Poll: Does sex appeal influence your decision to purchase a game?
- Thread starter ShinyCharizard
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Yes, in that if they try to use sex appeal on me, I am much more likely to refrain from buying the game. I am never going to take your story seriously whilst you have big jiggly tits and skin tight outfits.
That said, in games where sex appeal is a central point of the game (like Bayonetta, Catherine or Skull Girls), I tend to be more interested.
That said, in games where sex appeal is a central point of the game (like Bayonetta, Catherine or Skull Girls), I tend to be more interested.
Honestly, the industry as a whole is drawing on false conclusions.
I don't know where they get their data from, but it honestly looks like most devs are under the impression that male gamers are either attracted in female protagonists because of their sex appeal or because the character brings out a chivalrous streak in the player.
I think that's bullshit.
Take the new Tomb Raider. Word is we're supposed to care for and want to save Lara Croft. Okay, sure. If you want me to care for her, give me a sense of who she is. Don't just put her through the wringer and flat-out abuse her; that's like going "CARE ABOUT HER, PLAYER! I SAID CARE, YOU NITWIT!"
I'm about close to half an hour from the endgame, and the whole thing just feels terribly exploitative. The extremely graphic death set pieces, the constant battering of the heroine and her only showing true weakness when the plot calls for it, her unbelievably quick transition from a shellshocked survivor to hard-bitten killing machine...
In terms of gameplay, it's awesome. Narratively, it's a mess. It's all a very good centrepiece for Lara's abilities, sure, but the game forces the player into a double bind. On the one hand, you've got the game-mandated baddies and requisite murders to perform. On the other, you've got their desire to portray Lara as a believably fragile person.
These two things are not mutually inclusive.
The result is a heroine that switches between breathy screams of pain to tug at our heartstrings and who also shouts "Run, you bastards! I'm coming for you all!"
They failed. I don't care about this new version of Lara. She's properly controlled and fun to play as - but she's also as exploitative as the previous versions of her character were - albeit for different reasons.
I'm a mature man. I don't need to be coddled into playing with the sight of a pretty lady who needs either her knight errant in the person of the protagonist, or her knight errant in the person of the player. I also don't need games that figure that strong and independent women are free to be so skeezy as to make an Amish housewife look like Sheri Moon Zombie.
Considering, you can count me in as one of the guys who enjoyed Bayonetta for its mechanics, but who became EXTREMELY annoyed with her exaggerated runway walk cycle and, well, just about everything she did when we weren't controlling her directly.
I don't know where they get their data from, but it honestly looks like most devs are under the impression that male gamers are either attracted in female protagonists because of their sex appeal or because the character brings out a chivalrous streak in the player.
I think that's bullshit.
Take the new Tomb Raider. Word is we're supposed to care for and want to save Lara Croft. Okay, sure. If you want me to care for her, give me a sense of who she is. Don't just put her through the wringer and flat-out abuse her; that's like going "CARE ABOUT HER, PLAYER! I SAID CARE, YOU NITWIT!"
I'm about close to half an hour from the endgame, and the whole thing just feels terribly exploitative. The extremely graphic death set pieces, the constant battering of the heroine and her only showing true weakness when the plot calls for it, her unbelievably quick transition from a shellshocked survivor to hard-bitten killing machine...
In terms of gameplay, it's awesome. Narratively, it's a mess. It's all a very good centrepiece for Lara's abilities, sure, but the game forces the player into a double bind. On the one hand, you've got the game-mandated baddies and requisite murders to perform. On the other, you've got their desire to portray Lara as a believably fragile person.
These two things are not mutually inclusive.
The result is a heroine that switches between breathy screams of pain to tug at our heartstrings and who also shouts "Run, you bastards! I'm coming for you all!"
They failed. I don't care about this new version of Lara. She's properly controlled and fun to play as - but she's also as exploitative as the previous versions of her character were - albeit for different reasons.
I'm a mature man. I don't need to be coddled into playing with the sight of a pretty lady who needs either her knight errant in the person of the protagonist, or her knight errant in the person of the player. I also don't need games that figure that strong and independent women are free to be so skeezy as to make an Amish housewife look like Sheri Moon Zombie.
Considering, you can count me in as one of the guys who enjoyed Bayonetta for its mechanics, but who became EXTREMELY annoyed with her exaggerated runway walk cycle and, well, just about everything she did when we weren't controlling her directly.
so strange i never actually considered on buying a game based on how much sex appeal it has.. with most AAA mainstream games they usually have that very homo erotic front cover/characters... if you want heterocentric covers/characters you look at Japanese made games.
ohhh the irony
ohhh the irony
The only game where sex had something to do with me playing was Dead or Alive... I can't remember if it was 2 or 3 or which one of them it was, but you could unlock all these costumes for the women, and at the time I thought that was great. I got rid of the game b/c that wears off. Dead or Alive is a decent fighter, but there are at least 3 or 4 other fighters that are better.
For all other games, sex appeal really doesn't factor in. I think this kind of question is a fairly modern one for gamers to ask as we re visit how important games are to our culture. I really lean towards gameplay that is more arcade-like, but these days people need to have so much more in order to take is seriously.
It's like gameplay is so cliche'... so 1990 or something.
For all other games, sex appeal really doesn't factor in. I think this kind of question is a fairly modern one for gamers to ask as we re visit how important games are to our culture. I really lean towards gameplay that is more arcade-like, but these days people need to have so much more in order to take is seriously.
It's like gameplay is so cliche'... so 1990 or something.
It really depends if the game is ABOUT sex in the first place. Sex appeal in Tomb Raider is no, but if it was Monster Girl Quest...
i feel like most the people who said no are probably lying. when i was 15 i bought Bedazzled because the Rating on the back listed Nudity, and I was all for some Elizabeth Hurley nudity. Instead, I got Brendan Frasier butt... hold on... that might have been Monkeybone now that I think about it. uh, that's not a euphemism for zippermeat, Monkeybone is a movie title.
then again, i've never bought a game JUST for sex appeal. played them before though. DoA Beach Volleyball comes to mind. I want to try Lollipop Chainsaw, but not JUST for the sex appeal. same with Onechanbara-Bikini Samaurai. although, that mostly got me interested with the insane premise. neither game looked good enough to dedicate time or money to though, taking me back to my answer of "no." ultimately, the only thing that matters is whether or not i'll have fun playing it.
then again, i've never bought a game JUST for sex appeal. played them before though. DoA Beach Volleyball comes to mind. I want to try Lollipop Chainsaw, but not JUST for the sex appeal. same with Onechanbara-Bikini Samaurai. although, that mostly got me interested with the insane premise. neither game looked good enough to dedicate time or money to though, taking me back to my answer of "no." ultimately, the only thing that matters is whether or not i'll have fun playing it.
Okay, I confess...."men who look like hot women" are my main reason for putting up with Japanese RPGs. It's only a pity they don't walk backwards, because I've never understood why so many other women find men's butts appealing. I can only assume that if you find a woman staring at your butt, her inner masculine desires may want to shove something up it. It's also a pity that said hot heroes have to have such obnoxious love interests.
To be honest, landscape design also heavily influences my purchase. I don't leave the house much, I grew up in a barren desert, & it's always raining where I live. Being able to run around in lush green tree-filled environs is very appealing to me. Brownscapes & metallic environments are a huge turn-off.
I confess that the space setting, inability to make Shepard attractive in either gender, & the overall creepiness of the character designs factored into my decision not to play mass effect 2 or 3. The creepy graphics in LA Noir also gave me the jibblies.
Naturally, the games I like the most tend to have very dated, cartoony, or abysmal graphics (sometimes all of those). I but a LOT of games every year for different reasons.
To be honest, landscape design also heavily influences my purchase. I don't leave the house much, I grew up in a barren desert, & it's always raining where I live. Being able to run around in lush green tree-filled environs is very appealing to me. Brownscapes & metallic environments are a huge turn-off.
I confess that the space setting, inability to make Shepard attractive in either gender, & the overall creepiness of the character designs factored into my decision not to play mass effect 2 or 3. The creepy graphics in LA Noir also gave me the jibblies.
Naturally, the games I like the most tend to have very dated, cartoony, or abysmal graphics (sometimes all of those). I but a LOT of games every year for different reasons.
If anything it influences me not to buy it. I don't find ridiculous CGI fantasy women attractive at all (I know, there goes my nerd cred). Using T&A to sell a game suggests to me that they've got nothing else to sell it with.
In buying a game? No. In fact, if the cover art is overly sexualized (like Wet or X-blade or whatever that game was), that turns me off of buying the game.
In choosing who I play as or what decisions I make in games? Oh yes. Though I think it's closer to general all-around attraction than straight up sex appeal. For example, Isabela is much, MUCH sexier than Merrill. However, I find Merrill more attractive (not sex appeal) so I always favor her.
In choosing who I play as or what decisions I make in games? Oh yes. Though I think it's closer to general all-around attraction than straight up sex appeal. For example, Isabela is much, MUCH sexier than Merrill. However, I find Merrill more attractive (not sex appeal) so I always favor her.
Majority are going "no" on this one. I think the majority are thinking of Dead or Alive or the like.
But I've got to ask- in games where you have a choice of characters to play or the ability to design your character's appearance, do you care if your character looks attractive? In games where you have a choice of companions, do you choose to spend most of your time with the ones who you find visually unappealing?
I think this may be a case where people tell the advertiser, "No, I never buy products based on product placement or brand familiarity" and the advertiser smiles and nods because he knows his numbers say something very different.
But I've got to ask- in games where you have a choice of characters to play or the ability to design your character's appearance, do you care if your character looks attractive? In games where you have a choice of companions, do you choose to spend most of your time with the ones who you find visually unappealing?
I think this may be a case where people tell the advertiser, "No, I never buy products based on product placement or brand familiarity" and the advertiser smiles and nods because he knows his numbers say something very different.
Not really. I mean, it would make some sense maybe 10 years ago, when internet wasn't so common, but today Sex Appeal in games is almost as pointless as sex appeal in Music Videos. We have porn for God's sake and today even the most oppressed 13-year old can easily find something fitting his tastes.
I could not care less about sex appeal in games, what I do care about is how good the graphics are, and sometimes the two overlap. Regardless, the gameplay and story are more important to me.ShinyCharizard said:
I don't care either way, I buy games that look like they have solid or at least interesting game mechanics, as far as "sex appeal" goes, I don't even care for it when it comes to women dressing to arouse, like seriously, a chick in work coveralls, who's covered in paint and smells like she's been workin all day is just as sexy to me as a woman wearin "sexy" clothing, it's all in how she carries herself, and in her personality, I see women and games using sex appeal too strongly in the same fassion, I see overexertion of effort, to cover up for a lack in solid overall performance, and that's generally a turnoff for me. Just sayin'.
It probably is one of the factors that grabs my attention at least. I'd love to say no, but denying it's impact would be hypocritical for me.