When will we see a NON-attractive woman in a video-game?

[tofulove]

if this were to sneak up on me in a dark alleyway, id shit my pants.

 

[Childe]

Why not include women in video games that aren't conventionally physically appealing but are not over-the-top gross or outlandish.

There's enough flexibility and subjectivity to make this an impossible request. One guy's average is another man's drop-dead-gorgeous and a third guy's worst nightmare.

I think I get what you mean though: game girls that aren't "eye candy". Well, how about:

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lol i agree with 3/4 but i dunno the mirrors edge girl isn't bad looking

OT: morrowind... in fact any character models in that game

 

[evilneko]

What, no mention of Mount & Blade yet?

 

[halfeclipse]

You've GOTTA be kidding me. She's your example of a less-than-attractive woman? Really?

She's my example of completely average, not ugly, not gorgeous.

As someone who drew people for a living, she clearly has a bone structure and facial features that fall in line with the modern perceptions of "beauty" to be considered totally average from an impartial perspective. That's even with me solely taking into account her general age demographic and her not being my type.

I mean, to each his own, but I can't see too many people considering her "completely average".

Still able to draw? If so heres a challenge: Draw an unattractive female. She must be in good health, between the ages of 20 and 45, not afflicted by any grotesqueries, and have facial features and a body type that conform to the average of whatever ethnicity you choose. Assume she pays a modicum of attention to her appearance. (i.e. brushed hair, reasonable clothing, no clownesque application of makeup, etc).

Grotesque is far too vague a term for your challenge to mean anything. If we're constituting "less than ideal traits" as "grotesqueries" then that's impossible, since you said make her unattractive. If you're just saying "don't make her nose gigantic or make her missing her two front teeth" then yeah, easy enough.

Also, 45 is extremely generous, at that point aging could have already totally fucked over a person's appearance. Just think of the nasoloabial folds, the tear troughs, the fat loss, the labiomental creases! It's like a kid in a candy store.

Yea by grotesqueries I mean nothing like huge noses, burns, hair lips, remnants of horrible acne, leprosy, smallpox scars, accelerated effects of aging. That sort of thing.


45 gives a lot of wiggle room but keep in mind I (Well the OP really since this is his thread) specified unattractive. Not "O.K." or "eh" but actually unattractive. It's doable, but it'll take specific effort to that end, you'll need to turn the definition of "average" into a pretzel and you won't be able to manage anything approaching ugly.

 

[undeadexistentialist]

It's doable, but it'll take specific effort to that end, you'll need to turn the definition of "average" into a pretzel and you won't be able to manage anything approaching ugly.

Doesn't seem like such a challenge to me. Everybody I draw is unattractive...

 

[Altorin]

Video games are, as a medium, reflective of the culture that created it, which in turn is basically a funny mirror reflection of the people in that culture.

So until you remove the cultural bias towards beauty (in both men and women) we'll continue having this bias in media and in games. And considering that bias is written into our genes, it's going to be pretty hard to do that.

If the cultural idea of beauty was fat girls like it was in the dark ages, then they'd look at these "beautiful" girls in our current media the way we look at the most starved people in our world today.

So my advice, is to stop worrying about it. Men have similar concerns. Women's media protray's men in a very strange light as well, but we, for the most part, just let you lass's get on with it.

 

[Altorin]

Excuse me, what games are these that feature unattractive male characters? Let's not count unnamed NPCs or comic relief, because examples of those can pretty easily be found for both genders. And no, it doesn't matter if you don't personally find the Marcus Phoenixes and Kratoses attractive. They're oozing testosterone, and have been very specifically designed to pander to certain audiences. Male videogame protagonists are either babyfaced pretty boys, dashing rogues, or big, burly macho men. The only difference is that the general media definition of an "attractive" woman is much narrower, so they use fewer different templates.

It also factors into what the different genders finds attractive in either gender and why. I guess the real issue is that for male protagonists, we find youth, strength, smarts and wit super attractive. For female protagonists, they have to do all that but also give us a boner.

 

[Something Amyss]

You see a lot of them, just not as the protagonist, cause nobody (normal) would fucking play it.

So...I just have to ask....What exactly do you mean by "normal?"

 

[rbstewart7263]

I've been watching alot of videos and reading alot of forum posts on the escapist going on about female representation in video games and I have stumbled across a solution of sorts.

Why not include women in video games that aren't conventionally physically appealing but are not over-the-top gross or outlandish.

You see unattractive men all the time, you can't see the same for women.

If you want to represent anything fairly in a medium - show it in every light. For example (and this is another thing about video games) evil people do not have to be ugly nor do they have to be evil all the time, or REALLY evil, or powerful,intelligent or rich.

Women have varied roles in video games; from sex-symbols for some to lust over, protagonists like in metroid and support characters (i could go on but you get the point). So we can conclude that women have been represented fairly well up until now as far as professions go.

However I think the real leap forward could be made by simply having more (or any) average looking women and characters with real depth in video games.

I think it's lazy and sometimes even cowardly of developers to not take the time to create realistic characters with more than two dimensions or a single purpose (such as plot-device, fantasy projection or sex-symbol).

