Poll: What do you think is Offensive to Women in Games?

[joystickjunki3]

I voted "Games which show Women as anything less than totally superior goddesses," but mainly as a joke because there were a couple other options I wanted to choose, but could only choose one.

 

[Grype]

Not all women are beautiful (shocker) and games where women are always portrayed as perfection would surely irritate the majority. This would only apply for men if we gave a shit.

Also where curvy teens are begging the male char for sex, that gets on my nerves, why doesn't that happen to me?

And therein lies the question: If we men are fine with girls getting their own eye candy, is it really sexism? Since we are fine with women getting equal treatment under that system.

Apart from which, isn't elitism an almost inherent nature of heroes/heroines? Aren't they usually people we wish we could be?

Yeh, I agree they shouldn't get pissed off about it but (sexism warning) women get more worked up about things than men, imo.
As for heroes being perfect, yeh again youre right but its not only the heroines who are drop dead gorgeous (if a little cgi) its any female character other than the wicked witch who is so topheavy they should hardly be able to stand, obvious exception is the sims where everyone is fugly.

That's a good point. On average, men get more eye candy than women, which is unfair. It is pretty much every woman in many stories, despite a large amount of unattractive men. But is giving both genders plenty of eye candy inherently unfair? What if the amount of male/female eye candy was totally equal?

Essentially if its not a game for pervs, Superman and Lois Lane can look perfect but every other person should be normal (and varied please, some games everyone looks the same)

Another problem, Harvest moon DS. They felt in unfair to have an only boy game so they released another version, Harvest Moon DS CUTE. Wtf? To balance the gender equality they hit us with the biggest stereotupe ever and cover the box art in pink. Essentially the problem lies where people think girls should like cooking and pink so that girls grow up with the ethos that they should like all things "girlie"
Its a massive cultural thing that will take soo long to change, but we can try.

 

[RelexCryo]

I voted "Games which show Women as anything less than totally superior goddesses," but mainly as a joke because there were a couple other options I wanted to choose, but could only choose one.

Damn now the scientific integrity of my poll is messed up. i really wanted to know what people thought. Some women think traditional society, (where women stay at home and be housewives) is inherently offensive to women and must be destroyed. Some women honestly think women should be in charge, on the grounds that women are naturally better at leading than men. A combination of karma and statement of what they believe as fact.(The belief that women make better leaders combined with karmic justice for millenia of oppression)

Just to be clear, I am not mocking the struggle for women's rights, I do believe women are equals and should be treated as such. I am just saying different women have different ideas about how society should be. Some even believe that portraying women as anything less than being meant to rule IS an offense to women, since it is a refusal to acknowledge the glory of women.

Literally, although they are a minority, some women do think that portraying women as anything less than being better at leading/in control is an offense to women.

 

[joystickjunki3]

I voted "Games which show Women as anything less than totally superior goddesses," but mainly as a joke because there were a couple other options I wanted to choose, but could only choose one.

Damn now the scientific integrity of my poll is messed up. i really wanted to know waht people thought. Some women think traditional society, (where women stay at home and be housewives) is inherently offensive to women and must be destroyed. Some women honestly think women should be in charge, and shown as being naturally better at leading than men. A combination of karma and statement of what they believe as fact.(The belief that women make better leaders)

Just to be clear, I am not mocking the struggle the women's rights, I do believe women are equals and should be treated as such. I am jsut saying different women have different ideas about how society should be. Some even believe that portraying women as anything less than being meant to rule IS an offense to women.

And I take those people (because they're not always women) and laugh at them. I'm not opposed to equality, but I'm definitely not for superiority. Women and men are not the same, we each have strengths and weaknesses that are complimented by the opposite sex. And I'm not saying a woman can't be better than a man (or vice-versa), I'm saying that the genders, when looked at in their entirety, each have something the other doesn't.

Sorry for messing up your poll, but it was bound to happen at some point. Don't forget: you're one the internet.

 

[JanatUrlich]

too many threads on why things are offensive to women is offensive to me.

 

[RelexCryo]

I voted "Games which show Women as anything less than totally superior goddesses," but mainly as a joke because there were a couple other options I wanted to choose, but could only choose one.

Damn now the scientific integrity of my poll is messed up. i really wanted to know waht people thought. Some women think traditional society, (where women stay at home and be housewives) is inherently offensive to women and must be destroyed. Some women honestly think women should be in charge, and shown as being naturally better at leading than men. A combination of karma and statement of what they believe as fact.(The belief that women make better leaders)

Just to be clear, I am not mocking the struggle the women's rights, I do believe women are equals and should be treated as such. I am jsut saying different women have different ideas about how society should be. Some even believe that portraying women as anything less than being meant to rule IS an offense to women.

And I take those people (because they're not always women) and laugh at them. I'm not opposed to equality, but I'm definitely not for superiority. Women and men are not the same, we each have strengths and weaknesses that are complimented by the opposite sex. And I'm not saying a woman can't be better than a man (or vice-versa), I'm saying that the genders, when looked at in their entirety, each have something the other doesn't.

Sorry for messing up your poll, but it was bound to happen at some point. Don't forget: you're one the internet.

And I think that is a very accurate viewpoint

 

[RelexCryo]

too many threads on why things are offensive to women is offensive to me.

Sorry

But I have read/watched a lot of reviews that complained about how "offensive" it was for women to have giant boobs(too many to count) or throw themselves at the main character (The Witcher) and I wanted to know what fellow escapist forum members thought.

 

[Christemo]

*Facepalm*

This thread isn't going to end well...

In my opinion, I don't like games where women are just treated as sexual objects instead of people, but then again, most games that are like that cater to men anyway.

duke nukem?

