Female Gamers: Are you tired of being presented with no dignity?
- Thread starter sabaducia
- Start date
Recommended Videos
A other thing I'd think you would concerned about is not so much how females are depicted in games but how female gamers are depicted!
I mean if female gamers are depicted as light minded casual gamers who like nothing but little animals, ponies and sing songs... that's what you're going to get as gamers and thus not getting any of these real female characters in games for you.
On a side note, I'm confused about the Tomb Raider series, I play them on the basis of enjoyable gameplay... not once have I been the stereotypical male for buying into that series.
I mean if female gamers are depicted as light minded casual gamers who like nothing but little animals, ponies and sing songs... that's what you're going to get as gamers and thus not getting any of these real female characters in games for you.
On a side note, I'm confused about the Tomb Raider series, I play them on the basis of enjoyable gameplay... not once have I been the stereotypical male for buying into that series.
Wasn't there a huge outcry because because fat princess displayed an ugly women? I don't really care if there is a character who is the blob's wife or boobarella as long as they are characterised well. I've given up with society so I'll let devs do what they want.
I'm going to have to agree with the people who say "Sex sells, Oh well." Both genders are idealized in games, just like they are in movies, paintings, literature, etc.
I disagree, people don't form opinions as a response to another opinion, they form opinions in answer to a question. But the root of the point is that many people believe that Capcom is racist for involving black people in their games, when if anything it's more racist to make a big deal of it.
There is still a grain of truth in what Avykins stated. There are plenty of videogames where male leads are made to look and act most handsome for female gamers i.e. Final Fantasy X.Clashero said:
Squall from FF8 was based off of Gackt, a famous Japanese singer renowned for his perfect looks. Had nothing to do with the story of FF8. Nothing to do with what Squall could accomplish. It was there to attract female gamers.
Interestingly a few years back a UK teletext gaming magazine called gamecentral asked female gamers to write in with any male videogame characters they fancied and even bought the games solely for the cute male leads. After the results they concluded they were overwhelmed by the amount of girl gamers who wrote in with their lists.
So maybe gaming was sexist 20 years ago, but I know for certain that it now swings both ways.
As for my personal opinion, I think overly sexed up female characters undermine the product. My favourite fighting game is Dead or Alive 2. Whenever I state that, people always assume it's because of the girls. It isn't. It's because it plays near flawlessly.
Anyway, give me a girl with attitude and self respect like Heather from Silent Hill 3 or Victoria McPherson from Still Life over Ivy any day.
Heer-heer!Ninja_X said:
And all men should be the Hot-pants-wearing, 12-foot-sword-carriying transvestites from said JRPGs!
Squall is the only JRPG character I can stand. He has a nice choice in weaponry.Terramax said:
I'd say women have more unrealistic characters and more that you'd think would cause developers a good amount of shame. But keep in mind those characters are there to sell the game to the horny, pre-pubescent male demographic, so how do you think WE feel about the fact developers think they need to have that in there to sell us on a game, or else we're going to walk (See: Ninja Gaiden 2 review, Zero Punctuation)? They may portray a bad image of you, but at least it's an obvious fakery. For men, the developers honestly believe they need this to make us buy a game and that's the most insulting part of this whole debate.
And when you think about all the bad-ass action hero men in games, you don't think any of those aren't highly unrealistic and that their character isn't really benefited by that? Take Marcus Fenix for example. Is the fact he's the size of a professional body builder (or most of Delta Squad for that matter; the only one who has an excuse is Cole because he played football) necessary for him to be a soldier? I'm sure it helps a bit but, as the OP said, 'repeastedly (sp) represented in unrealistic, often impossible ways, that are completely IRRELEVENT to their characters'. So it's not an issue for just women in my books.
And when you think about all the bad-ass action hero men in games, you don't think any of those aren't highly unrealistic and that their character isn't really benefited by that? Take Marcus Fenix for example. Is the fact he's the size of a professional body builder (or most of Delta Squad for that matter; the only one who has an excuse is Cole because he played football) necessary for him to be a soldier? I'm sure it helps a bit but, as the OP said, 'repeastedly (sp) represented in unrealistic, often impossible ways, that are completely IRRELEVENT to their characters'. So it's not an issue for just women in my books.
