Jimquisition: Objectification And... Men?

[generals3]

Objectifying or not, there's no doubt that they're selling an unrealistic/unhealthy body image. You claim that they're not actively trying to market these games to women, okay. Then I guess they are being accidentally objectified.

the only games "selling" realistic body images are games like C&C which feature real actors. Because all the other stuff in games are pixels representing unrealistic "stuff" or persons. If you're letting a bunch of pixels which portray something obviously not real influence you than the problem is you, not the games. It's like those people who claim violent videogames turn people into murderous mad men. I have no doubt some people become more violent because of those games, but let's not punish everyone because some people take games too seriously.

 

[DownTharr]

Honestly, I'd rather the protagonist be female either by design, or gender choice. I relate to women better. I know I'm missing out, but my funds are a bit limited on top of that, to go trying a game I may not enjoy because of a lack of immersion, and a new gaming system on top of it compounds the issue.

Bethesda, despite being pretty buggy at times, I can appreciate a lot. Yeah, it's shallow in areas, and you rarely do anything to alter the world itself, but the vast amount of possibility is pretty much enough. Skyrim, and New Vegas supporting some LGBT(well, maybe not so much the T part) relationships didn't hurt either.

thanks for the summary of Tenchu, might look into it.

Ok makes sense, though I just want well written, believable and memorable characters. The problem is to do this for gaming, it's expensive and requires a leader/designer with vision, also free reign from the publisher.

Game development requires you to make a game before you can see what works and what does not, so basically Alpha would be the first draft of the script, a more expensive and longer first draft. Sometimes they might not have money left over to do it again and are forced to stick with it. Many accomplished authors have said that they rewrite there whole book quite a few times to get it just right, but if a development studio did this, they'd be out of a job.

Hopefully some sort of innovation can make developing story driven games cheaper.

Yeah I like my Bethesda, to a point, but I prefer the structure found in a more linear game, even if I'll only play it once. Yeah the gay strippers(?) caused quite the flutter of news for New Vegas.

 

[Paradoxrifts]

the only games "selling" realistic body images are games like C&C which feature real actors. Because all the other stuff in games are pixels representing unrealistic "stuff" or persons. If you're letting a bunch of pixels which portray something obviously not real influence you than the problem is you, not the games. It's like those people who claim violent videogames turn people into murderous mad men. I have no doubt some people become more violent because of those games, but let's not punish everyone because some people take games too seriously.

Anorexia nervosa and related conditions are genetically-based psychological conditions and not as it often claimed to be psychological disorders centered around the consumption of media. So in reality it's more like claiming that peanuts should be henceforth banned from human consumption on the grounds that some people just don't care for the taste of peanuts, and other people might suffer from allergic reactions from their consumption. Incidentally I'd like to know back Feminism has set back the search for a cure for anorexia nervosa by peddling their bullshit about how Baywatch and Barbie Dolls has ruined the health of these poor, unfortunate souls.

And no, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense either, but take a look around at some of the types you're arguing with.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

the only games "selling" realistic body images are games like C&C which feature real actors. Because all the other stuff in games are pixels representing unrealistic "stuff" or persons. If you're letting a bunch of pixels which portray something obviously not real influence you than the problem is you, not the games. It's like those people who claim violent videogames turn people into murderous mad men. I have no doubt some people become more violent because of those games, but let's not punish everyone because some people take games too seriously.

Anorexia nervosa and related conditions are genetically-based psychological conditions and not as it often claimed to be psychological disorders centered around the consumption of media. So in reality it's more like claiming that peanuts should be henceforth banned from human consumption on the grounds that some people just don't care for the taste of peanuts, and other people might suffer from allergic reactions from their consumption. Incidentally I'd like to know back Feminism has set back the search for a cure for anorexia nervosa by peddling their bullshit about how Baywatch and Barbie Dolls has ruined the health of these poor, unfortunate souls.

And no, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense either, but take a look around at some of the types you're arguing with.

How the heck are you quoting me with that? I've never said that.

Honestly, I'd rather the protagonist be female either by design, or gender choice. I relate to women better. I know I'm missing out, but my funds are a bit limited on top of that, to go trying a game I may not enjoy because of a lack of immersion, and a new gaming system on top of it compounds the issue.

Bethesda, despite being pretty buggy at times, I can appreciate a lot. Yeah, it's shallow in areas, and you rarely do anything to alter the world itself, but the vast amount of possibility is pretty much enough. Skyrim, and New Vegas supporting some LGBT(well, maybe not so much the T part) relationships didn't hurt either.

thanks for the summary of Tenchu, might look into it.

