Skullgirls Dev Dismisses Cries of Sexism

[TriGGeR_HaPPy]

Couple of people beat me to the punch already:

Am I the only one not seeing the "over-sexualization" in this game? I've seen three or four trailers now and the character design is so oddball that the last thing I notice is how the female anatomy is portrayed.

This is the first I heard of the game, and even though I came into this thread looking for some characters that were somehow sexist through their looks, all I saw was a demo for a crazy character in a fun-looking game.

The "lololol a gurl did it so it's not sexist" is, indeed, a silly excuse in any context. However, in this case it's not even needed. I'm really getting the idea that the people complaining are just looking for stuff to complain about merely because it's an all-female cast, and hence a chance to show off just how tolerant and forward (etc. etc.) they really are.

AKA, this:

Honestly I really get tired of people stabbing each other in the back so they can claim "I am the most tolerant! I am the most politically correct"

Seriously, even if this game is pure fan service for those who enjoy fapping to imaginary animated chars, what exactly is wrong with that?

This. Just so much of this. The irony of being intolerant of intolerant people.

 

[Some_weirdGuy]

thank you OP for reminding me of this. I remember seeing concept art back when it was only the two hair-monster girls. I think it looks really awesome.

 

[internetzealot1]

His points seem weak because they don't need to be strong. This game is completely justified.

 

[Darkmantle]

It's not awkward to see a human in revealing clothing. It's awkward that the double standard in the industry and constant male gaze have become an industry tradition.

But hey, how would you like to see this all of the time in your video games?

Are you really going to keep banging on about this?

there you go, two characters made more or less in the style of your first picture, both in AAA games no less. I didn't even have to break out the final fantasy art.

and there's two pictures of a plot important female character in fable 2 who is not skinny or excessively "curvy" (two pictures because the in-game shot was a bit blurry, so I grabbed some concept art, in game pic does more justice though).

All of these examples are from AAA games.

So yes, you see those yaoi anime boys and bigger ladies in big name games. Are the numbers even? not by a long shot. will they ever be? not likely. But the industry is well on it's way to giving the different views of attractive some screen time. It's not just going to switch overnight. However calling out people over using the word attractive subjectively is not helping us get anywhere. I personally like redheads, I don't call out everyone who uses the word attractive when not referring to redheads.

Being "attractive", is subjective.

Can we just call them "curvy" and "skinny" instead?

 

[Prosis]

His excuse is silly.

This article is dumber. Who cares? Sure, there's a lot of bouncing around and other stuff. But I think its a heck of a lot more flattering presentation of the female gender than several series present, such as Duke Nukem, Dead or Alive, DoA Volleyball, Soul Calibur IV, and Grand Theft Auto. There's even that one fighter coming out on the 3DS, and THAT seems a lot more deserving of the title of sexist.

I mean, what do you expect?

"Oh jeez, I totally didn't realize the game we're making is sexy. We'll go back and change all of their animations and sprites pronto."

I think he threw out the female designer thing because he knew it would throw the guy for a loop. I know I assumed it was a male designer.


Just out of curiosity, how many women in this thread view this game as sexist?

 

[Dfskelleton]

"Oh Boo-Hoo! There's a video game that features women in skimpy outfits! I'm so offended right now, I think I might cry! When will the hurting stop?"
This is certainly not the first (and definitely not the last) time that I've heard people shout this.
I have an idea: make an extremely mundane game about fully clothed women going about their daily lives. No violence, no skimpy outfits, no giant spider boss battles, nothing.
Then, we see if anyone complains.

 

[Callate]

You saw a trailer in which the lead character's head, independent of her body, gave her opponent multiple bites while going "Om nom nom" and what drew your attention was the scantily clad characters?

Really, it all just looks over-the-top goofy to me, and probably less sexually suggestive than your typical televised professional wrestling match- including the ones that don't feature women. This is the kind of outrage people get up to when they have way too much time on their hands.

 

[Pedro The Hutt]

Are you really going to keep banging on about this?




there you go, two characters made more or less in the style of your first picture, both in AAA games no less. I didn't even have to break out the final fantasy art.

and there's two pictures of a plot important female character in fable 2 who is not skinny or excessively "curvy" (two pictures because the in-game shot was a bit blurry, so I grabbed some concept art, in game pic does more justice though).

All of these examples are from AAA games.

So yes, you see those yaoi anime boys and bigger ladies in big name games. Are the numbers even? not by a long shot. will they ever be? not likely. But the industry is well on it's way to giving the different views of attractive some screen time. It's not just going to switch overnight. However calling out people over using the word attractive subjectively is not helping us get anywhere. I personally like redheads, I don't call out everyone who uses the word attractive when not referring to redheads.

