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On The Feminine Form In Gaming
heartless_ writes "The GamerGirl team over at Gamergod.com has an interesting article delving into a male driven industry. This time the subject of discussion is the sometimes overzealous portrayal of women in games." A well-considered piece, with thoughtful references to the works of Camille Paglia and Naomi Wolf. From the article: "He also highlights several games that, instead of focusing on the female form in its big-breasted glory, showcase women who are intelligent, strong, and powerful. He insists, 'The protagonists highlighted above illustrate that plenty of excitement can be provided by female leads who will, in turn, bring in female gamers - not to speak of richer gameplay options. Additionally, as McIntosh says, most women gamers are "confident enough not to feel threatened" by sexist imagery, merely finding it annoying and disappointing.'"
We just care if you're cute. We don't have arbitrary requisites. When was the last time you gave a fuck what career your female-of-interest had or if she was even employed? I don't think I even know any guys who have arbitrary requirements for a chick other than she has to be physically appealing to him. No "she has to be at least 5'7" and 110lbs" or anything. And certainly nothing in the realm of "she has to make at least $60k/yr, be college educated and have a successful career I can brag to my boyfriends about".
All I can say is that for me it's not irritation with men, except in as much as they're responsible for the art designers who try to make the character that I identify with dress like a trashy whore.
:P
I have no problem with sexy, but I DO feel disgusted when I see that what's a full coverage plate breastplate on a guy looks like a bra ripped off from Madonna's wardobe on me. (Energized breast plate for the WoW players). Or that my Abyssal Leather Leggings of Striking are -horrible- looking because someone decided that more skin was the answer.
Final Fantasy X-2 was a similar experience, because it's hard to suspend disbelief when periodically you look at 'your' character and you want to scream at her that you don't have to take scissors and cut big swaths out of perfectly good clothing. It is not helpful to game immersion when you periodically go "Dear lord, why would anyone wear -that-?" (I had the same reaction to Tidus' half pants in FFX).
Try and imagine your male characters going around sporting repairman's cracks
(I presume you mean straight) men
You presume incorrectly. Gay men like looking at women too. Madonna owes a great deal of her career success to her status as a gay icon.
It all comes back to my main point, and one which you are not going to be able to refute:
Women are pretty.
The media does not prop up a certain concept of feminine beauty which we would not otherwise arrive at. All it does is reflect what we all want to see. They have no agenda to change our appetites, because there's far more money in feeding the ones we already have.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
The parent comment encapsulates my feeling about female avatars. I don't mind that they are disproportional; most people like to pretend that they are attractive when playing a game. What I mind is when all of a character's clothing and movement emphasize their unreal physical "assets".
Have you read the Moderation Guidelines Addendum?