Ok makes sense, though I just want well written, believable and memorable characters. The problem is to do this for gaming, it's expensive and requires a leader/designer with vision, also free reign from the publisher.

Game development requires you to make a game before you can see what works and what does not, so basically Alpha would be the first draft of the script, a more expensive and longer first draft. Sometimes they might not have money left over to do it again and are forced to stick with it. Many accomplished authors have said that they rewrite there whole book quite a few times to get it just right, but if a development studio did this, they'd be out of a job.

Hopefully some sort of innovation can make developing story driven games cheaper.

Yeah I like my Bethesda, to a point, but I prefer the structure found in a more linear game, even if I'll only play it once. Yeah the gay strippers(?) caused quite the flutter of news for New Vegas.

Yeah, I'm hoping something happens in game development to see more female protagonists.

I can't imagine a novelist being 75% done with a 500 page book, happy, but scrapping it all for some reason. And even a novelist gets deadlines, and pressure to finish, so it's not entirely diffirent, just on a seemingly smaller scale.
Proofreading, and adjusting, and recycling sounds more likely.

Gay strippers in new vegas? Last thing on my mind. I'm talking about Arcade, and Veronica not being straight (the latter also having a pretty interesting story with it), and Cass at least being open to the idea of bi-sexuality.

 

[Paradoxrifts]

How the heck are you quoting me with that? I've never said that.

Then you have my apologies on the quote salad.

 

[Paradoxrifts]

How about I just take solace in the fact that people like you are in for a future of heartache and dissatisfaction, because SOCIETY IS GOING TO CHANGE and there is nothing you can do about it.

Just ask your parents and grandparents. If they haven't already I bet they will give you an earful about how horrible society is today compared to when they were kids. They too fought unsuccessfully to keep the status quo.

The tears, I can already taste them, and they are delicious!

White heterosexual men cant even elect a president anymore, poor babies. trololololol

Except there were less of his grandparents generation then there were of his parents generation, and then there were less of his generation then there were of his parents generation, assuming that he is a white, heterosexual male somewhere in his twenties or thirties of course. The alliance that the New Left has cobbled together from social & economic progressives will only continue to function within the shadow of the Republican party. whose cultural predominance is even now crumbling away into the pages of history.

See the problem with political alliances that are founded on the opposition of others is that they frequently cease functioning the day after the opposition is vanquished. And then the day after the revolution when they start throwing people under the campaign bus I think that you will realise that you traded one brand of social conservatism for another.

You'll just pay more taxes under the new brand then you did the old brand.

 

[DownTharr]

Yeah, I'm hoping something happens in game development to see more female protagonists.

I can't imagine a novelist being 75% done with a 500 page book, happy, but scrapping it all for some reason. And even a novelist gets deadlines, and pressure to finish, so it's not entirely diffirent, just on a seemingly smaller scale.
Proofreading, and adjusting, and recycling sounds more likely.

Gay strippers in new vegas? Last thing on my mind. I'm talking about Arcade, and Veronica not being straight (the latter also having a pretty interesting story with it), and Cass at least being open to the idea of bi-sexuality.

Eh, I was speaking hearsay never played it, so thanks for correcting me.

Some authors can do it all in one go, but I meant more like you think up a story then you write it out and after you did such you see all of it's flaws, then you repeat this until the deadline. Anecdotally I've found only while writing do I learn what I actually want to write, then I write that. Take that as you will.

Rough drafts are just cheaper and faster for novelists, compared to game developers.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

How the heck are you quoting me with that? I've never said that.

Then you have my apologies on the quote salad.

'z all good, then. Just making sure I knew you knew something was awry, there.

Yeah, I'm hoping something happens in game development to see more female protagonists.

I can't imagine a novelist being 75% done with a 500 page book, happy, but scrapping it all for some reason. And even a novelist gets deadlines, and pressure to finish, so it's not entirely diffirent, just on a seemingly smaller scale.
Proofreading, and adjusting, and recycling sounds more likely.

Gay strippers in new vegas? Last thing on my mind. I'm talking about Arcade, and Veronica not being straight (the latter also having a pretty interesting story with it), and Cass at least being open to the idea of bi-sexuality.

Eh, I was speaking hearsay never played it, so thanks for correcting me.

