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

[squid5580]

My question is when did female characters become the representation of female gamers. Or girls in general. This arguement is just as ridiculous as the whole Barbie debate. One which Ken in all of his manly glory is always forgotten about. Games just like every other form of media is meant to entertain. Why aren't guys forming groups against those romance novels with Fabio on the cover? Are we not entitled to self esteem problems as well? I know the answer. It is because most guys are capable of telling the difference between reality and fantasy. I know I will never be the next Arnold and I have accepted that. I will never be as hot as Dante. I can go outside of my door and find people who accept me for how I look. For more importantly who I am. Games and characters in games have no influence on that. I don't consider myself attractive and by the media's standards I am most definitely not. Oh well it is just genes and there is not a bloody thing I can do about it. Well expect rely on what I have on the inside.

 

[Zildjin81]

Well videogame women are generally very attractive, yes. Thats because no one wants to watch an ugly person walk around instead of an attractive one. The same applies to movies. Ever notice how 90% of actresses/actors are very attractive?

 

[Ericb]

Why aren't guys forming groups against those romance novels with Fabio on the cover? Are we not entitled to self esteem problems as well? I know the answer It is because most guys are capable of telling the difference between reality and fantasy.

No, it's because we get a lot more varied representation of ourselves in many genres and medias, from the testosterone-poisoned one man army to the awkward nerd and everything in between.

In videogames specifically, women are massively of the anatomically-impossible hotness variety. Almost ubiquitously.

The Barbie analogy doesn't even apply to this, because I've seen a lot more varied female portrayals in dolls than in videogame characters. Although Barbie itself is of a pretty stupid design.

 

[tsolless]

Women are a lot more pressured to look that way then guys are pressured to look a certain way. Guys will rarely ever get insulted by their peers for their looks to the degree that a girl can. This makes it so these kind of things can be more offensive then if it were a guy.

Alsooooo, women have been subjugated by men for thousands of years and only now is it starting to get a little better so this sort of thing effect them more. It's kind of like how the slang to put down people of colour is more offensive than the slang to put down white people. Context.

 

[hazabaza1]

Okay, listen, and listen well. For one, it's not the female gamers being portrayed as so; it's the female game characters. Also, not all men a sex driven perverts. I'm a teenage male, and all this sexed up stuff annoys me. It is just shameless, and people need to see the real world, etc.

Also, I believe that we as gamers don't care about the Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 siaxis 2 thing. These... beings do. http://www.texastide.com/Frat%20Party%20Fans.JPG
Those people who claim to be gamers, yet will only play something with boobs, muscles, energy swords, and someone who says 'brah' a lot of the time.

 

[squid5580]

Why aren't guys forming groups against those romance novels with Fabio on the cover? Are we not entitled to self esteem problems as well? I know the answer It is because most guys are capable of telling the difference between reality and fantasy.

No, it's because we get a lot more varied representation of ourselves in many genres and medias, from the testosterone-poisoned one man army to the awkward nerd and everything in between.

In videogames specifically, women are massively of the anatomically-impossible hotness variety. Almost ubiquitously.

The Barbie analogy doesn't even apply to this, because I've seen a lot more varied female portrayals in dolls than in videogame characters. Although Barbie itself is of a pretty stupid design.

My stereotype sense is tingling. I don't know how many games you have played but in my experience I have seen a variety of different portrayls of girls and women. Sure some have fallen into the big boob wearing a piece of thread type but I have also seen them portrayed as mothers, daughters and sisters. All wearing normal clothes (well clothes anyways some of them outfits are pretty messed up in a fashion sense). Why am Inot seeing any reference to the mother in Grandia 3. She was fairly attractive wearing normal clothes with her realistic body. Or in most JRPGs were the ladies are wearing layer after layer of clothes that it is impossible to tell what her actual cup size is. The fact that there is some games that portray busty women wearing nothing doesn't mean they all do. Nor does it mean that they are trying to represent women or female gamers. Just because a group of people who think they are special because they label themselves get all sensitive doesn't mean there is anything wrong with a fantasy game or other medium being a fantasy. Frankly if Iwas a women reading this I would be insulted. Simply because I believe most females possess the intelligence to recognize that there is nothing wrong with it, that it is created by the imagination of someone else. And that no game I have ever played has come out and said all women should look and dress like this, just like no game has ever told me to pick up a real gun and open fire.

