The portrayal of women in video games.

[Playpal]

I always thought this was a cool video. Anyone who wants to watch more of their stuff can google extra credits.

 

[DJ L Toro]

You blatantly said that women should have no right to complain if they dress in a sexualized way....you are blaming the victim ASSHOLE. It is not her fault you can't keep your dick in your pants or your head out of your ass. IT IS YOUR FAULT! You are the one slut shaming her. (FACEPALM)

your lack of an attention span that allows you to read a complete sentence is impressive. the only thing that i said they cannot complain about is being treated in a sexualized way.

 

[NapoleonComplex]

Sure, I`m very liberal. Gay rights, removing religion from government, etc. But the only "simple" thing here is the fact that games objectify women waaay more than other mediums while also eliciting some of the most rapid knee-jerk hateful responses from it`s fans. It`s a bad combination. I never called MK or any other game sexist. You can check my previous posts to verify that. I just think it`s a problem for the vast majority of female characters in our medium to be sexual fantasies. No one is calling for censorship or stripping publishing freedoms away from anyone. Simply more awareness and maybe some more responsibility. Slander me for it if you want.

Don't worry. I will slander you xD It's my personality.

I don't want to derail the thread, but I just have to say being liberal has nothing to do with rights. It's government interference. That's all I'm going to say about that.

I can tell you're a liberal because you choose to alienate a certain group (in this case women) and defend them only. And while women are underrepresented in video games, I don't feel like that's something that needs to be changed just to be PC.

Yes, women in games are usually big-breasted and "perfect" in every way, and I think that's ridiculous, too. But that doesn't take away from their role in the game. There are many women who think the same as me.

Sorry for the blabber

 

[Relaxedstate]

your lack of an attention span that allows you to read a complete sentence is impressive. the only thing that i said they cannot complain about is being treated in a sexualized way.

I editied my post above:
Edit: Your logic is the same as that of the rape defense: "Bro, with the way she was dressed..she was practically begging for me to fuck her".---> Implies fault to the women for dressing that way, when in reality: It was the rapist fault completely. They should be held accountable, and anything argument like 'its male nature' is BS. We have brains, we can hold out selves to a higher stander. Most importantly we can hold ourselves accountable. I hope you can see why your claim was offensive now... Women SHOULD be able to complain.... you should NOT

Btw: it wasn't just your sentence... try to take my angry criticism as a sign that the ideologies you posses (no matter how minute you think they are) can be offensive. Think before you type. Hold that

 

[DJ L Toro]

I editied my post above:
Edit: Your logic is the same as that of the rape defense: "Bro, with the way she was dressed..she was practically begging for me to fuck her".---> Implies fault to the women for dressing that way, when in reality: It was the rapist fault completely. They should be held accountable, and anything argument like 'its male nature' is BS. We have brains, we can hold out selves to a higher stander. Most importantly we can hold ourselves accountable. I hope you can see why your claim was offensive now... Women SHOULD be able to complain.... you should NOT

Btw: it wasn't just your sentence... try to take my angry criticism as a sign that the ideologies you posses (no matter how minute you think they are) can be offensive. Think before you type. Hold that

none of that is what i said. there's a reason i posted buckley's video. though it is comedy there is more than a kernel of truth to it. no i do not advocate rape. yes i am a feninist. i believe that all people should be held accountable for how they represent themselves. if you find that offensive then you're an idiot and i dont care if i offend you.

 

[Relaxedstate]

none of that is what i said. there's a reason i posted buckley's video. though it is comedy there is more than a kernel of truth to it. no i do not advocate rape. yes i am a feninist. i believe that all people should be held accountable for how they represent themselves. if you find that offensive then you're an idiot and i dont care if i offend you.

It's your logic... if you are a feminist...then why say women shouldn't be able to complain about being objectified for dressing sexually...? That is what I don't get man. I just want you to see why that is not the right way to think about these issues...

