RJ 17 said:
Zhukov said:
I consider this topic a success purely because it got this large of a response from you. Usually in most topic you tend to post just a couple lines that are short, sweet, and to the point.
I get where you're coming from though, as that's pretty much the case for me: if the game is as engaging as it should be, then you really shouldn't "have time" to even notice the character models that much. Marvel vs Capcom 3 has a lot of ladies in it, but if you stop to look at Felecia's.....bounciness....then you're going to get destroyed.
I just made this topic because it seems like every other topic on this subject is full of people that are disgusted/offended by it all. So I'm just trying to find out if it's REALLY that big of a deal, which is what the purpose of the 3rd poll option is.
I don't think it's so much disgust your seeing as it is frustration and weariness. With how much companies use sex to sell and advertise games, I think there's a chunk of the gaming audience that has finally reached their breaking point and feels like they are being treated like horny teenagers that can't appreciate something unless it is shoving titillation and sex in your face every couple of minutes.
I'll agree with Zhukov here, I'm a heterosexual male and I love sexy looking women. If nothing else I can appreciate big breasts, ample hips, a pretty face, and so on and so forth. Hell, I even like seeing sexy women in games, characters like Chun Li, and Morrigan are eye candy, and back in the day I enjoyed that kind of thing quite a bit. But, I'm tired now, most times when I see it used poorly in a game now I'm just exasperated, it makes me sound like an old man, but every time I see a character who is being contorted into improbable positions just to show off their breasts and butt at the same time, or has anatomy that would make Jessica Rabbit green with envy, I just feel a little more burned out. Why does so much of what I love have to constantly try to arouse me, I just want to play a video game, is it too much to ask for a little variety. I'm still perfectly fine with sexualization when it fits a theme or is a fleshed out part of a character, but gratuitously using it just desensitizes me a little more day by day, what I once used to find exciting and attractive, now just bores me from overuse.
Is it too much to ask to get just a little variety, even if it's just physically, maybe a couple scars, some blemishes, a face that doesn't look like it fell off the cover of a playboy magazine, some functional androgynous armor, I know asking for a great improvement in characterization is a bit much to expect all at once, but maybe just some physical variety to start with, we can even work on improving some male cliches as well while we're at it.
I think it's become such a hot issue recently because people are finally starting to speak out on it, and the majority of people who felt the same for a long time, but never spoke up are finally coming out and realizing that it isn't a topic that they are alone on. I know I've been frustrated with the endless bombardment of pointless tits and ass for 6 or 7 years now, but I never really talked about it, because I never really saw anyone else talking seriously about it until a year or two ago. People (both male and female) have probably been frustrated and disappointed for years now, but until the recent blowups there's never really been any momentum behind that building frustration, and now that there is, people who were once quiet are now venting years of pent up annoyance and criticism they once kept to themselves.
Unfortunately, this does lead to misfires, Dragon's Crown probably didn't deserve a lot of the vitriol thrown at it, but it's just a symptom of a lot of people finally finding an outlet for years of discomfort and alienation. It's not just video games, especially for the young male demographic, we are bombarded by sex from almost every angle, I see sex in commercials, t.v., movies, comics, books, sports, and video games, it just gets more and more boring with each passing day, to the point where my first thought upon seeing the head female scientist in the new XCOM game was, "you know I can't remember the last time I saw an older woman in a video game that wasn't and old crone, god I just realized how sad that is".
