Female Gamers: Are you tired of being presented with no dignity?

[sabaducia]

I would usually keep this within the Girl Gamer group... but just in case you haven't joined, or you didn't know it existed, I thought I'd share one of our rants with the rest of the escapist.
From characters to covers, women are repeastedly represented in unrealistic, often impossible (according to physics and anatomy) ways, that are completely IRRELEVENT to their characters. So none of those "What about Superman's chest?" comebacks. He has to be strong to beat the crap out of people, you don't need GG breasts and a leather suit to be a kick-butt lady.
SO girls, what are your thoughts?
PS - I am not saying females are ALWAYS presented this way, just most of the time. A *big* most.

 

[oliveira8]

Sarah Jane don't you have to go hang out with the Doctor and save the universe or something?

Anyway!

May i join?

Yes im guessing its a concern of a lot of female gamers. But then again its what sells, you can see the predicament were in here.

What he said.

P.S: Well, to be honest it's not just in games that female are badly represented...they are mistreadted in every form of entertainment media. Most of the time because there are more men doing entertainment(films, books, games, etc) than women. And when women do entertainment it ends up being stuff mainly for women, thus ignoring the other part of the spectrum.

Either be in proportions of the body or attitude women in media usually suck cause the people behind them don't know how to write them in. So it ends up being like this: make it hot with big breasts and it's only purpose is to hump the main character.

 

[megapenguinx]

Unfortunately we are still in a very male driven culture. It will take some more time for females to be represented better in video games. In the mean time, girls have heroes like Alyx Vance and Samus Aran to look up to instead of the characters from DOA Beach Volley Ball.

 

[Aesir23]

It doesn't upset me very much, but I do get a bit annoyed if I find a game where the main character is some girl with giant breasts, tiny waist and barely enough clothes to qualify as a piece of Kleenex. Or they're dressed in the little japanese schoolgirl outfit and the game is absolute crap as if they thought the main character alone is enough to compensate for all of the faults the game has. But, growing up with games such as Tomb Raider, I guess I've grown used to it.

 

[CrystalShadow]

Having already discussed this within the group, it's still pretty sad that the default presumption is still that how girls themselves might have to deal with it is rarely even considered.

 

[HyenaThePirate]

Isn't having testicles a prerequisite for having 'dignity'?

YHBT with love.

 

[Clashero]

May i join?

Yes im guessing its a concern of a lot of female gamers. But then again its what sells, you can see the predicament were in here.

Do join! I've joined and the group has some of the most intelligent gaming talk I've seen. Plus, it'd be nice to have a man I know* around there as well.

* In as much as you can "know" someone you've never seen.

 

[Arehexes]

Not this again. Who the frack cares about female gamers? Stop whining about girls in video games being hotter than you could ever, ever, ever be. Until they turn all the male characters to fat, greasey, cheeto covered slobs you have no right to complain.
Simple fact is, the majority does not want a fat, acne scarred chick any more than they do in their male leads. Apart from Mario how many ugly, unappealing male main characters are there?
The only thing that really destroys female gamers dignity is when they are seen crying over such a trivial matter.
Society likes pretty people. If you do no like it, do not buy it.

Sorry to say this but this is true, sex sells. And most males are stupid enough to buy any game that
A)Involves shooting and killing (Halo)
B)Has big boobs (Dead or Alive)
C)is a sports game(Madden...idk why it's the same thing each year mostly)
D)Involves shooting and Killing (gears of war)

It doesn't upset me very much, but I do get a bit annoyed if I find a game where the main character is some girl with giant breasts, tiny waist and barely enough clothes to qualify as a piece of Kleenex. Or they're dressed in the little japanese schoolgirl outfit and the game is absolute crap as if they thought the main character alone is enough to compensate for all of the faults the game has. But, growing up with games such as Tomb Raider, I guess I've grown used to it.

Don't forget x-blades

 

[Clashero]

Not this again. Who the frack cares about female gamers? Stop whining about girls in video games being hotter than you could ever, ever, ever be. Until they turn all the male characters to fat, greasey, cheeto covered slobs you have no right to complain.
Simple fact is, the majority does not want a fat, acne scarred chick any more than they do in their male leads. Apart from Mario how many ugly, unappealing male main characters are there?
The only thing that really destroys female gamers dignity is when they are seen crying over such a trivial matter.
Society likes pretty people. If you do no like it, do not buy it.

Don't be so ignorant. There's a difference between Zoe Castillo and, I dunno, Ivy from SCIV. You can be pretty while not being a set of boobs attached to a human body.

 

[Booze Zombie]

You make it sound like men finding a female lead attractive is good for business.

Snark aside, there's nothing wrong with attractive female characters, but I do often find some very exaggerated, and I'm a guy.

It doesn't upset me very much, but I do get a bit annoyed if I find a game where the main character is some girl with giant breasts, tiny waist and barely enough clothes to qualify as a piece of Kleenex. Or they're dressed in the little Japanese schoolgirl outfit and the game is absolute crap as if they thought the main character alone is enough to compensate for all of the faults the game has. But, growing up with games such as Tomb Raider, I guess I've grown used to it.

I played the original Tomb Raider, she did not actually seem to be revealing very much, gotta say...

 

[Aesir23]

Not this again. Who the frack cares about female gamers? Stop whining about girls in video games being hotter than you could ever, ever, ever be. Until they turn all the male characters to fat, greasey, cheeto covered slobs you have no right to complain.
Simple fact is, the majority does not want a fat, acne scarred chick any more than they do in their male leads. Apart from Mario how many ugly, unappealing male main characters are there?
The only thing that really destroys female gamers dignity is when they are seen crying over such a trivial matter.
Society likes pretty people. If you do no like it, do not buy it.

Personally, I'm not complaining about how the character could be more attractive than I could ever be. I'm just annoyed that you see it so consistently that sometimes I wouldn't hurt to have something a little different.

I have the same attitude towards male game characters. You see the guys pumped with steroids so much that it wouldn't hurt to see something a bit different.

 

[RebelRising]

Very few of us guys Scwarzenegger-esque muscles and a gravely voice, but you don't see us complaining, now do you?

That is to say, that's just part of the consumerist culture; beauty, superficial and otherwise, is what sells. It's not going to change what people, by and large, consider marketable standards, however unrealistic they may be. If you're truly insecure about a bunch of pixels and polygons...there's not much anyone can do about that.

 

[BootheSquirrel]

There's things you should focus on before tiny things like women in games being attractive.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I'm a guy, but I hope you don't mind me commenting anyway. Frankly it shocks me that not so much how women are presented, not just in video games, but in the media in general, but how many women seem to just tolerate it and often even encourage encourage it. It just blows my mind. So I find this tread rather refreshing really; and as for the portrayal in video games, you're right, it's crazy. I don't even get why anyone would find that attractive in the first place.

 

[Flying-Emu]

Don't be so ignorant. There's a difference between Zoe Castillo and, I dunno, Ivy from SCIV. You can be pretty while not being a set of boobs attached to a human body.

I could say the very same thing to you. Ivy is in a fighting game. There is no story. There is no character development. She is just there to beat the shit out of you and look good while doing it.
How many fat ugly guys are there in SC huh? Not freaking many if any I will bet.

What about Rufus, from SFIV? SFIV doesn't have much in the way of story.