Except, y'know, those examples are the exceptions that prove the rule really. Also worth noting is that they're all from non-American developers (3/4 Japanese, no less), where the bishounen style of character is much more prevalent here in the west, where male heroes are 9/10 still absolute macho men. You can't really throw up four samples and say that all is well in the video game industry.

But again, I will reiterate that for all games to jump on about this issue, Skullgirls is one of the worse targets to pick compared to some of the other offenders out there.

 

[lord.jeff]

My solution after this game release a fighting game with noting but a bunch of sexy men.

What, you mean like Tekken Tag Tournament?

Well, not quite I guess. My point is that, while there are certainly some hot chicks in that game, the titty count in Tekken Tag (not to mention the overall mass of said tits, if you catch my meaning) is rather anemic when compared to, say, Soul Calibur 2*. Plus I'm pretty sure that all the bears, kangaroos, dinosaurs, cyborgs, and crash dummies in that game outnumber the women by at least a factor of two.

* (I was going to compare it to DOA, but then I figured I should compare apples to apples and not pick a game whose sole point is to see tits).

Not like Tekken, more like DOA but with the girls in clothes and the guys in hot pants with super jiggly testicles and a tent(not sure if females find that attractive), or like the other guy said Twilight vs. The Village People.

Looking at that trailer again I gotta say that cat girls boobs are gonna hurt like hell if she keeps jumping around like that without a bra.

 

[Impluse_101]

Bartholow puts a lot of stock in the fact that a woman, not a man, was the one who handled the animations. "She intentionally lavishes attention on the breasts herself because she thinks it's cool," he explained. "All the people who seem bothered by it are guys. It's a weird chivalry intent thing that's sort of misplaced and maybe shallow, even, because they see breasts and panty flashes and they go, that's sexist, but I've yet to meet a woman who has complained about it. They're over-thinking it."

This.

Hi. Female gamer and feminist here to say - there's nothing offensive about this game. Actually, the game looks pretty awesome.

Stop with the knee-jerk "oh god, it's sexist!" every time someone makes a game with big breasts.

If they were all weak idiots who needed a man to save them, THAT would be sexist.

This game is the opposite. It is a game about powerful women kicking ass.

I wouldn't say it's pushing any envelopes, but it certainly isn't as sexist as half a dozen AAA titles I can think of off the top of my head. And no, I won't be posting that list here, thanks.

Edit: Also, note - in this thread alone, female Escapist members keep saying "it's fine" while male Escapist members are saying things like "troll logic". Guys - really - it's fine. Women have breasts. We like our breasts (well, most of us). It's nothing to be ashamed of.

Hi. Random Person here to say.

.......Eh...so long as you're not rubbing anything offensive in my face....
And that list frequently changes.

But also...

Why is there no TaoKaka in here?

 

[Darkmantle]

Are you really going to keep banging on about this?




there you go, two characters made more or less in the style of your first picture, both in AAA games no less. I didn't even have to break out the final fantasy art.

and there's two pictures of a plot important female character in fable 2 who is not skinny or excessively "curvy" (two pictures because the in-game shot was a bit blurry, so I grabbed some concept art, in game pic does more justice though).

All of these examples are from AAA games.

So yes, you see those yaoi anime boys and bigger ladies in big name games. Are the numbers even? not by a long shot. will they ever be? not likely. But the industry is well on it's way to giving the different views of attractive some screen time. It's not just going to switch overnight. However calling out people over using the word attractive subjectively is not helping us get anywhere. I personally like redheads, I don't call out everyone who uses the word attractive when not referring to redheads.

Except, y'know, those examples are the exceptions that prove the rule really. Also worth noting is that they're all from non-American developers (3/4 Japanese, no less), where the bishounen style of character is much more prevalent here in the west, where male heroes are 9/10 still absolute macho men. You can't really throw up four samples and say that all is well in the video game industry.

But again, I will reiterate that for all games to jump on about this issue, Skullgirls is one of the worse targets to pick compared to some of the other offenders out there.

Those were just off the top of my head, you want some examples from a western company? How about bioware's Dragon age. Alistar and zevron easily fit into the category of pretty boy category, being skinny, somewhat feminine, etc, just drawn in a different art style. If you are looking for exclusively anime style pretty boys, you will have to stick to anime games, which are mostly made in Japan(QUICK! someone arrange a protest! this is a blatant disgrace to the gaming community! this artism! All art styles should be equally represented everywhere! ... Thanks for letting me get that out of my system.). There are skinny girls aplenty in all the major videogame styles, same with pretty boys.

And I never said all is well, I said it's well on it's way to getting better, and being this defensive about an issue that is already being fixed is a bit wearing.

and yea, this game really isn't sexist at all. see cassandra from SC IV.

