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

[PonceyMcTosserFaic]

I like sexy women when there is a point to them 1. being sexy for good reasons or 2. they are important to the storyline and they just happen to be pretty as well. What I don't like is when game makers put sexy girls in the game and there is no good reason and/or they are not relevant to the storyline. Also, it kinda breaks game immersion when a girl has bigger than J-cup breasts and she's running around in what amounts to two strips of clothing.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Sexy is fine. It's nice to look at something that looks nice.

Just don't hinge a female character's entire reason for being from it. Like with EDI in Mass Effect 3. Oy!

 

[Talvrae]

Honestelly, they just look stupid, seriously watching gameplay video of Dragon Crown sorceress video and looking at thouse things jiggles in every direction totally unrealistcly made me giddles. It's dumb, it dosent look good and honestelly would like something more realistic, and that i could recognize more of myself in it... But i'm not offended... just well facepalm is pretty much all it's worth

 

[verdant monkai]

Please excuse this posts graphic nature, it is an insight into my diseased mind.

I honestly like looking at boobs. I cant help it I just do.

It doesn't bother me when women aren't possessed of a massive bosom, they can still be sexy. However ideally I dont particularly need big boobs in my video games, because unless its a porn game (and 199 times out of 200 it isn't) there is no way you can get involved with the boobs they are just unattainable and there, awkwardly stapled to the woman. If I want to see some big boobs I look at porn, I dont need all the softcore teasing of these games.

I like boobs and think they should often be included just not in everything. For example a tutorial lady with big tits in strategy game would be gratuitous, whereas in an anime style fighting game she would be right at home. However not too big and not too ridiculous. Sorceress from Dragons crown being the maximum limit.

 

[Milanezi]

I DO prefer them sexy, but the question is: WHAT is "sexy"? Dragon's crown design, for instance, is not sexy to me, though it does not offend me, and I do see it as part of the game's style (everything there is exaggerate beyond human proportions lol). Sexy (in games), in my opinion is: Catwoman, Harley Quinn, the-girl-from-Remember-Me, Lightning (my favorite, truly speaks to my heart, the attitude, the way she looks, everything), I'm also pretty fond of that nazi-like Inquisition knight who does the investigation in Dragon Age II, Morigan... Well, that's it, I guess I have to admit I enjoy them with a badass attitude, and more "down to Earth" proportions (I mean, even though Catwoman may be VERY hot, she is not exaggerated, but more what you'd expect from a comic book). Dragon's Crown reminds me of "manga style meets Frank Frazzeta meets Serpieri" which is not bad, because I really love all those styles, but the thing is, that's something I enjoy in the realm of "art" (generally speaking), you know when you enjoy something but you don't really think it's pretty (like horror movies and all), the girls I mentioned, THOSE are the way I see beauty, as far as body/face is concerned. Even though I'm not bi or anything, I'll also take this chance to say I prefer men to look muscular lean than monstrous muscular (unless it's Gears of War, somehow I can't imagine lean working there hahaha).
My girlfriend is pretty thin (though she insists she's not, after all she's a woman, and girls aren't usually satisfied with how they look EVER...), and she goes regularly to the gym to keep the weight in check, she knows I find SOME muscle in women to be pretty, and she puts some effort in that, but not much (she doesn't like it, nor in her nor in men), and I don't insist because I don't believe in controlling someone else's body, I wouldn't interfere unless she did something hazardous to her health. I'm saying this just to show, I'm aware of the line, which in my opinion is pretty damn clear, that exists between games/comics(artists even?) and real life folk. What worries me is that, for discussions about dragon crown to appear - where no one contested the design per se, but the FEMALE design - it seems to me, that people really have a hard time trying to separate life and fiction...

 

[Poetic Nova]

As long as they don't hinder gameplay I don't have any issues with this kind of stuff. That said, i think their are enough games that touch both sides of the "clevage spectrum" and that leaves me kinda baffled.

 

[CloudAtlas]

I see that even in the most socially aware, whiny, offended forum on the internet regarding sexism issues, those who prefer sexappeal still are a majority. Just goes to show you devs know what they are doing.

If anything, there's a tie (within the statistical margin). And then the active members of a gaming forum are not representative for the set of all actual gamers, and even less so for all potential gamers.

And let me just add that being relatively progressive for a gaming forum doesn't really say that much.

Yeah, but when you compare people in forums like the escapist, and the actual demographics of people who buy videogames, I can without a moments hesitation say that escapist is SEVERELY biased towards "progressive". This poll just goes to show just how little people do care, even in an enviroment like the escapist.

