Sexy Gaming: A Do's and Do Nots Discussion

[twistedshadows]

In terms of Male characters, I'd much rather look at this...

Than this...

As a female, I totally agree. I'd much rather look at an attractive, half naked male than a heavily armored tank of a man.

As such, I don't mind most of the bikini armor I see on females in games; I actually think it's sexy for the most part. I consider myself a feminist, but as long as there are half naked or extremely sexy guys in games alongside the half naked women everyone's used to, I don't think women are specifically being taken advantage of.

There's a fine line between sexy and ridiculously overdone, though, and I don't find the woman in the image you posted attractive at all. Her outfit doesn't bother me, but something about her body just isn't....right.

 

[Lukirre]

Hrm, how to put this...
Gaming is meant to be an escape, right?
Well, what about the unnattractive, or "unpopular" people who want to get away from reality?
They have every right to escape to a world where a "sexy" being awaits them.

I don't know about most, but escaping into a world where you (the protagonist) are just as unattractive as you are in real life is not something that's appealing to them.

That being said, some people take it too far with the whole "LUK HAO SECKSY!" bullshit.
But hey, sex is marketable, and game developers need money too.

I agree with the person before who said that anyone offended by 'sexualisation' in games needs to rethink the whole situation. It's just a game.

 

[Slayer_2]

Extreme feminists are really annoying. By that I mean the ones who think all men are pigs and don't deserve any respect or even life in some of the worse cases. I totally support feminists who are looking for true EQUALITY instead of female world domination.

 

[lleihsad]

I know Ivy has become the focal point of those complaining of grotesquely sexualized women, but the other women from SC aren't any better. In fact, they've almost all gained more "pornographic" proportions as the series went on... except for Taki, who was always monstrously shaped. That's to say nothing of the fact that the outfits shrink every game. All in all, I'd say it's made Dead or Alive look downright innocent.

Also, has anyone else noticed how much of an established character trait "boob envy" has become amongst female characters in Japanese games? What the hell is happening over there?

 

[Doug]

Ok this is just my observation and sure that 5000 of you pricks are gonna quote me and call me a dick I'm just going to ignore all of those so you'll be wasting my time. I feel that in America women are COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY EQUAL TO MEN. When ever I say this to someone they always give me an example of one girl at burger king who coincidentally gets paid less than some guy, or gets paid less cus she sucks at her job. I think that while women are now COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY EQUAL, but some feminists are too oblivious to notice so they keep fighting anyway.

Some feminists claim that women never have claimed false rape and that it is just propagated by man... so yeah, feminists can suck it.

Maybe don't demonize the 'enemy'. Ok, feminists do go over the top, but turning them all universally into demonised characters is abit strong.

Spoiler: Video

That said, they do sometimes get too worked up over stuff:

Spoiler: Video

Feminism is the idea that women should have political, social, sexual, intellectual and economic rights equal to those of men.

I'm pretty sure all these things have happened, to not only women, but blacks as well. I don't see any Civil Right's activists any more.

Well, yeah, we (males) probably won't see sexism against women because we aren't women, see? Now, you can argue objective facts all day long, but its not wholy about objective facts, its about the subjective experiences and troubles that people have had. And you do see Black rights and/or racial equality groups still active in America. The trouble is, both of these camps haven't been able to truly understand that they've won - they just have to mop up the rest of the resistance to the fair treatment of there "people". However, because they haven't quite grasped the main point, they still wheel out the artillery and airstrikes when they see unfair treatment, because they "know" from experience that anything less isn't likely to work.

 

[Erana]

/me just wants more characters like Jade or Alyx.

I mean, they are awesome and real, and if you can't find something sexy about them, you're either a straight chick or gay guy.

 

[Blow_Pop]

You know, I always figured the same - that there's gotta be a decent compromise between sexiness and not alienating the gender completely. As far as female characters go, Faith in Mirror's Edge is the epitome of the strong, realistic woman, right?

Right?

No. When you try to do this right, you immediately get hundreds of whiners complaining that this looks butt ugly:

Spoiler

And that she should have looked like this:

Spoiler

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.

Personally I love how Faith looks in the first picture....The original picture.... Few things, yes I am a female gamer, second, I AM attracted to BOTH guys and girls so for two perspectives here.

I like my girls to look more like this in video games. I think its sexier

Spoiler

I really hate when they give girls humongous balloon boobs. I like my girls to look more realistic.

For guys. Stop with the over bulging of muscle everywhere. I've searched all over the net and this is the closest I can come up with for my ideal sexy male video game characters

Spoiler

I prefer more the type that you don't expect to kick ass.....Snake being the exception mostly because I'm crazy for David Hayter

Spoiler

sigh......

then again geeky boys are my thing. and geeky girls....

