Enough: we must all try to kick sexism out of gaming

Companies develop stuff that sells better. Attractive females sell better than normal ones. Same goes for men, by the way. Do we live up to image of beardy muscular guys that jump around with guns blazing? We’re exploring fantasies in games, might as well explore attractive ones.

In games were women have control over their looks, such as MMO’s and RPG’s – they walk around in similarly revealing outfits and choose the cutest face with largest eyes and so forth. Not on occasion; nearly ALL the time.

Finally, I don’t see why you would include Lara Croft. If you know anything about the series, you’d know it has done a lot to transform the image of females in games to self-sufficient, strong and intelligent. In more recent versions of the game, her appearance has become less exaggerated as well.

From any feminist kind of position, you should be cheering for Tomb Raider. Unless of course the cover art scared you off in the ninetees.

“Think about it: is there even a single “sexy” male character in games?”

Have you ever played a videogame? Ever?

“Think about it: is there even a single “sexy” male character in games?”
Gordon Freeman
Adam Jensen
Master Chief. Completely serious.
The Skyrim and Dark Souls characters depicted on the covers.
Space Marines. Completely serious.
All of the main characters from the Assassins Creed series
Dante and Virgil
Link, Ghirahim, and Ganon
Actually, every character in every Japanese game that isn’t the “quirky fat companion” stereotype.
Actually, every male character in EVERY game that isn’t the “quirky fat/scrawny” stereotype, or the main male character from Animal Crossing. Unless you want him to be. That’s your own thing.
Even the furry characters
Because heaven forbid we don’t pander to those furry women

Oh, and I appreciate you putting PRINCESS ZELDA in your gallery of “sexualized women”. Princess Zelda, who is the epitome of pure maidens, and in the picture you chose is wearing the most modest dress ever conceived, the incarnation of a powerful goddess, who is later herself incarnated into a powerful sorceress, and who is only “sexualized” by being the love interest for the game.

Catherine is (partially) a DATING SIM
why on EARTH would you put an unattractive character into a dating sim.
That is just silly.

And I don’t see the point of nitpicking at that robot video. They’re robots. Would you use a robot as anything other than a maid, and do they ever imply that there isn’t another line of male versions of them? Are you aware of the fact that this “sentient robots oh my” topic is a complete cliche now?

This entire article just comes off as someone who is intimidated by attractive women. There IS sexism in video games (hello, Lollipop Chainsaw), but I think there’s some serious sexism in this article as well.

Sounds like feminazis are just jealous of the beautiful video game women we get to enjoy looking at.

Thanks for the image montage to jerk it to at the bottom, I’ll be back next week, penis in hand.

Is this a joke article?

“Think about it: is there even a single “sexy” male character in games?”
Every video game, from Doomguy to Mass effect (OH MASS EFFECT IS A BIG OFFENDER)

Their are more “sexualized” males than females in video games, when female show up they most recognizable are the ones who are sexual. You can not name one at your press seem to cement that idea.

Males are sexual thus recognizable, master chief being mysterious tall strong, traits that females tend to “list” of being sexy. Look at Shepard say how is not sexualized.

If this is a joke piece then you got me good. ha

tl;dr – Stop making people look attractive in video games.

/rolleyes

>Gordon Freeman
>Sexy

Pick one.

>Nerd
>Gordon Freeman

Pick any.

That being said I’m going to purchase lollipop, not cuz of the art, but the people behind it.

If the character was a fabulous hunk not a cheerleader, it seems that people who are concerned about “sexism” won’t bat an eyelash at him.

“Kara’s life is under threat because she admits to thinking, an unacceptable trait if she’s to fulfil the perceived normality of her role as a female. The man putting her together and the society she’s about to enter are sexist if they’re beholden to our own. The timing of Cage’s piece is hardly accidental.”

Well you seem to ignore the fact that she’s not a woman. She is a robot in a world where true AI is not allowed.
Even more disturbing is the fact that you use The Witch from l4d as an example of over sexualized.

Having someone who looks nothing close to attractive and a practically dressed character (who if the author had actually played the game, which I doubt, would know, is a well developed character in her own right utterly outside her sexuality) isn’t just shooting yourself in the foot, it’s hitting your foot, setting off the particle accelerator and inadvertently creating a black hole destroying reality.

You used Erica form Catherine as another example.If you actually played the game you would have known she’s not a woman.

