My point is that Rubi isn't strong; she's a *****. Then again, you might have known that and I got the wrong impression. I don't know.

All I was talking about was her being the female lead.

A whole bunch of stuff.

So, at this point, you're arguing over the definition of the word discussion? Gyaghh.

On topic, I hate female gamers that aren't really gamers. Not casuals, I don't mean that. Just the girls that throw around a couple of big name titles like CoD and Street Fighter just to get boys, even if they have no idea what they hell they are talking about. I'd hate it when guys do it, but I don't think that has ever happened yet.[/quote]

Gyaaagh to you too

Sorry if I got the wrong impression- but are you implying that you think I'm not a real gamer?
Idk if that was related or not~

 

[Naheal]

Okay, why do we female always end up as the sidekick? The majority of games have a female sidekick, where's the male sidekick to the female lead?
Honestly, it doesn't really bother me.

basically what id put it down to is say atleast 90% of gamers are male, the games are going to be targeted more towards men hence they'll have the buff good looking hero guy for you and a spunky, dangerous yet sensual female to accompany you, it just makes more sense marketing wise

I repeat, honestly, it doesn't bother me.
The strange thing is when you have games with strong female leads (Wet is going to be the most up-to-date reference, but I guess all you guys bought it just for the view )

What does annoy me is the whole MOST GAMERS ARE MALE.
WHY are the majority of gamers male?
The worst thing is when they make 'Girl Gamer' magazines that market stupid, badly designed games to the female population because they think we don't want to play a good FPS or RPG, we'd rather play something to do with dancing or cooking, right?
No. Just no.

Actually, there's a bit of a misconception about female gamers being rare. There's quite a bit more female gamers out there now, if you can believe most of the surveys out there. Also, I've noticed that female gamers tend to excel at certain jobs in an RPG over a male gamer I'm generalizing. There are exceptions, however this intended as a neutral observation.

Example: Female gamers tend to do better with roles that require quite a bit more multi-tasking then male gamers. To use an MMO example, female gamers tend to multi-target tank and heal better then a male gamer does, while male gamers tend to single target tank and nuke better. Both jobs are necessary, and both have a fairly high demand (higher then you'd think for damage dealers).

I need to reiterate: this is an incredibly broad generalization and is far from an absolute truth. There is overlap! (I break my own generalization rules. I'm a better multi-target tank then most, but not that great at single target.)

 

[Flos]

All caring will do is make me have to put effort into something other than gaming and masses of work. I haven't got the time to care about being a female gamer. If I was paid to care about being a female gamer, that'd be great, but I'm not, and getting paid takes precedent over most things.

For someone who doesn't care, you sure won't shut up about not caring. In the time it takes you to explain that you don't care (and, by golly, you've taken time to explain that you don't care), you could care. But then that might require effort and a leg to stand on. D:

Maybe it's because this thread is for discussion, did that ever cross your mind?
And it takes no more than a few seconds for me to type and post, it would take years to assert being a female gamer in the male dominated world! I don't care about being outnumbered by men, but I do care about having an opinion and not letting men think they're the superior race just because.

I'm not sure how you define discussion. I certainly don't define it as, "Oh, this is a place for me to state my opinion and cop-out of any and all counter-arguments by saying I don't care." That's the image you give off by saying it over and over and over again, right before stating your opinion. You obviously care, you're just too lazy to do anything about it because that would require work, or you're afraid to fail.

An opinion should have a leg to stand on, otherwise it's worthless. You obviously 'care' that the gaming industry is dominated by men, but you don't care enough to do something about it. So you're a whiner. Fair enough, don't pretend you're something you aren't.

Do you read what you type? "I don't care about asserting myself, but I do care about what men think." Funny thing is, you can change the way men think by asserting yourself. But you don't, because you don't 'care'. That's some half-assed opinioning, comrade.

:O

People like you are the reason nothing gets done promptly. When something actually gets done you'll just piggyback on the glory by saying, "I was there! I was a girl gamer suffering through the sexism of the 2000s!"

"I don't think men should think they're better than women at videogames."
"Why?"
"Because {SOME ARBITRARY REASON}."
"Well, they do. What are you going to do about it?"
"Oh, nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Yes, you see, I don't care enough to do anything."
"Why?"
"Because I only work for money and Cthulhu forbid I support my ideals with actual action. That'd be too much work!"
"I would like to subscribe to your newsletter."