 

[similar.squirrel]

The industry still caters to teenage males.
And that could and probably will change. Rome wasn't built in a day. Just bear with it and videogames will grow up. You could say the same thing about comic books.

 

[Deleted]

I'm tired of girl gamers complaining about girl characters as well as going "Yeah I'm a girl you surprised?" online. Okay you're a girl gamer more power to ya now let me play my game.

 

[Naheal]

Well videogame women are generally very attractive, yes. Thats because no one wants to watch an ugly person walk around instead of an attractive one. The same applies to movies. Ever notice how 90% of actresses/actors are very attractive?

There's a difference between women being portrayed as attractive, and women being portrayed with no dignity--check the title of the thread.

Ok, wait a minute, Cheeze: by what standards are we going with the "dignity" aspect? Are we wanting to, say, ignore common sense in the fact that if you've got the majority of the male population in a desert setting walking around sans-shirt you're also likely to see women also running around sans-shirt?

Really, aside from the "common decency" clause, I see no reason why a woman in such a setting and society would be wearing a shirt, bra, strip of cloth, or anything for that matter around her breasts, especially when the men around her are wearing absolutely no shirt whatsoever. Really, the only thing that "forces" women portrayed in these settings is our own idea of "common decency". Can you have a woman in the afformentioned setting running around topless with some form of dignity? Yes! If you disagree, I would like to point to the african tribes who exist today and dress in a similar manor.

If we're going to talk about general disposition, though, that's another can that I'm not going to touch. That's an issue with the writer's inability to characterize a good character, not the setting itself.

 

[Connor Lonske]

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.

I do not think Samus is the best example...

 

[Connor Lonske]

Why aren't guys forming groups against those romance novels with Fabio on the cover? Are we not entitled to self esteem problems as well? I know the answer. It is because most guys are capable of telling the difference between reality and fantasy.

No, it's because *guys don't care about romance novels*

To a guy, he wants romance novels to keep Fabio on the cover so we know what it's about, so we don't accidentally buy it.

Games, on the other hand, appeal to women in a way that romance novels don't appeal to guys.

Guys forming groups against those romance novels with Fabio on the cover is like lactose intolerant Jews forming a group calling for Manhattan clam chowder instead of New England clam chowder.

What does being Jewish have to do with your example.

Edit: Sorry for the double post.

 

[squid5580]

Why aren't guys forming groups against those romance novels with Fabio on the cover? Are we not entitled to self esteem problems as well? I know the answer It is because most guys are capable of telling the difference between reality and fantasy.

No, it's because we get a lot more varied representation of ourselves in many genres and medias, from the testosterone-poisoned one man army to the awkward nerd and everything in between.

In videogames specifically, women are massively of the anatomically-impossible hotness variety. Almost ubiquitously.

The Barbie analogy doesn't even apply to this, because I've seen a lot more varied female portrayals in dolls than in videogame characters. Although Barbie itself is of a pretty stupid design.

My stereotype sense is tingling. I don't know how many games you have played but in my experience I have seen a variety of different portrayls of girls and women. Sure some have fallen into the big boob wearing a piece of thread type but I have also seen them portrayed as mothers, daughters and sisters. All wearing normal clothes (well clothes anyways some of them outfits are pretty messed up in a fashion sense).

I think you both missed the point of the thread: the OP didn't mention anything in the initial post about "self-esteem problems." Read the title: this is about being "tired" of female characters being presented with no dignity, not about self-esteem issues from unreasonable models of perfection.

Oh right because it is the size of your tits and the clothes you wear that determine how much dignity you have. It doesn't matter if Lara Croft is portrayed as a well educated archeologist because of the size of her boobs she will never be anything more than eye candy. I am sick and tired of the female gamer representing us gamers in such a way. That is a much bigger problem than "OMG she is wearing a piece of string." Just because developers make women in games well endowed and scantily clothed doesn't affect sales all that much. Did X-Blades hit the top of the charts? Is SF4 getting it's ass kicked by SC4? No because of one simple reason. The MC and the clothes they may or may not wear mean nothing until someone shines a huge political spotlight on it and makes a big deal about nothing. I would be more worried about games like Petz (and any other DS game that uses a Z instead of an S) and how they are representing girls than I would about the thing Ivy wears.

 

[Numb1lp]

You are brilliant.