Poll: Does sex appeal influence your decision to purchase a game?

[PeterMerkin69]

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious about, and didn't enjoy, fucking Zevran's brains out in Dragon Age: Origins, so... sometimes, maybe, yes. Most of the time, absolutely not.

 

[Dead Seerius]

Well, for a game like The Witcher that mostly everyone knows contains a good amount of sex, I am completely indifferent. I don't buy a game for virtual porn, but if it's in there because it pertains to the narrative I don't really mind.

Now if the sex 'appeal' is the front-and-center marketing ploy of a game (DoA), I will go out of my way to NOT buy it because it would just feel awkward. Plus, games that make such a big deal about boobs probably aren't all that great to begin with.

 

[mike1921]

sex appeal? Not something I'm ever really aware of before I start playing a game. If I am it's probably the pandering type and it'll be a turn-off for me(harhar).

Like, I don't think I have ever been aware of a game's sex appeal before playing it besides like Mortal Kombat and Sengoku Rance (RAPE EVERYWHERE) and I didn't really purchase the latter it so it doesn't count.

 

[Agente L]

No.

I wouldn't buy a worse game because I can play as a hot girl, as opposed to a guy/ugly girl/whatever.

And if they are similar, I would simply look around forums/reviews/friends to see which one I think I would enjoy more.

 

[Ashadowpie]

i picked no because the " Sex sells " is so distasteful to me and its down right degrading as a society for sex to sell period, yet we promote it?

* shakes head again *

the thing that sells for me is actual good freakin gameplay, environments and music. i actually stay away from games.

games with high sexual crap in it i try to stay away from or just skip the cutscenes. people say im childish for this but you know what? i dont want to see the garbage.

 

[ImperialSunlight]

Yes and no. If there's no sex appeal, I won't take it into account (I won't expect sex appeal in a puzzle game), but in a game that has a focus on sex appeal (visual novel, Soulcalibur, etc. ), the quality of the sex appeal will be taken into account (whether I find the sex appeal... appealing >.>).

 

[loa]

Yes, appealing looking characters will influence my buying habit.
I bought spyro: DotD just on that note, despite being aware that it's actually a terrible game.
If it has dragons, I'll be more likely to get it.
Same goes for catgirls because I am a creepy guy who likes that shit.

If we're talking about standard girls, those exaggerated puppets society tells me I'm supposed to find "hot", then no.
I even feel appalled if there's gratuious amounts of t&a on the cover and am less inclined to pick the game up.

For example I would probably not be buying this game:

 

[cswurt]

Of course.
I don't buy anything that I can't stick my penis into.

 

[Username Redacted]

Sex appeal worked on my around the time the original Tomb Raider came out (~1996). It does not work on me today. At this point I generally require greater reassuring from games that seem to be trying to sell via sex appeal that they're actually still good games. To this end I thought that Bayonetta was alright and that Dead or Alive 5 was pretty solid until the developers went nuts on their own game with a "balance" patch.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

So I'm curious to see what others think.

I voted no, as I'm pretty sure that's as close to your intent as I could get with your poll.

Anyway.

I chose not to buy the recent Soul Caliber, even though I have generally enjoyed the series, due to its shameless advertising. And the fact that Soul Caliber 4 was worse than Soul Caliber 3.

Meanwhile, a game about sex like Catherine is in my top best games of this generation. Not because of the sex appeal, but because of the focus - a game about sex and relationships.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

No, not at all. To me, there's something desperately sad about buying a game to gawk at animated tits.

 

[Rainforce]

yes it does.
it makes me less likely to purchase it (on average),
considering how it's trying to appeal to me on a level that is not relevant for my gaming experience.

 

[Vegosiux]

Yes, it does.

If a game tries to sell itself to me by having scantily clad tits on the face of the box, I'm less likely to buy it, because I'll think "What shortcomings are they trying to cover up?". So yes, it does affect my decisions - negatively.

 

[OmniscientOstrich]

Mostlikely.

Marketing where the subject realizes that he/she is being manipulated isn't very effective. As such, most people here have been influenced by sex appeal, only it has been done in a way thats subtle enough so they haven't realized it and gotten offended.

Then again, the way the OP was written people only seem to be examining the extremes and not the much more common, subtle touches that are prevalent in almost all entertainment. From my experience, the people who conciously think "Wow, that chick is hot, maybe I should buy that product." are a very small minority. Most of the time people who are affected by sex appeal explain their attraction to the character in another way. (Good writing, relatable, otherwise interesting etc.)

It's ok guys. We're all affected by marketing, and since sex is one of the most abused and profitable aspects of marketing its a fair to assume most of are affected by it. It doesn't make you sexist or a bad person, humans are sexual creatures after all.

Pull the other one. I've got a stack of about 20 odd games a few feet away from me and a grand total of one of them could be construed to have a 'sexy' cover and even then the face she's pulling just makes her look uncomfortable more than anything:

Spoiler

Just because you might be easily swindled by this sort of thing, doesn't mean everybody else here is. Stop projecting. It's not a question of being ashamed to acknowledge my libido; I readily admit I'm a perv, but this isn't 1986. When there are millions of archives of material catering to whatever depraved fantasy I can imagine available free of charge and at the click of a button, by comparison the prospect of shelling out £40 and going through a 10 hour game to see some pixelated cleavage is not a particularly enticing one. Many others have already beaten me to the punch in pointing out that the use of sex appeal appears to be a mark of desperation on the advertiser's part as it displays a disinclination to sell the product on it's own merits and leaves us to extrapolate that what they're selling has no unique/interesting features that would make the purchase worthwhile. I feel that this is a testament to how much more savvy consumers have become in the last 20 years, you can't get away with being cryptic about what you're pushing anymore (or at least not as successfully) when information gets disseminated and dissected so quickly; people are more capable of making informed decisions than they've ever been, you're not forced to buying something on a whim just because the cover looks cool or whatever. And now that I've said that, I suppose it's kind of a shame that many people aren't that discerning about what they do end up buying, or that marketing firms pushing the sex sells thing don't realise how transparent they are. I mean, even when it comes to stupid commercials that really have nothing to do with the product, people remember the Cadbury's Gorilla, Old Spice Guy, The Honda Domino ad, Compare the Meerkat or even that recent Dancing Pony thing, but how many of those 'sexy' ads can you actually recall?

