Bringing a Bikini to a swordfight (Girls and games)

[GrizzlerBorno]

A physically attractive young woman, who never once gets angry with a character without personality so as to be as close to the player as possible, always praising him & asking him for help, & eventually outright flirting with him, maybe?

Fair enough, though is that really how you define sexually attractive? The capabilty for women to get mad at you? oh well, to each his own i guess. :/

I see what you're saying, but would argue that that problem is a fault of the games mechanics, particularly that you have to play as, essentially, a lamppost with legs (Half-Life's big FAIL imo), not the fault of the character of Alyx. If they let you interact with the NPCs even a little bit, a la fallout-style, and let the player decide the quality of the relationships that Gordon has with the people around him, it would have completely removed this problem by allowing some people to flirt with her, while others became good friends.etc. depending on your choices. To me, the non chalant but bordering-on-doting attitude she has feels like something she is forced to "act" because the game directors told her to. Sure that breaks immersion for me and renders HL2 into something that is NOT the very pinnacle of game design as the critics tote it to be, but that's not the point.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

Wait, what? No, quite the opposite.

What do you mean?

So what you're saying is if freed from the script of HL2, Alyx would not be a sexualised character?

Well........yes, but not necessarily. I guess i'm saying that she is, to me, a good, solid, non-sexaulised character who is being held back by the script and mechanics of HL2. I don't think she's sexualised IN the game either, but you do, and i guess that's understandable. If Half-Life had better mechanics, or if she was a character in Fallout (there are in fact MANY characters like her in Fallout 3 and NV although i haven't played the latter. remember Sara Lyons, the iron-fisted but likable, though not as fleshed out, leader of Lyons Pride?) or Mass Effect (Again many such examples like Tali, Liara....not Miranda but lets not get into that please) she would be hailed even more so, as the advocate of women's empowerment in gaming.

As it is, i appreciate what she does in such a narrow, linear situation and believe she deserves all the credit she gets.

 

[DanielDeFig]

This problem seems to be more rooted in the general Mass media culture of the affluent world ("The West").

How often do we see giant posters of young half-naked women? How often are those posters actually ads for underwear/swim-wear?

How often do we see giant posters of young half-naked MEN? how often are THEY ads for underwear/Swim-wear?

All i'm trying to say is that arguments such as "sex sells" or "empowering women through sexualization" sound really pathetic when no-one in the business seems interested in empowering young men equally (how many young men actually feel fully comfortable about themselves sexually?), or refusing to sell anyone else's sex except women's.

I'm a heterosexual male, and i love video games. But i get ticked of that finding women interested in games is rare, and the ones i know (including my sister) keep telling me that they feel left out and forgotten as consumers. And when i look at mass media in general, including games, i understand what they are talking about. I just can't fully empathies, because as a white heterosexual male, the mass media is aiming to meet MY needs.

 

[Halo Fanboy]

I would have to imagine that a person who coundn't name 10 chicks who don't look slutty has not played many fighting games or character based shoot em ups. About half if not more of the female characters in those games do not look slutty. At least the very child like and innocent character and the conservatively dressed woman are always there to not be slutty.

 

[Netrigan]

Funny story, I have just as many recorded Combine-induced deaths as I do deaths attributed to Vance's stupidity.

This puzzles me, because she's about the only NPC companion I haven't cursed on a regular basis. She's got pretty high hit-points, so she doesn't die easily. There's a couple of Combine assaults where I've seen her die, but that's usually because I took a lot of damage early on and was trying to hide in a corner to avoid dying... which seems a bit hypocritical. If I wasn't sucking in the fight, I wouldn't have been hiding, and she wouldn't have died while doing all the work.

Seeing Vance in Half-life is never a good thing. She brings no good news, ever, and anytime you see her, you know you life is about to involve fire, pain, being shot at, being asked to do stupidly hard or dangerous things, being made to do things the hard way, or combination of the former.

Umm, that's the game. Half-Life is all about being asked to go to the next room, having something blow up before you get there, then having to the next hour climb up stuff, swimming through radioactive goo, blowing something up, finally getting there... only to find out what you're looking for is in the next room and you have to go through the entire process again. She's just the human face on Valve's design mechanic. Now, if she was telling you that you had to go through all that to get her purse, hatred would surely follow. But in the game, sometimes she's rescuing you, sometimes you're rescuing her, often you're rescuing one of the scientists who are helping you out (very often her father), and so on. The game is all about plot complications on top of plot complications... without ever revealing much of anything about the underlying plot.

And she's definitely not helpful. Oh look, I fell into a hole that you failed to warn me about for the 5 fucking time. And now you're going to make snide comments, instead of doing something useful, LIKE PICKING UP THE ROPE WE SAW NOT MORE THAN FIVE MINUTES AGO AND HELPING ME UP.

At least Ayane or Lara would've had the common sense to be snide after they helped out of the hole.

Assuming this is part of the plot and not just you being stupid and falling into a hole because you weren't looking where you're going (it's been so long since I played HL I really can't remember if this was part of the game or not)... making snide comments to people who have fallen down holes is a time-honored tradition in TV and movies. Because, let's face it, you weren't looking where you were going and fell down a hole.

Plus, this is all part of the Valve design philosophy where being asked to walk across a room to pick up a book results in five hours of game play. If you're given a task, there is no quick and easy way to complete it. Something always goes wrong and you have to jump through hoops to finally complete your task.

This actually goes a long way toward explaining my disillusionment with the series. Four entries into the Combine Saga and we don't know any more about the underlying plot than we did in the first hour of Half-Life 2.

And probably would shoot me in the back less too.