I know that my points probably don't apply to EVERY game, and im sure people with more knowledge of this medium can name them. But when both genders are consistently fairly represented we can all stop reading posts like this....

someone hasnt played borderlands

 

[The Hero Killer]

Rosa from Condemned: Criminal Origins was ugly as hell, so ugly that they changed her appearance on the sequel.

 

[Souplex]

I have a feeling very few people were attracted to Eve....

At least I'd hope.

IDK, any woman that can one had a claymore shotgun has definitely got my attention.

OT: Thats impossible. The whole "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" thing and all. I mean, yeah, there are obviously characters that are obviously gorgous and obviously ugly, but theres no way to truly quantify a "average" that everyone will be happy with.

More importantly, a woman who can fire a Claymore twice without reloading.

 

[axlryder]

You've GOTTA be kidding me. She's your example of a less-than-attractive woman? Really?

She's my example of completely average, not ugly, not gorgeous.

As someone who drew people for a living, she clearly has a bone structure and facial features that fall in line with the modern perceptions of "beauty" to be considered totally average from an impartial perspective. That's even with me solely taking into account her general age demographic and her not being my type.

I mean, to each his own, but I can't see too many people considering her "completely average".

Still able to draw? If so heres a challenge: Draw an unattractive female. She must be in good health, between the ages of 20 and 45, not afflicted by any grotesqueries, and have facial features and a body type that conform to the average of whatever ethnicity you choose. Assume she pays a modicum of attention to her appearance. (i.e. brushed hair, reasonable clothing, no clownesque application of makeup, etc).

Grotesque is far too vague a term for your challenge to mean anything. If we're constituting "less than ideal traits" as "grotesqueries" then that's impossible, since you said make her unattractive. If you're just saying "don't make her nose gigantic or make her missing her two front teeth" then yeah, easy enough.

Also, 45 is extremely generous, at that point aging could have already totally fucked over a person's appearance. Just think of the nasoloabial folds, the tear troughs, the fat loss, the labiomental creases! It's like a kid in a candy store.

It's doable, but it'll take specific effort to that end, you'll need to turn the definition of "average" into a pretzel and you won't be able to manage anything approaching ugly.

What are you talking about? What does my "definition of average" have to do with this beyond facial features that are typical of a specific ethnicity? What do you mean "won't be able to manage anything approaching ugly? It doesn't take "specific effort" unless you're an amateur artist who hasn't spent very much time studying a variety of faces.

I'll give you a quick list of normal things you can add to make a person less attractive. Note that having any single one of these features does not instantly make a person unattractive unless it's to an extreme, and most people have a few of them.

slightly drooping eyelids or tired eyes
large lower or upper eyelids
deep set eyes, small eyes or bulging eyes
angled eyes or strangely shaped eyes
very small eyelashes
eyes set too far apart or too close together
blotchy complexion or any number of common skin conditions (mild acne, rosacea, various types of dermatitis, etc.)
thin or translucent skin
asymmetric facial features or atypical spacing of other features (people often have subtle asymmetry that you don't consciously notice unless you look for it).
thin or overly thick lips
hooked nose, bulbous nose, broad nose bridge, overly upturned nose, large or overly small nose, etc. etc.
gaunt facial features
a slightly protruding mandible or a recessive one.
Large forehead or small forehead.
a "long face" or "round face" or any number of other "facial types".
normal aging
fat
the list goes on and on.

"average" is usually having a few of these negative traits and a few positive traits to go along with it. Unattractive would be having negative traits that clearly outweigh the positive or particularly notable negative traits. The only way your comment makes sense is if you're asking me to draw someone who is like a 5 out of 10 and entirely unattractive at the same time. Of course, that would be super dumb thing to ask, so I assume it's not what you meant.

 

[lacktheknack]

<img width=350>http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/24/364009-1217249342846_super.jpg

I mean, she's certainly not BAD looking by any means, I think she looks pretty good, but the only "hot booster" she has are her tattoos... maybe.

http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab145/Malrang/Catherine_Riven.jpg

http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090704100139/tomclancy/images/b/ba/Anna_grimsdottir.jpg

http://scientificgamer.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/flag.jpg

I had to suffer a burst of unwanted Rule 34 finding this pic, so be grateful! D:<

Actually, as I think about it, I can think of more "not sexy" characters than "sexy" characters.

For example, EVERY generic NPC woman looks "all right".

 

[likalaruku]

I have foreign standards of beauty. Most of my friends just think I have unreasonably high standards, but I just don't agree with the American standards of sexy, especially what constitutes as an attractive man.

 

[Fluffythepoo]

Proposing solutions to problems you read about on internet forums using internet videos as your reference material.. then calls game developers lazy.. this is what happens when teachers prioritise teaching students how to form an opinion over teaching them why they should form an opinion.

 

[mooncalf]

EVERY female in oblivion? okay I guess they have the excuse of all faces female and male being strangely potato shaped and maybe this doesn't consider that the bodies were all average-to-slim build and more or less all the same cup size....

Could always take the proactive route, my DA:O character was a pug-faced female dwarf, and she rocked!

 

[Canadamus Prime]

To everyone who is saying every character in Skyrim, I found many attractive female characters in Skyrim. Or at least ones I found attractive anyway.

 

[jamesbrown]

I personally think that more realistic looking bodies that are better proportioned and dont have the most common superpower are much better looking than conventional ideas of beauty.