Increasingly skinny women in video games?
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I seem to remember Sophia from Assassins Creed Rev being relatively curvy, but that's only 1 example.
Well, everybody knows the more muscly and the more armour men wear, the more protected they are from swords, arrows and various other weapons.
And, since women are the opposite of men, the less of a body they have and the less armour they wear, the more protected they are in battle.
Ladies and gentlemen, science.
And, since women are the opposite of men, the less of a body they have and the less armour they wear, the more protected they are in battle.
Ladies and gentlemen, science.
It's like the public relations equivolent to Tjernobyl... And why couldn't they find one Chris' size?Kahunaburger said:
Also, this is fairly topical:
http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/310/867/14b.jpg
It's... It's as if most of the world's cover and poster art designers (and probably the directors who perpetrated Elfstripper up there, too) have suffered some sort of head trauma and had an additional scrotum grown from stemcells to replace the broken bits...
Honestly I'd be fine if there were more females who weren't so much 'chubby' but 'burlesque'. Big on top, thicker in the middle, wide hips, and thick thighs. Being a girl who has genes that lean towards me being bigger(My healthy weight actually being 150) and people throwing about how your not 'attractive' or 'healthy' when your clothes are bigger than medium... It tends to get confusing as to whether I should be 'proud' or 'ashamed'. The fact a lot of the 'strong' women in fiction are skinny doesn't help matters...
I have seen a fairly recent example though... The (and I am quoting the game manual) 'Bodacious Nymphs of the Glade' from Rayman Origins. While their proportions weren't necessarily realistic I do think they can at least count for something. I know they may not make a perfect example but I think it is one to be mentioned.
I have seen a fairly recent example though... The (and I am quoting the game manual) 'Bodacious Nymphs of the Glade' from Rayman Origins. While their proportions weren't necessarily realistic I do think they can at least count for something. I know they may not make a perfect example but I think it is one to be mentioned.
Sex sells, it's "safe money." I'll check out a game cover and read the back of it if it's got a hot chick on the cover, may consider buying if it's intriguing, and I'm fit as hell.
This comes down to the age-old saying: Sex sells.
ie. "we don't know how to make interesting female characters"
Elizabeth from Bioshock: Infinite looked to be a very interesting character in terms or personality, but after seeing her picture, and the fact the developer complained that his attractive character is getting ogled.... /sigh
I, like others I know, am interested in the reboot of Tomb Raider, because she seems to be a real character with personality and trials to overcome. But... giving current gaming 'female icons'
/sigh
ie. "we don't know how to make interesting female characters"
Elizabeth from Bioshock: Infinite looked to be a very interesting character in terms or personality, but after seeing her picture, and the fact the developer complained that his attractive character is getting ogled.... /sigh
I, like others I know, am interested in the reboot of Tomb Raider, because she seems to be a real character with personality and trials to overcome. But... giving current gaming 'female icons'
/sigh
But surely being attracted to women is a natural thing? Some men actually find women with small breasts sexually attractive.
I assume the reason you rejected Elizabeth's picture was due to her cleavage? That's a natural and at times unavoidable bodily condition, not necessarily sexualisation.
I assume the reason you rejected Elizabeth's picture was due to her cleavage? That's a natural and at times unavoidable bodily condition, not necessarily sexualisation.
That's how it is, as stupid as it is and how much we wish it weren't.
Unfortunately, it's not just women, OK it's definitely more of a problem for women, but the thing is throughout all of fiction, characters fit to some ideal standards.
Male characters fit idealized standards too, unfortunately there are more ways for men to be idealized.
You have the typical broad shouldered, handsome, body builder physique. Let's just call this one, the Superman.
Then you have the more realistically proportioned characters, but they're still rugged and handsome, we'll refer to this one as the Drake.
Then, and perhaps the most common idealized form for males is a badass. A badass character doesn't need to look attractive, so long as they look, well, badass. Now badassery is the common binding thread among all idealized male characters, but this type of character seems to be specifically designed around the concept. We'll call this one the Fenix.
Now Marcus up there isn't what one would traditionally call attractive. You might even refer to him as ugly, but his look serves a purpose and identifies him as a badass murder machine, which is perhaps, the ultimate idealized male form, even if it's not your own particular ideal.
Now we look at female characters, and in terms of appearance only, well most, nearly all, of them don't differ too much. Almost every important female character is attractive.
Now while female characters can indeed be badass, and in fact every one of the characters I included in that spoiler are, in terms of appearance they all fit a similar physical mold. You'd be hard pressed to find a female variant of Marcus up there. For whatever reason no one seems to want to play as "ugly" females, even if they were sheer representations of raw brutal badassery.
I'm inclined to say that it's the fault of writers and developers, but I'm thinking it's partially the fault of the audience too. Now, this is just conjecture on my part, given that I lack the double-X chromosome, but just as being badass is part of the male fantasy, isn't being beautiful part of the female fantasy?
Now, not beautiful in the manner of Huge tits, pronounced ass and minimal clothing that we have in most games, but still "beautiful" in a generally attractive sense.
At any rate my point is: I'm actually not sure I have one. This is more of an observation than a point making thing; also I felt like posting some pictures.
Unfortunately, it's not just women, OK it's definitely more of a problem for women, but the thing is throughout all of fiction, characters fit to some ideal standards.
