Poll: Let's Get Some Honesty, Shall We? (Regarding Big Breasts/Sexy Female Game Characters)

[ItouKaiji]

Yes, I am offended by big boobs in games because these game developers just assume every guy likes boobs, where are the soft round butts for those of us that enjoy a lady with nice backside? I've never seen the appeal of boobs, they're not really interesting especially when they look like two balloons nailed to a stick. I'd be even more disturbing to an ass with those physics, but at least I'd think they were thinking of me!

Seriously though...I find the huge boob designs to be ugly looking and don't really get the appeal.

 

[Lieju]

Trying to devolve the the discussion to sexism and all the possible implications is the guilt tactic. Instead of trying to push devs to make things because they want it to people are trying to guilt them into it. I do not condone such tactics.

So pointing out problems in something is 'quilting'?

And i'm tired every time sexism and appeals to higher morals are unfairly being brought up. Constructive debates are impossible when one side is trying to appeal to a higher moral ground to give their opinion more value than anyone else's.

Can you give me examples of 'appeals to higher morals being unfairly brought up', because I'm still not sure what you mean. (Do you mean something like trying to claim that criticising games is the same as threatening their free speech?)

Because, again, that's the kind of thing I hear a lot. 'If you criticise this thing I like you must mean you think I'm a bad person for liking it.'

 

[Drops a Sweet Katana]

Overt T&A doesn't really offend me so much as puts me off. Most of the designs that are meant to titillate just come across as juvenile attempts to make a character sexy. Now don't get me wrong, sexy characters are not bad things. It's just that most designers don't seem to get that the cornerstone of a sexy character is usually personality. You can slap as many D-cups on a plank as you like, but it's still a fucking plank, with all the same appeal as before. Or perhaps a bit less since you've just nailed a bunch of disembodies breasts to a piece of wood, you psycho!

 

[Britisheagle]

It genuinely pisses me off. Not because I think it is sexist or pathetic or whatever but simply because I often think it takes away from the immersion and seriousness of the game. Depends on the genre basically but I prefer women characters that look the part.

An example of such is Gears of War - female characters are still "sexy" but wear just as much armour as the man meat that are Marcus and Dom. It looks the part. On the flip side you have Skyrim that has boob plates, which would act as a target as to wear exactly to stab to get them in the heart. Silly but not revealing etc.

If that makes any sense....

 

[generals3]

Trying to devolve the the discussion to sexism and all the possible implications is the guilt tactic. Instead of trying to push devs to make things because they want it to people are trying to guilt them into it. I do not condone such tactics.

So pointing out problems in something is 'quilting'?

And i'm tired every time sexism and appeals to higher morals are unfairly being brought up. Constructive debates are impossible when one side is trying to appeal to a higher moral ground to give their opinion more value than anyone else's.

Can you give me examples of 'appeals to higher morals being unfairly brought up', because I'm still not sure what you mean. (Do you mean something like trying to claim that criticising games is the same as threatening their free speech?)

Because, again, that's the kind of thing I hear a lot. 'If you criticise this thing I like you must mean you think I'm a bad person for liking it.'

There is a difference between pointing out a problem and fabricating a societal problem.

When you say "X" is sexism you're effectively taking the moral highground. Someone saying "but i like X" will merely be met with "don't care, it's morally wrong therefor it must go". When you bring in moral claims you're effectively nullifying opinions. And than it comes all down to debating whether said moral claims are valid or valid enough to trump people's desires.

 

[greatcheezer2021]

i think this whole big breasted booby thing is because secretly, people dont want to see the same female characters with the same body types.

i like my women small, slender, and petite too. (small as in boobs) as much as i like lascivious, curvy, tall women too.

its not like it matters, not like there's anything worth seeing. or doing to begin with. its just a vidya, not like youre going to take her home to play with or anything.

 

[SycoMantis91]

In games or in real life, I'm not typically a fan of obnoxiously-breasted women nor am I a fan of women who are clearly designed/make themselves up to be eye candy. It's far more impressive when a woman is, or is designed as a real person and happens to be attractive. Personality also plays a large part in attraction to me, so that knocks off even more points for most video game women.

 

[Jenny Jones]

I have no problems with characters having large breasts, little breasts, dress in skimpy outfits, wear armour, be super sexy or be very plain. What I have a problem with is that being the whole thing and the only thing about that character. Nice sexy character that is like that to get what she wants and to further her own goals by praying on weak guys. I can handle. Big booehs for teh boobehs and she haz big boobehs. No, just no.

Works the same for men too but we generally get more fleshed out men (pun not intended) who have at least more depth than massive arms because I'm strong and heroic and massive like my arms!

