Sexy Gaming: A Do's and Do Nots Discussion

[tenlong]

For starters I figured I'd cut RIGHT to the chase...

That's not sexy...

it is to me...

that is hot as hell,but not realistic. i think its funny. In most anime,comics,games etc the males usually project the female ideal look as a women like ivy. On the other hand the females usually project the female as so skinny that they have put rocks in their pockets to keep from blowing away.[at least from what i seen.]

 

[Timmareus]

Personnally, I would be hypocrite if I said I am offended by oversexed characters (Dead or Alive 4 is my favorite fighting game, and I always pick the most sexy outfits when I play females). However, I think the problem is not that it is wrong, as much as it is too omnipresent. As a whole, video games are hurting themselves by NOT having games with ugly or normal people.

Does it fit a serious and realist game to have only super models and beefed up machos populating its universe? Of course not. Also, while I agree that sexy is enjoyable, not sexy would be in itself a good enough novelty for me to buy the game.

As a narrative tool, the medium would gain much credibility if it wasn't targetting at drooling adolescent. A good way to do so is to NOT consider them as the main audience, and concentrating on everybody else. However, this is what publishers would call a huge risk, unaware that thousands upon thousands of gamers are *gasp* intelligent beings!

And on a closing notes, for all female readers: I am pretty sure that you can be more sexy, more real, more desirable than any video game characters. I adore you all! Don't let these stupid male fantasies affect your self esteem.

Yes, tens and thousands may be, and yet millions are not. Making a game these days is not cheap. You have to pay dozens of designers, programmers, musicians, writers and whatnot for months, if not years. How many potential buyers do you think won't buy a product for being oversexed? Compare that to the number that will buy it BECAUSE it is oversexed. There are games that aren't made for horny kids, but those are mostly established brands with a fanbase that would take the game anyway. If you want to make money, you have to appeal to as many customers as possible. That's not good for the customers who don't like the policy appealing to the broadest mass, but it is how Capitalism works. If you want to stay in the business, you have to sell stuff. We may not like what the developers do, but if they wouldn't, they couldn't produce these games at all. So, you may not like it, but you have to see why the companies are doing so anyway. Having your ethics and standards is all good, but it won't write the paychecks for your employees.

 

[DYin01]

For starters I figured I'd cut RIGHT to the chase...

That's not sexy...

Yes it is.

 

[ExodusinFlames]

Alot of this sort of stuff was covered already in the feminist gamer's conundrum thread that got everyone banned and exploded.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.109628?page=1

 

[veloper]

I'd say to developers include as many scantily clad dolls in the game as you like, just aslong as you have good gameplay.

 

[Arrers]

It's perfectly possible to have attractive, sexy female characters without resorting to this.

This... this is not sexy; she's trying too hard. This sort of thing really irritates me in fighting games anyway, because who the hell would dress like that for a normal situation, let alone combat? It makes no sense!

This. Ivy's creepy-looking. at least Faith looks human.
I'm more a fan of cartoony, exagrated graphics than than the games that get over sexed characters in games. In fact, I makes me feel oddly ashamed to buy games with characters like that. One thing I'd like to bring to the table is my sister's reactions to game characters. She often says about how ugly Marcus Fenix is, and semi-jokingly fawns over Link (his Twighlight Princess incarnation). She is right about Fenix though, he's clearly some kind of steroid addict.

 

[Littaly]

The first paragraph, I agree with completely. It brings up the interesting point that for certain types of games this behavior is somewhat kosher.

But Mass Effect? That game does not have perfect female characters. At least, I don't think so. While their bodies are attractive, they have personality flaws: Ashley has anger issues, for instance.

Hmmm... Perhaps some perspective would be nice to give? I think that this [http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/wet/video/6178630/wet-official-trailer-1] looks like the heroine could be interesting, yet sexy, though I fear that she'll have all the personality of a Lara Croft rip-off...

Okay, I must admit. I have never played Mass Effect (though I'd very much like to), only seen screenshots and trailers. So yeah, I really don't have much say there.

But I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the personalities , there are plenty of flawed characters in games, both male and female. It's mostly the fact that a flawed or colorful personality is not accompanied by similar looks. Why can't games with well developed characters and a good story afford some females that at first glance look rather bland or average. But I guess most media is like that, average is just not good enough..

