Title: Why women criticise sexualised character designs (READ OP)
Reason: User Banned (1 week): Extremely sexist post, telling women what they can or can't talk about, after coming back from a month-long ban
To a certain extent I agree with OP on females in games. If a game is heavily action or combat oriented and features females performing said action or combat I'd like them to look more the part in terms of having visible muscle tone and being decked out in combat appropriate gear. However, this desire comes from an entirely different place. In my case I simply appreciate the female form and think females actually look cooler than males when they're fit and decked out in battle gear on top of being sexy, it's my own preference. For example if I'm playing an MMO and there's a muscle slider I'll always make full use of it and try to go for outfits that make my female character look like a badass. So if I were in charge of game design I'd make sure any females that are performing in combat look the part, however I would not do away with the eye candy and I'd make said combat appropriate females look idealized and attractive. I'd still have those eye candy females in the game but they'd be entirely there for the sake of fan service and would serve absolutely no role in the combat whatsoever. I love fanservice and the sexualization of females in games, however where I disagree with many other games is that the sexualized eye candy females should not be the playable characters or the ones performing the action. Now let me make clear that I'd still have these eye candy females as the cheerleaders, the maids, or any other non-combat service role since that's honestly where those types of females should be imo, not fighting. I think that if a female is going to be performing on the battlefield she should actually look like she could absolutely fuck shit up. So that'd probably be where I also disagree with OP and those against the sexualization of females in games, I think there's a place for these types of sexualized females and that's it's just a matter of better writing to properly fit these females in the game that makes a good amount of sense. But even disregarding that, this notion that it's somehow "problematic" to have these sexualized females in the game is one that I actually find offensive. Let's just set the record straight here and point out that yes, this sexualization is in fact done for the male gamer and usually something the Dev wants to do. The types of games that sexualize their females where never for any of the people who'd find it offensive to begin with. It's not like there's some kind of plot to demean females through games and promote them to be over sexualized IRL, it's simply something that's done to get the attention of your typical male gamer. So don't treat it like it's this huge problem that needs to be addressed, it absolutely isn't. There are games that don't sexualize females and those are the types of games that OP and those that share that sentiment should focus on. I don't agree with complaining about it because it gives the impression that companies and Devs are somehow doing a bad thing by having these sexualized females in their games, and that simply isn't true. There's nothing sexist about wanting to have an overly sexed out female in a game and enjoying that, it's perfectly normal and doesn't cause any harm to anybody besides those that can't cope with views they don't like and can't, for whatever reason, disregard it. I could make the argument that games which don't sexualize their females are somehow problematic and prudish, but my argument wouldn't be any less valid than those of you complaining about games that do sexualize females, it's all subjective. Nobody is committing any fouls and that's my problem and those that are so negative towards you complaining's problem. You're all on this high-horse and acting like some kind of civil rights issue is at stake, it absolutely isn't and you all really need to tone it down. That this thread is 100+ pages is ridiculous. Not only isn't complaining like this going to not change anything, but will actively set many people against you to defend their hobby from this absurd criticism. Like I've said before, I think Anita is incredibly toxic for even making such an issue about females in games the way she did, because it creates a narrative that she's objectively right and those these companies and Devs are somehow the bad guys when that's just simply not the case. It almost feels like a group of outsiders trying to muscle in and make demands while acting like they're righteous. Stop it.
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