Increasingly skinny women in video games?

[General Twinkletoes]

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...

Wha..? ._.

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.

Some of the male armor is normal armor, although there is a lot of them especially the devil race, that are in lycra and bondage gear, about as bad as the women. But I think the human males are normal.

 

[shrekfan246]

Y'know what I'd like to see? A fat character where the subject of their weight is never once addressed. Not the dorky comic sidekick or anything. Just a normal dude (or dudette) who just happens to be a bit overweight.

That said, it would be cool to see some more chunky and/or chubby characters in games, if only for the sake of variety.

You mean, in main roles, not the generic "nerd virgin" role, I assume.

But yeah, that'd be interesting to see how successful it is...

Not that it's part of the "normal" game, but I think all of the little unlockables that Naughty Dog put into the Uncharted games are hilarious.

I don't really have anything OT to say, because all of the sarcastic or passive-aggressive comments have been taken, and I don't really need to repeat the true comments.

 

[Lunar Templar]

actually ...

its the character models that annoy me more then the 'armor'.

is it to much to ask that that 'tanking' classes have male and female models that look like they can do the job? not like you can't make 'burly sexy'

 

[Ryotknife]

funny enough the super skinny model is more female's vision of what beauty is than men's. most men would probably agree that there is a threshold to skinniness where it becomes extremely un-sexy.

honestly most men just care about the boobs.

dont get me wrong, TERA is a large step backwards in this subject, but the industry as a whole has gotten a lot better in the past 7 years and will continue to improve (hopefully). We are seeing more and more great female characters in games who are not over-sexed.

TERA does make me /facepalm. i dont mind eye candy, but this goes way too far.

 

[lunavixen]

sex sells, the objectification of women is easy because it's been done for so long, not to mention that a very large proportion of gamers are still male aged between 15-30, and the easiest way to catch their attention is by not making them think with their heads.

 

[JaceArveduin]

Spoiler

So, is anyone else wondering how much super glue it takes to hold on the part across the stomach?

[edit] Oh, and it is genius, the more you grind, the more skin you see. Grinding takes time, and you spending time grinding is money for them.

 

[JaceArveduin]

Spoiler

So, is anyone else wondering how much super glue it takes to hold on the part across the stomach?

[edit] Oh, and it is genius, the more you grind, the more skin you see. Grinding takes time, and you spending time grinding is money for them.

You know, after erm...inspecting... that image... does anyone else think that models hands are overly large?

I... You know, they actually DO look too big... Apparently my knack for spotting things doesn't work as well when scantily clad women are involved. That's a weakness I need to work on fixing...

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

This isn't anyone's fault, it's how society has just turned out. But it's true. Now I'm not a feminist, but there it is...

Why aren't you a feminist? Feminism is believing that women should be given the same rights and opportunities as men. How can any modern thinking person not be a feminist?

 

[Mikeyfell]

Don't think i'm a fat b*****d who rejects people who want to lose weight and thinks all skinny people are anorexics Thank you for your time.

I'll get to the topic in a sec, but what word is "B*****d" supposed to be? I know a lot of words that could stand some censorship but none of them start with a B, or end with a D.

I'm just interested, that's all.



I'm getting sick and tired of skinny chicks too.
You see the male Commander Shepard and he's this big beefy dude
but the Girl Shepard is skinny sexy. (I mean, I assume that women find guy Shepard sexy too, but I digress)
In the games context they've been through the exact same stuff, they should have very similar body builds.

I can't even think of the last female character I saw who didn't look like some sort of supermodel. (Dwarven women in Dragon Age Origins)

So, you're the best sword fighter your village has to offer. Why do you look like

Spoiler: this?

Are muscles, scars, or blemishes honestly too much to ask for in a female character?
Is the prospect of not being able to ring every possible ounce of sex appeal out of any given property that frightening?

I don't play WoW but I hear that female Orcs are skinny. I'm tired of it.

 

[Ryotknife]

Don't think i'm a fat b*****d who rejects people who want to lose weight and thinks all skinny people are anorexics Thank you for your time.

I'll get to the topic in a sec, but what word is "B*****d" supposed to be? I know a lot of words that could stand some censorship but none of them start with a B, or end with a D.

I'm just interested, that's all.



I'm getting sick and tired of skinny chicks too.
You see the male Commander Shepard and he's this big beefy dude
but the Girl Shepard is skinny sexy. (I mean, I assume that women find guy Shepard sexy too, but I digress)
In the games context they've been through the exact same stuff, they should have very similar body builds.

I can't even think of the last female character I saw who didn't look like some sort of supermodel. (Dwarven women in Dragon Age Origins)

So, you're the best sword fighter your village has to offer. Why do you look like

Spoiler: this?

Are muscles, scars, or blemishes honestly too much to ask for in a female character?
Is the prospect of not being able to ring every possible ounce of sex appeal out of any given property that frightening?

