Maybe I am a prude...or maybe I'm going up or maybe I'm right

[StarStruckStrumpets]

SNIP
To a certain degree, yes, but as our instincts dictate, tits = awesome. At some point in our lives we'd be swayed by the magical jiggling and shape. It's the way we're wired. Even if we all walked around naked, people would find ways to flaunt their sexuality.
SNIP

Aesthetic value of a woman's breasts is a primarily cultural thing, I would think, as there are cultures in which women can go around without coverings for them without the need to worry about the predilections of their male peers. In any case, it's not of overwhelming difficulty to disguise the fact that one can't help being aroused by something. You tend not to know your date is a foot fetishist until he/she tells you or begins moaning as they give you a foot massage.

Understandable. Like I said, to a certain extent, a lot of it is cultural, but I'm sure that our base instincts would associate breasts with healthy child-bearing and such. While it instinctively may not be an aesthetic, we're certainly drawn to them for a reason. Even in cultures where breast attraction isn't a big thing, I'm sure the males of those cultures would give them a good eye and like them.

 

[Micalas]

Harley looked better in Arkham Asylum. She sure as hell didn't demurely but she didn't look like she just got finished sucking my dick in an empty parking lot.

I also dig the dominatrix look >.>

 

[Ren3004]

Well, it depends. One of my friends who is the same age as me, pretty much thinks that anything is great as long as it has boobs and gore. And conversely, any game that doesn't is shit. Like, he said Arkham Asylum was boring because Batman didn't kill people.

I, on the other hand, don't mind boobs and gore, but I don't think they're needed at all to make a good game, and in some it'd just make the game sillier (see Prince of Persia: Warrior Within). And I tend to feel insulted when developers throw in boobs and blood and expect the game to sell, as if that's all we gamers need to satisfy our primitive brains (see Splatterhouse).

 

[conflictofinterests]

Honestly, people who get all hissy over sex and sexually provocative clothing make me laugh. Chalk it up to a repressed society.

Sexually provocative doesn't have to instantly mask all other parts of a character's visible personality traits. Yeah, a woman trotting around in a bustier does look nice, but at that point, the only visual cues she's giving as to who she is and what she's about is "Sex, sex, sex."

You can make a well-fitted pinstripe suit look just as appealing and have the added bonus of implying that the character could be a business type, perhaps even implying that sex is also a weapon to her, as opposed to purely pleasurable.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Yea, you're a prude.

Comics/films/games are meant for our enjoyment. And everyone enjoys skimpy clothing.

No on ever complains when dudes are walking around with no tops on or whatever. Sex only becomes an issue when women are involved.

And skimpy female clothing is designed pretty much solely for male enjoyment. Also, there may be some exceptions, but in general shirtless men appeal to women less than shirtless women appeal to men. Although, honestly, scantily clad women in fiction started to get annoying to me once I finished puberty.

You know how the "romance" in Twilight comes off as exclusively being designed for a female audience? Most women I've discussed this subject with feel a similar way about half-naked female characters.

Did I say it wasn't designed for viewer enjoyment? (I refuse to say male because lesbians enjoy it just fine.)

It was hardly going to be designed for the wearers warmth was it.

Also, are you suggesting you evolved past physical attraction when you left puberty?

Honestly, people who get all hissy over sex and sexually provocative clothing make me laugh. Chalk it up to a repressed society.

Edit: About that twilight bit.

The problem with twilight isn't that it appeals to women, it's that it sends the wrong message to women. It's about being completely submissive to men, so much so that the female protagonist only finds any self worth by being an extension of the two men in the book.

That's hardly the same thing as someone wearing a skimpy bikini. And I'd guess women are just as capable of being turned on by men in skimpy clothing as we are for a barely dressed women.

No, you just grow up when you leave puberty, which I'd say is half a function of fewer hormones and half a function of experience - stuff like that's a little boring next to the genuine article.

My advice would be to talk to a few women about the subject, see what their takes on it are.

 

[Dfskelleton]

Unless it has a purpose, you're right, it's completely unnesecary.
I heard someone defend Mileena's attire in MK9 saying that she probably flaunts her body to try and make up for having that hideous maw.
Okay, fair enough, but why do ALL OF THE FEMALE CHARACTERS DRESS THE SAME WAY?! Their faces aren't deformed or anything. They did make Shao Kahn to be somewhat of a pervert in MK9, probably to make you (somehow) hate him more than you already do. I was thinking that perhaps he forced the women in his realm to dress like that, but then why do Kitana and Jade picke even skimpier outfits once they join the good side? And what about Sonya? She's not under Kahn's rule, she just dresses like that for no reason! Maybe it's something about little resistance on the body so the characters can preform their acrobatic attacks, but there's a difference between dressing stylishly like an acrobat and dressing like a hooker.
It's been proven that there can be plenty of completely nessecary and well dressed women in games with Jade from Beyond Good and Evil, Heather from Silent Hill 3, and Alyx Vance from Half Life 2. These characters dress like normal people and actually develop.
However, being an unbiased person, I must add something to the argument: these scantily clad female characters usually appear in fighting games (Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, SoulCalibur, etc.), and fighting games are meant to be fun and not much else. I guess the question then should be "Why not?" instead of "Why?". For example, Mortal Kombat is meant to be an over the top fighting game, and the female characters only add to how over the top it is. We've already got rage filled ninja spectres fighting against cryomancer warriors in epic battles to the death, we've already got a guy with a gun (that does hilariously low damage), we've got skull emperors and sorcerers who can become other fighters, what's wrong with having some hypersexualized females in the mix?

 

[conflictofinterests]

Harley looked better in Arkham Asylum. She sure as hell didn't demurely but she didn't look like she just got finished sucking my dick in an empty parking lot.

I also dig the dominatrix look >.>

I would like to point out that looking like a dominatrix tends to entail more clothes than the average female videogame character, as they need to convey a harsh, self-contained image, which while extremely sexual, isn't sexual for anyone's benefit but the dom herself.

 

[conflictofinterests]

SNIP Maybe it's something about little resistance on the body so the characters can preform their acrobatic attacks, but there's a difference between dressing stylishly like an acrobat and dressing like a hooker.

Even that flimsy excuse doesn't hold up. Reasonably loose clothing is much more practical for acrobatics and combat than any form of tight clothing, skimpy or not. Tight restricts movement, makes it harder for muscles to bunch under where the tightness is.

 

[JoJo]

If anything else, it's immersion-breaking for me. Considering that the sole reason that they're in that sort of an outfit is for nothing but sex-appeal, I cannot take their characters seriously.

This, I have no problem with nudity or lack of clothing but only in the right context. If it's evidently just there for sex appeal then it's a big annoyance.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Don't flatter yourself. Ignoring your bodies natural urges isn't maturity. You shouldn't be losing enough hormones to effect your libido that much until you're a lot older.

Also I don't care what women think about it. Just like I don't care what other men think about a Chippendale catalogue or whatever.

Just because they're a women doesn't give them any more authority on the subject of sexuality than I have.

I really don't understand this hyper sensitive attitude people have towards sexuality. We enjoy it, why shouldn't we parade it? Is it actually hurting anybody? Are you simple enough to actually believe that the objectification of aesthetic diminishes respectability?

Is it any-more just to attack a person for flaunting their attractiveness than it is to berate someone for not being attractive?

You seem to be missing the point here. It's not that pointless fanservice makes anyone mad. It's that it's boring, silly, and a little sad.

 

[lord canti]

Erza Scarlet from fairy tail has a good design. Full armor and a long skirt that makes a lot of sense for her. Then she changes armor and that all gos out the window.

 

[Jegsimmons]

i actually don't mind a little cladness (if thats a word) in comics or games.
but when they try and give me a boner and just do it for eye candy to the point its intrusive...it gets annoying.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Don't flatter yourself. Ignoring your bodies natural urges isn't maturity. You shouldn't be losing enough hormones to effect your libido that much until you're a lot older.

Also I don't care what women think about it. Just like I don't care what other men think about a Chippendale catalogue or whatever.

Just because they're a women doesn't give them any more authority on the subject of sexuality than I have.

I really don't understand this hyper sensitive attitude people have towards sexuality. We enjoy it, why shouldn't we parade it? Is it actually hurting anybody? Are you simple enough to actually believe that the objectification of aesthetic diminishes respectability?

Is it any-more just to attack a person for flaunting their attractiveness than it is to berate someone for not being attractive?

You seem to be missing the point here. It's not that pointless fanservice makes anyone mad. It's that it's boring, silly, and a little sad.

So we shouldn't enjoy something because it doesn't serve any purpose aside from pure enjoyment?

I'm sorry but I find it a little difficult to care what you or anyone else thinks of what I enjoy.

I'd advise you to take the same approach with the things you enjoy. It's very liberating.

The issue is that looking at game characters wearing skimpy clothing isn't particularly enjoyable, and frequently undermines the game's design and/or storytelling. If you want sex, have sex. If you want porn, look at porn. I find it immensely silly that people get defensive about their fanservice when they have a planet full of people they can have sex with and an internet full of porn to look at.

 

[2fish]

I do agree that they make "sexy" more important than simple logic. this is seen in any femal armor vs male armor in most rpgs.

So not a prude just sick of the overdrive sell of sex. For me I hate it when the make the character sexy over making them an actual character.


You can always cruise with my girls.

Spoiler

No party we can't crash

 

[Micalas]

Harley looked better in Arkham Asylum. She sure as hell didn't demurely but she didn't look like she just got finished sucking my dick in an empty parking lot.

I also dig the dominatrix look >.>

I would like to point out that looking like a dominatrix tends to entail more clothes than the average female videogame character, as they need to convey a harsh, self-contained image, which while extremely sexual, isn't sexual for anyone's benefit but the dom herself.

Exactly. I just stating that I enjoy the dominatrix look over the what was posted in the OP. You can still be hot as hell while covering a very large portion of your skin.

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