PedroSteckecilo said:
I reitterate, I only used Ivy as a recent example of what is considered wrong with the depiction of women in Videogames. Don't get too off topic.
Okeydokeysmokey. You want discussion, I give you TEXT:
There are several male sexual stereotypes in gaming as well as female stereotypes. These mainly revolve around three to four big ones that all others come from:
1)The Hulk: a character meant to give female gamers some beefcake love. Typically a dumb character that is manipulated. Rarely has love intrest.
2)The Bond/Prince: Sleek, suave, and masterful. Lighter than the Hulk, he is still strong, but uses agility and skill. Typically has a love interest. Will never be with the same woman for long though.
3)The Kratos: a mishmash of both the previous types, with a domineering personality. Someone that treats women roughly, with little regard.
4)The Mario: derive it yourself, this is the third time I hit backspace by accident when not typing and lost my paragraphs. (HOPELESS FANBOY OF SOME WOMAN)
When you look at it, men in games do not have a positive portrayal when looked at from a female's perspective. We men are fine with this though: gamer girls see male characters as being little more than fan service. They can deal with games for the most part, because games are not focused towards them as much.
However, I don't think that the way females are portrayed as sexually desirable in games is as much the problem as the way they act. You see, all women in games tend to be aloof, out of reach, romantically unattainable. Even Mario, for all his efforts, all the pain he goes through, never gets even so much as a hug. This creates a extreme conflict in the minds of male gamers: they see women as desirable, yet think that real-world women will treat them like virtual women, and reject them. The exception to this seems to be Bioware games, an halfway decent example of games that have strong yet emotional female protagonists. This, accompanied by the fact that most sexually attractive women tend to have high standards, and that ALL women seem to treat men very strangely unless they are already friends(most likely due to the constant presence of violence against women in today's society), leads to male gamers wanting to avoid real females altogether, and stick with their digital counterparts. The issue therefore is not how women are DRAWN in games as much as they ACT, though as I said before, getting rid of the Zillaboobs will relieve some problems.
Some advice to the gamer girls out there: you need to follow the advice of moviebob. Be assertive, open, and friendly: you're the folks who can help change the status quo the most.
