Sex-ified Game characters.... problem you have?

[Leoofmoon]

Conan and his hairy pants

Speaking of Conan, here is an infographic (courtesy of Women Fighters in Reasonable Armor) that explains a distinction you might find informative.

So out of the characters you listed...

Ryu (street fighter): heroically idealized
Kratos (god of war): heroically idealized
Marcus Fenix (gears of war): heroically idealized
James Sunderland (silent hill 2): realistic
Commander Shepard (Mass effect): depends on the outfit.
Snake (metal gear): heroically idealized (or arguably sexualized, depending on what mood Hideo Kojima's in.)
Mario (seriously?): none of the Above
Hawke (Dragon age 2) depends on the outfit.
Tidus (FF X): heroically idealized. (You could make a case for sexualized as well, but not a very good case.)
Master Chief (Halo): you could make a case for realistic or heroically idealized. I lean towards realistic.

I say a bit sexualised for Snake you could put him in a mask making him looks in his 20-30's and the rubber suit was perfectly shaped around his ass.

 

[zumbledum]

i dont think that its a problem making characters sexy , men and women both generally like to feel sexy. the problem comes when the characters are portrayed to mearly be a sexual object.

All those male characters the op lists may be sexy but they are also clearly portrayed as tough effective strong protagonists, ryu may be a beef cake but he is also clearly a grade A ass kicker, bayonetta and faith from mirrors edge are both quite sexualised characters but neither i think come off as being deregotive because that is just a feature it isnt their point for being there.

 

[Phasmal]

I think I nearly pee'd myself when you suggested that Marus Fenix is in any way sexy.
People have already ninja'd me on the `male power fantasy` thing, but I will just say this.
Fenix isn't sexy.

Sexualisation is not an inherantly bad thing, but it's bad when its the main thing about your character- it turns them into a flat sex object.

Fenris is sexy.

 

[00slash00]

muscles = sexualized? um, not really. if it becomes standard that most male characters wear tiny underwear and the camera constantly focuses on the bouncing bulge, then you would have a case. yeah, kratos is absurdly muscular and runs around in underwear but he also has one of the ugliest faces of any protagonist i can think of

 

[Phasmal]

I think I nearly pee'd myself when you suggested that Marus Fenix is in any way sexy.
People have already ninja'd me on the `male power fantasy` thing, but I will just say this.
Fenix isn't sexy.

Sexualisation is not an inherantly bad thing, but it's bad when its the main thing about your character- it turns them into a flat sex object.

Fenris is sexy.

I was just waiting for this. It would sound hollow coming from me, but when actual women say it, it throws these superficial types for a loop. Of my female friends, you know who seems to be the most consistently referred to as sexy? Alistair from Dragon Age. He's handsome, affable, surprisingly charismatic, and not ashamed to show a wide range of emotions.

Alistair is sexy as well. He's really sweet, I always romance him on DA:O. (Except for on the Xbox, for achievements. But I feel bad about it, lol).

I prefer Fenris in DA2 because I feel like the relationship with him develops more naturally than the one with, say, Anders (who you kiss twice and he wants to move in with you!). Also, I guess I like the tortured angsty thing. Plus his voice.

 

[General Twinkletoes]

Oh, so muscles make a guy sexy?

Uh, nope. Just being muscly does not mean you're sexy, at all.

 

[ultrabiome]

i'm not arguing he isn't designed partially with the 'power fantasy' aspect in mind, but everything i can remember reading about greek mythology is pretty much exactly how it is in the God of War games. kratos couldn't have been anything but a muscle-bound warrior

The Greek ideal wasn't muscle-bound, it was toned. Srsly, look at their art. It doesn't look like Kratos.

i found an example of the less than toned variety and more of the muscle-bound (see: Laocoön and His Sons).

regardless, i interpreted that kratos being muscle-bound isn't really out of place, and at least someone could realistically be built like kratos. if you disagree with my interpretation then that's your choice.

fenix on the other hand, he and his 'bros' stand out as being clearly disproportionate, and its hard for anyone to argue otherwise.

 

[Kahunaburger]

i'm not arguing he isn't designed partially with the 'power fantasy' aspect in mind, but everything i can remember reading about greek mythology is pretty much exactly how it is in the God of War games. kratos couldn't have been anything but a muscle-bound warrior

The Greek ideal wasn't muscle-bound, it was toned. Srsly, look at their art. It doesn't look like Kratos.

i found an example of the less than toned variety and more of the muscle-bound (see: Laocoön and His Sons).

regardless, i interpreted that kratos being muscle-bound isn't really out of place, and at least someone could realistically be built like kratos. if you disagree with my interpretation then that's your choice.

I dunno, Kratos seems too triangular and top-heavy to be a physically possible human being. Laocoon (who, BTW, is at the far end of the bell curve in terms of musculature in ancient Greek art) is more reasonably proportioned in terms of shoulder-width, waist size, arm-width, etc. Also, Laocoon appears to have a neck.