Katrar Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 It's funny how controversial this subject seems to be to some people. I'm one of the people who are very tired of the oversexualization of women in video games, because it usualy makes little sense. It is very one dimensional. Unimaginative etc. It is fine for sexy characters. For example succubi or prostitutes. But as default, no thank you. Personally, I want diversity. Both it appearance and personality. I want beautiful, pretty, plain, ugly and hideous characters of both genders. Having plain looking people will also enhance the beautiful as well as the ugly. Which is awesome in my opinion. So there, that's my 2 cents. No politics needed. What you just said, pretty much sign me name below yours. I'm hoping for the full gamut in PE, and there is as much strength in the plain as there is in the beautiful or ugly. Often moreso. However, I hope that OE doesn't fear the holier than thous enough to just give us ugly and plain, where a little cleavage on a rogue's leather bustier might be thematic and fun.
Joukehainen Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 (edited) Why do everyone keep making huge generalizations. The problem is not having female characters who are scantily clad or show off their bodies, the problem is when it makes no sense. There's nothing wrong with a female monk who doesn't wear any armor but it makes no sense for a female knight to wear a chain bikini while male knights wear full plate. How many female characters who wear chain bikinis look like bodybuilders or athletes who can beat people up? That's the difference between how men and women are sexualized. When men are sexualized, they are portrayed as being strong and powerful. When women are sexualized, they're portrayed as being vulnerable and submissive. All the male sex fantasies are about the guy being the hero and rescuing the helpless girl but how many female sex fantasies are about a woman rescuing a helpless man? This. Although I wouldn't say "all," I'd say mainstream. Edited October 22, 2012 by Joukehainen
Giantevilhead Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 Oh please, there are dozens upon dozens upon dozens of pages on these forums that have suffered no shortage of demands that female NPC's not wear revealing clothing, lamenting male privilege's effects upon game aesthetics, etc etc etc. If you don't want to see it, can't really help you, but it's here for all to see. The list of threads on the first page of this particular thread is a good place to start. I've read and participated in several of those threads and I have not seen people demanding for there to be no revealing clothes at all. Heck, there's plenty of unreasonable responses and misdirections from people who are advocating for chain bikinis. Did you not notice things like this? "Why do you think women don't fight wars even today, with all this feminism culture going around with all the equality and stuff, cuz thats only good in the paper, in real life everyone knows the male is the strong and rational figure and the women is the emotional and weak creature.Men have more willpower to accomplish goals, that's why there arent many women Newton's around. just my opinion, I admit I havent met every women in this planet, but so far, I'm pretty sure that's how it is for everyone of them, their purpose in life is just to find a strong man and cling to it." "Like the previous guy said well, it's just unrealistic to have women running around in full plate armor and fighting against men toe to toe, why bring realism into this? Just leave women with the bikini armors, what's the big deal? they like to show off their features, and I, like any male, like to look at them." See what I did there? Providing actual evidence. 1
Katrar Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 Why do everyone keep making huge generalizations. The problem is not having female characters who are scantily clad or show off their bodies, the problem is when it makes no sense. There's nothing wrong with a female monk who doesn't wear any armor but it makes no sense for a female knight to wear a chain bikini while male knights wear full plate. How many female characters who wear chain bikinis look like bodybuilders or athletes who can beat people up? That's the difference between how men and women are sexualized. When men are sexualized, they are portrayed as being strong and powerful. When women are sexualized, they're portrayed as being vulnerable and submissive. All the male sex fantasies are about the guy being the hero and rescuing the helpless girl but how many female sex fantasies are about a woman rescuing a helpless man? This. Although I wouldn't say "all," I'd say mainstream. That sort of disparity, yes it is a bit silly. A 5 square centimeter iron tassle as "plate armor" and the men wear full plate can't even see their eyeballs. That's silly. Here's the thing... that's never EVER been an issue in games these guys have made, either as BI/OE, or individually, and it's generally not been an issue within the real CRPG scene. Where's it been an issue? Consoles. I don't think we have a problem here even needing a solution. However, if you look through some of the many threads on the subject here, a good number of the positions are not "fairness in armor protection", but are specifically of the "don't show skin" type, and/or lamentations of male privilege in the CRPG world. Those are completely different arguments. 2
Forlorn Hope Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 OE will end up doing three female gods: One clad in full plate mail (not boobplate!) wearing a burqa, one wearing nothing but a pair of double d's and make up and the third will be something in between the other two. Of course each deity will have their loyal worshippers and missionaries spread across the world. 1 "Maybe your grandiose vocabulary is a pathetic compensation for an insufficiency in the nether regions of your anatomy."
