Sexualized characters that were done right.

[Eclectic Dreck]

When a character is designed - visually, and through writing and performance - to buck industry conventions of white, heteronormative masculinist tropes, I think it's safe to say she's not sexualised in the slightest.

That's a false assumption from the outset. Sexualization does not actually relate to any particular perspective or quality of character development or design - at least not in any meaningful general case scenario. There are, after all, huge variations in what would be sexually appealing to any particular audience member or artist. Further, entirely repressing any expression of sexuality tends to play just as implausibly as overt sexualization. We are, in general at least, sexual creatures and huge portions of our lives do, as a general rule, revolve around exploring and expressing our sexuality.

Sexualization of a character can easily be an important building block of a character but like any aspect of personality or design, if that one block becomes the entire design conceit, chances are very good that your character will be seen as poorly constructed. There is, after all, something between asexual creature and roving sexual innuendo.

 

[CloudAtlas]

For many games, story and characters are very important though; at times even their main selling points. Those are the games that absolutely need good characters.

Errr...Which ones are those?

Don't get me wrong, I agree with most of your points, but this....This is kid of tough to justify. Most of the characters heralded as the best are either not very good (Rockstar protagonists, for example), or empty vessels for the player (Gordon Freeman comes to mind).

BioWare games come to mind, The Last of Us, BioShock: Infinite, or Indie Games like Gone Home. Heck, if I bought Wolfenstein: New World Order, it would be because its story is praised everywhere (including even tasteful, non-cringeworthy sex scenes apparently), not so much because of the gameplay. "Many games" might have been the wrong phrase though, but narrative-driven games do exist - games that are worth playing primarily for their story and/or characters.

 

[Silvanus]

I came into this thread expecting to find about five hundred female examples to one or two male examples. Still looking for that second male example...


It beggars belief that people still argue that sexualisation is even-handed in video games.

EDIT: Oh, there he is! On the third page there's another dude.

 

[lord.jeff]

Having a well written character in a skimpy outfit is not sexualation done right, it's putting a good character into pointless wank material, if you want a good example of a sexualized character it's Tina Belcher.

 

[gargantual]

wul3n, that's not what we're talking about... You're misunderstanding this thread,

I like to think of it as transcending this thread

Why limit "sexualisation" to only the visual. Personality is just as, if not more important to the sexualisation of a character.

and are rather besmirching Alyx's legacy.

Only if you consider sexualisation to be inherently bad.

All you're actually saying is that 'Alyx Vance is a cut above the rest' - and that's largely because from a design POV she's not sexualised. If anything, she's rather sexless (which is fine, given the contexts of the story).

She's not "visually" sexualised in the standard game/comic book sense, and to a lot of people that's more appealing.

But what I'm saying is that if there was a checklist for what male nerds desired most out their love interest, Alyx would tick every box with flying colours.

And to me, that is an example of sexualisation of a character done right.

You mean intimately receptive or emotionally receptive?

 

[BlindChance]

How is it that we're six posts in and Shaundi hasn't been brought up once? Oh, I know that other Shaundi got brought up, but where's Shaundi in all this?

OK, OK, I'll stop being stupid.

But for serious, Shaundi, Saints Row 2. Why? Because she's astonishingly positively portrayed in her sexuality. Despite having fucked half of Stillwater, she resists shaming. Her sexuality doesn't even really define her: Hedonism does. Whether it's drugs, sex or booze, she's down with it. The one time anyone attempts to deride her for it is when Pierce berates the Boss for waiting around "to hear from one of the thousands of guys Shaundi's fucked!" And, beautifully, wonderfully, Shaundi just shrugs it off. As if to say, "Hey, if you're not happy with your sex life, that's your problem. I am very, very happy with mine."

Just fantastic writing there. I was sad to see her writing take a serious dip in the Third (with granted, something of an improvement in IV).

 

[keniakittykat]

Ivy Valentine.
No, seriously. The character is often used as an example of everything that's wrong with the gaming industry, but when my 14 year old self first played SC2 I thought she was awesome!
A no-nonsense noblewoman who's also an alchemist, a weapon smith, and has enough talent and intelligence to back it up.
I had never seen a character like that before.

And being the chubby nerd that 14 year old me was, being able to kick ass in purple lingerie with a sharp whip really was the ultimate power fantasy for me.

 

[pspman45]

Clearly our very own Jim Sterling, god bless, constantly displaying lewd acts of depravity in an overtly sexual way while shining upon us the very light our starving souls need to justly smite his enemies. THANK GOD FOR JIM!

Jim Sterling sets an unrealistic expectation for both video games and video game journalists

 

[Aaron Sylvester]

I came into this thread expecting to find about five hundred female examples to one or two male examples. Still looking for that second male example...


It beggars belief that people still argue that sexualisation is even-handed in video games.

EDIT: Oh, there he is! On the third page there's another dude.

This forum has like 80-90% male users. There was an escapist gender poll done a while back (with 1000+ votes, pretty big thread) but admins eventually deleted it because...I dunno, they didn't like the awkward truth I guess

 

[Silvanus]

This forum has like 80-90% male users. There was an escapist gender poll done a while back (with 1000+ votes, pretty big thread) but admins eventually deleted it because...I dunno, they didn't like the awkward truth I guess

Fair enough, though there are even fewer than 1-2 male choices to every 10 female in here (as that ratio would suggest).

