Gaming, Media, Boobies and Poorly Thought-Out Responses: Oh My!

[AndyNPC]

I want an intelligent plot. A woman dressing like that to protect herself from danger isn't all that intelligent. It makes the plot stupid. I don't like stupid plots.

Maybe you shouldn't look for that kind of thing in a retro styled 2D beat em up. A genre that historically has been fairly light on plot. Also maybe you should not expect realism in the fantasy genre. I don't think i have ever seen a fully armored sorceress/ magic user in any game/movie comic ever. Guess you don't need to worry about armore when you are using magic, just a thought.

I wouldn't call it retro style; retro style is where the game has elements for the sake of tradition. I wouldn't call 2D traditional or outdated at all, there are many genres that just work better in 2D. I guess that's a bit off topic though.

 

[The Inquisitive Mug]

Oh look, scores and scores of adults who probably have jobs, and maybe even children, up in arms because someone drew a cartoon of a woman with big tits. There truly is no God.

Oh look, an adult who hopefully has a job, maybe kids, showing their singularity and coolness at not joining in the rabble, and letting everyone know about it. You are truly an inspiration to us all.

inb4 we start passive-aggressively insult each other in the third person.

So my opinion is only valid if I am for or against said issue? If only I would have known sooner that perspective isn't welcome in this discussion.

Dude, welcome to the internet; no one cares about indifferent perspectives to issues, it's not what forums are for.
And the only reason I commented to you was because you, sadly, were the straw that broke the camel's back.

Apparently some people do. MovieBob wrote his last editorial solely about people who are indifferent about this very issue. And this wasn't just a simple "I don't care." Whether you're for or against this big-tittied cartoon sorceress, it's important to remember that's all it is: a big-tittied cartoon sorceress. Perspective does not equal indifference, and I don't see any rules on this site that disallow "comments."

 

[Canton]

There are those who say that the actual intent was to satirise the Western fantasy novel covers of old, which you could probably argue for most of the other characters, the Amazon and Dwarf would definitely fit that, being freakishly muscly and all. The Sorceress is just kinda there, though, and people are flocking to hound this design because it's yet another female character to add to the "Really, guys?" list. When you've got a game that has a roster of exaggeratedly designed characters that seem to have some purpose behind them (even the Amazonian), you're gonna have to reeeeaaaally be prepared to explain yourself when you come out with a giant-breasted woman that seems to be giant-breasted for no/extremely flimsy reasons. Because not everybody is gonna be okay with that.

The Sorceress design seem to fit into the whole exaggerated art direction just fine. It also adds variety to the set: the soft curves contrasting nicely with the Amazon's hard and built, and the Elf's athletic and lithe.

Not to mention

http://i.imgur.com/S0lI5HW.jpg

shows, at the very least, consistency in design thus reinforcing the concept established in Vanillaware's earlier games.

That should be at least as good enough a reason as "satire" is.

edited for spelling

 

[Zero=Interrupt]

I'll just leave this here. No doubt a certain Gearbox "artist" and a certain "writer" will want all of the artist's works burned because they're so exaggerated and sexualized, along with all the libraries, skirts that go too far above the ankle, and the Bill of Rights, because they obviously know better:

 

[Sepko]

Apparently some people do. MovieBob wrote his last editorial solely about people who are indifferent about this very issue. And this wasn't just a simple "I don't care." Whether you're for or against this big-tittied cartoon sorceress, it's important to remember that's all it is: a big-tittied cartoon sorceress. Perspective does not equal indifference, and I don't see any rules on this site that disallow "comments."

I'm not saying you shouldn't be indifferent, I'm just saying no one's going to care, at least not on here.

 

[Something Amyss]

It isn't like someone said "haha, he doesn't like seeing boobs what a [gay slur here], I guess you'd like seeing some naked men wouldn't you boy?".

The problem is, that's pretty much how it comes off.

I don't understand all that fuss surrounding Dragon's Crown. Exaggeration is a concept developers chose.

And people are choosing to dislike it. What's the problem?

We have different games for what different people like, so why all of a sudden does every studio have to make it their mission to cater to a group that doesn't like their game?

Thank God it's only women who take issue here, or this line of thinking might come off as silly.

Consider that the people in market for the game might not be mutually exclusive to the people put off.

We have violent movies and video games, that's offensive to some people but you don't see anyone apologizing for it.

You've never turned on the news, have you?

This is really starting to hurt the industry in a whole in my opinion. We aren't seeing as many foreign games getting localized, and some that do have been censored for having content that is "too explicit" for America. As a video game enthusiast, I really feel like I'm being left behind for living in country that can't take a bit of shock in their media.