Katrar Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 Oh please, there are dozens upon dozens upon dozens of pages on these forums that have suffered no shortage of demands that female NPC's not wear revealing clothing, lamenting male privilege's effects upon game aesthetics, etc etc etc. If you don't want to see it, can't really help you, but it's here for all to see. The list of threads on the first page of this particular thread is a good place to start. I've read and participated in several of those threads and I have not seen people demanding for there to be no revealing clothes at all. Heck, there's plenty of unreasonable responses and misdirections from people who are advocating for chain bikinis. Did you not notice things like this? "Why do you think women don't fight wars even today, with all this feminism culture going around with all the equality and stuff, cuz thats only good in the paper, in real life everyone knows the male is the strong and rational figure and the women is the emotional and weak creature.Men have more willpower to accomplish goals, that's why there arent many women Newton's around. just my opinion, I admit I havent met every women in this planet, but so far, I'm pretty sure that's how it is for everyone of them, their purpose in life is just to find a strong man and cling to it." "Like the previous guy said well, it's just unrealistic to have women running around in full plate armor and fighting against men toe to toe, why bring realism into this? Just leave women with the bikini armors, what's the big deal? they like to show off their features, and I, like any male, like to look at them." See what I did there? Providing actual evidence. Of course the opposite extreme of the argument, the male chauvinist point of view, is wrong. The fact that you've been to those threads and selected those particular exhortations of dumbassery (on the original posters part), proves to me that you've also seen the yin to that yang. So I'll move on to more urgent and important topics of conversation. Like curtailing fetch quests.
Katrar Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 OE will end up doing three female gods: One clad in full plate mail (not boobplate!) wearing a burqa, one wearing nothing but a pair of double d's and make up and the third will be something in between the other two. Of course each deity will have their loyal worshippers and missionaries spread across the world. I like this post, and I like you. lol 1
Joukehainen Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 (edited) Everyone agrees that a stereotyped, one dimensional portrayal of men as big muscly meatheads is dull, uninspired and can be offensive. And the portrayal of women as sex objects or eye candy is likewise uncreative, unimaginative and offensive. So why is it so difficult to admit that? I think Obsidian is doing a great job with Cadegund and Sagani: they are attractive by conventional standards but both look like feasible warriors in a fantasy setting. So I don't think we need to worry too much, OP! Oh, and let's make a concentrated effort to not feed the trolls. They've had their knee-jerk reactions, false equivalences, and circular logic shot down 10 times over but they just keep reposting the same thing anyway. If we're going to repost something, let's repost the positive. I think we can trust Obsidian to not be sheep in the market and give us some deep, well-thought out, and creative characters of any and all gender. Edited October 22, 2012 by Joukehainen
kenup Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 Seriously? SERIOUSLY? 3 ****ing pages? Can a mod please merge this, we don't need 100 of them. If you people have so many insecurities and "care about the depiction of women" in video games, you should go see Feminist Frequency on youtube, you'll fit like a glove.
Macbeth Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 Well before this thread closes, I’d just like to say that whereas I’m generally on the side of the knights in shining armour that want to counter the rather messed up prevailing depiction of women in video games, I read a lot of arguments that tilt completely the other way and that’s wrong too. Women are still women and can be perceived to be so in various contexts: they don’t all need to end up as spinster nuns just because they’re all promiscuous teen blondes flashing nipples all over the place in other games. Should female warriors all look like iron-clad bikini models? Gods no! Does that also mean there can’t be a busty barmaid behind the counter of your favourite watering hole? Gods no! Reason is your friend people. Never forget! 1 Chronicler of the Obsidian Order; for the pen is mightier than the sword!