 

[DJ L Toro]

It's your logic... if you are a feminist...then why say women shouldn't be able to complain about being objectified for dressing sexually...? That is what I don't get man. I just want you to see why that is not the right way to think about these issues...

by feminist i mean i believe in equality, not privilege. i dont think guys can complain either. for example (note i'm assuming you're somewhere near my age) do you remember "pantsing?" this activity was one where one boy (typically) would sneak up behind another boy and pull down his pants. this was only possible if the boy who got pantsed was not wearing a belt, so in a sense he has no right to complain. it's the same thing. now i'm not saying if a girl has a skirt up to her panties go ahead and get a feel (i wouldnt want to anyway), but if guys are going to look at her exposed privates they absolutely have no right to complain.
also, it's important to define what it means to be objectified. if you can do that for me i can respond more specifically

 

[STB Sgt Reed]

I'm scrawny...

where's my TV role!?

 

[Under_The_Mayo]

Don't worry. I will slander you xD It's my personality.

I don't want to derail the thread, but I just have to say being liberal has nothing to do with rights. It's government interference. That's all I'm going to say about that.

I can tell you're a liberal because you choose to alienate a certain group (in this case women) and defend them only. And while women are underrepresented in video games, I don't feel like that's something that needs to be changed just to be PC.

Stunning... Just go ahead and make sweeping generalizations about people, please.

1) Not ONCE in my post have I advocated for government interference or legislation telling people how to show women in their games. What are you talking about? Not only that, but I`m sure most people (liberal or not) who care about the issue are not asking for new laws. And you seem to forget that actual game legislation introduced by people like Jack Thompson was supported by many politians from both the political right AND left. They were both fools for doing so.

2) I`m not alienating anyone. I`m focusing on an issue. Similar topics could be discussed about underrepresentation of Latinos in games. Black stereotypes. Gay stereotypes. White male muscular protagonists. The depiction of Arabs and Russians as terrorists. In every medium of entertainment, there are things that we shouldn`t be too proud of, even when we do it in the name of satire. Satirizing something means there`s a real issue at the heart of it, or else the satire would be meaningless. Shame on me for focusing on one issue while not talking about every issue in the whole damn world. I guess that makes me "simple".

3) Hold off on your "liberals want government interference" rhetoric, while the people in power who call themselves "conservatives" continue to interfere with women`s rights with a record high number of new abortion laws, and with science education by putting creationism in public schools.

 

[EGP Wonder_Chef]

THIS THREAD IS GETTING EXCITING

 

[STB Sgt Reed]

You see this woman here? She is and always will be the best character in Video Games because she isn't the stereotypical big bouncy tits girl. With the exception of Other M she really had a strong and awesome character.

Inb4 she was always silent = read comics and lore.

Not trying to be the, "but lol where's da boobz guy" .... but why does a female have to be portrayed like Samus or a female Spartan in Halo or what have you to be considered portrayed in an acceptable way?

Not saying they should all run around looking like Mileena. Just curious.

 

[NapoleonComplex]

Stunning... Just go ahead and make sweeping generalizations about people, please.

1) Not ONCE in my post have I advocated for government interference or legislation telling people how to show women in their games. What are you talking about? Not only that, but I`m sure most people (liberal or not) who care about the issue are not asking for new laws. And you seem to forget that actual game legislation introduced by people like Jack Thompson was supported by many politians from both the political right AND left. They were both fools for doing so.

2) I`m not alienating anyone. I`m focusing on an issue. Similar topics could be discussed about underrepresentation of Latinos in games. Black stereotypes. Gay stereotypes. White male muscular protagonists. The depiction of Arabs and Russians as terrorists. In every medium of entertainment, there are things that we shouldn`t be too proud of, even when we do it in the name of satire. Satirizing something means there`s a real issue at the heart of it, or else the satire would be meaningless. Shame on me for focusing on one issue while not talking about every issue in the whole damn world. I guess that makes me "simple".