Some authors can do it all in one go, but I meant more like you think up a story then you write it out and after you did such you see all of it's flaws, then you repeat this until the deadline. Anecdotally I've found only while writing do I learn what I actually want to write, then I write that. Take that as you will.

Rough drafts are just cheaper and faster for novelists, compared to game developers.

Yeah, New vegas is pretty open minded with things. Mature, I dare say. Excellent game as well.

Also I pretty much agree with ya.

 

[Homo Carnivorous]

I cannot agree with Jim on this. Both men and women are visually idealized versions pretty far removed from the real world, in most games that feature either.

When was the last time you played an overweight computer geek in a heavy shooter? No? Never? How come, I doubt all members of the armies of the world looks like Kratos. But if you idealize girls bodies in the same way, then its sexist. Bullshit double standards.

 

[Chilly Rama]

I cannot agree with Jim on this. Both men and women are visually idealized versions pretty far removed from the real world, in most games that feature either.

When was the last time you played an overweight computer geek in a heavy shooter? No? Never? How come, I doubt all members of the armies of the world looks like Kratos. But if you idealize girls bodies in the same way, then its sexist. Bullshit double standards.

True, putting aside the different idealised visions most men and women find in the opposite sex, e.g. in 'general' (notice im emphasising general as this is not true of absolutely every man and woman of course) men and women find different things attractive in the opposite sex so holding up 'look look women are in skimpy outfits and the men aren't' makes no sense what so ever. I agree that a lot of females in games look over the top but then again so do the men and these are often in hyper stylised worlds. Anyway my point is that men are attacted primerily to physical beauty before they really know the person, this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone however women have more criteria in initial attractiveness that does not rely solely on how good looking the guy is, women look for status in a man and this can be how successful he is, how confident and how 'brave' he is, in short how much of a 'man' he is (Women never have to prove themselves to be a real Woman but how often do you hear 'Be a man, your not a real man' etc in real life or media?).
Jim raises the point that the objectification is not equal or that men are not objectified at all (I think they 100% are but in a slightly different way) but I would argue that they are two sides to the same coin and just because devs are mostly men does not mean they are pumping out a helpful image of men and most gamers may not even realise that the typical man in a game is a reflection of what we are tought to be... disposable. Women may be generally portrayed in a juvenile light but men are generally portrayed as having no worth what so ever and the only way they can gain that worth is in killing people in horrific ways or dying for others (men, women and children) so why is this issue never brought up but 'oww look big tits I feel bad for female gamers' is? Jim just keeps saying it's a different issue and never tackles it, he has multiple episodes on sexism relating to women but none for men, Kotaku has none, no one does! the part that irritates me the most is this clear double standard and the problems men face in society doesn't help eleviate my eye rolling every time I see an article relating to big tits in games, men have so little self worth and issues effecting men and boys just aren't given the time of day so it is no surprise that male cancer and other health issues relating to males, homelessness, suicide, deaths at work, feminised education, circumcision, domestic abuse, seperation from children and public image either have a greater impact on men or have less awareness/funding than the equivalent in women.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

I cannot agree with Jim on this. Both men and women are visually idealized versions pretty far removed from the real world, in most games that feature either.

When was the last time you played an overweight computer geek in a heavy shooter? No? Never? How come, I doubt all members of the armies of the world looks like Kratos. But if you idealize girls bodies in the same way, then its sexist. Bullshit double standards.

I'll grant you that men, and women are physically sexualized, but the point of this video flew WAY over your head.

Look at your game library. How many of your games star a woman you play as solely? How many have gender select that isn't MMORPG type stuff?

The point Jim is making is that Men often have something a woman in a game does not. Agency. What's the deal with that?

Definition of AGENCY

1 a : the office or function of an agent

b : the relationship between a principal and that person's agent

2 : the capacity, condition, or state of acting or of exerting power : operation

3 : a person or thing through which power is exerted or an end is achieved : instrumentality

4 : an establishment engaged in doing business for another

5 : an administrative division (as of a government)

Jim, IMO, is pushing towards definition 2, and 3 as the vast majority of playable characters are male, they get the ever important Agency.
With that Agency the protagonist becomes more idealized as they are supposedly the ideal agent of your will. Understand?

Who's the majority of playable characters? Males.
Women rarely get this agency as they're rarely playable and thus are more objects in the game's plot. Thus, objectified.

The playable character decides a great deal of what happens in a game. Who dies, who lives, if there's a relationship, how the game ends. They have immense ammounts of power, and that power is a power fantasy, regardless of eastern, or western origins.

