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

[Sunder845]

I will now endeavor to win this thread.

As some enlightened people above me mentioned, "Sex Sells"

You, female gamer, are a very very small demographic. In the overall scheme of things if females accounted for perhaps 20 percent of game sales I would be fucking shocked.

So, lets just say for arguments sake, that game sales are in fact 20% female buyers, and of that 20% perhaps 2% wont buy a game because of particularly busty side character. So, what we are left with is 98% of game sales going through as planned, irregardless of opinion.

Now, if I were a game developer/producer, I wouldn't be worried about that 2% of radical female gamers who cant just seem to shrug it off, what I would be trying to do is identify and increase the size of my target consumer group. In this case, the males ages 18-30 who make up 70% of my sales figures.

And how do I do that?

Fucking Boobs.

If you look at it in hard numbers, if the prospect of epic boobage leads to increased advertising effectiveness, and in turn increases the sales by lets say 15%, they have already outsold the 2% of females who don't want to buy the game many times over.

Straight up, here it is, Video game companies, specifically the big producers, don't give two shits about artistic quality, or accurately rendered and believable characters. That's right miss, Video game companies exist for only one reason and it is simply to make money. And advertising to your target demographic, is an effective way to accomplish that.

Before I put on the flamesuit, I fully admit that those numbers probably exist nowhere outside my head. But the fact remains that game sales are firstly made up of Males ages 18-35, secondly males 35-50, and then the female gamers start in.

Flame away

 

[squid5580]

It isn't like the market has no room for both tpes of games. Infact it is already fairly diverse. And it isn't like you are missing much passing on X-Blades. If you wanted you could find a similar game with male characters with ease.

And...that further muddies exactly what you're trying to say about the relationship between game sales and the sex in X-Blades.

First you tell me it "doesn't affect sales all that much"; then you tell me that "we run out in the millions to buy" these kinds of games because of a "need to reproduce that is causing the problem"; now you tell me that it "isn't like the market has no room for both tpes of games."

What exactly are you trying to say?

You might wanna try rereading since I never said anything about millions running out to buy them.

I know how the market works. It is us consumers who have the power. Not the developers, not the big name companies, gamers have the power. So the bottom line is you are blaming the wrong people. You should be blaming yourself along with all of us. It is after all our built in need to reproduce that is causing the problem. Not the fact that they may use a bit less clothes than they could have to sell a game. A game we run out in the millions to buy.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.138610?page=14#3137741

Infact I said they don't usually sell very well anyways.

Um, right--that's my point. You did say that. And later you said "we run out in the millions to buy" them. That's what saying someone contradicted themselves means.

And there isn't sex in X-Blades. There is just a girl wearing skimpy clothes. There is a difference.

Granting that for the sake of argument, how is that distinction relevant to the question of whether you contradicted yourself, telling me that those kind of games "don't usually sell very well anyways" before telling me later "we run out in the millions to buy" them?

Yes because if they don't sell there isn't a problem. So for there to be a problem why we must be going out in the millions and buying up games like X-Blades. otherwise you are just bitching about a few games designed for a niche group. And it goes back to the store analogy of your head exploding when you walk into a grocery store because the shelves are lined with stuff you don't like. So take your pick. Are you bitching for the sake of bitching or are you bitching because the industry put out a game that does not appeal to you?

 

[WhiteTiger225]

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.

Well lil' miss realism... Sex sells... Muscle Bound He-men sell... Big 50 caliber rifles that don't knock you on your ass (Which defies physics) after being fired while standing up sells, giant mutant tomato men that satisfyingly explode into a red blood mess from so much as a slingshot sell. Giant Mutants using firehydrants on the end of a pipe as a club sell.... and your complaint is the oversexualization of female characters? Oi!

 

[AwesomeNinjaPowers]

The game industry seems to mostly be based on the old adage 'sex sells' which sadly is true, but hey if I have to take my games with gratuitous T and A and a side order of raging ****, then that's how I'll take em but dammit I don't have to like it! But what's a girl to do? Play games with Neanderthal commando oh make things go boom! guys in? No thank you.

 

[lizimal]

I guess I have a couple points here.

First, what about male characters like Gordon Freeman, hardly a muscle bound idiot? There's been a lot of really good male characters in games over the years, in games of almost every type that I can think of. There's been very few really good female characters, though. I find it kind of depressing sometimes. I mean, even in the awesome Batman: Arkham Asylum, Harley Quinn has gone from her original incarnation as a relatively within normal boundries shaped woman, to a hugely bust inflated creature. Why? Do giant boobs make her a better character? No. Would the new outfit still be awesome without the exaggerated curves? Yep. So, I don't get it. There's no real reason to do that to her, but it's done anyway.

I guess my point is, with male characters, there's generally a reason in the story if their bodies are exaggeratedly masculine, (ie: Batman has made himself into the ultimate crime-fighting weapon by improving his body *and* mind to the point where he has no peer) but there's never a good reason, besides sales, for women being exaggeratedly feminine, to the point of grotesqueness.

To people who say 'sex sells', well yeah, admittedly, but the point here is, I don't think women are buying all the games with 'muscle bound he-men' in them, and most men aren't buying them for that, so it's very different. Female gamers just want a good game to play as much as the next person, but let's admit it, although most of us aren't ugly, noone on earth is built like most female video game characters. Male characters aren't sexualized in the same way as female characters, and the industry isn't trying to sell to us, even though we make up an ever growing part of the video game consuming public, they're still trying to sell to the same audience they had in 1990.

