GO MAKE ME A SANDWICH: SEXUALITY IN BAYONETTA (AND OTHER GAMES)

bahleted

author=Fallen-Griever
Players in games like WoW can often times be ignored. And I don't just mean that in the hands-over-ears sense (although I seriously suggest, excuse the phrase, "manning up" if people talking to you over the internet makes you a sad panda), because the game itself lets you ignore people if they're annoying you. You can also report people, which actually works really well with stuff like this, because people who play WoW oftentimes don't want to lose characters that they've spent ages working on. Do you really think that Blizzard cares if you're a male or a female so long as you're giving them your money?

Bah.

I have no idea what this is in reference to. Just sayin'.

Also, you'll notice Acra gave a pass to games like Bayonetta and Tomb Raider, etc, because that's "their thing," which makes sense to me. While Dead or Alive might have been serious at one time (I doubt it), hypersexuality is obviously what it's all about now. I agree with what she said; even if the gameplay was totally awesome, I'd never play it. It's reaching out for a specific audience, which isn't me.

I also think that her willingness to let Bayonetta and Tomb Raider off the hook helps to isolate the larger issue; that games are sexualized without any reason other than to sell. This Dragon's Crown game is an example; not as bad as Evony, but the artwork and animated physics are totally unnecessary in the scope of the game. It's not in any way making a statement or empowering women. It's just the same story, "Tits. Buy this." I can't remember what I said before about how I'm affected by sexuality in games, but offenses this egregious actively discourage me from buying it.

I think how I approached the issue before was the type of sexuality we're more used to seeing; which while more moderate, is still present. I'm still liable to take games that are loaded with fan service less seriously (or a complete joke like Star Ocean 4), but I am also accustomed to some degree of it. I'd like to hear RMN's ladies to sound off on those more casual, but still intentional offenses.

Edit:

author=Darken
Eh I could care less about over-sexualized women in gaming when games like Other M literally turned Samus, a bounty hunter who kicks ass and chews through chozo weaponry... into some pathetic 60s housewife. But I think enough websites and articles analysed that enough.

I had similar criticisms (and I think Samus fans are probably among the harshest critics you could find). I don't think that the game is an attack on the female sex, but her being female does amplify problems inherent in their attempt to make the character more human.

@ S. F. LaValle: I find the "normal" level of fanservice in games irritating. For example, Lulu in FFX annoyed me, but Rikku and Yuna were fine (before the sequel, anyway). I tend to find ridiculous character designs annoying in general, but fanservicey ones especially so since it's such a prevalent problem. As a girl, it annoys me to see female characters derailed by obligatory sex appeal. I also have a problem with similarly derailed male characters, but they almost never show up in video games.

I'm ambivalent towards characters like Bayonetta and Lara Croft. If overt sexuality is part of the character and it makes sense in-universe, I don't have a problem with it per se, but I dislike the motive behind the creation of such characters.

Edit: @Crimson_Legionnaire: I don't have a problem with either of those characters. A guy not having a shirt on doesn't make him a sex object, though. His lack of a shirt is a statement of his manliness, not an attempt to attract female gamers.

This argument is endless

The cycle:

Begin Loop
>Post about morals and female-game characters in general
>Someone objects and starts complaining
>Multiple Posts reflecting opinions
>Another person gets "disgusted" and starts complaining
Repeat

and on and on...I guess this is just how all threads are about sensitive topics.

author=Perihelion
Edit: @Crimson_Legionnaire: I don't have a problem with either of those characters. A guy not having a shirt on doesn't make him a sex object, though. His lack of a shirt is a statement of his manliness, not an attempt to attract female gamers.

Double standard accepted!

author=sbester

author=Perihelion
Edit: @Crimson_Legionnaire: I don't have a problem with either of those characters. A guy not having a shirt on doesn't make him a sex object, though. His lack of a shirt is a statement of his manliness, not an attempt to attract female gamers.

Double standard accepted!

Yeah, it is a double standard. Women are basically required to be attractive in modern visual media, whereas men can get away with being ugly or at least not sexy.

author=sbester

author=Perihelion
Edit: @Crimson_Legionnaire: I don't have a problem with either of those characters. A guy not having a shirt on doesn't make him a sex object, though. His lack of a shirt is a statement of his manliness, not an attempt to attract female gamers.

Double standard accepted!

The street is one way only and there are no mirrors to view yourself in.

author=treeghost

author=Emanzi
This argument is endless

The cycle:

Begin Loop
>Post about morals and female-game characters in general
>Someone objects and starts complaining
>Multiple Post about someones opinion
>Another person gets "disgusted" and starts complaining
Repeat

and on and on...

You're right. But nobody actually read your posts or even made a comment on them. This conversation goes on and on and nobody gives a fuck until some admin/moderator of this site is going to close this thread.

let's try to speak some Xhosa.
andi so stabani. incanca yam yeyamantobi.

I read his posts and agreed. I just have a harsher way of saying things than he does, and people take exception to harshness, which why I was singled out as hating women and gays or whatever, lol. People that know me would find those two accusations wrong to the point of hilarity. No one here knows me, though, so I don't really care what they think.

author=Fallen-Griever

Women are basically required to be attractive in modern visual media

I'm sure that people like Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom having amazing acting careers has absolutely zero to do with them being attractive men?

Sometimes people want a character to be pretty. That's just how it is. Works both ways.

You cannot possibly be telling me that women don't have more pressure to be held to a higher physical attractiveness standard than men do? Have you ever done research or extensively looked at it from the female point of view? Do you have a girlfriend or sisters?

The pressures to look a certain way, to fit a physical mold for women are insane. It's almost epidemic.

bahleted

You do know, if a woman gets pissed at a game in this sense, stop freaking paying attention to that game. It isn't like an actual man, being sexually abusive to you, the women, to your face. It is a game in which isn't being forced onto the buyers. If you don't like it and feel it is wrong, you turn your head. It isn't real, and if it were real, would've been stopped already.

Also if you're feeling bad for the FAKE woman in the 'said' game, then you need to get locked up and treated for being mentally insane.

A game, is a game, is a game. No need to start pulling some feminist bullshit out. that would be like Peta being pissed at fake animal abuse.