None of this is new in the gaming industry, despite the hyperbole here. If anything, it's probably gotten better (in terms of better for risque content), despite all the cries of "slippery slope!" and such.

Honestly, I don't know how old you are, but I remember censorship from the frickin eighties. It hasn't changed or gotten worse.

 

[Canton]

Figured I'd share my own response to this whole debacle.
http://www.dualshockers.com/2013/04/29/the-art-of-dragons-crown-is-perfectly-fine-please-stop-being-paranoid/

Mind you, it isn't a debacle for the developer. It's a debacle for the press.

Hmmm, this is very well put together.

I have always thought that the issue is blown out of proportion but the angle about it threatening to become an act of hypocrisy by the games press never occurred to me and it is quite disturbing.

 

[The Inquisitive Mug]

Apparently some people do. MovieBob wrote his last editorial solely about people who are indifferent about this very issue. And this wasn't just a simple "I don't care." Whether you're for or against this big-tittied cartoon sorceress, it's important to remember that's all it is: a big-tittied cartoon sorceress. Perspective does not equal indifference, and I don't see any rules on this site that disallow "comments."

I'm not saying you shouldn't be indifferent, I'm just saying no one's going to care, at least not on here.

Wonderful for them. And? If people don't care then they'll just keep on reading, not reply to let me know that they don't care, and they they=everyone. Your initial reply was implying that I'm just showing my "singularity and coolness" by letting everyone know that I don't care when in fact I do. I went on to explain myself in the quote above. Telling me after the fact that you still don't care adds less to this discussion than my original post does.

 

[namewon'tfitin]

You must've missed that bit where I asked, and I shall quotebox this:

The Knossos fertility goddess has nice, perky breasts that aren't infringements on my personal space, she's also holding snakes, why can't The Sorceress have been holding snakes? It makes about just as much sense as Triple-inflated water balloons.

And the Artemis statue has a million breasts, why doesn't The Sorceress have that instead? It'd certainly give us a better idea that Kamitani is taking the piss.

"Look at how tenderly she's holding the skul--"
*gigglesnort* okay okay okay, seriously? She's not giving two shits about that skeleton, she's too busy positioning herself so that she can lean back on her cane with her massive arse for counterbalance, while looking at the camera to make sure you're looking at her right. Very motherly.

Yes even that last part is a counterargument because I'm remarking on what's actually happening in that picture.

1. Why the fuck would a necromancer use snakes .
2. WHY WOULD YOU WANT THAT ?
3. And this is the part you completely disregarded everything.

1. For rituals apparently
http://www.thehowlingvoid.com/owod-v20-necromancy.html ctrl+f for "snakes"
Hey, makes just as much sense as giant breasts representing fertility prowess of the undead or whatever.

2. Who wouldn't want that? It'd be freakin' hilarious.

3. By disregard you mean "correctly describe what she's actually doing in that picture"?

1. How would you go about integrating rituals into gameplay may I add ? Does she tell everyone to wait a minute or two while she hacks them up and sews them with dog parts ? Also ,since we haven't seen much gameplay yet, how do you know she won't use them though ?
2. Hilarious for something like a huge boss but not for a player character, it'd be gross.
3. What you don't get is that the point of the Sorceress is to display a stereotype ,as do all of the other characters, .

 

[Canton]

I don't understand all that fuss surrounding Dragon's Crown. Exaggeration is a concept developers chose.

And people are choosing to dislike it. What's the problem?

Apparently those who did dislike it are turning it into an issue of sexism, which is rather disingenuous.

 

[Abriael]

Figured I'd share my own response to this whole debacle.
http://www.dualshockers.com/2013/04/29/the-art-of-dragons-crown-is-perfectly-fine-please-stop-being-paranoid/

Mind you, it isn't a debacle for the developer. It's a debacle for the press.

Hmmm, this is very well put together.

I have always thought that the issue is blown out of proportion but the angle about it threatening to become an act of hypocrisy by the games press never occurred to me and it is quite disturbing.

Isn't it? We're simply turning into what we fought against for years, because it gets more clicks.

It's sad, very sad.

And you know what is even more sad? That there's no real way to push against it. By how writing on the internet works that kind of article WILL get a ton of clicks, and no one can do a single things about it.

The more time passes, the more journos will sniff the business and shift their angle towards utter sensationalism to help their sites stay afloat.

 

[The Inquisitive Mug]

Figured I'd share my own response to this whole debacle.
http://www.dualshockers.com/2013/04/29/the-art-of-dragons-crown-is-perfectly-fine-please-stop-being-paranoid/

Mind you, it isn't a debacle for the developer. It's a debacle for the press.