You know, I agree with you. The average gamer is probably less progressive than the escapist crowd. And most people probably don't care much either way. Most people are simply much less invested in gaming, they just play, they don't post in forums and such. But I can't help but to compare games to movies and I would assume that, as games as a medium mature, they will become closer to movies in some respects. I would imagine that the potential audiences aren't that different. Now there's plenty of sexism in movies too, to be sure, but even in those kind of action movies clearly targeted at a younger male audience women are often treated better than in many games. Sure, there are damsels abound, but rarely without any agency whatsoever, there are skimpy outfits, but not comically revealing as in all too many games, there are suggestive poses, but not every single one is, and with using real actors, well, bodily proportions are by necessity realistic too.
But if some gamers are not only happy with games in general being worse than B-movies, but actually fighting for it to stay that way, well, good for them. But I'm not.

 

[trollnystan]

I picked option 3, but in reality there are times I DO find overly sexualised female characters offensive or off-putting. I hated the Samara's outfit in Mass Effect 2, but didn't mind Jack's for example, or Miranda's.

I also find the fetishisation of female breasts - like in DoA or various animes - rather gross. The breasts in DoA are rarely realistic - not in size nor physics - so I find them laugh-inducing at best and actually disgusting at worst. But that game is not geared towards people like me, neither design nor gameplay, so I solve that problem by simply not buying it, and let other people have at it.

But it makes me sad and a bit ostracised when games that do not set out to be primarily about "BOOBIES!!!" still crowbar it in there in character design that do not suit the character (IMHO at least) and unnecessary camera angles. Exhibit A) Mass Effect 2 focusing on Miranda's arse during a non-sexy conversation, and aforementioned Samara and her outfit. Exhibit B) The Witcher and Triss' outfit in the beginning. They bothered to make her boobs look like jelly/jello in a mesh sack but not give anyone actual facial expressions?

Anyway, that's, like, just my opinion man.

 

[Generic4me]

As for offensive and harmful to women, I can't say. To provide a truly accurate response to this, a person would have to had experienced the effects of these characters as both a male and female, and that's...kinda difficult.

I do know that huge boobs/skimpy clothing/ridiculous asses piss me off, because whenever they're on the screen, no matter how short the timespan, somebody will come into the room and see me, and those boobs, on the screen. And they will judge me.

 

[BarkBarker]

Poll is biased, there is no "I don't mind attractive but I don't like overly sexualized characters" choice, because I, strangely enough, ENJOY LOOKING AT ATTRACTIVE PEOPLE.....but attractive people aren't just bodies, they aren't simple to figure out because they are cliché and troped to the fucking max, one of my favourite characters of all time is Yami from To Love-Ru, yes the show is "Ecchi" and it is played up almost ritually, but the character is MORE than that, they aren't walking around in clothes that are too erotic even for the bedroom, she has character, personality, she does funny things, she is a PERSON, a lot more than many characters in the show even, because she was clearly a fan favourite, and expanded because of that, I mean in all honesty it's kinda pathetic to have someone being sexualized for the sake of eye candy, what about the feelings from that, there are a few stories in shows about people who have problems with their large breasts, back pain, spite from other girls, unwanted attention, THAT is a character, there is a consequence to this attribute, depth and emotion make it a person, you can be hot without showing skin, hell I PERSONALLY can find a well dressed person more feminine and sexy than a naked one, they accessorize the body without SHOWING the body, THAT is art my friends, THAT is something you need to understand about visual stimulus to a fucking T, naked....is not.....attractive, it is sexually stimulating maybe, but not attractive.

 

[OurGloriousLeader]

The difference being that I'm not on the side with the mob of people that actively campaign for exterminating something other people like because "social justice/moral outrage" and "muh feelings", calling them "evil sexist masogynized pigs" for enjoying something they dislike and actively bullying the creators by trying to drag their image through the mud or calling them 14-year-olds in rag pieces meant to discredit them and get those rag pieces precious views like has recently happened with George Kamitani.
And has happened to countless others in the past, for instance: https://soundcloud.com/ben-kuchera/jaffe-confrontation

Or on a more recent scale, Jack Thompson/FOX News and the "gaming violence rots childrens brains and makes them murderers/rapists" crowd.
I remember lots of people taking the piss out of them.

Sex and sexuality is not something to be ashamed or afraid of, every single human being on this planet was conceived that way, most likely reason being physical attraction between two people of the opposite gender. It might just be that your very existence on this world could be due to your father watching a saucy movie or magazine and feeling especially excited afterwards.