 

[Nimbus]

You forgot to add a "Nothing" option.

 

[Christemo]

GTA where you can just pick up a hooker.

X-blades main character. nuff said.

 

[RelexCryo]

You forgot to add a "Nothing" option.

Sorry, fixed.

 

[Grype]

A suitable time to bring up something thats been bugging me.

Sir Alan Sugar has been bad mouthed for asking some of his future female employees whether they were planning on having children. They claimed that he was discriminating against females by not considering the fact that men may have to look after children also. They were completely blind to the fact that men simply cant get pregnant and any person who is planning on having six months payed leave within the next two years is a liability to employ. Not that women should be discriminated in the workplace, quite the opposite, what Sir Alan did do wrong was not to ask the same question to men. Be warned any guys out there because in your next interview you may be asked if you have any plans to get pregnant.

More of a rant really, sorry, but please someone (preferably of the female persuasion) help me see the other side of the story because it is clearly something I cant understand without help.

 

[Roflpotamus]

Depends on the context of the game. If its trying to be realistic, then I'd say there are limits to what you can do, especially concerning beauty. Having men that mistreat women in a game trying to be realistic isn't offensive, or shouldn't be - it happens in real life, regardless of how wrong it is. Its merely showing the setting of that game.

Even to a degree, if it was in the right context, rape should be tolerable. We kill people in games, so why is that something that is so offensive?

If it is unrealistic and out of context, then it can be considered offensive. To be honest, it just loses the sense of immersion for me when that happens, I don't really get annoyed over it.

 

[RelexCryo]

Depends on the context of the game. If its trying to be realistic, then I'd say there are limits to what you can do, especially concerning beauty. Having men that mistreat women in a game trying to be realistic isn't offensive, or shouldn't be - it happens in real life, regardless of how wrong it is. Its merely showing the setting of that game.

Even to a degree, if it was in the right context, rape should be tolerable. We kill people in games, so why is that something that is so offensive?

If it is unrealistic and out of context, then it can be considered offensive. To be honest, it just loses the sense of immersion for me when that happens, I don't really get annoyed over it.

Sounds reasonable. But to some people, it's not about immersion, it's about the inherent immorality of rape or giving all the women giant boobs. Not saying I think your perspective is wrong though.

To some people it's not even about context. Michael Atkinson and Jack Thompson are good examples. But I definetly see what you are saying.

 

[Xbowhyena]

The representation of women in video games doesn't matter any more to me than the representation of men. Both genders are equal, so they should be portrayed equally. I believe that, but of course some male game devs are going to portray women poorly in video games *AHEM* Rockstar *AHEM* but hey, they're just messing around. And seriously, these games have M ratings anyway, just don't play them and you'll be fine. Many video games portray both genders equally, and I agree that that is how it should be, but it isn't all the time. You just have to go with it, and don't play games like GTA.

 

[Grype]

Shit happens, if you live in a bubble then maybe rape in a game may be offensive.
Personaly I would steer away from such a game because I find it repulsive, not offensive.

 

[Charli]

Nothing here is so much offensive to me so much as 'bored of'...
I'm an independent strong minded, opinionated woman who knows how to handle herself. CLEARLY I AM OF SATANS WOMB AND MUST BE KILLED OFF. Well...yeah. Boring.

And then theres all the other extremes but we forget that for any character to stand out they can't encompass all the things we like about people because it's boring, these things come in vicious cycles and frankly I wouldnt change much, just mix it up a bit.

Or is this a thinly veiled attempt to restart the 'Rape game' debate? You know what I don't care, feel up digital girls all you like, the more anime looking the better, because when it comes to the real deal it just isnt the same. Rape games only provoke feelings of sexual dominance in a fantasy way, and I feel it's perfectly harmless. Real rape is a far step from this button mash-y japanese toon porno.

 

[Clashero]

I voted for women being shown as beautiful and submissive. That's where I say the line is drawn, and the point in which I consider the game sexist.

Traditional social structure isn't wrong. Could you possibly imagine a Victorian era game (if such a thing exists) in which women are more powerful than men? It would kill the historical accuracy.
What if Oscar Wilde had envisioned women to be exactly equal to men? Lady Windermere's Fan would have been pretty dull, then.

I think a perfect example of a game that is NOT sexist is the new Prince of Persia. Both characters, being of different genders and different races (and I'm saying races in the fantasy sense of the word), have different skills and abilities. The prince can use his agility and strength to perform great acrobatics and fight. What Elika lacks in strength she makes up for it in her magic. While the Prince wallruns using his gauntlet and body, Elika uses magic to attach herself to the wall.

Also, whenever the Prince fails, Elika saves him from death. She rejects his lecherous comments, sometimes so wittily that she shuts the Prince up for good. She's driven, determined, pretty while not having epic boobs, is definitely smarter and more well-read than the Prince, and is also very indepedent (to the point where she

Spoiler: DLC spoiler

totally legs it at the end of the Epilogue

Would you say that a Dominatrix "harem" game in which all men are cute studs who are submissive to women is inherently sexist towards men and wrong?

Technically, yes, it'd be sexist and wrong, but to be honest, I wouldn't actually feel really offended by it. Since sexism towards men is rare, I suppose I'd consider that game to be a one-time thing, which is different to sexism towards women: they have to put up with it in at least 50% of all games, accross several genres, so obviously every new iteration of the "Women are weak, beautiful and promiscuous" clichè will be met with anger, and understandably so.
Excellent question by the way.

 

[KingPiccolOwned]

I think that the reason why they would complain about all women in video games being attractive is that they themselves are nothing but cold, contempable, harpies with little natural beauty or grace. As for games where women are submissive towards men or vise versa, I am not really phased by anything anymore.