People point out Ivy as an example of huge tits and no developement. But have you ever read her background story?sabaducia said:
Whats wrong with having both?Wikipedia said:
Sure its unrealistic having her wear that to a fight, but this is from a game that introduced this
Terramax said:
I for one have always disliked how women are represented in most video games. They are used more as selling points for the game itself rather than plot driven characters for the actual story. This makes sense because quite frankly there are alot of guy gamers but it underlines the disrespect that video games get as a medium of entertainment. There has been some progress but there can be more.
I would like to cite Fallout 3 and Mass Effect as examples of progress in this field. In Fallout 3 there was no attempt to exploit female characters "essentials" with flimsy clothing, no Power Armor Bikin's or anything of the sort. And raider chicks dont count because you often blew them up into a bunch of tiny pieces before you remembered to check them out, and other exceptions aside the game was boringly chaste. In Mass Effect I was a little dissapointed because anyone smart enough to outwit a blind monkey at chess could imagine what Ashley Williams looked like nekid while in her "military grade" armor. But atleast she had a place in the story rather than just as a pit stop in bed on the way to fight the bad guy.
So ya its getting better, games are getting more serious and are held up to higher expectations from a more serious customer base.
And Terramax I have two complaints against you're argument.
1) Tidus is a whiny ***** whose only redeeming quality is that he is a sports jock. He doesnt quite strike me as the type of guy a girl gamer would like. Squall makes more sense but thats only because he was the strong silent type... And he has a better sword.
2) 20 years ago games didnt have enough pixels to simulate cleavage.
It's because a lot of guys are jerks and only will pay attention to breasts bigger than the sun. (slight sarcasm) I personally don't care for the moon sized CG breast and even in real life there's a limit. (So says the 14 year old boy raised by his mom and sister) Personally I don't really care for a lot of the stereotypes that every guy will drool over the girl with the biggest boobs. And that carries over to video games a thousand times over. CG girls are actually kind of creepy.
Yes but isn't that the same for film and television as well?Mosstromo said:
Look at the curvey women in bikinis in Basshunter music videos . Sienna Miller in the new G.I. Joe film. The endlessly big-breasted women presenting television shows.
Why is it that women are more acceptable for women (and men) to be overtly sexualised in these mediums but are absolutely appauled by it in videogames?
I mean, asking all the girl gamers out there, how many of you have gone to watch a movie because it starred Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, or some other famous, sexy male lead? I'll bet you all have at some point.
In my eyes it's the same thing. Many of those actors aren't talented. Their looks aren't essential to the roles. They're not paid $15,000,000+ for their talent. They're paid it for their sex appeal. So what's the difference?
Returning to Mosstromo's original point, actors like Brad Pitt act out 'normal' characters but he's above normal looking. He's been considered the sexiest man on the planet numerous times. He's a millionnaire married to whom many considered the sexiest woman in the world. How is anyone supposed to believe him as an average Joe in a film? We're not. He's paid to spend half of the film playing out his role with his shirt off for the women.
So my point is, fair enough, I can understand and even agree with women gamer's problems with their portrayal in videogames. But if you're going attack the videogame industry for it, I'd like you all to attack all other industries for it also AND I don't want to see you all paying for a product ever just because it includes a male star that you fancy.
But I know that's never going to happen. Because many women can't admit they're just as guilty of it as men are.
Er, it was me that made those quotes, not The Austin.Venatio said:
But to answer your questions 1.) girls DID dig into Tidus. Simple as. You can't understand it. I can't. But girls DID.
2.) Videogames were considered to be a boys only hobby 20 years ago and unless they were specifically targetted for girls i.e. a My Little Pony game, were always targetted at boys. And this was, as you said, before they used cleavage to sell them. Hell, even girls/ women used to degrade videogames as a boys only hobby back then.
Now, games are targetted at both genders by selling sex to both genders.