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

Alright, seems everyone still has their panties in a bunch over the whole Big Boobs in Gaming thing, in particular with regards to a certain caster class in a game called Dragon's Crown. The purpose of this poll is just as the topic's title says: a search for some honesty. Specifically: is it REALLY that big of a deal for a female character to be designed with a sexy figure?

No. I don't mind being or looking at a sexy figured female. I am a female and I'm OK looking, but who doesn't want to be a little hotter - especially in a fantasy/escapist setting? Sure, turn up the hotness a bit on whoever I'm playing or whoever's around. Looking at hideously over rendered faces with 10 blemishes per square inch is not something I enjoy either, just saying. A pretty face to go with a pretty figure, I'm in.

To have big bouncing breasts that jiggle with every step she takes?

Yeah, actually that's kinda annoying and usually becomes offensive fast. Breasts don't act like that, for starters, and overdoing it becomes a serious distraction from the game's character writing for me. It doesn't appeal to me on any level and often tends to repulse.

Are game designers completely missing the mark by continuing to design female characters that way? Or are they actually justified in doing so because a lot of people like it?

I fall out on the "missing the mark" side. There's a middle ground no one seems to be very interested in and I wish they'd settle in that area rather than extremes to either side.

Feel free to leave a comment if you want, but I'm hoping the anonymity of the poll - allowing you to just click an option and move on with no one else seeing what you voted for - will indeed bring out honest answers. Are you complaining about it just because everyone else is and you don't wanna look like a chauvinistic pig in front of your peers? Or do you REALLY have a huge problem with sexy female characters in games?

I didn't vote, because neither answer offers that middle ground opinion that I have and I think a lot of people have, but end up not expressing because this conversation is tiresome and polarized.

 

[deadish]

You missed an option,

- I'm totally neutral about it. Artists should have the freedom to depict whatever they like in their work. Whether it looks good or not, depends on the artist's skill and my personal preferences.

 

[trollnystan]

It makes you wonder why they even bother putting in the effort to design the women at all.
Why don't they cut out the middle-man and just make all the characters in the game floating pairs of jiggly tits. It seems like unnecessary effort to design hair and faces for the tit-carriers.

Lets be honest, they'd probably have the same level of personality as those kinds of characters anyway.

There's a perfect little comic that I just can't find that illustrates that. Basically it's two female characters who literally get reduced to T&A floating in mid-air with a sword shoved down their cleavage. No heads, no legs; just boobs and bums.[footnote]I did find a funny Oglaf strip that I don't dare post; it wasn't sexually explicit but it's still, you know, Oglaf and the mods might rain down anger.[/footnote]

But yeah, sometimes I really wonder about how the process of designing some female characters went. Again I mention Samara: A member of a monastic order, a Justicar, who has sworn off romantic entanglements - and I assume sex all together - not because the Code she follows forbids it, but because she honours the Code more than romance. She is feared for good reason, and she can kick ass spectacularly. She is calm, zen-like...

... And they put her in a skintight bodysuit - alright, everybody in ME wears one of those - that has cleavage almost down to her navel and give her gravity-defying boobs (that I do believe are the largest in the game) that somehow stay in place without any visible sign of support. They don't flop out or bounce around, like I'd expect normal boobs of that size not enhanced by medical science to do. Whatever weird invisible bra she's using, I want it.

Sorry, tangent; Samara's design is a HUGE pet-peeve of mine.

 

[-Dragmire-]

There are many different styles of sexy, I'd like to see some more variety there. I don't really have any really strong feelings about it though.

 

[CloudAtlas]

Sorry, tangent; Samara's design is a HUGE pet-peeve of mine.

Not only of you.

It's the prime example of a design that's 'not that bad', but it just doesn't belong. At all. Although I did wonder about Miranda's paper-thin catsuit just as much; a rather odd choice for a woman who doesn't want to be judged just by her genetics. Anyway, both looked equally stupid next to my armor-clad Shepard, so they had to stay in the Normandy.

 

[nathan-dts]

Who can say that they prefer them that way? They're unnatural and present an immature impression of the developer. I can understand not caring about them, regardless of size, but preferring them unreasonably big is just juvenile.

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

Everyone who gets their boxers and briefs and panties in a bunch over Dragon's Crown without actually having spent money on it and actually playing it, here's my most sincerely heart-felt advice to you: Sheff the eff up. Thank you!

For further information, get the latest Cosmarxpolitan. If you can't find it, go make your own.

http://www.buzzpatrol.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Cosmarxpolitan.jpg

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Really could care about big breasts in games. If big breasts game "pretend" characters is an issue against woman. I say first deal with the fake photoshop models in magazines first. Then start moaning about the obviously fake unreal woman in games that all men see as fake and unreal and game characters.

