Sex Sells.

[Avatar Roku]

Well, it's always the noisiest minority of a given group that gets the attention, and the girl gamers who strip certainly are the noisiest.

And that's why most groups have bad names.

Exactly. I got into an argument with a guy once who basically thought that every muslim was like the extremists in Al Quaeda (sp?) and whanot. Obviously, those people are just a small percentage of muslims, but he thought every single muslim was like that because they're the loudest.

 

[SmugFrog]

Thoughts, opinions? Is using your body okay for attention? Is it cool for these girls to give the rest of us bad names?

Guys are just very visually stimulated. Hence, why there are so many websites devoted to pornography and a plethora of other pictures/movies/games to be found anywhere that the average guy would enjoy drooling over looking at.

I thought Mass Effect was nicely done - granted, there was a "sex scene", but it could have just as easily been your character with a man - or an alien "it". I thought it was still presented in good taste and not something that was marketed more towards men. If anything, it could've been one of those Lifetime made for TV movies - minus the husband beating up his wife and coming back to kill her when she tries to leave him.

I have to admit I liked Dead or Alive, the fighting game. I rented the volleyball game, but I felt guilty "playing" it, and my wife actually had more fun with it than I did. I didn't end up buying it though, because it would've been for the wrong reasons.

On the other hand, I was pretty offended when Blizzard introduced the bikini-armor to WoW for the females. What is the point of armor if it's just going to look like a bikini? A lot of female gamers were offended over this. While I think there should be "sexy" type armor/clothes in the game, as an option, it shouldn't be mandatory to have to look that way in order to receive the stats boost and have good armor.

I don't think it is going to change in our lifetime. The people that are trying to sell a product know that adding sexual content to their games/ads will catch the eye of a majority of boys/men - which happen to the the majority of game players. Look at the Frag Dolls - I don't care if they're good at games, they're there as sex symbols.

I love it when I run across a girl gamer on live that can tear me up on a game - happened last night on Call of Duty 4. It's great to see a girl that is devoted to gaming and having fun with it, rather than one pretending to like it or one of those E3 models showcasing a game they've probably never heard of.

I applaud Valve for creating female characters in Half-Life 2 and Portal that they're not trying to sell for "sex" value.

 

[Lothae]

I agree with all your points, but imho all of those girl "gamers" aren't really that, they're pretty much models that are hired by gaming companies to promote things, or (cough)

Spoiler

whores

(cough). I know plenty of girl gamers, some in RL and some just through the game, and respect/like them as much as (if not more than) most of my guy gamer friends (apart from the ones who are idiots but fun to play with ).

Have you ever been instantly kicked from a Left 4 Dead match because they heard you speak over the mic? Probably not. I have. Why?

"Awe, shit man... Zoey's a girl... kick her before she drags us down!"

It may not be as sexist as it used to be, but it's still sexist.

Wow, I wouldn't want to play with idiots like that - I regularly play with a girl who can snipe me in mid-pounce jumping from the building-tops in NM. Judge the player by the skill, not by anything else imo.

 

[Tryzon]

Tomb Raider. How else can a consistently pump series that -8 games in- has yet to address the major control issues that have plagued it from the beginning always top the charts each year? People are sad and predictable, and this comes from someone who revels in alphabatising and categorising his games.

 

[Sewblon]

Sex selling and people taking advantage of that is just a fact of life. If you rise above it, someone will eventually notice you over the girls who strip on the internet, like how I just noticed you. Sorry about THQ laying you off. Edit: This post sounded more condescending than I thought it would.

 

[Sevre]

Do you buy games based on the sexually appealing pixelated girl on the cover? Did you buy Witcher for the sex ( If at all.) or Red Alert 3 for Gemma Atkinson? They don't have any effect on my decision to buy the game or not, if I want some eye-candy I'll buy a "lads mag".

 

[Iron Mal]

One thing the OP has seemingly neglected to mention is that sex does indeed sell, but it sells to both sexes, not just men (if men are beings largely directed and driven by sexual desire and thought then we should be able to whole heartedly admit that women aren't exactly paragons of virtue either).

Yes, a lot of games contain scantily clad women with assets that would make Lucy Pinder self conscious but don't you also see the same thing with men in games? Most male protaganists are muscular, witty, handsome, have a cleft chin and are manly yet have a emotional side to them (for the 'tragedy' cutscene). Women aren't the only ones with unrealistic images of sex appeal to live up to (odds are on that even if I took steroids, pumped iron and underwent rigorous training I will never look like Marcus Fenix or Dom from Gears of War, and I'm already a pretty burly fellow so that's saying something).

I personally don't look to games for sexual satisfaction (I'd probably be better off asking my girlfriend for that or looking at pornograghy), something which I think I'm not alone in, most people just play games for the fun and enjoyment of getting to blow something up for a few hours/drive around in a supercar/fight evil/go into space/become a knight etc. (unless we start talking about games like Leisure suit Larry in which case you do have a good point).

