Sex Sells.
- Thread starter Ladie Au Pair
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I doubt Marcus Fenix was made to appeal to women, do you? I think he was clearly made to appeal to men, just like athletes do. And there is a major difference between a rounded character that is made appealing to the opposite sex, and a flat character that is fun to look at. There should be more female characters like, for example, Alyx Vance who does appeal to guys but in a different way than someone like Ivy. The biggest problem is that games are still sold to a predominantly male audience, so the developers portray the characters in a way that they think would appeal to men. It is rare to find games that try to do away with that and treat both sexes equally.Iron Mal said:
Oh, and I thought Mass Effect was a bad example to use for the OP. It was an amazing experience my first playthrough, and I didn't even know about the sex scene.
Sadly, the human species has not changed to any really noticeable degree in the last 10,000+ years. We're still the same species who lived in caved, threw rocks at our own shadows, etc.
Basically, we aren't built able to, biologically, recognise the difference between a real woman in the flesh, looking 'quite pleased' to see you, and a picture on a website designed to sell you something.
Its an annoying problem, frankly, and I do respond with anger when I feel like something is trying to advertise to me via 'mini-me'.
Anywho, is it right for girl gamers to use their bodies to attract attention. From the context, it seems you mean non pervy attention. I don't think using your bodies is the right way to get it, because you'll only have pervy attention, not proper attention. To be honest, 99.5+% of male gamers don't get listened to either, we get 'grouped' into catch-all audiences.
Basically, we aren't built able to, biologically, recognise the difference between a real woman in the flesh, looking 'quite pleased' to see you, and a picture on a website designed to sell you something.
Its an annoying problem, frankly, and I do respond with anger when I feel like something is trying to advertise to me via 'mini-me'.
Anywho, is it right for girl gamers to use their bodies to attract attention. From the context, it seems you mean non pervy attention. I don't think using your bodies is the right way to get it, because you'll only have pervy attention, not proper attention. To be honest, 99.5+% of male gamers don't get listened to either, we get 'grouped' into catch-all audiences.
i don't get it... why do you want attention around genders?Ladie Au Pair said:
the anonymity of the internet allows for genderless classification, even though there is a prevalence of males near the gaming scene. but think about it: you want equality, and you get it here. if you're a girl, few will actually believe you and treat you as a man instead. you could even pose as a man and nobody would notice.
this leads me to believe that your motives for attention are different. i'm not sure what you seek to accomplish; do you want the chivalry that males give you in life on the internet? games marketed more for women than for men? remember that equality works both ways, so if that's what you want, the you'll have to let go of things such as chivalry as well. if it's the games you want marketed better, then remember that marketing is based on demographics and stereotypes.
sex sells, and that's not going to change as long as we stay within our human nature.
I serched girl gamer nothing bad just girls screaming into headsets.
Wait safe serch is on high let me put it on normal and see what comes up.
ok now i know what your talking about
oh and about mass affect i didnt know about the seen first i choose alenko to live cuz of his cool powers so i went without the scene and have never seen it, to busy killing robots to think of things that plus it is only computer generated people, whoever thinks that is sexy mush be crazy.
Wait safe serch is on high let me put it on normal and see what comes up.
ok now i know what your talking about
oh and about mass affect i didnt know about the seen first i choose alenko to live cuz of his cool powers so i went without the scene and have never seen it, to busy killing robots to think of things that plus it is only computer generated people, whoever thinks that is sexy mush be crazy.
People are people. Some are ugly, some are attractive; some are gamers, some can run more than twenty yards without a break; some have two X chromosomes, some have just the one. And some like using their bodies to get attention, while others prefer to use their brains.
In other words, to each their own. Personally, I prefer girls who can keep up with me verbally and intellectually, but I generally find friendship more important than sex anyway, so who gives a toss?
Oh, and my sister's a gamer. She completed Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 faster than me, has... all right, not as many games as me, but she's better at them. And she spends her evenings playing WoW at the dinner table with her boyfriend of four years.
My point? Some people are good at gaming, some people use their looks to gain popularity... it's always been that way, and it probably always will be, but as long as it's people's own choice I don't see a problem.
In other words, to each their own. Personally, I prefer girls who can keep up with me verbally and intellectually, but I generally find friendship more important than sex anyway, so who gives a toss?
Oh, and my sister's a gamer. She completed Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 faster than me, has... all right, not as many games as me, but she's better at them. And she spends her evenings playing WoW at the dinner table with her boyfriend of four years.
My point? Some people are good at gaming, some people use their looks to gain popularity... it's always been that way, and it probably always will be, but as long as it's people's own choice I don't see a problem.
Scarily enough, sex does sell. Because the male mind is predictable. We like tits it just overrides common sense and activates those deep seated emotional responses. Its impossible not to acknowledge that on some level all guys like sex. And if its prominent enough on something, guys will buy it. Because they are programmed by the media to want to do so.
But do you really want the respect or whatever of the OMGZ!!! GIRL!!! r u hot???? And if you do, why? They really are just a loud minority. There are much better people out there that you should be trying to earn the gaming respect of.
Back when I used to play WoW we had three women in our guild. One attention whore, one bossy (although she was the leader) and the last one was just normal.
Which one did we respect? The normal one. The attention whore was ignored even when she posted sexy pictures on the forums and she eventually left, the bossy one well she was a ***** and destroyed the guild but the last one was freaking nice. She's a good player, always ready to help a friend, and in turn everyone was always ready to help her, and she was a thirty something mother of three.
So there is at least one example where sex did not sell in gaming.
Back when I used to play WoW we had three women in our guild. One attention whore, one bossy (although she was the leader) and the last one was just normal.
Which one did we respect? The normal one. The attention whore was ignored even when she posted sexy pictures on the forums and she eventually left, the bossy one well she was a ***** and destroyed the guild but the last one was freaking nice. She's a good player, always ready to help a friend, and in turn everyone was always ready to help her, and she was a thirty something mother of three.
So there is at least one example where sex did not sell in gaming.
Sex does sell and it works both ways (would DMC sell as well as it does if Dante was just some balding, slightly podgy average Joe?) Girls just need more Dantes to level the field so to speak.
However I dont believe it works as well as developers like to think, you just have to see all the Bikini Samurai, Mother Trucker and Naked Ninja games languishing on the shelves to know that boobies does not always equal sales.
As far as respect for girl gamers goes, I'd like for us to be seen as 'gamers', attaching 'girls' onto it only serves to identify female gamers as the Other and not part of the mainstream.
I'd like to note that last year I worked in a game shop for a while and sometimes it was painfully obvious that customers assumed my male colleagues to be more knowledgable about games, one woman even went as far to say "oh I'll just ask one of the boys then since you clearly don't know" (there were at least two more female workers in the store at the time) when I couldn't tell her EXACTLY how long a DS battery lasted for >_>
However I dont believe it works as well as developers like to think, you just have to see all the Bikini Samurai, Mother Trucker and Naked Ninja games languishing on the shelves to know that boobies does not always equal sales.
As far as respect for girl gamers goes, I'd like for us to be seen as 'gamers', attaching 'girls' onto it only serves to identify female gamers as the Other and not part of the mainstream.
I'd like to note that last year I worked in a game shop for a while and sometimes it was painfully obvious that customers assumed my male colleagues to be more knowledgable about games, one woman even went as far to say "oh I'll just ask one of the boys then since you clearly don't know" (there were at least two more female workers in the store at the time) when I couldn't tell her EXACTLY how long a DS battery lasted for >_>