Once again, this is not a HUGE dilemma, normally this would be nitpicking, but since we're already on the topic ^^

 

[MiracleOfSound]

[/quote]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Don't be so serious guys, come on we all like boobs.

If you want a series game with no sexual content there's plenty to pick from.

Personally I find the gigantic rubber blimp tits in Soul Calibur hilarious but not in any way sexy.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFywW99Uvwc&feature=channel_page I thank whoever originally linked these series of videos on the Escapist because they're always excellent.

That video is probably one of the best examinations of the subject other than Movie Bob... though this one comes across a lot better, he makes some very good points about Sex in Gaming and how stupid it works out more often than not.

Though I always forget how the Japanese are the ones who tend to be absoultely breast obsessed (apparently it has something to do with the LACK of boobs in Japan for the most part).

Though the Japanese do one thing, and then we end up with a NA developer doing something truly tasteless like the female lead in Damnation... that "shirt" of hers is damn silly.

 

[The Infamous Scamola]

You make some really good points, we already have loads of ugly people in real life, why should we have them in fiction?

 

[Drummerstixz]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Don't be so serious guys, come on we all like boobs.

If you want a series game with no sexual content there's plenty to pick from.

Personally I find the gigantic rubber blimp tits in Soul Calibur hilarious but not in any way sexy.[/quote]

I agree, I thought people played games to get away from the real world and have fun, when I see a girl in a game with boobs so big they take up half the screen I dont starting thinking EVERY woman needs to look like this, i start thinking about how much time it took to form all those pixels...lol, same for a guy with muscles...its fake and a GAME people. If you dont want to see that, why did you bother buying the game is the real question.

 

[tk1989]

Oh, and when we're talking of exagerated sizes how come noone brought up weapons and shoulderpads in WoW?

Because WoWs visual aesthetic is clearly fantasy based, its not meant to be realistic.

 

[elitecrewer]

Good thread -> Liking the pointing out that men are objectivised just as much as women. It's purely that woman complain. I've never seen any male game characters that actually look like real life, pasty-faced male gamers.

And besides, if a man dips into a romance novel (female territory), he's not going to like it. But he won't complain -> it's female territory. Girls should expect the same when they play videogames, guy's territory. I find the idea that making women appealing in games in any way represses females ridiculous -> some people need to see the difference between the real world and otherwise.

 

[Ancientgamer]

I think the debate here isn't about being too sexy, but rather the difference between "Sexy" and "slutty".

For males it's the difference between "sexy" and "steroid-abuse) I'm not offended by "sexy" male leads like the prince, It's leads like marcus that are "manly" to the point of being disgusting.

Ivy in the OP's post? It's not her "sexiness" that offends people, it's that she looks like a grade A slut.

 

[LordSphinx]

Personnally, I would be hypocrite if I said I am offended by oversexed characters (Dead or Alive 4 is my favorite fighting game, and I always pick the most sexy outfits when I play females). However, I think the problem is not that it is wrong, as much as it is too omnipresent. As a whole, video games are hurting themselves by NOT having games with ugly or normal people.

Does it fit a serious and realist game to have only super models and beefed up machos populating its universe? Of course not. Also, while I agree that sexy is enjoyable, not sexy would be in itself a good enough novelty for me to buy the game.

As a narrative tool, the medium would gain much credibility if it wasn't targetting at drooling adolescent. A good way to do so is to NOT consider them as the main audience, and concentrating on everybody else. However, this is what publishers would call a huge risk, unaware that thousands upon thousands of gamers are *gasp* intelligent beings!

And on a closing notes, for all female readers: I am pretty sure that you can be more sexy, more real, more desirable than any video game characters. I adore you all! Don't let these stupid male fantasies affect your self esteem.