It's perhaps more telling how very few examples I can think of, even when I'm trying.

 

[Ninmecu]

Clearly our very own Jim Sterling, god bless, constantly displaying lewd acts of depravity in an overtly sexual way while shining upon us the very light our starving souls need to justly smite his enemies. THANK GOD FOR JIM!

Jim Sterling sets an unrealistic expectation for both video games and video game journalists

I say, I say good sir. That Sir Jim Sterling sets the Gold Standard for both from the perspective of his subtle and at times overt sexualization of the human species(Amongst the others he's played.) And is an excellent measure of the form.

If you should continue not to accept him as second only to god in this regard, we shall have to end it with pistols at dawn.

 

[mecegirl]

This forum has like 80-90% male users. There was an escapist gender poll done a while back (with 1000+ votes, pretty big thread) but admins eventually deleted it because...I dunno, they didn't like the awkward truth I guess

Fair enough, though there are even fewer than 1-2 male choices to every 10 female in here (as that ratio would suggest).

It's perhaps more telling how very few examples I can think of, even when I'm trying.

I don't think that the ratio of male to female escapists matter. There just aren't many examples of male sexulized characters. A male chracter that could be considered attractive sure, but sexulized? And that were sexulized right? (which I've been assuming we mean characters that were sexulized in ways that fit their characterization and/or the tone of the game). I guess Ringabel from Bravely Default in one of his alternate costumes could count. And I only say could because I don't believe that the costume is even available for download in the North American version of the game. But it does fit his personality and it would be Japan that made him.

Spoiler

 

[Silvanus]

I don't think that the ratio of male to female escapists matter. There just aren't many examples of male sexulized characters.

Oh, I'd agree entirely there. I think sexualisation is very uneven-handed.

 

[Schadrach]

I'd say pretty much any of the female characters from Witcher 2. They are all pretty sexual in tone and appearance, yet they are still well written characters with plenty of other traits and their own ambitions. Basically, they aren't just tits and pretty faces. They have them and show them off, sure, but they also have personalities, goals and other assets. Sexuality is a part of their characters, not their defining arcs which I think is the best way to do a female character (unless the character is a prostitute or porn star, as obvious exceptions).

They only really suffer at all in the first Witcher game by comparison because you don't have enough of their background unless you've read the books. For example, the whole "sleep with Triss near the beginning" thing is less, well, odd seeming if you've read the books (all of which are prequel to the games) at which point Triss has an actual background and history and it seems much less out of place.

If you can't guess, I'm recommending anyone remotely interested in the Witcher read the damn books. At least the Last Wish (I won't have to implore you to keep going after that, you'll do it yourself).

 

[Skoosh]

My girlfriend and I were just talking about this a couple weeks ago and decided the best examples were Dante from Devil May Cry and particular women in Final Fantasy, specifically FFX-2 girls and Lightning Returns do a great job. The key is making it a fantasy for both parties or keep the sexiness subtle (by videogame standards). Women think Dante is hot, there is no doubt about it, yet it doesn't feel awkward for guys playing him, they just have fun with the power fantasy. Similarly, the Final Fantasy women mentioned are in skimpy costumes that men can drool over while it's clearly not too overbearing to drive away female fans, as Final Fantasy is one of the few games I hear consistently mentioned by male and female gamers alike. Actually a few Final Fantasy men have also been sexualized well, might have something to do with it.

I've seen a lot of people mention characters like the Dead or Alive women and other similar characters, which I think are terrible examples. The sexiness is too distracting, to the point of making those not attracted to them feel awkward. Boobs are fine, just look at Lulu. It's a balancing act between how sexy they are and how distracting it is. Depth of character helps a lot for Lulu to keep her many cleavage shots from being too distracting for those uninterested. [Side note: being a badass is not depth of character, very tired of people saying "yeah she's sexy, but can kill people too" when defending some character.] Dante isn't all that deep, but he happens to be a male power fantasy along with having a smooth, constantly bare chest.

Now of course there are people that are exceptions to all this, i.e. women not bothered by fighting game females or men that feel weird playing as Dante, but I'm generalizing.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

They only really suffer at all in the first Witcher game by comparison because you don't have enough of their background unless you've read the books. For example, the whole "sleep with Triss near the beginning" thing is less, well, odd seeming if you've read the books (all of which are prequel to the games) at which point Triss has an actual background and history and it seems much less out of place.

If you can't guess, I'm recommending anyone remotely interested in the Witcher read the damn books. At least the Last Wish (I won't have to implore you to keep going after that, you'll do it yourself).

Indeed. The books are really damn good, though the available translations can be a little rough. I played the games first, so it was interesting seeing the original stories for some of the characters.

Also, something I've noticed: The first Witcher game gets a lot of shit for its supposed sexism, yet James Bond is a rather beloved character. They both share a similar womaniser trait, however. This is a little double standard I've observed, and one I really don't understand. Also, this isn't even to mention the actual lore reasons women might want to sleep with a Witcher - they're infertile and immune to disease. No risk of pregnancy or STD's.