Poll: Uncovered Breasts On Covers

[Talon_Skywarp]

This topic makes me think of a certain videogame.

This was the cover.

I remember seeing this game on a shelf at a local videogame store when I was much younger than I am now. I admit I took a closer look at the game because of the cover, but I don't think it was because of the "boobs". Just the style and the way she was drawn in a sexual manner. I never did buy the game because it looked like shit.

I think people make too much of a big deal about stuff like this, both developer and consumer.

Breasts neither turn me on a game nor turn me off a game.

Yes this game is really shit.

Like proper shit. Took me an hour to do the training level, the controls are mental.

But to get to topic, Does anyone care if boobs are on the cover or advertised? Didn't think people could fall for that. Consider they use boobs on everything!

 

[Tony2077]

i buy strange games boobs on the cover is just a bonus

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

I just looked over my games and only one of them has boobs on the cover.

Spoiler: Giants Citizen Kabuto

However, I bought that online after being impressed by the demo.

So no, I've never purchased a game due to sexy cover art, not even in my early teenage years.

The Reavers or whatever they were called were actually topless in game in the European version of that, so there's an honest to goodness example of what the OP is talking about. In the American version they wore bikini tops, because Americans are prudes.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Pretend boobs are nice to look at, but I'd never pay £40 just for pretend boobs, even real boobs would have to be pretty fucking sweet to be worth my £40 right now, pauper that I am.

 

[BathorysGraveland]

No, if I wanted to see a set of breasts, I could simply use Google. I generally don't care for nudity/sex/big tits/revealing women etc, etc in video games.

 

[pure.Wasted]

Pretend boobs are nice to look at, but I'd never pay £40 just for pretend boobs, even real boobs would have to be pretty fucking sweet to be worth my £40 right now, pauper that I am.

Haha!

I can't remember the last time I purchased a game without knowing anything about it. I usually have my purchases planned out for weeks in advance. Like right now, I know I need to buy The Witcher 2 and maaybe Persona 4, and borrow Arkham City from my friend. I'm not suddenly going to see a game on the shelves that's going to scratch my gaming itches.

 

[omicron1]

Yeah, I tend not to like things like this (TERA as an example). It's the chief reason I'm not buying it (at least in Guild Wars 2 you can sort of cover up...)

But seriously, all forms of media do this to some extent. Trashy romances, movies with Angelina Jolie in them, Lady GaGa albums... the problem, as I see it, is one of percentages. To wit, there's a huge number of games, relatively speaking, that do this.

 

[Don Savik]

We all like boobs. Its science. But as much as we like boobs, gamers are far too stingy and jaded to play a bad game just because boobs. We critique the ever loving shit out of video games that we like and don't like, and to think you can fool us with a pair of tits is just silly. If we know its a bad game, good tits aren't going to do anything. But the thing is, if its a good game, good tits aren't going to do anything either! Games aren't good because of tits, games are good....and maybe have tits. See what I'm getting at?

Confusing myself here.....lol

 

[Marik2]

I saw this topic:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.374434-Just-Nut-Up-And-Do-It?page=1

And saw it to be similar to my own thoughts on the subject matter. While typing a likely less-than-witty response to said topic, I decided to make an off-shoot topic based on the same discussion.

My response to the above topic included the sentence "If all else fails with your game, just slap some tits on the box art and you'll get some sales."

And so that got me thinking, scantily clad women bending over and baring their breasts and/or asses has been a marketing ploy for a very, very long time. "Sex sells", as they say. But does this marketing ploy actually work? Most would agree that this strategy is aimed at the hormone-infused teenage male gamer, so if you're no longer in that category, think back to when you were (obviously female gamers can't do this as they likely were never a horny teenage male )...did you ever buy a game purely because there was some hot pixelated pixie bearing her goods on the cover? Were you ever on the fence about deciding if you wanted a game or not and seeing a hot elf on the cover suggestively offering to perform miracles with her lips (as seen in the pic in the topic linked above) put you over the edge and made you decide to buy?

Nah, even when I was a teenager, I still didn't go "OMG IT HAS BOOBS I MUST BUY IT!!!"