3) Hold off on your "liberals want government interference" rhetoric, while the people in power who call themselves "conservatives" continue to interfere with women`s rights with a record high number of new abortion laws, and with science education by putting creationism in public schools.

Ever heard of a libertarian? lol.

If you are stressing this issue so much, why don't you want something done about it? Do you plan on solving this "issue" through legislation or just telling people about it?

That's the difference between a liberal and libertarian. Liberals want every damn thing to be legislated.

As for #2, it's human nature to judge. You can't change human nature no matter how many laws you put in place. Should we be fighting French people?

 

[Mikemetroid]

Not trying to be the, "but lol where's da boobz guy" .... but why does a female have to be portrayed like Samus or a female Spartan in Halo or what have you to be considered portrayed in an acceptable way?

Not saying they should all run around looking like Mileena. Just curious.

I think its because she really portrays a strong hero without the fact of her having huge tits being there. Shes got a heroic personality and a look that isnt not too ridiculous.

I don't think this is as ridiculous as say...

 

[EGP Wonder_Chef]

LBSH Mortal Kombat is a very accurate portrayal of real life because:

1. If a woman has a great body, her face will most likely look like a man's.

2. If the above isn't true, she will probably be the type to bite your head off.

 

[CrazyBread]

Not trying to be the, "but lol where's da boobz guy" .... but why does a female have to be portrayed like Samus or a female Spartan in Halo or what have you to be considered portrayed in an acceptable way?

Not saying they should all run around looking like Mileena. Just curious.

It's a tie between Samus and Aqua. I'm a bigger fan of Aqua though.

As I said before look this chick up. She's what it's all about right here.

 

[Flagg]

The vast majority of gamers are young males. And what do most hot blooded young males like? Women built like porn stars and super models.

It might be easier to say this started because of characters like Lara Croft, but look at Marvel and DC comics...it's the same there, for the same reasons. And yes, most the men will look like body builders as well. One of the reasons I stopped reading the majority of Marvel comics was the terrible writing on a universe of shallow characters.

As a society, we are conditioned to like men and women that look perfect. You see it in the pop world, you see it in movies, you see it in reality TV. You even see it books, where the gruff anti hero, whose impossible toughness is only matched by his rugged looks, gets the women who look's far more attractive then her unpleasant, malevolent counter parts.

I'm not gonna lie. I like attractive looking women. I like them to have good bodies. But they need to have something going on between their ears as well. It might be asking for much, but I consider myself relatively smart and im a slave for the weights room so I am in good shape.

In the world of video games, most characters are warriors, are they not, no matter the genre. Ergo, a warrior would have to be in prime physical shape to undertake the task. That could be one way of looking at it. I mean Capcom and Namco thought it would be funny to introduce fat guys into fighting games that are faster than everyone else. That's dumb. Jax and Kitana might look like the worst kind of sexual sterotypes, but if you saw them in real life, you'd truly believe they could do the things they can do in Mortal Kombat.

 

[DJ L Toro]

Not trying to be the, "but lol where's da boobz guy" .... but why does a female have to be portrayed like Samus or a female Spartan in Halo or what have you to be considered portrayed in an acceptable way?

Not saying they should all run around looking like Mileena. Just curious.

honestly the most attractive thing about a female IMO is when they're fully dressed and can have a good conversation with me. in videogames the equivalent is being a female who wears appropriate clothing (samus's POWER SUIT assists her in missions and fighting enemies) and display the ability to problem solve.

 

[DJ L Toro]

As I said before look this chick up. She's what it's all about right here.

she's the one who beats the game right? the boys are useless

 

[Flagg]

You see this woman here? She is and always will be the best character in Video Games because she isn't the stereotypical big bouncy tits girl. With the exception of Other M she really had a strong and awesome character.

Inb4 she was always silent = read comics and lore.

Samus is cool and the Metroid games are awesome, but at the end of the day, she's still blonde, beautiful, probably doesn't weigh much over 110 pounds and probably has C cup breasts minimum.