 

[generals3]

Also i came across this:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/178358/Team_Ninja_learns_to_fear_its_fans.php#.UGVMR03A-RR

"We actually got a lot of feedback from people who were playing it, saying, 'We want bigger breasts. Make the characters more like that.' That was kind of surprising."

"There's definitely still room for having sexualized aspects," Shimbori concludes. "If you have a solid fighting game system there, there's nothing wrong with having beautiful characters as a layer on top of that -- that's another layer of entertainment that there's a need for. If there wasn't a need for it, people wouldn't have responded to the alpha demo like they did, and send us feedback."

People want T&A, they get T&A.

 

[trollnystan]

Sorry, tangent; Samara's design is a HUGE pet-peeve of mine.

Not only of you.

It's the prime example of a design that's 'not that bad', but it just doesn't belong. At all. Although I did wonder about Miranda's paper-thin catsuit just as much; a rather odd choice for a woman who doesn't want to be judged just by her genetics. Anyway, both looked equally stupid next to my armor-clad Shepard, so they had to stay in the Normandy.

Miranda didn't bother me as much as I inferred from talking to her that even though she doesn't like being judged purely on her looks, she's not above using them to gain the upper hand. Besides, as soon as I got her secondary outfit - the full body armour - I plonked her into that and said bye-bye to her catsuit =D

 

[EternallyBored]

Sorry, tangent; Samara's design is a HUGE pet-peeve of mine.

Not only of you.

It's the prime example of a design that's 'not that bad', but it just doesn't belong. At all. Although I did wonder about Miranda's paper-thin catsuit just as much; a rather odd choice for a woman who doesn't want to be judged just by her genetics. Anyway, both looked equally stupid next to my armor-clad Shepard, so they had to stay in the Normandy.

Miranda didn't bother me as much as I inferred from talking to her that even though she doesn't like being judged purely on her looks, she's not above using them to gain the upper hand. Besides, as soon as I got her secondary outfit - the full body armour - I plonked her into that and said bye-bye to her catsuit =D

Honestly, Miranda was pretty good personality wise, she struck a good balance between femme fatale, and competent second-in-command who eventually ends up with torn loyalties. Wearing her catsuit on combat missions did make me groan a bit though, it was pretty much the first sign of out of place sexualizing after the excellent first game actually put its females in believable body armor. The break in suspension of disbelief is even worse once you know the first game didn't pull that kind of thing. Still I kind of liked Miranda as a character.

The biggest issue I had with her was how the camera kept focusing on her ass. I can understand that if I was romancing her and it was during the sexy flirting scenes, but nope, camera zooms in on her butt in otherwise normal scenes, totally broke the tension of the game during them too, I actually busted out laughing when Shepard was trying to have a serious conversation with her and the camera decided it was more interested in her ass crack.

 

[CloudAtlas]

Honestly, Miranda was pretty good personality wise, she struck a good balance between femme fatale, and competent second-in-command who eventually ends up with torn loyalties. Wearing her catsuit on combat missions did make me groan a bit though, it was pretty much the first sign of out of place sexualizing after the excellent first game actually put its females in believable body armor. The break in suspension of disbelief is even worse once you know the first game didn't pull that kind of thing. Still I kind of liked Miranda as a character.

The biggest issue I had with her was how the camera kept focusing on her ass. I can understand that if I was romancing her and it was during the sexy flirting scenes, but nope, camera zooms in on her butt in otherwise normal scenes, totally broke the tension of the game during them too, I actually busted out laughing when Shepard was trying to have a serious conversation with her and the camera decided it was more interested in her ass crack.

Don't get me wrong, I didn't dislike Miranda as a character, not at all. She had personality, she was capable, and her loyalties were ambiguous. But, man, going on missions in hostile environments in an outfit like this... come on. And you're right, the camera was the worst.

It just kinda made me sad. So BioWare created this trilogy with a gay character who wasn't cliche and treated his sexuality like the most normal thing in the world, a lesbian character for which the same can be said, and there were plenty of other capable, somewhat complex female characters, some even immune to even your most charming advances, of course there was Shepard herself, for which my love should not come as surprise... and then, you stumble upon completely unnecessary, disruptive stuff like this. Yea, sure, there are some other issues, like the whole design of the Asari, or two oddly young female characters, one of them pretty damseled on top, or making FemShep's default look a player choice, but nothing that obvious.

But still, as much as I criticize BioWare for that, those are complaints on a high level, and they're at least visibly trying, and, I think, getting better, even if they make some mistakes on the way.


So, since we're supposed to be honest about sexy female game characters in this thread: Shepard is damn hot in my book. If you want to pander to my tastes, you need to create characters like her.