Excuse me, when did I say I care what men think?
So far all I've said is that this gaming world is DOMINATED by men (and idiots, it seems).
Yes, I'm afraid of failure, because of a fear of failure I dropped out of school and had to get extensive therapy, do you really want to talk about that, because seriously, we can.
I LOVE WHINING, GOD IT'S GREAT. Complaining is what I'm best at, and not doing anything about it is what I'm second best at.
If you're so assertive and sure of yourself as a fellow female gamer why don't YOU try to make a difference.
But, what are you doing right now?

First and foremost: I don't care about your life story. You can be an Iraq veteran with no arms typing with your mind for all I care. That's not relevant to the discussion, unless your fear of failure also makes you unable to rationalize your argument. I'm not going to cop-out of this just because you were unable to man up back in the ninth grade.

"but I do care about having an opinion and not letting men think they're the superior race just because." Caring is sharing it can be fun.

I have been trying to make a difference. Going to conventions, participating in contests, joining male-dominated forms, responding to game magazines. I don't, however, sit on my ass bitching that the men folk think their superior. But, once again, that's irrelevant. I never claimed to be lean either way on the female gamer empowerment seesaw.

And right now? I'm doing research for my radio show while finishing a physics model but, once again, that's completely irrelevant to the topic at hand.

If you can't defend your point without resulting to getting off topic you probably shouldn't post it in the first place.

Perhaps you'll realize just how counter-productive that 'I'm gonna be cute and use SAR-CAS-UM' tactic is after they do that colonoscopy to recover your head.

 

[mysticite]

blahblahblahetc.
I'm not sure how you define discussion. I certainly don't define it as, "Oh, this is a place for me to state my opinion and cop-out of any and all counter-arguments by saying I don't care." That's the image you give off by saying it over and over and over again, right before stating your opinion. You obviously care, you're just too lazy to do anything about it because that would require work, or you're afraid to fail.

An opinion should have a leg to stand on, otherwise it's worthless. You obviously 'care' that the gaming industry is dominated by men, but you don't care enough to do something about it. So you're a whiner. Fair enough, don't pretend you're something you aren't.

Do you read what you type? "I don't care about asserting myself, but I do care about what men think." Funny thing is, you can change the way men think by asserting yourself. But you don't, because you don't 'care'. That's some half-assed opinioning, comrade.

:O

People like you are the reason nothing gets done promptly. When something actually gets done you'll just piggyback on the glory by saying, "I was there! I was a girl gamer suffering through the sexism of the 2000s!"
/quote]

First and foremost: I don't care about your life story. You can be an Iraq veteran with no arms typing with your mind for all I care. That's not relevant to the discussion, unless your fear of failure also makes you unable to rationalize your argument. I'm not going to cop-out of this just because you were unable to man up back in the ninth grade.

"but I do care about having an opinion and not letting men think they're the superior race just because." Caring is sharing it can be fun.

I have been trying to make a difference. Going to conventions, participating in contests, joining male-dominated forms, responding to game magazines. I don't, however, sit on my ass bitching that the men folk think their superior. But, once again, that's irrelevant. I never claimed to be lean either way on the female gamer empowerment seesaw.

And right now? I'm doing research for my radio show while finishing a physics model but, once again, that's completely irrelevant to the topic at hand.

If you can't defend your point without resulting to getting off topic you probably shouldn't post it in the first place.

Perhaps you'll realize just how counter-productive that 'I'm gonna be cute and use SAR-CAS-UM' tactic is after they do that colonoscopy to recover your head.

I got to conventions, expos, contests, but in the end it makes very little difference.
That doesn't mean I care what they think in the sense you referenced; and seriously you're the one with your head stuck up you ass.

 

[swenson]

If anything's sexist about videogames, it's the clothes most female characters wear. There's a reason I (as a female gamer) don't play Tomb Raider or X Blades. I can't bring myself to play a game where 50% of the time the focus is on her boobs or butt. I'm straight, and to have to play through a game entirely like that... would just be disturbing.

Realistic portrayals of women ftw! I have no problem with having sexy female characters or marketing videogames primarily toward men, but let's at least make the female characters reasonable, so you don't alienate any woman who ever might even consider picking up a game.

 

[Anarien]

I consider Sahz to be Lightnings sidekick in Final Fantasy XIII...

But you are right...it's pretty rare to see it the other way around.

Though Lightning has been described multiple times as being designed to be sort of masculine,a female version of Cloud, having little sex appeal, etc deliberately, to make her a hard character. It's not exactly the best comparison.

Jade and Pey'j, perhaps.