It might have caught my attention, but I would just quickly go "ugh this is lame" and go back to playing Halo

 

[370999]

I saw this topic:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.374434-Just-Nut-Up-And-Do-It?page=1

And saw it to be similar to my own thoughts on the subject matter. While typing a likely less-than-witty response to said topic, I decided to make an off-shoot topic based on the same discussion.

My response to the above topic included the sentence "If all else fails with your game, just slap some tits on the box art and you'll get some sales."

And so that got me thinking, scantily clad women bending over and baring their breasts and/or asses has been a marketing ploy for a very, very long time. "Sex sells", as they say. But does this marketing ploy actually work? Most would agree that this strategy is aimed at the hormone-infused teenage male gamer, so if you're no longer in that category, think back to when you were (obviously female gamers can't do this as they likely were never a horny teenage male )...did you ever buy a game purely because there was some hot pixelated pixie bearing her goods on the cover? Were you ever on the fence about deciding if you wanted a game or not and seeing a hot elf on the cover suggestively offering to perform miracles with her lips (as seen in the pic in the topic linked above) put you over the edge and made you decide to buy?

I think you are missing the point here. No-one buys a game just because of the tits, or ass or whatever, to say that would be to boil down incredibly complex things such as purchasing goods to a binary process which does it a disservice. However are people influenced by it, albeit unknowingly? Probably yes.

More likely it drew someone's attention to the game in the first place, they read the blurb, checked the price, thought back to reviews and then decided to buy/not buy it.

 

[LilithSlave]

Breasts are both not big enough of a deal, and too big of a deal.

Mostly "too big of a deal". Like, in general they're just too sexualized, and people are too prudish about them. People have normalized this fetish far too much, and innormalized breasts themselves and breast exposure too much.

Like, why censor boobs? Why are boobs a big deal? They're just sacks of fat. Men have nipples, too. And under unusual circumstances, they're even capable of breastfeeding. And when anyone gets fat, they tend to grow boobs. There's no reason to cover them up or treat them as some kind of "adult exposure" unless they're being sexualized.

Furthermore, people treat boobs like they're vaginas. They're not. They're fat. People with boobs are just fatter than people without them. And if you get an erection to them, you're not any different than a foot fetishist. And yet the industry around sexualizing breasts is stupifying. It makes me feel sorry for all the people with the other fetishes!

I'm tired of people censoring boobs, but I'm also tired of people showing off boobs. The sexualization of women in video games is just terribad. And the boobs thing is a big part of that. My opinion with boobs on covers is so fine, that I think that games with exposes boobs in them deserve an E for Everyone rating. That's my opinion on uncovered breasts. My opinion on breasts in general in video games? Stop accentuating them and I don't approve of how much we do it.

 

[miketehmage]

I won't vote since none of those options apply to me. I won't ever buy a game due to boobs on the cover. But I don't roll my eyes either.

Tits are great.

Of course it does become a bit irritating when devs go completely over the top with it.

 

[Iwata]

I almost voted no, but then I remembered that as a kid, I bought the original "Lula", so I guess that's my one-time offense.

 

[baconmaster]

LilithSlave reminds me of Britta from Community.

Nope, I haven't bought any games because of boobs on the cover. It's just obvious pandering. The only game I have with box art like that is Catherine. It was obvious pandering as well, but it's a good game

 

[AngryMongoose]

Not on box art; I've never bought a game on such a whim, but I've certainly... looked into a game because of the... half naked elf chicks in screenshots.

 

[idarkphoenixi]

Once...

The cover really doesn't even begin to explain it

 

[LilithSlave]

The front cover isn't so bad.

The back cover? OMGWTFBBQ.

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't prefer "games have to star cats of grissly muscular power fantasy dudes". But this is still urk. We don't have to have sex appeal for our important and strong female characters. We don't.

Can't we have both? Non-sexualized and strong/important women? I hate this feeling like I have to choose between hypersexualized women or none at all. I mean, the idea of an all female wrestling game is a great idea. Why does it have to come to this, though?

 

[Paradoxrifts]

We're twelve years into the new millennium. If you're using any part of a cardboard box to make a decision on whether or not you should buy a video game then you're clearly doing it wrong.

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

If I had to say anything about the whole "sex sells" issue, it would be along the lines of this:


Captcha - quality time. Yes. Yes they are.