Yes the suit is a symbol of empowerment, but even the suit molds around her shapely figure.

 

[DJ L Toro]

Samus is cool and the Metroid games are awesome, but at the end of the day, she's still blonde, beautiful, probably doesn't weigh much over 110 pounds and probably has C cup breasts minimum.

Yes the suit is a symbol of empowerment, but even the suit molds around her shapely figure.

what's wrong with that. C is average (ok, so it's on the higher end of average, but still not surprisingly big by any means), she's an extremely active bounty hunter who has to run, jump, and shoot giant monsters (often for many days at a time) just to not die, so she ought to be in shape. She's not portrayed in a negative way; she's a strong female who outcompetes many male bounty hunters.

she just happens to be aesthetically beautiful too.

Edit: most importantly she's a genius problem solver. she is the epitome of using your tools to their max.

 

[Playpal]

There's a difference between being objectified and being beautiful.

 

[Flagg]

what's wrong with that. C is average (ok, so it's on the higher end of average, but still not surprisingly big by any means), she's an extremely active bounty hunter who has to run, jump, and shoot giant monsters (often for many days at a time) just to not die, so she ought to be in shape. She's not portrayed in a negative way; she's a strong female who outcompetes many male bounty hunters.

she just happens to be aesthetically beautiful too.

Edit: most importantly she's a genius problem solver. she is the epitome of using your tools to their max.

Who said there was anything wrong. But women with a minimum of C Cup sized breasts get noticed by men.

Lara Croft has to run, jump, climb mountains, fire guns in mid flight.

Chun Li can do upside down spinning bird kicks, and can fight the likes of M Bison.

Jade is a 10,000 year old assassin, personally selected by Shao Khan.

You could argue that these are all strong, powerful women. Oh....what do they have in common? Why they are physically perfect.

This is the point of the thread I suspect, no matter how strong the female character is, because she looks that good, can she be taken seriously at all before the male eye starts staring at her ass? It's a kind of paradox, because it then suggests that good looking women cant be good at anything, except for looking good.

I know that's not true, but games, comics and movies have other notions.

 

[DJ L Toro]

Who said there was anything wrong. But women with a minimum of C Cup sized breasts get noticed by men.

Lara Croft has to run, jump, climb mountains, fire guns in mid flight.

Chun Li can do upside down spinning bird kicks, and can fight the likes of M Bison.

Jade is a 10,000 year old assassin, personally selected by Shao Khan.

You could argue that these are all strong, powerful women. Oh....what do they have in common? Why they are physically perfect.

This is the point of the thread I suspect, no matter how strong the female character is, because she looks that good, can she be taken seriously at all before the male eye starts staring at her ass? It's a kind of paradox, because it then suggests that good looking women cant be good at anything, except for looking good.

I know that's not true, but games, comics and movies have other notions.

laura croft and jade's boobs are too big for my tastes (more importantly they're stripped almost naked). chun li's legs are 5 times the size of her body. far from parfect. i think video games give us an image to idolize though. we see these images and say "that's the woman i want" instead of producing images in a video game off of desirable women that actually exist. i think that's why there has been such a big outcry for a return to live casting and mokap in MK.

 

[CrazyBread]

she's the one who beats the game right? the boys are useless

Close. But she sacrifices herself for the both of them, and the entire time she did nothing but fight for them to never stray into the wrong path and they both do it anyway. But she is that female character who isn't a damsel in distress, can fight her own battles, is smart, modest, and the game creators made her conservative without having to dress her in a full suit. IMO fighting female characters are like her, but it's going to always be overlooked if they don't tone down on the sauciness of the attire.

 

[Under_The_Mayo]

THIS THREAD IS GETTING EXCITING

I know, right?! Way better than I thought it would be! I just posted it before work. When I got to work there were like 5 pages already. I've seen good arguments, passionate statements, thoughtful replies, and truly boneheaded dribble. It's lovely.