 

[ultracheeser]

Your examples pale in comparison to Cultures 2.
An RTS with elements blatantly ripped off from the Sims series, instead of units you have individual people who can do many jobs. You change their jobs, make sure everyone has food and shelter, etc.
Male units can be extractors, bakers, soldiers, fishermen, hunters, blacksmiths. Basically anything.
Women? They can marry a man and keep the house for him. They cannot do any other job.
That's it. Also, if they are married, then there are two buttons which are "Have a Boy" and "Have a Girl" which is the way in which new people are created.

Probably a good thing this passed under the radar.

You may be mistaking historical accuracy with sexism.

...yeah I was going to say that too. Society has generally looked down upon women up until recently.

 

[Matsu]

On the subject of female leads, and basically anything regarding sexism in portrayal of female characters, I do have one game that I like to shine a spotlight on:

The (original) Phantasy Star series.

Phantasy Star was an RPG for the Master System waaaay back in the day, and it had a female main character. It wasn't a big deal that she was the heroine, she wore full length pants (and a skirt!), didn't show off her chest (because she wore ARMOR), and carried a sword. Phantasy Star II had a male lead, but the cast was huge, and the female party members didn't fall into specific stereotypes designed to enhance femininity, they all wore mostly reasonable clothing (except Nei, who wore a leotard, but was also a cute monster girl whose primary stat was agility and didn't like to be weighed down). III had tons and tons of female characters, all of whom were pretty solid (and had one that would be either a girly princess OR a tough-as-nails bad ass depending on whether your plot progress killed her father), and IV had zero weak females who all wore modest clothes AND ARMOR. There wasn't this sense of the Final Fantasy "Three Females" rule, or the idea that every single one of them needed sexual tension and healing magic to be interesting to a male player. They just were, and they were great.

I know this series is old news, but one of the reasons I love it so much is because gender issues are non-existent. /obligatory PS cheering, carry on.

 

[Matsu]

This. Gamer culture is male dominated, and therefore male oriented. Gaming is male dominated from top to bottom... the game developers, marketers, animators, graphic designers, beta testers, game store employees, right down to the gamers themselves.

I believe this is due to the male species' tendency towards aggression, as most games center around some kind of violence. My girlfriend is entirely not interested in taking someone's head off with a teddy bear in Fallout 3. We are kind of caught in the middle right now, where the casual games or games that don't focus on violence seem to be targeted at kids and casual gamers in general, and as a result, a lot less effort is put into them to make them truly good experiences.

The few AAA titles that come out not built on violence (LBP is one of the few examples I can think of) are just not enough to pull in the female audience.

I don't even necessarily think it's the violence aspect that drives female gamers off, as much as it is the assumption that we're not wanted in the community. Lots of the titles that seem aimed at girls are also lumped in with games designed for casual gamers and children; Those of us who have been questing for the Triforce since grade school don't generally pay much attention to what goes on in the endcaps, but when I bring my cousin into Gamestop to find a game we can play together she's seeing a big sign that says "This is the sandbox we made for YOU to play in, you strange beskirted vagina-haver with no standards and borrowed money from your dad". Long-term gamers have the benefit of knowing that most of these games are poorly-developed software toys that won't provide a satisfying visual or storytelling experience and can move on to meatier fare, but for a newcomer to the hobby, it's like walking onto a playground and being told you have cooties and your brain can't appreciate anything that's actually fun or deep.

That's not to say that there aren't people who do enjoy things like Fashion Designer or Figure Skater, or even that all of them are tweenage female casual gamers with no taste, but it's the same gender-stereotyping that says little girls should play with pink plastic kitchen playsets indoors and little boys should be given sporting equipment outside. It's almost like game developers are so clueless as to what makes a game popular with girls that it's more efficient NOT to, and then just re-make the ones that are popular with that demographic once they've made their money back? Honestly, how long did the Harvest Moon people take to realize it might be a good idea to make one with a female protagonist if a large and vocal portion of your player base is female? Or Persona 3 and its latest re-release as P3P with an optional second storyline with a female protagonist and male social links?

 

[IronicBeet]

All they do is play to the Demographic. If there was a Female lead and a Male sidekick, it'd probably get less game sales. (Note, however, that a Female lead on her lonesome does not produce the same results.)

That's because it's seen as a selling point of the female. For me the worst example is probably the Soul Calibur series, where the females would where next to nothing, wheras the males were fully armoured monsters. I'm just saying, if you were to go into battle, having a big open area in your armour in a place your opponent is probably looking, may not be the
best of defensive choices. That and, is it just me, or were the female fighting moves (namely Ivy's) just that little bit more suggestive than the males? All that implies that whilst men are hardened battle warriors, the females are very bad hookers.

*Cough*What about Hilde stupid*Cough*