Further elaborating, the agency is often NOT equally distributed. It doesn't help that males dominate the protagonist list, either. There are a few games that break this, but they are extremely rare. Mass Effect series, and the Dragon Age series come to mind, but that's about it.

Relationships? Pretty rare a woman gets to initiate it with anyone,and pretty rare it's shown especially with a guy. Meanwhile it's often the driving force of a male protagonist. How often does a the playable woman kiss a guy in a game?
Jim practically spells this out here: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/7044-The-Creepy-Cull-of-Female-Protagonists
Women get to be sex objects, but heaven forbid they want sex! No, that'd make the male gamer feel weird! A guy playing a girl kissing another guy!
Sure you can have a straight marriage as a woman in Skyrim, but what interaction do you really have? Lets look at Fable. I don't recal anything really -happening- with the female protagonist, and the male NPC. Lets not forget there was, what? one fable with gender select?

Sims? Sure. Not very indepth, that, though.

Lets look deeper, still, now that it occurs to me! Jim uses Kratos as an example. NOT entirely because of his physical apperance, and prowess. He gets to have relationships with many many women. He had a family. A daughter.

Then cut to Ayame in Dead or Alive. Compared to Kratos, she's pretty celibate. All she -really- gets to do is show off her body, and fight, basically, right?

How often does the woman have to, or even get to save a guy, especially their "prince?" When are the roles of saving the princess ever reversed? When does the princess save a dude, and she gets the happy ending? ... Considering I go well out of my way to get games with female protagonsits over males, I can't really recall unless it's a gender select game like Skyrim where I saved several dudes BUT none were my "prince" and that basically blows the skyrim example out of the water.

Long ago Ayane saves Rikimaru who was captured in Tenchu, but he's not her prince as opposed to a co-worker.

Those are just examples of the imbalance of agency even when a woman gets it. Generally SEXIST, no?

As far as examples go, lets take mass Effect, dragon age, and Skyrim (that's what? 7 games? vs the thousands over thousands with male protagonsits, and NONE of them star a female lead, instead have gender select.) off the table. You don't get to bring them up not because they're invalidated, but for the sake of this topic think of other games. Infact, while we're at it, lets take EVERY game with gender select off the table as examples, shall we? Lets think of other games.

Lets point out summore sexism, shall we? Videogame publishers are telling game developers they can NOT have female protagonists. Bioshock Infinite got remade to not have Elizabeth, the most important woman in the game, possibly the most important character on the cover in favor of dudebro style.
Last of Us developers Naughtydog had to FIGHT to keep the sidekick young girl on the cover. C'mon, seriously? they had to fight for that?

The status quo in gaming is sexist, and mysoginistic. Full stop. Stop being superficial looking only at sexualized appearances of characters. Dig deeper. Think about it. Maybe listen to Jim's entire notion?

TLDR:
Pay attention to more than the physical appearance for sexism, and misoginy. Think more on Jim's entire message. Look at the lives the playable characters get to lead between male, and female protagonists, and how often the protagonist you play as is only female with no option for gender select.
The inequality aughta be obvious, then.

 

[MrsBloo]

No problem, i found it once i realised Marvel & DC could not write a comic to save there collective lives at the moment.

shame on you, all writers have blocks sometimes. when you down talk dc i just naturally want to stick up for them. lol

 

[MrsBloo]

The reason doesn't matter. The result remains the same.

To you the reason doesnt matter. however Im pretty sure reason alone stands for what to build towards. Building towards the appeal of children [or child like/more playful content], will have a different out come than to appeal to the elder generation.

Dont get me wrong i play/own most game systems except XBOX [dont care for it at all] & I know Nintendo appeals to both mature and non mature content. im sure some of us remember conkers bad fur day?lol old but still nintendo. Does anyone remember how the sunflowers boobs for totally fun to bounce on? -_- lol really?
-Anyway, Im not disagreeing with you, im just saying almost every company has some type of female sexuality exploited.[not sure if i put this sentence correct but its monday morning ] however Nintendo seems to be more family friendly, hence more appealing for parents to buy their kids, has more games for the smaller, younger audience they arent going to be sexually explicit of females. But ps3, and xbox doesnt have that much appeal to ages 8 and under, they will most def. sell sex. and will appeal to probably ages 8+ whether they plan to or not. Though some games are nice for younger people, flower and stuff. majority are 13+ and warn of mature content.