Male characters fit idealized standards too, unfortunately there are more ways for men to be idealized.
You have the typical broad shouldered, handsome, body builder physique. Let's just call this one, the Superman.
Then you have the more realistically proportioned characters, but they're still rugged and handsome, we'll refer to this one as the Drake.
Then, and perhaps the most common idealized form for males is a badass. A badass character doesn't need to look attractive, so long as they look, well, badass. Now badassery is the common binding thread among all idealized male characters, but this type of character seems to be specifically designed around the concept. We'll call this one the Fenix.
Now Marcus up there isn't what one would traditionally call attractive. You might even refer to him as ugly, but his look serves a purpose and identifies him as a badass murder machine, which is perhaps, the ultimate idealized male form, even if it's not your own particular ideal.
Now we look at female characters, and in terms of appearance only, well most, nearly all, of them don't differ too much. Almost every important female character is attractive.
Now while female characters can indeed be badass, and in fact every one of the characters I included in that spoiler are, in terms of appearance they all fit a similar physical mold. You'd be hard pressed to find a female variant of Marcus up there. For whatever reason no one seems to want to play as "ugly" females, even if they were sheer representations of raw brutal badassery.
I'm inclined to say that it's the fault of writers and developers, but I'm thinking it's partially the fault of the audience too. Now, this is just conjecture on my part, given that I lack the double-X chromosome, but just as being badass is part of the male fantasy, isn't being beautiful part of the female fantasy?
Now, not beautiful in the manner of Huge tits, pronounced ass and minimal clothing that we have in most games, but still "beautiful" in a generally attractive sense.
At any rate my point is: I'm actually not sure I have one. This is more of an observation than a point making thing; also I felt like posting some pictures.
You kinda break your point with femshep down there.. She's not exactly winning any beauty contests.RatRace123 said:
Then again no Mass Effect female is winning any beauty contests. >.>
OTOH she does look like a badass, which is good too. Nausicaa (non-gaming example ahoy!) is kind of a bad ass, and kinda plain. Uh..gaming example..gaming example...FemShep.
I agree with most of these posts. It's really centered around a woman's constant desire to be beautiful, youthful, skinny, etc. Thus, many females characters are.
FemShep ugly? Give me a break. She's up there with Alyx of Half Life-- tough, confident and good looking. Known a good number of military women and athletes like that, too. Guess it depends on whether that is a turn on for you or not. Me, I like women who don't look and act like they'll break in half at the first sign of danger.
I dunno, though. I remember a video panel on this subject composed of women gamers and devs (think it was on the Escapist, in fact). They pretty much said that "sexy" doesn't bug them in female characters so much as "incompetent". In other words, a character who acts like a bimbo is far more irritating than one who looks like one.
That said, a quarter century after Aliens came out, we still see damn few female main characters like Ripley-- not precisely ugly, but hardly "sexy" (Chell from Portal being the only example I can think of in videogames)
I dunno, though. I remember a video panel on this subject composed of women gamers and devs (think it was on the Escapist, in fact). They pretty much said that "sexy" doesn't bug them in female characters so much as "incompetent". In other words, a character who acts like a bimbo is far more irritating than one who looks like one.
That said, a quarter century after Aliens came out, we still see damn few female main characters like Ripley-- not precisely ugly, but hardly "sexy" (Chell from Portal being the only example I can think of in videogames)
Muspelheim said:Wha..? ._.WoW Killer said:Yes I find it increasingly silly. It's nothing really to do with weight though, it's just a consequence of weight being related to attractiveness socially. Women are made up to be attractive in games, despite how impractical that may be...
And let me guess... The men in that game all got real armour, can't have male nudity scaring away all the teenaged boys, can we?
Agreed, it's a silly beauty ideal, but it's not exactly exclusive to games. Personally, I'm alright with it as longs as it conforms to one rule: does the bodytype make sense for the role? I doubt few powerful mêlée warriors have arms like spagetti. A mage-type might get away with looking a bit more slender, but still... Those people aren't walking down a catwalk before being assaulted by ten different stylists all day long. They fight battles, which tend to be fairly sweaty and exhausting affairs.
Nothing wrong with some curves, but I'd prefer them to A) be attached to some muscle and basic bodyfat and B) covered in something that seems like reasonable equipment for actual fighting.
A second houserule of mine is that I'm prepared to overlook that, I can totally buy overidealized bodies, hulking Aaahhrnolds in little fur pants fighting skellingtons side by side with a Playboy bunny wearing a few bits of parchment.
But note how both Aaaaahrnooold and Ms. Fanservice are wearing revealing fantasy-armour. If we've got a realistic setting with realistic expectations of protection, then both sexes should be equipped with it, because it makes no bloody sense otherwise. If the setting is more fantastic, where a bikini won't equal a casualty in five minutes, then there is no reason to cover the blokes up in plate. It's just so blatant and sleazy what you're trying to do if you choose that option; "Aaaaaarrrr, check out dat ass! An' dem jugs! Oh, noes! I saw a bare chest! I might be gaaaaaaay! Hide it! Hiiide it!"
In short: Plate thongs for EVERYONE, or plate thongs for noone. It is that simple.
No the men dress like male whores too, at least my elf does.