In short, my answer is no, or at least it doesn't influence my decision in a positive way.

 

[J Tyran]

It's ok guys. We're all affected by marketing, and since sex is one of the most abused and profitable aspects of marketing its a fair to assume most of are affected by it. It doesn't make you sexist or a bad person, humans are sexual creatures after all.

Pull the other one. I've got a stack of about 20 odd games a few feet away from me and a grand total of one of them could be construed to have a 'sexy' cover and even then the face she's pulling just makes her look uncomfortable more than anything:

Same here, I only have 25 or so retail copies (I am a digital distribution person) but most of them have tanks or power armoured warriors, cyborgs and spaceships on the cover. None have anything sexy on the cover, well not unless you count super cars or gun porn I guess.

 

[FoolKiller]

No. It does not. What matters to me is the content of the game. Tomb Raider as a series did not appeal to me because of the apauling protrayal of their protagonist. Only the most recent instalment has given me interest because the content sounds deep and interesting.

Tomb Raider appealed to me because I liked the puzzle solving aspect as it was a new thing in the mid 90s. I played Tomb Raider for the same reason as I played Soul Reaver... and Raziel is a rather grotesque but charming vampire wraith.

 

[Patrick Buck]

Yes, but only subliminally. I get kind of offended if I realize what the game is doing. But I'm certain it will have convinced me to buy a game in the past, even unknowingly.

 

[TwoSidesOneCoin]

I'm going with no, for example even though Lara Croft is fine as hell in previous current gen games, not the starting era where her breasts were so sharp they could put your eyes out, I still haven't bought any of the games.

That example was to prevent from getting a warning from mods, but yeah, a sexy woman in scant clothing doesn't influence my decision to buy a game.

 

[A Weakgeek]

Mostlikely.

Marketing where the subject realizes that he/she is being manipulated isn't very effective. As such, most people here have been influenced by sex appeal, only it has been done in a way thats subtle enough so they haven't realized it and gotten offended.

Then again, the way the OP was written people only seem to be examining the extremes and not the much more common, subtle touches that are prevalent in almost all entertainment. From my experience, the people who conciously think "Wow, that chick is hot, maybe I should buy that product." are a very small minority. Most of the time people who are affected by sex appeal explain their attraction to the character in another way. (Good writing, relatable, otherwise interesting etc.)

It's ok guys. We're all affected by marketing, and since sex is one of the most abused and profitable aspects of marketing its a fair to assume most of are affected by it. It doesn't make you sexist or a bad person, humans are sexual creatures after all.

Pull the other one. I've got a stack of about 20 odd games a few feet away from me and a grand total of one of them could be construed to have a 'sexy' cover and even then the face she's pulling just makes her look uncomfortable more than anything:

Spoiler

Just because you might be easily swindled by this sort of thing, doesn't mean everybody else here is. Stop projecting. It's not a question of being ashamed to acknowledge my libido; I readily admit I'm a perv, but this isn't 1986. When there are millions of archives of material catering to whatever depraved fantasy I can imagine available free of charge and at the click of a button, by comparison the prospect of shelling out £40 and going through a 10 hour game to see some pixelated cleavage is not a particularly enticing one. Many others have already beaten me to the punch in pointing out that the use of sex appeal appears to be a mark of desperation on the advertiser's part as it displays a disinclination to sell the product on it's own merits and leaves us to extrapolate that what they're selling has no unique/interesting features that would make the purchase worthwhile. I feel that this is a testament to how much more savvy consumers have become in the last 20 years, you can't get away with being cryptic about what you're pushing anymore (or at least not as successfully) when information gets disseminated and dissected so quickly; people are more capable of making informed decisions than they've ever been, you're not forced to buying something on a whim just because the cover looks cool or whatever. And now that I've said that, I suppose it's kind of a shame that many people aren't that discerning about what they do end up buying, or that marketing firms pushing the sex sells thing don't realise how transparent they are. I mean, even when it comes to stupid commercials that really have nothing to do with the product, people remember the Cadbury's Gorilla, Old Spice Guy, The Honda Domino ad, Compare the Meerkat or even that recent Dancing Pony thing, but how many of those 'sexy' ads can you actually recall?

In short, my answer is no, or at least it doesn't influence my decision in a positive way.

I wasn't aware we were only discussing game covers. Videogame marketing nowdays is so much more isn't it? Trailers, gameplay videos etc. For example, the new catwoman was a major part of Batman: Arkham city marketing, but she wasn't featured on the cover.

Also, the definition of sex appeal marketing might vary from person to person. I consider marketing where the consumers can easily identify the sex appeal is faulty. Thats when it does seem desperate and when it starts having the opposite effect. Sex appeal can be used in your marketing in wildly different ways and skimpy outfits, cleavage and impossible bodytypes are but the most clumsy way of doing it.

But hey, maybe I'm wrong, and against odds everyone here really isn't affected by that kind of marketing. But there are no "ignorant fratboy" consumers that make up the majority of gamers and who make "sex sell".

Yes, but only subliminally. I get kind of offended if I realize what the game is doing. But I'm certain it will have convinced me to buy a game in the past, even unknowingly.

This is an example successfull marketing.