Do you have any sources to back up these statements?

My statement was aimed at your statement here: "But women in aggregate(gathered together to form a total quantity), they do prefer the wii, or at least 80% of all female gamers did in 2009."

And it stands. Again I am not disagreeing with you simply adding more facts on why females "prefer" wii[again you stated 2009 studied, as i did]

* Wii: The best-selling of the three systems, appeals to boys age 6-11 and women age 25-34. Usage of Wii by women 35+ is much higher than with the Xbox 360 and PS3. Games such as Wii Fit, Guitar Hero and Rock Band appear to have engaged an older female gamer like never before.

Usage of Wii by the 18-24 age group, considered the core/hardcore gaming segment, is low for both genders compared to the other two consoles. However, Wii has been successful in broadening the gaming market to a wider demographic audience.

If you want the proof look it up. Its posted all over with the rest of 2009 statistics. I never said females didnt prefer the wii. Just that the wii produces certain games that appeal to certain age groups. [some that never even use it anymore]

I'm not sure how this relates to anything you and I have been discussing. I certainly haven't stated that I think casual gamers are the mainstream AAA game purchasers. I even called ESRB's survey into question when it turned out that less than 50% of the respondents were even planning to buy one game within 2012. LESS than half. So much of their results are questionable with so broad a definition of gameing.

I dont think i stated it was for something we discussed, because we have not discussed before. Simply putting light in a situation where both sides should be known. I also did not say you stated anything so you dont have to feel the need to defend yourself.

 

[Lightknight]

To you the reason doesnt matter. however Im pretty sure reason alone stands for what to build towards. Building towards the appeal of children [or child like/more playful content], will have a different out come than to appeal to the elder generation.

Dont get me wrong i play/own most game systems except XBOX [dont care for it at all] & I know Nintendo appeals to both mature and non mature content. im sure some of us remember conkers bad fur day?lol old but still nintendo. Does anyone remember how the sunflowers boobs for totally fun to bounce on? -_- lol really?
-Anyway, Im not disagreeing with you, im just saying almost every company has some type of female sexuality exploited.[not sure if i put this sentence correct but its monday morning ] however Nintendo seems to be more family friendly, hence more appealing for parents to buy their kids, has more games for the smaller, younger audience they arent going to be sexually explicit of females. But ps3, and xbox doesnt have that much appeal to ages 8 and under, they will most def. sell sex. and will appeal to probably ages 8+ whether they plan to or not. Though some games are nice for younger people, flower and stuff. majority are 13+ and warn of mature content.

Oh, absolutely. But Nintendo's brand and products on a whole are a lot more children friendly and less exploitative of women in general as one side of the same coin of being kid-friendly. You stated that they were kid friendly yourself so we likely don't disagree as much as I thought we did. Perhaps any.

FYI, my 360 is solely my console to play Kinect games when my guests wish to slice fruit in mid-air (seriously, fruit Ninja on kinect is all kinds of fun) or when my wife and her friends want to Just Dance. It is also for the exclusives the system has an little else.

My ps3 is my main media center (I believe it to be the easiest console to navigate between media types and the GUI simply looks nicer) and I generally love their exclusives as well as generally play many of my games there.

My pc is my solo game machine of choice at the moment. I can play in-depth RPGs and long winded games without taking up the living room TV.

My Wii is for Mario Party games and little else. I've been bored playing as a Plumber since the early 2000's so I'm glad I got it super cheap.

My statement was aimed at your statement here: "But women in aggregate(gathered together to form a total quantity), they do prefer the wii, or at least 80% of all female gamers did in 2009."

And it stands. Again I am not disagreeing with you simply adding more facts on why females "prefer" wii[again you stated 2009 studied, as i did]

* Wii: The best-selling of the three systems, appeals to boys age 6-11 and women age 25-34. Usage of Wii by women 35+ is much higher than with the Xbox 360 and PS3. Games such as Wii Fit, Guitar Hero and Rock Band appear to have engaged an older female gamer like never before.

Usage of Wii by the 18-24 age group, considered the core/hardcore gaming segment, is low for both genders compared to the other two consoles. However, Wii has been successful in broadening the gaming market to a wider demographic audience.

If you want the proof look it up. Its posted all over with the rest of 2009 statistics. I never said females didnt prefer the wii. Just that the wii produces certain games that appeal to certain age groups. [some that never even use it anymore]

Your definition of elder and my own must differ considerably. The elderly in general took a liking to the Wii. By elderly I mean retirement age and beyond.

