Poll: Sex appeal in gaming. Does it sell games?

[Phasmal]

Games advertised by cheap sex appeal are more likely to make me NOT buy them.
They basically say `Women, this game is not for you!`, so usually I dont buy it. If they dont want my money, I'm not going to force it on them.

EDIT:
I have no idea if sexy pandering towards people who like dudes would work on me or not because it doesn't really happen with games.

I guess the next Zelda should feature Link in a thong, then.
For science.

 

[Cyael]

Sex has the capacity to sell anything. If you remember nothing, remember that.

 

[AyreonMaiden]

I do sometimes, actually. I like fanservice sometimes.

The lesser half of the reason why I buy Grasshopper Manufacture games is because they design the hottest anime chicks in games. I also bought Bayonetta because black skintight suit.

 

[Wolfram23]

No. But, it probably would have influenced me when I was a young teenager. Actually, that's probably why I first played Tomb Raider, and definitely gave Duke Nukem 3D a little more appeal.

Still, I actually find it almost awkward to have some overtly sexy "babes" in a game. I don't think I could play Dead or Alive (especially not the beach volleyball), or Bayonetta. Particularly if my girlfriend is home lol.

There are games that it is appropriate though, from Heavy Rain to Dragon Age/Mass Effect.

 

[Triangulon]

Nope, not even remotely for me. As a couple of others have pointed out, an over-reliance upon sex as a marketing tool is more likely to discourage me from buying said game.

 

[yunabomb]

General rule for products: the more sex is used to sell the product, the more boring and mundane it is.

Sometimes I wonder how much this applies to video games since even the good games often use basic fanservice as a marketing tool.

 

[burningdragoon]

Eh, it depends. I won't buy a game just because there are scantily clad women. I usually won't complain if they are there though. I haven't gotten around to it yet, but I have Catherine not because it has sex in it, butt because I'm interested to see how it's executed. So yeah, presentation and execution are important.

If someone was to tell me a game has sex in it that isn't stupid goofy, uncanny valley sex, then I might check that out though provided the rest of the game is something I might like as well.

Not exactly the topic, but I'm also getting tired of the "we met yesterday and now we're in love" type of romance that is pretty much the only type there is in games. At least Tali and Garrus in ME2 have that whole first game before they are romance-able, to actually build up a history and actual friendlationship.

 

[Stukov Wolfwood]

sex has being used in almost any media to potentialy boost sales, and it may work to a certain extend.

As i once hear and my marketing teacher agreed with me.

"Sex does sell. How good it sells i am not very sure"

 

[Ando85]

Tomb Raider has some of the worst controls ever and its still successful. There's your answer.

Yeah, I always wondered if Tomb Raider starred a male protagonist if it would of turned out to be the successful series it has become. I enjoyed playing Tomb Raider 1 and 2, but lost interest by number 3. I didn't revisit the series at all until I saw Tomb Raider Legend at a bargain bin price. I got it and played through it. It seemed like a solid, yet nothing special adventure game.

 

[Baron von Blitztank]

Sex appeal doesn't affect me, insanity factor does. I don't care that if you squint at the female character models you can see some side-boob, what I want to know is how many ways I can break reality and plausibility for insane gory fun.

 

[jdogtwodolla]

It did when I was younger. I would look for games with some sex apeal character and find out if t was a good game or not. I don't these days though.

 

[DementedSheep]

Well scantily clad girls don?t interest me being that I?m not into girls. Depending on how it?s done it more likely to stop me from buying a game, there have been a few games (mostly MMOs) which I didn?t play because of that. Tho I'm not aganist sex or sex appeal in games, again it depends on how its done.
I don?t think I?ve ever been influenced to buy a game or anything really from a hot male character (not that there are many games that have particularly hot guys and its usually not somthing that is marketed), it?s not something I really care about. At most I?ll just think ?wow, he?s hot? and then continue playing. It?s not a selling point.

 

[Faulty Turmoil]

I think it can definitely help to sell some games, but I don't expect most people to keep playing the game for that long if they have to rely on sex appeal alone.

It'll need some kind of substance to keep the player interested other than 'boobs'.

 

[MetalMagpie]

The fact the scantily clad attractive women are in games is no secret, but my question is does anyone buy games based off of that fact?

Unfortunately, the question in the topic and the question in the poll will get two different responses.

It's pretty much impossible for any sane person to deny that sex appeal sells games, without arguing that a lot of highly-paid people in huge marketing firms have been completely wasting their time. If there's one thing marketing people know about, it's how to sell stuff. So sex appeal definitely works. And it works on a far wider range of products than just video games.

On the other hand, only a minority of people are likely to admit that sex appeal has an impact on what games they buy. In fact, most of them probably don't even realise it affects their decision-making at all. In any case, it's always going to have lower weight than things like gameplay features.

 

[Stukov Wolfwood]

Tomb Raider has some of the worst controls ever and its still successful. There's your answer.

Yeah, I always wondered if Tomb Raider starred a male protagonist if it would of turned out to be the successful series it has become. I enjoyed playing Tomb Raider 1 and 2, but lost interest by number 3. I didn't revisit the series at all until I saw Tomb Raider Legend at a bargain bin price. I got it and played through it. It seemed like a solid, yet nothing special adventure game.

she was originaly going to be an hispanic woman called laura cruz (thas why her is skin is a litle tan.) but at a latter point decided to make her british and change the name to the english equivalent of laura cruz, "lara cross".

 

[Tanakh]

Of course not.

Spoiler

 

[OniaPL]

Does sex appeal sell games? Is the Pope catholic and making the world safer for pedophiles?

Duh.