 

[DigitalSushi]

I just search girl gamer on google, it was awesome, thank you.

lol. Yeah, I actually conducted an experiment with this whole thing. I have a blog and I thought I would check to see if putting a scantily clad picture of myself at the top of the post would generate more hits. It did. A lot more actually. If anyone is interested in the article you can see it here.

http://thoughtsfromagamer.wordpress.com/2009/04/05/sex-sells/

EDIT: The linked to article is safe for work. promise.
EDITING THE EDIT: This link may be safe for your work, depending on where you work.

bookmark damn it!

You just have to see how out of touch some of the suits are, especially EA, they still put incredibly poor billboards up of NFS with copypasta girls in seductive poses, with no in game screen shots, I want the money shot god damn it.

edit: and Gabe Newell stated he always used Zoey on left 4 dead because she gets healed more times and more quickly than the other characters.

 

[DM.]

I know, and it's why I hate female snipers that do this just as much as I hate male shotgunners who use plain annoyingness.

 

[Rhayn]

I'm seeing and hearing lots of this stuff lately, how female gamers are treated differently and whatnot, but I have yet to see anything really widespread. Sure, they are cases, but they occure no less often than I get called gay in Counter-Strike.

Perhaps I don't hang around in the right places, but I can't help thinking you're overreacting. Apologies if it is not so. As it's been pointed out, there's the loud minority and the silent majority aspect to this whole thing.

 

[Slayer_2]

You mean you can't beat that scene in Metal Gear Solid where Solid Snake's being electrocuted simply by using your dick to hammer on the triangle button?

Ohhhhh, so thats how you beat it!

 

[Mockingjay]

Yes sex sells.

But in other news, if a girl wants to strip off and pose with a console over her vajayjay then let her. It's not offensive to the rest of the female gaming population unless you decide you feel you need to compete.

as a girl gamer it doesn't really bother me.

 

[Jay2o3]

i don't know.... a female gamer grabs my attention whether they're flaunting or not
it's just rare to meet girls who share interests in games, no attention grabber needed

 

[JokerGrin]

I just search girl gamer on google, it was awesome, thank you.

First thing I did too. Thankyou, and I apologise for my male urges!

Sex will sell everything, it just happens this has spread more and more into gaming. Games are becoming more and more photorealistic so you get more characters like Ivy from Soul Calibur and that girl in X-Blades with her ass out. I think us guys are less embarrassed to admit we're turned on by something like that rather than say, the naked indian from Custer's Revenge...

Spoiler: XXX-RATED HOTNESS

Phoarrrr eh? (For the record I've had bigger hard-ons in church)

Some day a game will come along that appeals to the ladies in that sense as much as the guys. Some day. It's only fair.

 

[Sparrow]

Shit! Girls play games?

Oh wait yeah, this isn't the 80's anymore...

I entered an all girl Halo 3 server once (obviously I was male). I got my ass whooped, but it was still fun listening to them on my headset

 

[SomeBritishDude]

I just search girl gamer on google, it was awesome, thank you.

This made my day. So did google images.

 

[Jacob.pederson]

You didn?t mention your religious affiliation above, but it pertains. The reason sex sells, produces web hits, or causes car accidents, is because we are apes. Great apes, but still apes. We are sexually differentiated. Take a cross-section of human brain tissue and show it to a neurologist. They can tell you if it?s a male brain or a female one.

The differentiation is what does it . . . sets off our fairness detectors like crazy. And it happens on both side of the gender divide. I guarantee if I posted a alluring photo of myself on muyuubyou.com, it would scare away hits. That?s not fair either!

What can we do about it? We can frown about it, gawk at it, or we can do what you did; post a sexy picture and provide thoughtful commentary. However, no mater what we do, sex will still sell, and short of additional evolution toward Hermaphroditism . . . advertisement will always contain lewdness as a component.

If it really bothers you that much, I can suggest a temporary solution. Adblock plus for your firefox, and a sledgehammer for your television

 

[darkcow55]

Personally I'm with Randall Munroe [http://www.xkcd.com/322] on the subject of most guys on the Internet and how they drive the geek girls away.

U haz nekkid pix? plz???

You really want to see a picture of a 31-year-old guy with a fast-food gut and hairy legs like Bigfoot? I mean, it can be arranged, but what you see cannot be unseen.

Oh baby... lemme go get the crisco.

 

[Dean340]

I dunno. I didn't see girl gamers as any different to guy gamers until I read this.

if you didn't know they were girl gamers, would you even be able to tell?
don't think i would. thank goodness for ventrilo

 

[hannahdonno]

I immediately typed girl gamer into google, and I see what you mean. I have found though, that just being a girl who even owns an Xbox, attracts boys.