And I am kind of an odd breed of gamer girl.......Anyways though the barbie look on girls(over proportionate chest and almost no body stick figure ish) is waaay over rated and completely disgusting to me. Its all about proportions.

And no guys with footballs for their biceps and triceps. eeeewwwwww

 

[atol]

Women dressed up (or down) and put on makeup to get attention from men. Now with CG technology they're upset that fictional characters are benefiting from their hard work. They're jealous.
Just think - if these fictional characters were real, would everyone be so upset about it? Look at other forms of media with similar real women. Not nearly as many complaints there.

 

[Blow_Pop]

It has it's place, but a juvenile presentation of sexually attractive characters in gaming is the main problem. No-one has the same problem with all the good looking people in hollywood, as at least they are less obviously objectified.

Oh, and Ivy? No, I wouldn't. Not worth the half an hour it would take to unbuckle all her armour.

I have a problem with the "good looking people in hollywood" most of them aren't that good looking. Most make me want to throw up and then shove food down their throats. Marilyn Monroe and Bettie Page. Now there are two women who deserve to be objectified.

Something that really bugs me about Soul Caliber 4 and Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe is that the girls LOOSE parts of their clothing as they take damage. Realistic? yes. Necessary? No.
I mean some, like Ivy, barely have anything as it is.....I'm almost convinced that for female design they have a bunch of horny teenage guys in R&D. Sex does sell, but it shouldn't be used for video games. My opinion though.

Although some of the MK girls.......

Women dressed up (or down) and put on makeup to get attention from men. Now with CG technology they're upset that fictional characters are benefiting from their hard work. They're jealous.
Just think - if these fictional characters were real, would everyone be so upset about it? Look at other forms of media with similar real women. Not nearly as many complaints there.

Oh it happens in real life. Just not as publicized. I complain all the time about the media and women. I know plenty of people who have similar views as to that. A woman is sexier with more clothes than less (ie: baggier jeans not tight fitting and a tshirt that doesn't show off every little detail about their body) its more fun to visualize what they might look like as opposed to know what they look like by the fact that they look like prostitutes. And it sickens me that parents let their YOUNG daughters dress like that. I got flipped off by a middle school girl the other day that I yelled at to put clothes on walking home from school. She looked like a prostitute so, I feel she deserved it.

 

[Blow_Pop]

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.

I hate when people ESPECIALLY guys start doing male vs female territory. Goodness knows I hear it enough from the profession I want(diesel mechanic automotive industry)but seriously you'll find men and women crossing over into each others "territories" both straight and gay. Its not just one or the other.

I absolutely hate the way men are objectified. It's just not real for me. and I like to lose myself in my games. Although I will admit the Amazon in Diablo 2 for the perspective you play in looks good with huge boobs. But the way it plays you don't sit there and mostly stare at her boobs because they take up a good portion of the screen......

 

[Arcticflame]

Although I will admit the Amazon in Diablo 2 for the perspective you play in looks good with huge boobs. But the way it plays you don't sit there and mostly stare at her boobs because they take up a good portion of the screen......

Bit off topic, and it would never happen in a video game, but really the amazons should of had an ability to spec into burning a breast off for increased accuracy.. like the stereotypical amazons did. I know it's not actually historical fact they did that, but since when have facts been fun?

The d2 ones might not be able to stand upright anymore though.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

/me just wants more characters like Jade or Alyx.

I mean, they are awesome and real, and if you can't find something sexy about them, you're either a straight chick or gay guy.

Heather Mason from Silent Hill 3 is also quite the realistic cutie, were she a real person I would have been nuts for her when I was a teenager.

Similarly Zoe from Left 4 Dead has quite a realistic AND attractive design, I've met girls who look like that.

 

[Cheesebob]

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

That's not sexy...

it is to me...

Ivy is ridiculously fat to be wearing that amount of clothing she is wearing...damn I bet thats like forcing a lump of meat into a mesh of cheese wire

More like a cheeseBOB wire, AMIRITE?!?!

More cushion for the pushin'. A nice full women like Ivy would rock your world.

You sir have [url"http://you-win-the-internet.com/"] Won the interent [/url]

If there was rep on this website, I would rep you silly

 

[Doug]

Although I will admit the Amazon in Diablo 2 for the perspective you play in looks good with huge boobs. But the way it plays you don't sit there and mostly stare at her boobs because they take up a good portion of the screen......

Bit off topic, and it would never happen in a video game, but really the amazons should of had an ability to spec into burning a breast off for increased accuracy.. like the stereotypical amazons did. I know it's not actually historical fact they did that, but since when have facts been fun?

The d2 ones might not be able to stand upright anymore though.

Since when has torturiously burning bits of bodies off been fun? Oh, I forgot - this is the internet, heh.

 

[SsilverR]

they'll stop doing it .. WHEN IT STOPS SELLING