Yes, tens and thousands may be, and yet millions are not. Making a game these days is not cheap. You have to pay dozens of designers, programmers, musicians, writers and whatnot for months, if not years. How many potential buyers do you think won't buy a product for being oversexed? Compare that to the number that will buy it BECAUSE it is oversexed. There are games that aren't made for horny kids, but those are mostly established brands with a fanbase that would take the game anyway. If you want to make money, you have to appeal to as many customers as possible. That's not good for the customers who don't like the policy appealing to the broadest mass, but it is how Capitalism works. If you want to stay in the business, you have to sell stuff. We may not like what the developers do, but if they wouldn't, they couldn't produce these games at all. So, you may not like it, but you have to see why the companies are doing so anyway. Having your ethics and standards is all good, but it won't write the paychecks for your employees.

The Wii is a proof that aiming at "everybody else" works (Not that I like the Wii, in fact I despise it as a gamer, but I am not blind to its success). As a member of the game developement workforce, I wouldn't feel insecure if the publisher for whom I work were to take a little more "risks" with a small percentage of its income. Also, I think marketing can sell any product. ANY. When you look at it, Little Big Planet, although not the most huge seller in the world, did fare well, selling over a million copies (though my memory could be failing here, but I think I read an article about it on kotaku). Point it, no matter how good that game is, trying to advertise this game is a nightmare, because you can't really compare its appeal to any mainstream game so far. The game community should just stop being so afraid. Being mainstream is what writes paychecks. Being exceptional is what writes history (and I'm sure folks like Jonathan Blow aren't complaining about their pay check right now).

 

[Rhob Anybody]

[quote="Jarrid" post="9.109891.1893183But when I look at such a character in an outfit like that, I wonder why... Why would she wear such a thing? She is a combatant in an armed fighting series; unless those strips of fabric are made of some magic unbreakable material (and SC4's new "armour" destroying mechanic pretty much screams otherwise), then I don't see the logic or even why she would want to dress like that.[/quote]

Thought I would respond to this quetion 1st of all then get back on topic and reply to the op.

There is a very valid reason for wearing less in combat and that is called fighting style. Armour does not as most rpg's would have you believe stop you from getting hit. Its there to absorb the damage when you are. Apart from that it does just slow you down and make it harder for you to avoid incoming blows. This is why boxers and other martial artists dont wear armour as it would just get in the way.

Any fighting style that is evolved around combat speed is going to rely on very little armour if any. To use an example here I will look to history with people like the spartans who in real life didnt wear the loincloths as seen in 300 but wore light leather vests with bronzse bracers and greaves combined with a leather kilt. This gave them a lot of freedom of movement with minimal protection. The celts went into combat "skyclad" which in short means completely starkers. Once again this gave them freedom of movement and enabled them to quickly cut down better armoured but slower oponents.

Following this train of thought the outfit worn in the example has only two drawbacks to the fighting style used and they are that her breasts would in real life have been bound to stop them getting in the way and she certainly wouldnt be wearing high heels lol. Apart from that the outfit isnt notably wrong in any other way.

Now to the is it ok to show sexy argument. Imo the people complaining really ought to get out more. I see worse on the beach every summer and in most cases do honestly find it sexy. I think a lot of the problem is more down to stereotyping than anything to do with how sexy the picture is or isnt. The point is though that all characters in games are generally stereotypes and I cant see that changing any time soon.

All the time that games sell with big gun toting macho guys and scantily clad big busted ladies they will carry on being used. I for one hope that it doesnt change too much as I much prefer playing an atractive female over a macho guy tbh and the day I have to start playing as homely people just so they can have a bit of realism is the day I stop playing completely. I can do that in real life ffs lol.

 

[Mr_Powers]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFywW99Uvwc&feature=channel_page I thank whoever originally linked these series of videos on the Escapist because they're always excellent.

Holy crap, that might have actually been me for here:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.106319#1737995
I just went and looked at the view count from his videos and their all way up.

Anyway, I just have to through this into the mix.

Spoiler

<img src=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3362/3481386852_04cf9174fe.jpg?v=0>

I have to think that Alyx Vance is one of the best female characters out there. She is still attractive without bluntly resorting to massive cleavage that far too many other games do.

 

[Ancientgamer]

Anyway, I just have to through this into the mix.

Spoiler

<img src=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3362/3481386852_04cf9174fe.jpg?v=0>

I have to think that Alyx Vance is one of the best female characters out there. She is still attractive without bluntly resorting to massive cleavage that far too many other games do.

Again, Sexy\=\slutty.