Why are 'sexy' characters considered bad?

[Jewrean]

Because EVERY character is made out to be a sexy female. You never see plain or homely characters unless they are villainous or about to be killed. It's extremely cliched and breaks the realism seeing gorgeous women take on the role of a Spy, a race car driver, a super soldier, etc etc etc!

 

[2xDouble]

Extra Credits summed it up quite nicely (especially towards the end):And this week's episode [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/2868-True-Female-Characters] as well.

 

[MasterChief892039]

Bit of a duplicate thread

But usually it has little do with sexiness being "offensive" and more to do with the fact that "sexy" is usually used as an excuse not to develop a character any further.

 

[Marik Bentusi]

There's nothing inherently wrong with sexiness, there's a place for everything. There's a place for kids films and 8-part-melodramas as well.

It's just that people have had enough of the average "sexy" character which design was built around that specific quality with a certain and very obvious intention in mind. Many sexy characters are just supposed to lure in an audience and stay flat, two-dimensional posters. Outer appearance as a core element of design never makes for a good, believable character.

It's the same with weak-willed and strong-wiled characters. I can't stand a swamp of superweak-willed fragile princesses waiting for Prince Charming as much as a swamp of superstrong-willed females that juggle so many problems with so little effort they reach into Sue territory. A good character always has a mix of traits and backs them up with an origin story and/or character development happening throughout the game and a good game always features an interesting diverse cast where strong and weak wills complement each other.
It doesn't have to be a politically correct rainbow spectrum of characters, but you get the idea of variety being spice and extremes rarely being helpful.

(Maybe "sexy" needs to be defined a bit more since many characters and especially protagonists are idealized to some degree, but I hope you know what I mean without me trying to explain the specific use of the word here for paragraphs over paragraphs to make it waterproof)

 

[Veylon]

I'll put bluntly my main objective to provocatively dressed heroines: it's stupid. You can't possibly tell me that someone wearing cleavage-exposing bikini armor is fit to go adventuring. These quests tend to go into acid swamps, across blistering deserts, up freezing mountains, and down into flaming caverns. Anyone wearing the skimpiest go-go outfit with freaking high heels is too dumb to live. Case in point: Fran.

 

[ShadowsofHope]

They should be treated with the same respect that male characters are given.

..Female characters need to be filled with testosterone, made extremely gruff in appearance and have voices that sound like gravel is pouring out their throat?

Huh.

...are you seriously that stupid? Please tell me you're trying to be funny.

Also, way to miss the point of my post entirely.

No, I wasn't being serious.

However, I would appreciate a little more of an elaboration for your statement nonetheless. In what regards to male characters and the standard they currently hold do you wish female characters should be able to reach more often?

 

[Something Amyss]

I just figure I'd ask this, especially to the 'games are art' crowd that I unfortunately consider myself a member of.

I don't quite understand why characters that are outright sexy or dress provocatively are considered bad - yes, I can understand the value of characters like Alyx Vance and such - strong and not outright provocative characters that are more than just 'females.' But what prevents sexy characters from being good, assuming sexiness isn't their only quality?

Just a thought, really.

Loaded question, since you rarely (if ever, but I'm affording for the possibility) hear people complain about a well-done sexy character.

Although there's debate on Bayonetta, though that comes down more to whether or not you think she's well-done or hypersexualised to tell to teenage boys.

Sex without substance is a crutch. Sex with substance is often superfluous, but it's not exactly bad by itself. Though in the topic on big breasts, there was raised the question as to why a warrior monk is showing off her cleavage so incessantly....

 

[Nocturnal Gentleman]

My problem with it is what many game developers consider "sexy" in the first place. Most of the time sexy characters just look like unholy abominations to me. More than anything all I can think of is stuff like:

"Wouldn't her back hurt like shit to be jumping around with so little support and have breasts the size of beach balls? In fact, how do they even stay up?"

"Why would you fight anything dressed like that? How do you not get murdered immediately?"

"Holy shit, that guy had to be taking steroids since middle school to be that huge."

"Is that a man or a woman? It's a man? They lie."

 

[lucky_sharm]

A character can be as sexy as they like so long as they're actually characters with a three dimensional personality with a somewhat plausible reason for dressing...er...sexily. Morrigan from Dragon Age, for instance.

 

[CManator]

Sexiness is fine, but not when it's the only aspect of the character. Take Yuna from FF10 for example

In FF10, Yuna was very well developed. She was timid yet strong willed, naive but not stupid. She was a damsel in distress but could bring the pain when she needed to. She was willing to sacrifice everything to bring happiness to the world, yet it still terrified her. Seeing everything she believed in crumble all around her only strengthened her resolve. And she was sexy, despite her modest clothing.

In FF10-2 Yuna was reduced to a pistol wielding pop singer in tight revealing clothing, and all she wanted was to get her boyfriend back. Sexy yes, but not much else going for her, and the game suffered for it. (amongst other reasons)

They can make characters as sexy as they want, but sexiness cannot carry a game (edit: or a character) by itself.

 

[Marik2]

Because usually "Sexy" is their only quality.

This^^^^

So much.

Sexy is very fine and most desired but for love of the noodly one give them some fucking depth beyond 'nice body'

Yup pretty much.

 

[Clarkarius]

The problem is that it becomes the characters primary trait, or in some cases there only trait.
True there are many views as to why they are bad, in the end it all comes down to lazy characterisation.

However providing a character has more depth then a spoon and has more important traits to fall back on then no one minds.

 

[Zhukov]

Because "sexy" characters do not act like actual people. They don't even act like idealized or dramatized versions of people. Instead they act like the fantasies of a 14-year-old boy. And, quite frankly, I'd rather not be playing through a 14-year-old boy's wanking fodder.

Basically, if sexuality or promiscuity is part of a character's personality then sure, that's great. (Jack from ME2 comes to mind.) But if sexuality or promiscuity is the entirety of a character's personality and is just there for the sake of pandering, then... not so great.