Sexy Gaming: A Do's and Do Nots Discussion

[MarsProbe]

I think imperfections help the cuteness a little. I didn't mind the look of Faith.

Likewise. I'd rather take Faith out for dinner than Ivy or any of her ilk. Hmm, on the subject, I remember one of the X-Box magazines (don't recall which one) moaning over the lack of an "attractive" female lead in Mirrors Edge. My heart bleeds for them, really...

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

I find Ivy sexy (hence I married a woman with a similar figure - pencil thin waist excluded). Come to think of it, you hardly ever see a video game woman who is curvy all over or has a little bit of a tummy. In most cases when they are portrayed as borderline disgusting; e.g Lucy from Quake III with her porcine features and ripped clothing and the fat hookers in Fable 2 with the lazy eye. So while I applaud EA for having a character like Faith who is slim, flat-ish and athletic; why can't we have chubbier women in gaming that don't serve as a point of derision?

A question that has always made me think is, would we as men play as a hero with an absolutely enormous package or would it make us uncomfortable? Because that's the kind of issue our sisters in gaming are faced with when presented with hypersexualised characters like Ivy, the DOA chicks, etc.

And lay off Marcus Fenix; there is a deeply sensitive man under all that steriod and testosterone fueled muscle mass.

 

[Slayer_2]

I actually like Gears of War's exaggerated art style, at least in the first one. Sure its completely unrealistic, from head-destroying curb-stomps to 300-pound armor wearing grunts doing acrobatic maneuvers, but perhaps thats why I like the game so much. Escapism and all that stuff.

The same idea applies to most of my games. In some games with deeper stories, or even reality-based ones (WW2 games mostly), I prefer the option of extreme realism, either through mods or a game setting.

Also, I'd rather take Marcus Fenix's ultra-ripped body over the Prince's ninja skills.

 

[Paragon Fury]

I find Ivy sexy (hence I married a woman with a similar figure - pencil thin waist excluded).

Did you check to make sure she wasn't sent by Skynet?

And that you're still living in our plane of existance?

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

I find Ivy sexy (hence I married a woman with a similar figure - pencil thin waist excluded).

Did you check to make sure she wasn't sent by Skynet?

And that you're still living in our plane of existance?

I was saying Ivy has the pencil thin waist.

We'll have to wait til Soul Calibur 5 to see if she was sent by Skynet.

 

[Nostalgia]

...as long as they don't condemn me as subhuman for my "misfortune" of being born with a penis and an excess of testosterone.

We're really just jealous.

 

[joe51498]

like i said before WHY THE FUCK IS EVERY FEMALE CHARCTER WEARING HALF A NAPKINS WORTH OF FABRIC AND EVERY SOLIDER IS WEARING A FUCKING HOUSE ?????

 

[RebelRising]

There's just no winning with these things. If you try to add even the slightest semblance of realism into your female characters, your adolescent male demographic starts throwing a tantrum over the fact that the protagonist doesn't sport double-D breasts.

Then again, I think those particular "protestors" were Japanese, so...

I'm of the camp that can find a particular sexiness to bodies (both male and female) depending less on exposure and more on the body as a whole. The personality is what makes or breaks the character, though.

That's why Alyx Vance (Half-Life 2) and Faith (Mirror's Edge) are among my favorite female characters.

 

[Paragon Fury]

I find Ivy sexy (hence I married a woman with a similar figure - pencil thin waist excluded).

Did you check to make sure she wasn't sent by Skynet?

And that you're still living in our plane of existance?

I was saying Ivy has the pencil thin waist.

We'll have to wait til Soul Calibur 5 to see if she was sent by Skynet.

I know. I was making a joke.

And your failure to play into the joke ruined my next joke.

Joke-ruiner.

 

[Clashero]

Hmm... I'm noticing a pattern. Here are my favourite female characters ever (click to view the pictures. Most of them aren't very large.

Spoiler: Elaine Marley, from Monkey Island. No gigantic boobs, no super-round ass, but still pretty.

Spoiler: Zoe Castillo, from Dreamfall: The Longest Journey. Look at her! Games are going for realism all the time. THIS is realism. Realistically proportioned breasts, waist and butt. Still pretty to look at and a decent body. She's a lot of fun to play.

Spoiler: Faith from Mirror's Edge. Already mentioned several times. Strong, athletic. Relatively small breasts, meh face.

Spoiler: Alyx Vance from Half-Life 2, who is still OK to look at, has a realistic body and isn't a total slut like most heroines.

Spoiler: April Ryan from The Longest Journey. Some could even argue that she's actually ugly, but that's alright.

Spoiler: Elika from the new Prince of Persia, who despite being criticized, I still ove. She's driven, determined, strong, witty and even funny. If were stripped down she'd probably have a sexy figure, but as it is now, she hides it pretty well. She's still very nice to look at.

Do you see the connection? It seems a realistic figure equals an interesting character.

 

[Scobie]

DELETED

 

[Huwie]

I see nothing wrong with that picture of Ivy

 

[Shapsters]

...as long as they don't condemn me as subhuman for my "misfortune" of being born with a penis and an excess of testosterone.

We're really just jealous.

AHA!! I always knew that it was nothing but jealousy! I mean, we can pee standing up, what is there not to be jealous about?

 

[Paragon Fury]

...as long as they don't condemn me as subhuman for my "misfortune" of being born with a penis and an excess of testosterone.

We're really just jealous.

AHA!! I always knew that it was nothing but jealousy! I mean, we can pee standing up, what is there not to be jealous about?

