If you can't see the difference between the more tasteful level of cleavage in UMK3 and MKX and a game like MK9, where essentially only nipples and vulva are covered, I don't know what to tell you. We should not be able to tell that Mileena waxes her pubes. Leave some mystery.
Yes, women get implants and show off their bodies, but typically not when they're fighting to the death in martial arts tournaments or actively serving in the military. And most of the characters we're discussing aren't even from earth -- it's goofy to imply the women of Edenia or Outworld should have big balloon silicone tits.
Half-dressed super muscular men in popular culture like superhero stories and video games are usually not being presented in a sexual manner, but rather as a vicarious power fantasy for male readers/players. It's a male fantasy either way, not a female fantasy. If the male characters
are sexy, it's usually an afterthought rather than the purpose of their design (this has changed a bit in recent times, but not very much, as women and gay men are still seen as a niche market).There have been lots of very smart articles about this. Here's a good one, though sadly the images have been corrupted:
https://comicsalliance.com/why-big-superhero-muscles-arent-the-same-thing-as-sexy-curves/
I literally used Sheeva as an example of the only character who was dressed that skimpily in the Trilogy games. I think that with her character it makes more sense, as her entire Shokan culture -- Goro, Kintaro, and her -- is shown to wear very little clothing, in a sort of Conan the Barbarian aesthetic. But if anything I think her bikini in MK3 was goofy, as it wasn't barbarian-looking
enough -- it just looked like an earth swimsuit. The Armageddon look was better, and if they brought her back I think something similar to Cheetah's attire in IJ2 would be neat.
Amazingly, people are capable of caring about more than one thing at a time. I don't think any feminist believes the presentation of women in video games is the most pressing sexist issue in the world right now. But just because something isn't the
most important issue doesn't mean it isn't worth addressing.
It's worth noting, though, that women who perform in porn or do cosplay are (usually) making that choice of their own volition, whereas these 'fake' women are being created by teams of almost entirely men and have no free will of their own; they exist purely as a projection of male desire. A critique of them is a critique of that impulse.
I've honestly seen bikinis(real ones) more revealing than those MK 9 outfits, Mileena's would be the closest to showing nearly everything but the reason why I don't have issues with it? Simple :1. It fits her freaky, seductive character and 2. It's a video game. I don't care THAT much, there's real issues in the world to worry about but if you guys want to stress that, be my guest.
I think the whole tasteful skin/cleavage is relative, what one person may find tasteful another may find offensive. But again my biggest issue isn't so much those offended by women barely dressed in a video game(though I admit I'd rather worry about things actually more important like gameplay and making sure I got my money's worth) but what irks me more is the double standard. Here...
That's all opinion with the whole "men aren't as big a deal as curves" what? Who says? lol A human half naked or barely dressed is a human barely dressed man. Regardless of sexual preferences, Erron Black for example and Kano in MK X are practically shirtless, in fact they're showing more than any female in MK 9.
Jax in MK 2 IS literally half naked, pre bionic arms in spandex pants. But again no complaints, but a 3D render of Kitana or Jade in a sexy outfit and it's "OMG!!" Come on now lol. If you can't see the hypocrisy there I don't know what else to tell you.
See the thing you're forgetting is with the military is they are properly dressed now and the past couple of games, but it's MK. A fictional story that's not trying to be 100% realistic, you're playing a game with Gods, Demons, undead specters, metahumans, ninjas with magic powers, etc, etc and I want to point out you're not at all fazed by the over the top violence but a little bit of cleavage bothers you? I never understood this. Like a meme here
Humans also have culture to be barely dressed on certain occasions, I just think nobody is saying anything about Sheeva because she's only
half human....because let's be honest, we don't know much about Shokan battle attire or attire in general. Most of them seem to be hardly dressed except for the older Shokan's and we haven't exactly seen many female ones aside from Sheeva.
Ok, so you're saying it's ok for women to demean themselves in real life is not a more important issue than professional game developers, artists etc creating a FAKE female characters barely dressed?I also want to point out porn doesn't exist exclusively for male desires but women as well we're all human afterall AND it's a business, porn industry brings in billions...so I can assure you that's the main reason lol. I would say most games or lot of games that create women to be sexually attractive looking, hardly dressed whatever do so for two main reasons. One it helps bring in money if the women are more attractive and look like women and two, most games in general but games like this especially, DOA, etc, etc have a much larger male demographic so this isn't really surprising. Here's my issue with the Sheeva's race dress like that argument is fine, but not Edenians. Technically if we're going there, then you know Edenians aren't human either so perhaps it's their traditions to dress skimpy, exotic as well? Who's to say, I mean look at Rain. He's a dude and dressed not exactly like a monk or military marine. His shirt is pretty open, showing a good portion of his chest and his arms.
Bugt back on the demographic thing, Think of it like a Disney movie, they want to appeal to the whole family and kids so it'll be rated PG. Now if they wanted to aim for adults it would be a hard R.it If they made an animated movie or you saw say Toy Story 4 rated R because Woody bangs bo peep, they'd lose money because kids can't enjoy it. MK is rated M afterall, so it's not like you don't know what you're buying. I just don't get why people are so sensitive to how women are dressed yet ignore the over the top violence as being ok not to mention the male characters barely dressed? To me this makes no sense, if those people are so worried about how women are treated and have such a high moral compass then why are they ok with them getting killed horribly? Because they're better dressed makes it ok?
Of course worrying about various things is fine, but to me most of these things come off as trivial and/or hypocritical. Like I said earlier, me personally I'm more concerned about having a solid, fun game with these characters I grew up loving both personality wise and look wise. I don't really care for anyone's political view when making these games or trying to be PC or politicize a character just to try to please naysayers.