You used the new Lara Croft design as another example. She is completely average and not sexualised any more.Oh my!She’s wearing normal clothing *gasp* and she has BREASTS!!

You listed Zelda as an example. REALLY ? ZELDA ?How is that over sexualized? That’s like saying the statue of liberty is over-sexualized!

There are greek columns more risqué than that.

You actually said that there are no sexy characters. Ahaha. Wow.
Let’s have a little list : Drake from uncharted
Ezio and Desmond from Assassin’s Creed, arguably Altair.
Soap Mac Tavish, Ghost, Gaz, hell even Price if you’re into that kind of stuff.
Makarov and Yuri look above average as well.
and the list goes on and on.

Now let’s address another point:
“The truth is that games are sexist in their depiction of women to a depressing degree. I raised the point on a press trip dinner last year: how many female characters can you think of that aren’t obviously designed to be sexually attractive to men? Apart from Shepard, no one around the table could suggest a single one.”

Oh really ?
Alyx Vance
Faith from Mirrors Edge
Zoey from L4D
That German Doctor from Bioshock
Deadly from CoD4
Jaina from Warcraft
Naomi from MGS
Several girls from the first RE games
The women from Dead Space
Kreia from KotOR
Heather from Silent Hill
Jade from Beyond Good and Evil
Even Bayonetta that obviously goes out of her way to appear sexy
is presented as independent and in control of her sexuality and so on.

How about we men also take a stand against misandry ?
How about we make a list against the objectification of men as giant hulks of meat and bald space marines that only know how to hold a gun ?

BE PATRICK GARRETT. WRITE A HEADLINE ABOUT YOURSELF IN THIRD PERSON.

Think about it: is there even a single “sexy” male character in games?

Excuse me? Is this a serious question? Do you seriously believe there are no remotely handsome, good looking and “sexy” males in videogames?

The sexualisation of men is a more prevalent issue in the videogame industry, whilst the videogame industry took steps with strong, independent women (i.e Lara Croft, Ashley Williams, Liara, Kreia, Alyx Vance, Jade, Lightning, Midna, Tyrande Whisperwind, Chell, Faith) the videogame industry is still entrench in sexism against the male gender.

I mean when was the last time you saw a completely ugly, socially inept and unfit male in a leading role of a videogame? Where are all the videogames starring ugly neckbeards, ugly pimply Dungeons & Dragons nerds and neckbearded otakus who cannot get a date if his life depended on it?

Instead the male gender gets bombarded with unfair stereotypes that men should be strong (in both body and soul), have an excellent physique and unbelievably handsome? I mean look at merely a handful of examples of sexualisation of men, Commander Shepherd from Mass Effect, Anders from Dragon Age,Johnny Cage from Mortal Kombat, Guile from Streetfighter, Adam Jenson from Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Nathan Drake from Uncharted, Marcus Fenix from Gears of War, Canderous Ordo from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, The Prince from Prince of Persia, Ezio from Assassin’s Creed, Duke Nukem from Duke Nukem, Captain Titus from Warhammer 40K: Space Marine, Squall from Final Fantasy VIII, Dante from Devil May Cry, Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid, Chris Redfield from Resident Evil, Siegfried from Soul Calibur, Arthas from Warcraft, Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII.

Why is it then, that feminism revolves around double standards. Allowing men to be held up to such unrealistic standards of sexualisation. Whilst making women look like women one of the greatest sins one can commit?

Double standards is utterly disgusting. One of the biggest oppressors of mankind.

Okay, first off I agree with some points you bring in this article. Females are objectified in games and that is a reality. I kinda feel uncomfortable with some games that seem to spend more budget on “boob physics” than on anything else.
But the overall tone of your article I find very far fetched. I mean: “by allowing the public to vote on the image to the used on the box; it wasn’t difficult to argue the studio was asking its hugely male-oriented audience, “Which one of these would you most like to have sex with?””
What the hell was that? I don’t know if you are joking or really have that sort of perverted mind all the time. If the objectifying of women is ALL you want to see, that’s what you’re going to see. But honestly, I don’t think that the poll was implying anything like that.
I also liked the demo of the story about the robot girl. But I seriously think there was A LOT more to it than just the fact that ‘sex’ is mentioned. Though I gotta admit, if that demo was “feminist” it was a lot more touching and has a lot more class than some people who go making assumptions all the time and start comparing every minor thing with sex. Maybe it’s because that sort of people get more page views or something..

