[Darangen]

Originally Posted by Bleck

I'm fairly certain the whole point of the sexism in media thing is that the fantasy is clearly tailored towards men, to the point of making any women interested in whatever movie/game/comic uncomfortable to the point of not being able to enjoy it

you know when you see clips of twilight, and it makes dudes uncomfortable because all of the "vampires" are chiseled, half-naked pretty boys who are clearly there to get all of the ladies hot and bothered? now imagine you're a woman, and 99.9% of comics/games/movies make you feel the exact same way

if you claim that this is okay, you're sexist

Seeing "chiseled, half-naked pretty boys" doesn't bother me as a male. And no, I'm not chiseled or a pretty boy.

Having the fantasy being clearly tailored towards men makes business sense. For every 1 female gamer there are 100 male gamers (more, most likely). It's simple statistics. If you're trying to sell a product, you're going to have to make a product that is going to appeal to your consumer base.

I've never, not once, heard a girl say that they couldn't enjoy something because the girls in it were scantily clad with unrealistic body shapes. And up until now I've never heard a guy say that watching chiseled pretty boys in a movie makes them uncomfortable. Maybe you're just the odd one here.

[Moomba]

I very much agree that there's a lot of oversexualisation, but I'm not sure there's much that can be done to change that. Japan in particular is likely never going to change on that front, and Western companies will always try to target the markets they think are most likely to buy their games (whether or not it's true).

I tried to think of some examples of strong female characters that aren't oversexualised... I can think of a lot of awesome, strong female characters, but none of them manage to dodge the bullet of oversexualisation - Lara Croft, Bayonetta, etc. Seems like a pretty challenging task - the only thing I can actually think of that might fit is Beyond Good & Evil (note: might).

Closing with something I saw recently that I think is pretty fitting given the topic:

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

Originally Posted by SonicThHedgog

I only read a few lines, and I will stay this


Sex sells.

The question then should be "Why does sex sell?", which could then lead to "Is this really a problem?" among other questions and hypothesis.

Either way, I'm thoroughly convinced that blaming the media is more than a bit naive.

[Darangen]

Originally Posted by Malaki-LEGEND.sys

The question then should be "Why does sex sell?", which could then lead to "Is this really a problem?" among other questions and hypothesis.

Either way, I'm thoroughly convinced that blaming the media is more than a bit naive.

Why does sex sell? Because we're human beings, which are sexual beings.

Is this really a problem? No.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

Originally Posted by Darangen

Why does sex sell? Because we're human beings, which are sexual beings.

Is this really a problem? No.

Exactly this, and I think this is the point that a lot of people "fighting the good fight" don't want to admit or accept.

[Bleck]

Originally Posted by Darangen

For every 1 female gamer there are 100 male gamers (more, most likely). It's simple statistics. If you're trying to sell a product, you're going to have to make a product that is going to appeal to your consumer base.

you realize that the reason behind there being 1 female gamer there are 100 male gamers is because the medium is sexist, right?

your argument here is based on the idea that videogames don't need to be designed with women in mind, because women don't play videogames, and I find it baffling that anyone would have to stop and explain why that exact train of thought is sexist

Originally Posted by Malaki-LEGEND.sys

Stop trying to read shit that isn't there, Bleck.

hey man I'm not the guy trying to argue that he knows better than women about what is sexist towards women

[SonicThHedgog]

Originally Posted by Malaki-LEGEND.sys

The question then should be "Why does sex sell?", which could then lead to "Is this really a problem?" among other questions and hypothesis.

Either way, I'm thoroughly convinced that blaming the media is more than a bit naive.

Since the gaming industry is more leaning towards the male end of the spectrum...

Actually let me put it like this, what is bad about half naked female characters again; people never complain about porno, but when it comes to video games, people go nuts, even when a guy's shirt is off.

[LuIzA]

Originally Posted by Tensei

Taken to an absurd degree in this game where wearing higher tier armor results in less clothing!

Wow, this is so obvious here it's hilarious even. Then again, it's still true that most players for games like that are, in fact, male. I don't even think less sexualized female characters would make it any more appealing to the female audience.

That said, the role female characters usually had back in the early 90s, when I was a little girl, was a big part of the reason why I always tended to prefer male characters over female ones. They were usually damsels in distress and what not.
Later on, when I matured, my preference for male characters didn't change, but then it became because I'd rather spend a whole game looking at a fairly attractive male protagonist.
While overly sexualized female characters do gross me out, I've come to not really mind it, after all, like I said before, it's the game itself that attracts the players. A game having attractive male characters in a game is a plus for me, not why I play a game, and having these overly sexualized females won't ruin a great game.

Now for strong female characters, I do agree with the one who mentioned Zelda, and another one that comes to mind is FFVI's Terra.


PS: the third Samus reminds me of Ayla.

[Garpocalypse]

Originally Posted by liquid wind

Samus was actually becoming less sexualized over time until Zero Mission



Nearly naked > more modest but still revealing > slightly less revealing and more buff

And then in Prime there was only a helmet removal

Originally Posted by Moomba

Closing with something I saw recently that I think is pretty fitting given the topic:

After TWO Examples,

All in favor of a topic change from "Sexism in Games" to "Portrayal of Blondes in Today's Mainstream Media" say I.

"Meh".

Lower Brain guys, Watch it. It might destroy who you think you are.

[liquid wind]

but when it comes to video games, people go nuts, even when a guy's shirt is off.

I've never heard anyone complain about that, it's never even made me feel awkward aside from that time Big Boss made me question my orientation but THAT'S COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT