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Edited by ash: 2/17/2013 12:32:30 PM
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Not necessarily disagreeing with the overall message here, but just wanted to correct some misconceptions and make some obvious statements. Obviously, sex sells. Pretty straightforward really. That kind of explains why this problem has become so exacerbated. It's a marketing ploy within a free market that taps into our most primal, evolutionary instinct. The reproductive impulse is very ingrained, easily exploited, and when something as indifferent as money is involved, there's not really much room for common decency or tact. It's not an issue exclusive to games. Women also buy media that perpetuates this problem. Magazines that feature airbrushed celebrities and fashion/beauty advice etc. It's not just that men put pressure on women to look a certain way, it's more a case that a market isn't a human being. It doesn't care about the damaging effects, only turning profit. And people will spend money at that market, whether out of insecurity or desperation in the case of women who want to meet impossible expectations or in the case of sexualised games, males may buy them out of a desire to see some boobage. The other point I'd like to make would be to correct this insinuation that if guys play games with "implausible" art direction for their characters, they will therefore cease to know the difference between fantasy and real-life (sound familiar?). It is as false for sex as it is for violence. There's a pervasive stereotype about men that we're basically all mouth-foaming idiots who think solely with our nether-organs. It's only partially true... Some guys DO like implausibly "attractive" women in their fantasy worlds, just like some guys like to shoot over-the-top weapons that shoot flaming razorblades from the back of a dragon. It doesn't necessarily follow that we can't draw a clear distinction in our minds. Some games are quite perverted of course. And there's a line for every man where you will cross between enjoying the "aesthetic" of certain characters to becoming rather uncomfortable and frankly disturbed by some of the... art direction. Just some observations about the thread itself: [spoiler]I think what makes me scratch my head though is why this is in the Destiny forum rather than Gaming or Off-topic given we don't know enough about Destiny. And this is in no way a dig or an accusation of hypocrisy... as I'm just curious... Given you've adopted "Cortana" in your username, how come you chose that particular character given that she's, well, a naked blue woman who occasionally spouts cheesy suggestive jokes throughout the Halo saga. I mentioned theres a line of "uncomfortableness" that varies from male to male, I'm just wondering where you'd draw that line, and what you'd consider appropriate/inappropriate if you think Cortana doesn't cross that line. Perhaps more importantly, would you consider yourself qualified to dictate or police that line for the benefit of everyone else? This is why I don't think it's quite as simple as you say. Or why you're "right" and why it's "wrong" for any developer to design their higher level "armour" so it covers less of the female anatomy than their lower level armour. It certainly puts off women from playing it when they might otherwise have (which is a damned shame) but for better or for worse, it's the creator's choice. The same goes for movies. You may think a movie might be better if it toned down some of its violence or its sex-scenes weren't so prolonged, but it's up to the creator. Like cinema, I think video games can shed its immature reputation through the release of tasteful games, without shaming anyone who has a guilty pleasure for the less savoury games. And a film like Inception that supposedly makes you think, can co-exist alongside garbage eye-candy like Transformers. (I don't know why I used those examples as I haven't seen either).[/spoiler] TLDR: I hope Destiny doesn't have ridiculous "boobage" too as it may detract from the style of game it looks to be, but I think there's a place for "boobage" (and "moobage" too) in certain types of games. To simply target those games exclusively... or accuse people of disagreeing with you just because they're men/shallow etc... it misses the much broader picture and problem. I mean, our propensity to be shallow and selective comes from our very nature, from our evolution and is not exclusive to males, let alone male gamers. Hell not even humans. Women try to meet unrealistic levels of attractiveness [i]because[/i] they want to attract the most attractive man they can (because they subconsiously look for the best person to father a healthy/fit child with). That's not to say it's ok to be shallow. But it does point out the inaccuracy of saying that Ian disagrees with you because his "perspective is that of a male. Grats.". I just warn against holding preconceptions about men the same way you abhor men who have unrealistic preconceptions about how women should be. Social pressure comes from a variety of places and exclusively blaming male gamers who are drawn to "low-brow" games isn't the answer (or at least not the whole answer) when the problem runs this deep. TLDR2: I just realised my TLDR paragraph was too long and probably won't be read as a result. Also you should never be "looking for" a certain response IMO. That implies you think you know the answer before you pose the question, which makes it difficult to remain open-minded or humble in your opinions.
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