“David Cage’s Kara demo encapsulated the disastrous situation we currently face with female characters in games by reducing its protagonist, a female robot, to an absolute sexist stereotype.”

Yes, if you take it completely at face value and assume everything in it is arepresentation of the author’s beliefs. Did you pay any attention at all to how the story is presented and how it ends? No, I guess not.

“Kara’s life is under threat because she admits to thinking, an unacceptable trait if she’s to fulfil the perceived normality of her role as a female.”

An unacceptable trait for a robot. Stories about robots and other automata breaking free of their programming are as old as science fiction. Much older than that, if you include golems and other mythical creatures. So this really has nothing to do with Kara being a woman. And who even believes that thinking is an unacceptable trait for women?

“According to this, sexism is: 1. attitudes or behavior based on traditional stereotypes of sexual roles.”

Sexism is anything that doesn’t advance and reinforce the great social experiment known as feminism. Of course!

When women walk around half-naked, get shitfaced and take it in all holes from strange men, feminists will tell you they’re “expressing their sexuality,” and to criticize their behavior would be “slut shaming.” In general feminists dislike modesty, chastity and monogamy. So why all the hand-wringing and wailing when there’s a sexy woman in a video game? Could it be because those games are mostly designed for and played by men? Women have a feeling of control when they’re out cosplaying as streetwalkers, but they have no control over the imaginary women of video games, who are entirely at the mercy of the icky beta males holding the controllers. I think that’s what this is about.

Certainly the oversexualization of women in video games is a legitimate issue, but it’s always approached in a highly dishonest manner by highly dishonest people, who always define the problem and frame the discussion through feminism.

The way I see it, you must A) have not thought through your argument or B) are trolling the public for more hits to this website.

There are many great points that are mentioned in the comments section about how you are attributing Kara’s role as a servant to the fact that she is a woman, ignoring the fact that she is a ROBOT.

There are many points that you ignore:

1) Men are unfairly oversexualized just as much as women in video games, if not more. Video games are an escape from reality in which all characters are designed to be more attractive than realistically possible.
2) There are many examples of strong female roles, ESPECIALLY Lara Croft, so I don’t know why you would include her in the pictures as evidence of your point. That series, more than any other, has paved the way for FemShep and Alyx Vance and other strong female roles. The new reboot of Tomb Raider has made it their goal to de-sexualize Lara and focus more on her personality and intelligence. ARGUMENT NULLIFIED.
3) I would argue that Men’s PECS are centered in the shot just as much as women’s breasts.

Feminism is a respectable campaign to end the mistreatment of women or at least to give them the same privleges that we, as men, are privy to without even realizing. However, your article is so completely wrong that you give feminism a bad name. Please Respond to any of the comments posted here, I would like to hear what you have to say.

Look, I wrote a serious post, then I read again your “article” and in the end I think this is a REAL joke. Seriously, I think there isn’t anyone with a so narrow view, so it must be a joke.
Have a good day.

What an asinine, fatuous load of garbage you have written, Patrick Garratt.

You completely missed the point of the “Kara” tech demo. That tech demo tells the short story of a robotic woman who is assembled from nothing, gains consciousness, and is shipped to a store to be bought like a table or chair.

The moral of that short film called to question the practices of the factory. If you paid any sort of attention at all, you would have picked up on the fact that *the makers of that film agree with everything you are saying*. You are like the people who argue against Harry Potter by quoting evil things Voldemort says when, after actually reading the book, it becomes clear that the book does not endorse anything Voldemort is saying (the opposite is true).

The “Kara” short film designed the lead character as a sexist stereotype *in order to question such a stereotype*. This was something you should have noticed when the robot was being disassembled, a scene that was meant to evoke sympathy toward the robotic character and leave the audience with the gut feeling that the factory is an evil place and the things they do there are wrong.

In short, feminists should be hailing this short film as support for their ideologies, but gut-reaction “journalists” like Patrick Garratt see the sexist stereotype and shut off their brain, never asking what the purpose of the stereotype was in the film. Filmmakers can feature evil characters and evil sayings, that does not mean they endorse those characters or sayings. Often, the point is to show the world how and why those characters/ideas/stereotypes are evil. That is exactly the case in this “Kara” short film you are griping about.