So can women. I don't see why they take the effort to sit down to do it. All someone would have to is make a slight modification to the urinal for it to work.

 

[cyrad]

I think the key to making a character that appeals to both sexes is to have a mixture of both feminine and mascline characteristics and avoid overemphasizing their sexual dimorphic features (making girls have ridiculously large breasts or guys be juggernauts of muscle).

Male Characters
Contrary to what developers of Gears of War believe, most guy gamers don't like the idea of playing as a massive jock overflowing with testorone. They want to be that suave, sleek, and stylish guy that kicks arse and is digged by all the chicks.

To appeal to females, make the character be sleek, have soft features, and/or possibiity be a bishounen. It's typically fine to make male characters sexy for girls because guys like roleplaying characters that are attractive to women. In terms of physical design, the key is to emphasize a lean, sleek upper body, and de-emphasize the lower body. That keeps the character sexy to females while not going overboard to making the males feel gay. No straight guy wants to watch their character prance around in little tights.

Female
I guess the best way to describe how to make the female character appeal to female gamers is to make it seem like a GIRL designed the character. To make her appeal to males, make her moderately attractive, but to a moderate scale. Give her some muscline characteristics in her personality and outfit to make her more relatable and show that she can be strong.

 

[Nostalgia]

...as long as they don't condemn me as subhuman for my "misfortune" of being born with a penis and an excess of testosterone.

We're really just jealous.

AHA!! I always knew that it was nothing but jealousy! I mean, we can pee standing up, what is there not to be jealous about?

So can women. I don't see why they take the effort to sit down to do it. All someone would have to is make a slight modification to the urinal for it to work.

Naked, yes. But I wouldn't strip down or ring my pants around my knees just to get in an uncomfortable position to pee.
Nothing really wrong with sitting unless you're out in the woods or want to avoid an obscure ass-disease from public restrooms, but I avoid both as much as possible.

 

[Shapsters]

...as long as they don't condemn me as subhuman for my "misfortune" of being born with a penis and an excess of testosterone.

We're really just jealous.

AHA!! I always knew that it was nothing but jealousy! I mean, we can pee standing up, what is there not to be jealous about?

So can women. I don't see why they take the effort to sit down to do it. All someone would have to is make a slight modification to the urinal for it to work.

Hhmm... picturing... picturing... I like it! Just slightly extend them and squat a bit. But look at porta-potties, they cant sit in those things!

 

[quack35]

I gotta say, great introduction. Really drew me into the article there.

I Don't really have a problem with sexy, but it may be too much when female characters can fall forward and bounce right back up.

 

[Paragon Fury]

...as long as they don't condemn me as subhuman for my "misfortune" of being born with a penis and an excess of testosterone.

We're really just jealous.

AHA!! I always knew that it was nothing but jealousy! I mean, we can pee standing up, what is there not to be jealous about?

So can women. I don't see why they take the effort to sit down to do it. All someone would have to is make a slight modification to the urinal for it to work.

Naked, yes. But I wouldn't strip down or ring my pants around my knees just to get in an uncomfortable position to pee.
Nothing really wrong with sitting unless you're out in the woods or want to avoid an obscure ass-disease from public restrooms, but I avoid both as much as possible.

If my memory of anatomy holds true...women wouldn't have to pull their pants that far down if the urinal was made to stick out a little farther.


But as far as the topic is concerned - neither gender does much to help the situation either. A lot of men desire the females depicted because they either don't exist in real life, or because there are so few of them they might as well be put on the endangered species list.

Women don't help because they feed it. They act like they like it (or they really do like it), flood their media with it, and try their best to be like it. When is the last time you saw a female scientist on the cover of Cosmo?

 

[Nostalgia]

If my memory of anatomy holds true...women wouldn't have to pull their pants that far down if the urinal was made to stick out a little farther.


But as far as the topic is concerned - neither gender does much to help the situation either. A lot of men desire the females depicted because they either don't exist in real life, or because there are so few of them they might as well be put on the endangered species list.

Women don't help because they feed it. They act like they like it (or they really do like it), flood their media with it, and try their best to be like it. When is the last time you saw a female scientist on the cover of Cosmo?

The urinal itself would have to be designed different, I'd think. And height would be a major issue for the most part. You can only aim so much.
It's too much of a hassle with our anatomy, and then trying to adapt it into our culture of clothes and restroom ethics.
In closing: unneeded, imo.

As for the actual topic and in response, I agree that both genders are responsible for it, but women psychologically feel the need to look the best they can anyway. (I am sure there are exceptions, but there is no crime admitting the want to feel good about your body)

The problem is that ideal beauty from mass media is either hard to maintain or unobtainable, and usually nothing but depicted eye-candy. It's a bit different from how men are stereotypically shown, whether they're lithe or wearing half a car, because they're often independents with many admirable traits, unlike most women figures, where they serve no more purpose than to stand-out, or be some plot device.
Not like I'm saying that Hulk Hogan A, B, C, and D in Gears of War should be ignored, as they portray what many things a guy might be self-conscious about, but when you get down to it, do men really wish they were as built as your typical WWE wrestler? As far as I remember, most women don't even like that shit, and neither do they.

I feel like I'm missing something, or it'll come across wrong, but whatever.
OP: There is nothing wrong with being sexy, or having an appealing character. The woman body looks good, and it's been an object as such for a long time, to both women and men. It's the fact that it's the norm in the media today, and spreads a negative influence to those who wish they could obtain such.

Also, I have no idea what Cosmos is, so I can't exactly tell you.
(I assume a magazine, obviously, but I never heard of it)