I don't play WoW but I hear that female Orcs are skinny. I'm tired of it.

Emma Honeywell from The Last Remnant is a general with scars over her face (the only part of her body that is exposed as she is wearing full armor). she is also older (looks to be in her 40's). Also has an interesting fighting style and is a great character.

granted the experience is ruined by her daughter, who is obviously much younger, sexier, and has similiar armor/looks except that is contains a short skirt rather than the armored legs that her mother has. Thankfully the daughter doesnt talk much (or in the game until mostly the end)

 

[Paradoxrifts]

Spoiler

Don't read this the wrong way, I love the first two films in the Aliens franchise to death as much as the next geek, but are female gamers really crying out for the chance to play games taking on the role of a protective mother figure?

There are also huge problems with surgically removing what makes Ripley awesome from the medium of film and transplanting it into a game. In the films Ripley's key motivation to answer the hero's call to action, defy genre expectations and survive her horrific circumstances stems from her being a mother, whether that role is acquired through biological means or frontier-style adoption of orphans. Firstly you just cannot have an unlikely hero like Ripley in a video game precisely because the medium tells you who the main character is as soon as you start playing with the movement controls. Likewise the limitations of the medium make any attempt to design a game around an escort mechanic, especially when the NPC being escorted is incredibly fragile and easily killed, an exercise in hating your fellow man or woman.

Spoiler

You know, after erm...inspecting... that image... does anyone else think that models hands are overly large?

If you had bought a sex change procedure that was that 'effective', wouldn't you want to show it off even if they couldn't do anything about your man hands?

 

[Kahunaburger]

actually ...

its the character models that annoy me more then the 'armor'.

is it to much to ask that that 'tanking' classes have male and female models that look like they can do the job? not like you can't make 'burly sexy'

Spoiler

I'm of two minds on that Barbarian design. On one hand, it's sorta nice to see attractiveness taking a back seat to sharing the front seat with badassery. (It would be even better to, you know, have a female version of an imposing warrior being designed as an imposing warrior first and foremost, though.) On the other hand, wtb armor that protects torso + femoral arteries, blizz.

 

[Silver]

Most characters in games both male and female are held up to idealized standards, not just women, get over it already.

That's the best attitude I've heard of. Find something bad, ignore it and move on! Let's accept ignore everything bad and never care about trying to change anything!

Live will be so much better.

 

[370999]

This isn't anyone's fault, it's how society has just turned out. But it's true. Now I'm not a feminist, but there it is...

Why aren't you a feminist? Feminism is believing that women should be given the same rights and opportunities as men. How can any modern thinking person not be a feminist?

The fact that women are disadvantaged is self-evident. Interest in that subject matter is not something I can easily sum up. In short I find it grubby and boring, and don't really care. That's why I'm not a feminist.

 

[BenEEeee]

Perhaps an upcoming game that breaks the mould would be Xenonauts and their realistic depiction of female soldiers:

They're portrayed as pragmatic fighting troops instead of fitting into some artificial and impractical sexual ideal that society/men/women/the audience etc... have about how women should look.

Is this glamour magazine cover material? No. Is it how female troops in the field actually look? Yes.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

This isn't anyone's fault, it's how society has just turned out. But it's true. Now I'm not a feminist, but there it is...

Why aren't you a feminist? Feminism is believing that women should be given the same rights and opportunities as men. How can any modern thinking person not be a feminist?

The fact that women are disadvantaged is self-evident. Interest in that subject matter is not something I can easily sum up. In short I find it grubby and boring, and don't really care. That's why I'm not a feminist.

Then you misunderstood what a feminist is. Are you for women having the same rights as men? If yes, you are a feminist. It doesn't matter whether you do anything about it or are enthusiastic on the subject.

I don't do anything about it, or read up on it or anything like that. I'm still for people having equal rights.

 

[370999]

This isn't anyone's fault, it's how society has just turned out. But it's true. Now I'm not a feminist, but there it is...

Why aren't you a feminist? Feminism is believing that women should be given the same rights and opportunities as men. How can any modern thinking person not be a feminist?

The fact that women are disadvantaged is self-evident. Interest in that subject matter is not something I can easily sum up. In short I find it grubby and boring, and don't really care. That's why I'm not a feminist.

Then you misunderstood what a feminist is. Are you for women having the same rights as men? If yes, you are a feminist. It doesn't matter whether you do anything about it or are enthusiastic on the subject.

I don't do anything about it, or read up on it or anything like that. I'm still for people having equal rights.

For the sake of argument I looked up a couple of definitions. Emphasis mine

advocating social, political, legal, and economic rights for women equal to those of men.
an advocate of such rights.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/feminist

: the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes
: organized activity on behalf of women's rights and interests

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/feminism

the belief that women should be allowed the same rights, power and opportunities as men and be treated in the same way, or the set of activities intended to achieve this stat

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/feminism


So I do believe that is 2:1 to me.