I guess if Patrick had his way, no character in any piece of media would ever be able to say anything remotely controversial, even if the purpose of such controversial statements is to demonize and discredit them.

Patrick, I applaud you for a level of short-sightedness and lack of attention that so few in this world could honestly achieve.

lol,, Just off the top of my head, little sister, jade, and big sisters. THE BIGGER question here is how many games have you &your brown nose (I follow what you say) friends played & know of,, i,m thinking not many,, But to be honest I want good looking females in my games,, So stop ya bitching don’t like it don’t play it,,, Damn feminist ruin everything,, enjoyed making your selfs look weaker.

Best comments ever. Cheevo unlocked.

/v/ pls go.

@119 I thought it was going okay until the N4G posse of internet heroes arrived.

For what it’s worth I agree with the basic thrust of the article. The interpretation of the Kara tech demo was a bit of a stretch and the gallery of images at the end don’t do the article any favours, but I appreciate the sentiment of wanting to be more mindful in your coverage. You seem too quick to label representation as objectification, though: there’s nothing wrong with a female character being attractive, its when that is the summation of their inclusion that things turn ugly.

Personally I dislike character designs like Ivy because they come across as pandering to a specific demographic, namely teenage boys. That kind of female depiction seems transparently cynical, actively unattractive and needlessly exclusive of the wider audience. By comparison I think the latest incarnation of Lara Croft is fantastic: she’s beautiful but not unrealistically accentuated or suggestive, making for a more inclusive character.

Beauty is not something to be ashamed of. It’s the cynical perversion of it that is problematic.

hahhaahahaha where the hell did all those nerds come from?

“Beauty is not something to be ashamed of. It’s the cynical perversion of it that is problematic.”

^this!

That’s right, just completely ignore critiques of the article and try to claim they all come from one single website to flood the comments. Pathetic.

At least address the critiques.

@Not The eyes: yeah right because about 15 comments who all have about the same wording in just over an hour doesn’t seem strange …

@Night Hunter

That’s a very good use of an ad hominem attack, however simply because my comment is similar to those of other people does not negate its validity. Nor am I attempting to use ad populum to my advantage.

Please tell me how men are not sexualised and how the sexualisation of men is okay whilst the sexualisation of women isn’t?

No one said that men aren’t sexualized, have you even read the comments on the first page? There already was a debate about it (ad populum that) and the truth of the matter is this article is more than a day old

@126 I think you’re making the same mistake as Pat did in the article, conflating representation and objectification.

Whilst many male game characters are clearly modelled to be attractive, they are very rarely sexualised in the same manner as their female counterparts. Men almost never star in soft-focus shower scenes or have the camera angle centre on their arse, whilst such treatment of women in games is rife. It is very much one of those double standards you despise.

@Aimless Are you blind not to notice the sheer masses of stereotypically manly war hero characters with bald hair and a three day beards in video games these days?

^ You mean that stereotype that MALE gamers find most appealing? Who actively protest if it’s changed (read up on what went down when Cole from infamous was given a new hairdo)?

Well, I don’t find it appealing. But you don’t see me writing terrible articles on video game websites about it and trying to start some kind of boycott or whatever the author of this piece of sh* is trying to accomplish.

@129 I’m not sure why you’re questioning my vision when your comment only acts to support my point.

Thanks?

I’d really really really like to see what Pat thinks about the Comic book industry.

An Industry looked down upon by most of the public at large, an industry that can produce highly affecting works of art like Palestine but is also filled with sex, and sexism. Much like gaming then, no?

Being serious for just a short second what exactly is wrong with video games being seen in the same light as comic books, what difference does it make other than making it more socially acceptable? So you want an entire industry to change just to make it easier to tell people what you are interested in?

There are many sexist games, there are many many games that are not sexist in the slightest, oh look just like comic books.

I guess its not cool to admit that you like something thats seen as “sad” or “nerdy”.

Personally I think this is the sort of “issue” you take up when you get bored enough. Once society is fixed, once everybody’s allowed to vote, once everybody’s earning a decent wage, kids are going to school, and you just need one more thing to bitch about, this is the sort of thing you go to.

Men and women have been depicted sexually in art since cave paintings, it’s literally the biggest non-issue I could possibly imagine. In Greek art the exact same focus was applied to men. No one has ever had a problem with that.