Hmmm, this is very well put together.

I have always thought that the issue is blown out of proportion but the angle about it threatening to become an act of hypocrisy by the games press never occurred to me and it is quite disturbing.

Isn't it? We're simply turning into what we fought for years, because it gets more clicks.

It's sad, very sad.

I'm offshore at the moment, and this stupid damned internet filter won't let me visit any websites that are even remotely about games. However, I'd really like to read your response. Is it hosted anywhere else?

 

[m19]

Also, this is the first time I've seen that character and holy shit, ahahahahahaha. That's actually something that made its way into a basically finished video game, fucking lol! Some juvenile delinquent kid in my 5th grade class used to draw girls that looked like that (only without the creepy blank, featureless samefaces and wizard hats), and I think he was actually better at it. I also think he's in jail now. This is amazing.

I think the fact the kid was in 5th grade explains adequately the "juvenile" part. Was it necessary to pick on a little kid? And just wondering, by "he's in jail now" did you mean to imply something about anyone who's into sexy character design?

 

[AndyNPC]

This is really starting to hurt the industry in a whole in my opinion. We aren't seeing as many foreign games getting localized, and some that do have been censored for having content that is "too explicit" for America. As a video game enthusiast, I really feel like I'm being left behind for living in country that can't take a bit of shock in their media.

None of this is new in the gaming industry, despite the hyperbole here. If anything, it's probably gotten better (in terms of better for risque content), despite all the cries of "slippery slope!" and such.

Honestly, I don't know how old you are, but I remember censorship from the frickin eighties. It hasn't changed or gotten worse.

It doesn't matter if it's new, it's still happening and it's still bad. There are games getting censored during localization or not getting localized at all due to this negative air surrounding sexual content in video games. Meanwhile, I can go purchase an uncensored BluRay of Strike Withces or even watch it on Netflix. Why can't I get uncensored video games too?

 

[The Inquisitive Mug]

This is really starting to hurt the industry in a whole in my opinion. We aren't seeing as many foreign games getting localized, and some that do have been censored for having content that is "too explicit" for America. As a video game enthusiast, I really feel like I'm being left behind for living in country that can't take a bit of shock in their media.

None of this is new in the gaming industry, despite the hyperbole here. If anything, it's probably gotten better (in terms of better for risque content), despite all the cries of "slippery slope!" and such.

Honestly, I don't know how old you are, but I remember censorship from the frickin eighties. It hasn't changed or gotten worse.

80's censorship of games, or 80's censorship in general?

 

[Mikeyfell]

Well, to be fair the only person in my life who doesn't love boobs is in fact, a gay man... so. Meh?

But the thinking that GIGANTIC BOOBIES is the only thing that men want to see is... to put it as tactfully as possible. silly as fuck.

The sorceress from Dragon Crown does not turn me on. (Mostly because I'm like: "Where are her nipples! Did she lose them in some horrible accident?")

And the Elf is the most covered female and the hottest character in that game by like 1000%

variety in sexy women would be really nice to see, but maybe seeing a woman who's physique lies somewhere in between 10/10 super model sexy and ...uh. Ellie would be even nicer.

Average is a body type that exists, and it should get a little more representation in gaming (And everywhere else)

 

[Reikan]

Let's not sit around and pretend looks mean absolutely nothing. They change how we react to people and our judgement of them without ever talking to them once.

As for the perception in games, this is a known issue. Note to developers though, you dress your female cast like strippers and have them act like strippers, I'ma care about them as much as I do real strippers. Hint: That's not at all. You want me to take a female character seriously, they need to be dressed and act like a person.

 

[CelestDaer]

I would just like to point at Wreck it Ralph, and more precisely, Calhoun. Just... look at her, and tell me she's not a bad ass. That is what I want out of a strong female character. She's massively competent at what she does, and it reflects in her character design and how she acts and speaks. And then, at the same time, she's not 'butch', nor is she sexless, she does soften to Felix's affection, but not until after everything's safe for her to be.

 

[Canton]

Let's not sit around and pretend looks mean absolutely nothing. They change how we react to people and our judgement of them without ever talking to them once.

As for the perception in games, this is a known issue. Note to developers though, you dress your female cast like strippers and have them act like strippers, I'ma care about them as much as I do real strippers. Hint: That's not at all. You want me to take a female character seriously, they need to be dressed and act like a person.

The problem is too much emphasis on the looks rather than people pretending that it means nothing.

Declaring sexism and throwing insult at the sight of a character with big boobs showing cleavage is hardly reasonable.