1) Who's calling for extermination? Let's go with serious commentators and substantiated argument as examples, please - because if you just want to bring up a list of horrible things said in this debate, I think the other 'side' wins.

2) This is a completely separate issues from Fox/Violence. There's not a direct causal chain being claimed - few people are saying 'Big-breasted women in Dragon's Crown are the cause of rape'. This is just a misrepresentation of the issue.

3) Nobody said sexuality was something to be ashamed of. Again, it seems like you're misrepresenting the issue.

 

[tsb247]

If we ignore the attitudes and such behind the whole debate, I find such designs thoroughly unappealing. When you have an otherwise normal female character in an otherwise non-weird setting wearing in an outfit made up of about half a cat worth of material, it comes across as extremely forced. In a combat scenario, dress your female character like this:

Spoiler: Lieutenant Mira from Space Marine

And not like this:

Spoiler: Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII

Basically, I like it when the outfits match with the setting. Skimpy is fine in the Dead or Alive Volleyball games, but not so good in a combat situation.

I've often had the same argument against impractical female dress in games. Do I enjoy the female form? Sure, but I don't like how female armor sets sacrifice function for sex appeal.

I found this web comic a few years ago that sums it up. The person that created it pretty much hit the nail on the head.

 

[barbzilla]

I DO prefer them sexy, but the question is: WHAT is "sexy"? Dragon's crown design, for instance, is not sexy to me, though it does not offend me, and I do see it as part of the game's style (everything there is exaggerate beyond human proportions lol). Sexy (in games), in my opinion is: Catwoman, Harley Quinn, the-girl-from-Remember-Me, Lightning (my favorite, truly speaks to my heart, the attitude, the way she looks, everything), I'm also pretty fond of that nazi-like Inquisition knight who does the investigation in Dragon Age II, Morigan... Well, that's it, I guess I have to admit I enjoy them with a badass attitude, and more "down to Earth" proportions (I mean, even though Catwoman may be VERY hot, she is not exaggerated, but more what you'd expect from a comic book). Dragon's Crown reminds me of "manga style meets Frank Frazzeta meets Serpieri" which is not bad, because I really love all those styles, but the thing is, that's something I enjoy in the realm of "art" (generally speaking), you know when you enjoy something but you don't really think it's pretty (like horror movies and all), the girls I mentioned, THOSE are the way I see beauty, as far as body/face is concerned. Even though I'm not bi or anything, I'll also take this chance to say I prefer men to look muscular lean than monstrous muscular (unless it's Gears of War, somehow I can't imagine lean working there hahaha).

My girlfriend is pretty thin (though she insists she's not, after all she's a woman, and girls aren't usually satisfied with how they look EVER...), and she goes regularly to the gym to keep the weight in check, she knows I find SOME muscle in women to be pretty, and she puts some effort in that, but not much (she doesn't like it, nor in her nor in men), and I don't insist because I don't believe in controlling someone else's body, I wouldn't interfere unless she did something hazardous to her health. I'm saying this just to show, I'm aware of the line, which in my opinion is pretty damn clear, that exists between games/comics(artists even?) and real life folk. What worries me is that, for discussions about dragon crown to appear - where no one contested the design per se, but the FEMALE design - it seems to me, that people really have a hard time trying to separate life and fiction...

First of all, I had to put an extra space in there between your two paragraphs, it was hurting my eyes on my phone.

I am hesitant to say so, but I somewhat agree with you. I think there is a general disconnect between people's perception of video games and what they believe it causes. It seems rather common for one group to dislike something to the point of wishing its non-existence, and this seems to happen quite a bit with video games (not just in regards to sexism, but in many ways). It also seems to stem from people who play games wanting every game to be made for them specifically. That said I do think gaming has some major issues with female representation.

I do think that every piece of art has its place in the world, but when it comes to video games, some of what is released is less art and more blatant sexploitation. Take games like Onechanbara, now with the way the game is titled and the box art, you should know it is sexploitation going into the game. Why should it exist though, to what purpose does the game serve? The gameplay is very bland (bordering on bad depending on your tastes), the story is complete nonsense, and the "art" is nothing more than scantily clad girls running about decapitating zombies. The beginning of the game you rush out of your apartment wearing nothing but bra and panties because you saw a news story about monsters and just had to get there right away. You apparently don't even have time to toss a slip over your head before you run out (though to their credit, she didn't put on high heels as well). Then as you play the game killing zombies and monsters, I guess you find dead women that wear your size and you collect clothing (only the skimpiest allowed) and get to dress your character up in the virtual dressing room. This is pretty much how the entire game plays out.