I dont think i stated it was for something we discussed, because we have not discussed before. Simply putting light in a situation where both sides should be known. I also did not say you stated anything so you dont have to feel the need to defend yourself.

Cool, I wasn't sure if I said something I wasn't aware of or if you thought I believed something I didn't.

 

[Homo Carnivorous]

men are attacted primerily to physical beauty before they really know the person

They what? you'd almost think they were some kind of mammal! To some degree this is true.

Jim's crusade on this issue has the unpleasant stench of feminism and its eternal double standards to it. I find myself in agreement with a lot of your observations.

 

[Homo Carnivorous]

I'll grant you that men, and women are physically sexualized, but the point of this video flew WAY over your head.

Thats a pretty arrogant thing to say. I simply do not buy the basic premise of the point Jim is trying to make.

The point Jim is making is that Men often have something a woman in a game does not. Agency. What's the deal with that?

Money. If there are more males in the audience, which was the case for a long time then choosing a male as lead character is a safer bet.
I think its changing as publishers realize that girls who grew up in the age of consoles are just as eager players. Also, don't forget that RPG's have for a long time had the option to play the role of a female. Fighting games includes female characters that are every inch as caricatured as are the male characters.

Jim, IMO, is pushing towards definition 2, and 3 as the vast majority of playable characters are male,

As has the vast majority of paying costumers been for decades.

they get the ever important Agency.

Of being either a killer or killed. That tends to be the extend of it, unless you play RPG's in which case chances are you can play as whatever sex you want to.

With that Agency the protagonist becomes more idealized as they are supposedly the ideal agent of your will. Understand?

They are a caricature. Masculinity on steroids.

Who's the majority of playable characters? Males.
Women rarely get this agency as they're rarely playable and thus are more objects in the game's plot. Thus, objectified.

No sale. There is a social taboo against violence against women. Imagine if the scene in far cry 3 where you torture your little brother had been replaced by his younger sister. Do you think that would have opened a whole can of nasty worms? What you're suggesting is not objectification any more than any of the male background characters who are there just as filler for the main story.

Lets look deeper, still, now that it occurs to me! Jim uses Kratos as an example. NOT entirely because of his physical apperance, and prowess. He gets to have relationships with many many women. He had a family. A daughter.

I haven't played the games.

How often does the woman have to, or even get to save a guy, especially their "prince?"

In most RPG's I have played since I got my Commodore64.

Those are just examples of the imbalance of agency even when a woman gets it. Generally SEXIST, no?

No generally about money and target audiences.

Videogame publishers are telling game developers they can NOT have female protagonists. Bioshock Infinite got remade to not have Elizabeth, the most important woman in the game, possibly the most important character on the cover in favor of dudebro style.
Last of Us developers Naughtydog had to FIGHT to keep the sidekick young girl on the cover. C'mon, seriously? they had to fight for that?

See above, its not some anti woman conspiracy. Its just business. As soon as they register that girls throw down as much money (which I personally think is the case), then they will start to change. All companies regardless of trade are ultra conservative. If they have a model that makes money, they wont change it, until it start to make less. If it aint broke....

The status quo in gaming is sexist, and mysoginistic.

No. Most stories just happened to be written to or from a male perspective atm, because of an assumed target demographic. And they avoid for as long as they can, to kick up the stink that is violence towards women.

Full stop. Stop being superficial looking only at sexualized appearances of characters. Dig deeper. Think about it. Maybe listen to Jim's entire notion?

I did, and I am not buying it. It is superficial in itself.

Pay attention to more than the physical appearance for sexism, and misoginy. Think more on Jim's entire message. Look at the lives the playable characters get to lead between male, and female protagonists, and how often the protagonist you play as is only female with no option for gender select.
The inequality aughta be obvious, then.

If the storyline was written with a man as lead character the rest of the game will reflect this choice. the more visible gamer girls become (as more than just a curiosity) the sooner there will be games with stories written from a female point of view. A change is already happening as more women chose to be game designers. For as long as publishers believe their core audience is males, things will continue as is.

Speaking of males in games. When was the last game in which you played a male anything, that was not a caricature of masculinity? They have idealized physical appearance but are rarely human in the same way a character in a good book can be.

 

[Homo Carnivorous]

Rebel Raven. What I do not understand is what solution you propose to this 'problem'. Should all games be written from a neutral perspective and have the option to play as both sexes? Maxine Payne? Alisa Wake?