Margaretha Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 (edited) I surely hope such threads will keep coming and won't leave people like Kenup & the willies alone. (thanks for the marvelous mansplaining, Macbeth btw) Edited October 22, 2012 by Margaretha
Macbeth Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 I surely hope such threads will keep coming and won't leave people like Kenup & the willies alone. (thanks for the marvelous mansplaining, Macbeth btw) My pleasure! Chronicler of the Obsidian Order; for the pen is mightier than the sword!
Monte Carlo Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 (edited) Balance! Balance in all things!!! Edited October 22, 2012 by Monte Carlo
Lord Balgeron Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 But i want oversexualized females !!! WTF is this?! Its a fantasy game, what kind of moron you had to be to come here and present your damn feminism. This isn't Total War game according to history to the letter. There is NO reason , no justification, bar the fantasy of authors for anything that can be put into the game. If they want all the females to walk naked around and be slaves to the man, then they should do so (the white/grey drow from D&D has this alreadty!), and i would highly approve it. We already has enough *good RPG* games with realistic armor. ENOUGH! 3 Lover of Vice
Elerond Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 Here they come to save non existing women everywhere. You are right that is just right kind of armour design for virgin female characters .
SunBroSolaire Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 Oh, this topic again. Is this really such a huge problem in modern fantasy games? Look at recent entries in the genre: Skyrim, Dark Souls, The Witcher 2, Guild Wars 2, Skyward Sword, Dragon Age 2, Final Fantasy XIII - pretty inoffensive stuff. All of those games besides the Witcher seem very inclusive to me. Even the Witcher, while a strongly hetero male game, has great female characters and fine armor. Where is the rampant fantasy misogyny? Diablo 3 and Darksiders 2 fall back on stereotypes, but those are dumb-fun action games. Not saying it isn't stupid when it happens, I just think fantasy RPGs are usually pretty inclusive these days.
DocDoomII Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 I'm starting to wonder if this kind of thread is systematically spawned by the "WhiteKnight" faction, or the "Ant-WhiteKnight" faction disguised as their opponent. OM NOM NOM... *me munching popcorn* 3 Do you think Pillars of Eternity doesn't have enough Portraits? Submit your vote in this Poll!
Monte Carlo Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 ^ I suspect that you might be onto something there, Doc. 1
kenup Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 I'm starting to wonder if this kind of thread is systematically spawned by the "WhiteKnight" faction, or the "Ant-WhiteKnight" faction disguised as their opponent. OM NOM NOM... *me munching popcorn* Probably by the annoying-insecure-Knight faction. And damn it, where is that biodrone sketch when needed! 1
Monte Carlo Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 I'm starting to wonder if this kind of thread is systematically spawned by the "WhiteKnight" faction, or the "Ant-WhiteKnight" faction disguised as their opponent. OM NOM NOM... *me munching popcorn* Probably by the annoying-insecure-Knight faction. And damn it, where is that biodrone sketch when needed! Let me assist.
kenup Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 Nah, It was a sketch, kind of an elaborate rage guy alteration pic, not a caption. Damn google doesn't find it!
DocDoomII Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 I'm starting to wonder if this kind of thread is systematically spawned by the "WhiteKnight" faction, or the "Ant-WhiteKnight" faction disguised as their opponent. OM NOM NOM... *me munching popcorn* Probably by the annoying-insecure-Knight faction. And damn it, where is that biodrone sketch when needed! That can easily be said for (some of the) members of both Knight Orders... Damn, this is getting so repetitive that I have to imagine a conspiracy plot between factions to remain entertained. 1 Do you think Pillars of Eternity doesn't have enough Portraits? Submit your vote in this Poll!
Jarmo Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 Oversexualize away. Just don't do it all over the place. Dont give my female warrior only outfits with open cleavage all the way down to the hairy bits. Don't give the odd succubus or Prince Kim Jongs pleasure bodyguards perfectly reasonable combat worthy outfits either.
Macbeth Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 Dont give my female warrior only outfits with open cleavage all the way down to the hairy bits. Can I opt for Brazilian during character creation? Chronicler of the Obsidian Order; for the pen is mightier than the sword!
ddillon Posted October 22, 2012 Posted October 22, 2012 Can I opt for Brazilian during character creation? Bah, I prefer the landing strip.
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