It's time for the industry, and its consumers, to grow up a little, don't you think?

 

[Marbas]

It's time for the industry, and its consumers, to grow up a little, don't you think?

As long as it's making money?

No, unfortunately. And I'll just have to stick to fighting games and indie games.

 

[squid5580]

So for there to be a problem why we must be going out in the millions and buying up games like X-Blades.

I can't figure out what you're trying to communicate to me--that sentence doesn't make sense. Could you restate it?

Simple if this female portrayl is such a huge problem games that use scantily clad ladies and no gameplay must be taking over the market. They must be filling the shelves with just T & A. You know since the market is limited so there is only enough room for X many game titles and apparently all those titles are of scantily clad hot digital ladies. If this is the case there is a problem.

 

[Altio]

I'm not even a woman and *I'M* tired of women being presented with very little dignity.

Gaming needs more female rolemodels like Alyx Vance.
I cannot think of a single better written female character in any video game to date.

Im a mother effing DOG and IM tired of women being presented with very little dignity. But in all seiousness, how can you expect to not be portrayed badly when there are several girls in meadia that promote this crap, and the girls that stand against it just whine about it to people on message boards.

And about the normal male character thing, has anybody played friggin Braid? This guy looks like someone who trolls 4chan (I know he's an adult, he just LOOKS like that) and yet he can muster the strength to keep on searching for his princess when all the castles are filled with dinsaurs. For those of you that havent played Braid, what is wrong with you?

EDIT: And I know Im late on the bandwagon here, I know its page 16.

 

[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.

The school girl outfit thing creeps me out. Seems like pedo-fodder. Obviously I'm not the first person to think about that, but apparently it hasn't been said enough.

It doesn't help that the whole school girl thing seems to be a fetish if popular culture is to be believed.

 

[squid5580]

So for there to be a problem why we must be going out in the millions and buying up games like X-Blades.

I can't figure out what you're trying to communicate to me--that sentence doesn't make sense. Could you restate it?

Simple if this female portrayl is such a huge problem games that use scantily clad ladies and no gameplay must be taking over the market. They must be filling the shelves with just T & A. You know since the market is limited so there is only enough room for X many game titles and apparently all those titles are of scantily clad hot digital ladies. If this is the case there is a problem.

What does that have to do with my point that you're contradicting yourself by saying in one post:

"never said anything about millions running out to buy them"

after saying in a previous post:

"they may use a bit less clothes than they could have to sell a game. A game we run out in the millions to buy."

Yes they may use a bit less clothes to sell a game. They may not. Operative word there is MAY. I figuresd since you were so grammaritically correct and not a "straw man" you would understand how a word like may doesn't mean will or does. Fable 2 sold very well and had the ugliest female character ever. X-Blades with a hottie sold poorly. So what does that tell you? Until you get

A) you can get an accurate number of X-Blade type titles vs titles that have modestly dressed women or no women at all on Western shores

B) you can get an accurate number of how many of those people buying all these games are influenced by the tits and not because the game is good or bad

Then you will have a defense instead of just posting out of your ass.

 

[squid5580]

So for there to be a problem why we must be going out in the millions and buying up games like X-Blades.

I can't figure out what you're trying to communicate to me--that sentence doesn't make sense. Could you restate it?

Simple if this female portrayl is such a huge problem games that use scantily clad ladies and no gameplay must be taking over the market. They must be filling the shelves with just T & A. You know since the market is limited so there is only enough room for X many game titles and apparently all those titles are of scantily clad hot digital ladies. If this is the case there is a problem.

What does that have to do with my point that you're contradicting yourself by saying in one post:

"never said anything about millions running out to buy them"

after saying in a previous post:

"they may use a bit less clothes than they could have to sell a game. A game we run out in the millions to buy."

Yes they may use a bit less clothes to sell a game. They may not. Operative word there is MAY. I figuresd since you were so grammaritically correct and not a "straw man" you would understand how a word like may doesn't mean will or does.

What does that have to do with the fact that in one post you told me the choice in games to "use a bit less clothes" "doesn't affect sales all that much" and then you tell me in another post that "we run out in the millions to buy" these kinds of games?

People don't buy games that MAY "use a bit less clothes to sell a game": by the time "we run out in the millions to buy" a game from, you know, Amazon or Best Buy or GameStop or some fine indie retailer, the game DOES or DOES NOT.

Maybe you buy your games from Schrodinger's big box store, but the rest of us buy games where the ass cheeks do or do not hang out of the bottom of the lead female character's shorts prior to the purchase collapsing the wave form.

Some might think you're just engaging in "stereotypical ramblings" if you're willing to say anything--even if it contradicts something you made a point of earlier--just to prove your issues with "bra burning feminists" aren't baseless whining.

WE MAY RUN OUT IN MILLIONS!!!!!!!!!!! Try keeping it in context for your "rational" discussion.

And maybe I do buy games for the nice ass on the cover. So what? What is your problem with what I like? Until the day comes where I force you to buy and play them you are just an arrogant poster who can't accept the fact other people like things you don't! GET OVER IT!!! IT ISN'T DOOMING THE INDUSTRY. IT ISN"T THE ONLY TYPE OF GAME ON THE MARKET.

And if the other bolded part means anything to you well done since it is just a bunch of gibberish to me.

 

[Gyrefalcon]

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.

Is it why YOU buy the games/movies/fill-in-the-blank? If it isn't, then why continue to repeat it like a mantra? Surely by now there is SO much of it out there that it isn't that innovative or interesting anymore is it?