Girl Gamer's Opinion

[mshcherbatskaya]

@Mobius: Nope, I needed someone to say there wasn't any need for feminism any more, or to have a mod lock the thread. I've pitched out the Bingo card for this thread. I might be able to get Bingo on the Guy Gamer Opinion thread, but I'd have to start all over with a different card and I'm all Bingo'd out for now.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Seriously, I'm tired of posts saying that they are sick of certain threads.

I'm tired of people being tired of posts saying they're tired of certain threads.

I'm also really tired of the people repeating the same arguments across umpteen threads.

But this gets me marked off the bingo card.

 

[Fire Daemon]

Seriously, I'm tired of posts saying that they are sick of certain threads.

I'm tired of people being tired of posts saying they're tired of certain threads.

How meta.

Come on guys, lets not turn this into more pointless bickering. Lets just walk away and play bingo on another thread.

(I don't know why I bother to try and stop internet fights, no one really cares do they?)

 

[Zykon TheLich]

So, just out of curiosity, what the hell does Oojermeflip mean anyway?

Its like thingumabob.


Erm...on topic...because you can sell any old crap by sticking a picture of a scantily clad woman on the front.

 

[Brett Alex]

(I don't know why I bother to try and stop internet fights, no one really cares do they?)

Why? Because you are a lone crusader against corruption and injustice. Why? Because you are the last line defense of against bickering and rancor! WHY?!! Because you are..

Spoiler: Big Pic...You know you want to click it

Yes I have too much time on my hands.

EDIT: Sorry for off-topic-ness, I got carried away.

 

[Fire Daemon]

Armitage Shanks, that was made of win. Epic Win some might say.

And now I have a new personal title.

 

[Russel1]

i agree to some extent.
but ill have to go with the majority of this thread
im sorry if you feel offended (or sick...). ive asked a couple of my female friends about this subject a while ago. none of them had a problem with it. just laughed about its unrealism and boob physics
ur problem

 

[tobyornottoby]

.....I do goddamn wish parents would stop asking me for "a more feminine" color in DS's, and "girl games" though. Ick.

Why? Everyone should have the same taste?

And now for the point that men are exaggerated too... what exactly is blown-up? I'd say men are over-the-top strong, whereas women are over-the-top sexy. Now this might be the problem. Being strong gives you power, independence, let's you do stuff... being sexy is only for others...

Now I think this is way to deeply rooted in our being, but it is quite the problem in 'being equal'

 

[GothmogII]

.No male cares about playing a hulking He-man... because the majority would like, at some level, to be the he-man.

Oddly enough, this does not work the same for women... Because... heres the tricky part, stay with me...

... ready...

... men... and women... are not the same...

WHOAH! So changing all the words around does nothing and has no meaning. Men and women work differently, this is one reason why this whole problem occurs. Making generalizations are half the damn problem.

Of course the other half of the problem is treating men and women too differently... i never said it was an easy issue.

The topic you had this in was locked, so I'll respond here if that's okay Ultrajoe?

Anyway: 'No male cares about playing a hulking He-man... because the majority would like, at some level, to be the he-man.'

This has been bothering me, I've never thought this way about being a male character of this type, have you? I mean, beyond the way in which a lot of people would imagine what it would be like to be different, or someone else at some point in their lives. You really think the the majority of male gamers -only- think of being the biggest, buffest, toughest type of character they can be?

I'll admit, I have used this archetype often, mostly because in a lot of games, you don't really have a choice in the matter. But even when I have had a choice, I have say in City of Heroes made a hulking French Superhero named Le Cog, but less that I've actually wanted to -be- said hulking moustachioed Frenchman, and more that I thought it'd be pretty funny.
Otherwise, I nearly always go for a understated or milder character. I'd much rather be playing the guy standing in the background.

Maybe that's just me? Maybe the majority, the basement bespectacled nerds (which by the way -is- another stereotype, which I'm sure you know anyway) -do- want to be the steroid pumped hero. But, how are we to know this unless said majority is asked?

 

[tobyornottoby]

.....I do goddamn wish parents would stop asking me for "a more feminine" color in DS's, and "girl games" though. Ick.

Why? Everyone should have the same taste?

pink should be outlawed by the geneva convention

Why? Everyone should have the same taste?

 

[kinch]

Why was this thread allowed to go for 7 pages? I think the mods are pandering to the females just a wee bit too much (no offense intended).

 

[Telekinesis]

ITT: Feminism

Also, Samus should be your ideal character... Unless you hate ZSS' boobies.

 

[DannyDamage]

**hasn't read through, sorry**

I agree women are seen in one typical way in most things but it's not just games. There are plenty of girls in films and TV willing to show their bits to be famous and get paid for it. This sells to typical blokes who can't be arsed to have a porn AND a non-porn collection. (why else would you need tits in SO many non tit related things?)

Sadly this bleeds over into the games industry and seeing as the Japanese seem to be the horniest game creating country, their games are tits galore.

As I'm sure someone else will have mentioned, there's plenty of pretty boys for the girls to look at though. Not to point fingers but you ladies have pretty much had the entire FF7 series milked to fook so you can look at said stereotypes.

So it works both ways.

 

[Danny Ocean]

Dannydamage

Oh, it's on.

 

[DannyDamage]

Dannydamage

Oh, it's on.

You don't think FF7 has been milked mainly for the female attention?

 

[Danny Ocean]

Dannydamage

Oh, it's on.

You don't think FF7 has been milked mainly for the female attention?

I won't take threats to my name!

But, I've never played an FF game so I couldn't comment on that.

 

[windfish]

My eyebrows are starting to get a little singed here...

I mostly agree with the OP. And I'm a guy.

The argument that "Oh, male characters are all muscular and sexy as well" is kind of invalid. First off, in most action games, it would be kind of unrealistic for a guy who was not physically fit to be kicking so much ass. Another point is that visual stimulation is stronger in men than in women. It does a lot more for a man to see a scantily clad well-proportioned female that it does for a woman to see a similarly situated man.

I know this has kind of been said, but it's a really good point. Kudos to Monkfish Acc and tendo 82 for these:

It pisses me off that I can never see a female character who isn't one of those irritating tough-gals or a brainless "me am so pretty" bimbo

It sad that there are precious few. Here are some of the good ones:

Samus Aran: Metroid series (Her character is fine, when she's not rewarding good players with shots of her in less and less clothing.)
Alyx Vance: Half-life 2

and... uh...

Shit.

Tendo helps us explain

Female characters don't provide this escapism for women, they provide men with the escapist belief they can have or control a highly sexualized attractive woman. Let's not fool ourselves, female characters in videogames largely exist for the voyeuristic pleasures of male players. The ways in which female videogame players are enhanced and portrayed play up their status as sex objects.

The dichotomy can be rather striking at times. Ryu Hyabusa is given full clothing, with even a little armor, in Ninja Gaiden, but steel-bikini bimbo is given a steel-bikini. That seems so very mean. In combat, an enemy is somewhat less likely to try and cut off your boob that it is to, I don't know, gore your unprotected belly or cut off both your unprotected legs, or basically hit you anywhere else with impunity.

I find myself rather refreshed at characters like Alyx Vance. She feels like a believable friend for all of Half-life 2. She's fit and sexy, but she's wearing something and doesn't throw it around. She's a badass, but she doesn't "munch carpet", to quote Yahtzee. If she did either, I'd be rather flung out of the experience by the sheer lack of realism.