There has never been a NPC companion who didn't shoot you in the back or jump in front of your gun on a regular basis. At least you don't fail a mission because some suicidal jackass positions himself between you and an enemy during an intense fire-fight like has happened far too many times to me in Call Of Duty. I seem to recall there is no Friendly Fire in Half-Life, so it's really no harm, no foul.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

I see never once getting angry at you & complimenting you constantly as a sexual thing. At least in a game.

Oh okay.

I can see that, yes. But HL2 is the only canon thing we have Alyx in, & therefore I don't really think it should count. I'm sure Bayonetta would be a great example of an empowered woman if she dressed a little more modestly & acted a little less lewd, as per the devs' direction.

I agree with you about Sara Lyons, & can think of no-one more deserving for the title Alyx holds in this article.
Tali, not so much.

yeah.....yeah, i guess. But maybe in HL:Episode 3? Alyx deserves to be made into an awesome'er character, and so does Lyons, but unfortunately she wasn't as we barely know anything about her.

Also, (i'll take the bait) What's wrong with Tali? I thought she was an awesome character in both games, with some great concepts masterfully penned and executed to her name.

 

[XenonZaleo]

This thread reminds me of one of the rules of the Internet, which says

Rule 51: Whatever it is, It's someone's Fetish.

The point being that men sexualize women pretty much no matter what. That isn't to say it's the only thing they think of regarding those women, but it is a part of it. I mean, look at Chun-Li. She's completely covered. But she's been the object of gamers sexual fantasies for nearly twenty years now. It's nothign the GAME did. It's what the players did.

Additionally, part of this article's problem is that it objectifies women in order to point out that women are objectified. What do I mean? The article considers the character's appearance above all else. I don't like Tomb Raider, and yes, Lara Croft was held out as a sex symbol, but the games themselves treat her like a person. Even DOA, well known for the size of the female's bosoms, takes the time to give all the women a relatively detailed background and motivation set, most of which have nothing to do with so called "girly" motivations (Hitomi being the exception).

The point being is that women with DD-Cups are people too. They can have complex motivations and emotional stories. That the author of that article couldn't pay attention to what Miranda was saying because he was too busy staring at her knockers is a common male problem, but isn't one that's the fault of the game. Tifa may not have had a whole lot of backstory, but Lulu's got quite a bit, and there are many others.

 

[Wolfram23]

That's a pretty decent article. I found all the ads and screens of that new MMO, Tera, to be so ridiculous for exactly this reason. The females are hyper sexualized. I don't think that sort of thing needs to be completely removed from a game but at least give it some context. Bikini to a Sword Fight is the perfect description of how ludicrous it is. I mean, really. In particular with an MMO, if you want to make sexy clothes available that's fine, but your battle armour shouldn't be in that category... Of course, the men are usually also being portrayed as giant he-men so... yeah (although surprisingly, WoW males are generally not so beefy)

 

[LetalisK]

I stopped reading when he went after Miranda from ME2(while ignoring Jack, btw, jesus christ). She's a cold ***** that covers up almost entirely for all but an optional 10 seconds of the game. But no, if a female character has any hint of basic human characterization about attraction, she's a fucking whore. Quit confusing purposely scantily clad eye candy with basic human experience.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

Bleh, it's getting late.
She came across to me as a bit "Oh Shepard, I am so troubled. Please hold me"

Mind you, I haven't finished either game. Not a fan of the series.

Eh you're right (about the late thing, although i suspect he have totally different time zones) lets leave that for another time.
Well, pleasure talking to you.

 

[A Weary Exile]

Spoiler

A well meaning but flawed and condescending article. You may question the lack of great female role models in games...but where exactly is this deluge of great male role models? Marcus Fenix? Nico Belic? Duke Nukem? There are a few standouts, but let's be honest, male characters in the most popular games are known for their actions rather than their intellect. You say that women in games have unrealistic physical attributes that are beyond the aspirations of most real women...but what about men? How many men do you know in real life who look like, and have the 'skills' of Commander Shepherd, Chris Redfield or Nathan Drake? Arguably women understand the difference between reality and their protrayal in a video game better then men do. Women know that they are not Miranda Lawson, whereas a lot of pudgy-bellied guys who inhabit the sofa on their parent's basement struggle to understand that while on Xbox Live they are a god (hiding behind the moniker iPwnNoobs or something equally original), in real life they are not international men of action and intrigue. The video game world, like that of movies or fashion magazines, is full of characters of the like you will never be or never know. That is why we consume these type of media - to experience something that is not part of everyday life. And the vast majority of us know this fact. Not all gamers are stupid.

This guy has the right idea. Men are portrayed just as unrealistically in games as often as women, only it seems that men care less about that sort of thing. I have always seen this as a non-issue since most people seem to imply that this applies only to women in games.

I would prefer having more relatable characters instead of muscle-bound supermen and Bad ass action chicks, but that's apparently what a lot of people go for.

 

[Halo Fanboy]

wearign a bikini during a swordfight, I'm a chick and its not the sexualisation that bothers me as much as SHE IS GOING TO GET STABBED DUH!!! its just impractical and you know theyre doing it because of boobs

I think the designers cared more about style rather than practicality in those situations.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

I have to say I disagree on the Final Fantasy point on so many levels. The characters in those games are usually equally sexualised and there few stronger female characters than Aeris and Beatrix. Although more so Beatrix. What is wrong with Yuffie stealing she isn't even remotely sexualised? What the fuck does stealing have to do with women as sex objects?

 

[TheTim]

the only prominent non-sexualized character i can think of is Elena Fisher from Uncharted 1 and 2