IIRC she has a move where she jumps and lands skirt first on her opponents face, and you can only assume he's getting a large faceful of panties for the good 3 seconds she's there. I checked and the panty shots in this game last literally a fraction of a second.

 

[dreddfan]

To create something that offends no one, you must create nothing.

 

[Ulquiorra4sama]

The game actually looks like it's gonna be tons of fun to play with characters like that xD

As for the whole sexist thing i can't really see why people would bother getting offended. If a company wants to provide some fan-service in the form of an all-girls fighting game (that's apparently not even gonna stay all-girls) then who are we to say no?

As the OP mentioned it's not the first time we've seen busty girls in skimpy outfits, flashing panties and juggeling their tits on-screen and it sure as hell won't be the last. If you want to work on something that looks like it would be sexist then go work towards a nation-wide ban of Bayonetta.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

To create something that offends no one, you must create nothing.

But won't people be offended by your lack of creation when everybody else is creating stuff?

 

[Mallefunction]

As a woman, I wouldn't say it's sexist, HOWEVER the argument of "Oh, a woman did it, therefore it's not sexist" is both horribly wrong and stupid.

Women will often do things that they think men will like not just to be 'sexy' but to be cool with other girls. Otherwise you're a 'stuck up ***** with no sense of fun'. Women are definitely capable of being sexist against their own gender (and vice versa for men). The argument is stupid.

 

[Chemical Alia]

Who cares if a woman animated the characters? It's all a bunch of tacky crap pandering to anime nerds who like tacky crap. It's not offensive to me for being sexist, just offensive to my sense of fashion and personal artistic taste. There's not too many women working in the game industry, and even less in the kinds of games aimed at guys. But among those that do, their artistic sensibilities tend to be just as juvenile as everyone else's.

I did find it hilarious that he clarified in his justification that they just "happen to be beautiful". Because they were totally just born like that and it wasn't a deliberate artistic decision or anything. Lmao.

As a woman, I wouldn't say it's sexist, HOWEVER the argument of "Oh, a woman did it, therefore it's not sexist" is both horribly wrong and stupid.

Women will often do things that they think men will like not just to be 'sexy' but to be cool with other girls. Otherwise you're a 'stuck up ***** with no sense of fun'. Women are definitely capable of being sexist against their own gender (and vice versa for men). The argument is stupid.

Agreed, and I see this from time to time. And in game development, there is a certain culture that you need to fit in, if you want to be cool with your peers. The vast majority of my coworkers are guys, and I even find myself doing it occasionally.

 

[theultimateend]

Oh god, again with the "offended" bullshit.

Fucking stop it. Are we in such an age that we have completely lost our backbone? Where the fuck did understanding and tolerance go if we're gonna let our precious feelings inspire our hatred for the smallest things?

Rhetorical questions.

Hey, a woman did it so it's totally not sexism!

...lol...

oh, because the Japanese don't have 100 games like this already, and when they do it, its just fine with everyone

It is? When did that happen?

Other than Rapelay, when was the last time you heard something like this happen with a Japanese hentai game?

If "something like this" means "scantily dressed females with pronounced forms", then you have no idea.

It's funny because "scantily dressed people" fits almost every game ever in every country.

My solution after this game release a fighting game with noting but a bunch of sexy men.

What, you mean like Tekken Tag Tournament?

Well, not quite I guess. My point is that, while there are certainly some hot chicks in that game, the titty count in Tekken Tag (not to mention the overall mass of said tits, if you catch my meaning) is rather anemic when compared to, say, Soul Calibur 2*. Plus I'm pretty sure that all the bears, kangaroos, dinosaurs, cyborgs, and crash dummies in that game outnumber the women by at least a factor of two.

* (I was going to compare it to DOA, but then I figured I should compare apples to apples and not pick a game whose sole point is to see tits).

Yeah I've grown up with comics and fighting games. The men were impossibly fit and hansom and just incredibly powerful.

It has always been impossible for me to be anything like the male characters in my entertainment. Though I can't recall the last time I wrote a letter complaining that Zangief is built like a god.

I'll never truly understand the desire to treat sexuality as something that should be laughed at, enjoyed, exaggerated, or otherwise shown.

Fertility statues go back as far as humanity has been playing with wood (hehe...), I don't see fertility statues and freak out about the sexism, it's just people engaging in an essential part of our survival and a celebration of that.

Maybe someone could invent an engine that has a toggle for Puritan mode. Then you can just toggle that to get everyone with unassuming physical body types and full body clothing. Everybody wins, I guess?

 

[Wintermoot]

it,s sexist but then again stuff like Twilight is sexist to, depicting men as hero,s that run around topless with six packs.

 

[Wintermoot]

To create something that offends no one, you must create nothing.

what about Kirby?