Meanwhile we have Lollipop Chainsaw, which may have had a lot of bad press, but was a serviceable game. To top that off, the character's outfit made sense in the setting of the game (she is a cheerleader going to school who just happens to also be a zombie hunter). The gameplay was 'eh, but the story was rather fun (as were some of the mechanics).

The two games show the rift between acceptable and unacceptable while still showing that sexy can be appropriate if done well. The lines aren't always so clear, but generally speaking if the entire game was designed to sell because of sexy half naked women, it is sexploitation. I don't expect these games to go away either, they do have their place (just not as art), just like the late night skinemax movies have their place.

The other half of the issue is that many women don't feel as though they are being represented in gaming, despite the number of women playing games rising high enough to almost rival that of men (actually higher than men if you include social and mobile gaming). So these women are trying to have their styles represented in gaming just like men do. As men we have just about any style of game we can imagine that caters to us (and not necessarily in a sexual way). Yet women have to wait for the one or two games that come out annually that give them a character that they can really get into. I don't mean to say that women can't get into the role of playing a male lead, because that is complete BS. My fiance plays games with male leads all the time and loves them, but she would like more games that allow her to be a normal woman who gets jammed into some kind of adventure, rather than either A: eye candy or B: Super Woman who is only a strong character because she doesn't have any reason to fear anything. One of her favorite games over the past year was Tomb Raider, and she normally isn't that into open world adventure games (especially if you have to aim and shoot anything).

TLDR: Games that serve as sexploitation need to find their own place rather than creeping into everyday games, yet just because something is sexy doesn't mean it is sexploitation, and women need more identifiable main characters that really allow them to be able to immerse themselves in the game.

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

It's a matter of context, really. I don't mind unrealistically big breats in a game like Dragons Crown that has an all around cartoony artstyle going for it. It obviously delibarately exaggerates the usual chliches of fantasy artwork and does it well enough. I don't find the sorceress appealing, not because i don't like big breasts but because cartoony artwork just doesn't do it for me... i do rather like some of Ninja Gaidens girl for example. I don't mind it in Bayonetta either... after all it is a game that's obsessed with its campy, over the top presentation.

It all depends if it fits the games style. I would have found it quite irritating if a more grounded, moody game like The Last of Us would have just featured a cartoonishly large breasted woman in highly revealing clothes just for the hell of it. It would have completely destroyed the mood the game was going for. But i think most developers know that. So in that regard, no, i don't mind sexualised character designs.

However, generally i wouldn't mind more nonattractive characters of both genders. I mean, i can see why most people wouldn't want to play as an ugly person but more unattractive or plain looking side characters wouldn't hurt sometimes.

 

[EyeReaper]

Eh, I don't really care. As long as the game is fun and there's compelling story/characters, their designs don't really mean much to me. Also, whenever i think of breasts in gaming, I think of Diana from Shin Megami Tensei
Warning, may kinda NSFW, even though she is fully clothed
[spoiler may]

[/spoiler]

 

[Jenvas1306]

there is more to the female characters that i have a problem with than just their bust or sexy ness

as dragons crown is such a topic right now, why not use it as an example here?
I dont really mind the bodystyles of the female characters, atleast they show some vatiation and I get that its the artstyle of being so overdrawn that also applies to the male characters.
its something else that I have noticed in a lot of video game art: their empty faces.

those expressions dont say "Im ready for battle", or "Im a firce warrior" or "Im a nimble elf". they are mostly empty with something like the hint of the expression certain woman may keep while making their money horizontally. Or maybe its just a general "fuck me" expression.

that is what bothers me. the face and eyes should be a mirror of ones self or not? reflecting character that way is so easy, but these gals look like they have none.
Or mayb they are just too botoxed up and are making bubbles with invisible gum?

In league of legends it really stands out that a lot of the female characters have the same blant expression and very similar faces overall. its very noticable if you got all the portraits of the chamions together.

darius is a serius guy, but also hard and enjoys violence

his brother, draven enjoys it even more, reflected in his epic grin

]

graves is kinda grump

Nunu, that young yeti rider has some confidence

--------------------------

now some female champions

is that your warface ladies? seriously?
hey you! the girl on the boar, whats about you?
can you make a scary face?

well thats is somewhat scary isnt it?
Did I take you seat in the cafeteria? no? you want to kill me? wouldnt have known without you telling me so...

...not all of them look that way, but its something that caught my eye

 

[Jeremy Meadows]

Doesn't really bother me. Like it sometimes on some characters, on others it does seem horrible (separate physics for each breast it perfect example). But I wouldn't argue with someone who is offended by it also because they have valid complaints.