It would make sense if it was actually a huge burden to women everywhere that they’re sexy and wanted and idealized, but in reality it’s as much of an advantage as it is the opposite. It’s just a human condition, older than time itself.

If we were actually to start forcing women to dress a certain way, or forcing them to do anything else against their will, that would be a problem. Alas, we’ve done nothing but move further and further away from that sort of society. Women are free, and I can’t think of any I know who suffer for their sex.

Although I know some who’d love that to be the case, so they have a cause to dedicate themselves to, in a society that really doesn’t leave a lot to be desired.

I agree entirely. While we’re at it, we need to down play the sexualization of male characters. Everywhere I go it’s physically fit and handsome men; I am tired of it. Video games, movies, books, EVERYWHERE! Stop seeing us as objects women!

Pretty stupid when you look at it. People like looking at attractive things, it’s how nature works. You can’t get mad when humans are humans.

Well said DSB.

I think that in some games sexism has to be there.
If you create a game that takes place in the 1600th century, and you wanted the game to stay somewhat true to history. It wouldn’t make much sense if the women had as many rights as the men did. This isn’t something that should go away completely, but should be used when necessary.

Really don’t want to live in a society where girls buy guys flowers..

I’ve never read so much ill-thought, defensive bullshit…

That’s my opinion on some of the comments anyhoo

Im a female, and while I do agree there is an over abundance of female being submissive and sexual in nature, I do not disagree with its usage. We are talking about fantasy, there are plenty of games, books, movies, and other media that have these types of characters however, there a many strong and dominant female characters as well.

Samus Aran Metriod – games
Balsa Moribito Series – books
Sigourney Weaver Alien Series – movies
Hilda Outlaw Star – Anime
Motoko Kusanagi Ghost in the Shell- OVA
Lenneth, Hrist, Silmera Valkyrie Profile – game

Need I go on?

What is lacking is the use of males as being explicitly sexual in nature and content in the video game industry in America, but we do see a lot of it in the the manga industry, for instance shounen ai, ecchi, and yaoi. Thank you Japan. *Salutes there ingenuity* And a bit of it in the Japanese gaming industry.

Companies such as TriAce and Konami have done a great job with making male character attractive, sexy, sensitive, or thouught-ful, things you dont normally see in males in American video games.

For instance:
Valkyrie Profile series: Lawfer, Lucian, Loki, Janus, Llewellyn, Lezard Valeth, Rufus, Gabriel Celeste
Star Ocean series: Feyt, Abel Knox
Castlvania series: Alcurd, Malus, Trevor Belmont, Leon Belmont, Simon Belmont, Issac, Hector, Dracula – He almost always handsome in these series

There are even a few scenes in video games that are purely for the the fan girls of video games: Ie Issac kisses Simon in Castlevania Curse of Darkness, Lezard Valeth being all gushy when he get his hands on Lenneth

I would like to see a video games that catered towards women’s taste in men, like the Eroge genre but without the sex, building a relationship with a male character in a game. I think there is a huge market just waiting to be tapped we just dont see it as clearly. A gaming genre that’s about developing relationships while you adventure through the game.

@140, You my friend are one sick pervert -_-

@OrbitMonkey, that may be so, but Im a horny female, and and if I have to play games that have scantly clad women in them, I say bring on the scantly clad men!
And can you honestly say you’ve never been attracted to a female in a video game?! Why wouldn’t I be attracted to sexy male? Its natural to me.

@142
Scantly clad males?

That been around since the SNES.

-MK
-SF
-God of War
-Prince of Persia
-Mass Effect
-devil may Cry

all have its fair share of female but you play as a half naked male, while some females have skimpy clothing.

@ammoplus read post 140, understood but shouldn’t be that much of a stretch to reverse the roles of how males and females are perceived in video games. Just as there are male nanny’s, nurses,or dancers in real life why not have games that put a sensitive light on men. Besides in the past men would play female roles in theatres and even kissed in those scenes. And obviously people play video game genres they are interested in so nothing says you have buy into my concepts its just a suggestion for female takers and game designers.

Patrick, good article however I think you’ve misinterpreted the trailer for Kara. It was meant to showcase quantic dreams new hardware. I actually felt emotion for the AI Kara in this scene. As for the writer David Cage I don’t much about him so I can’t form an opinion on how he views female roles, but as a gamer I was astounded by the amount of realism and emotion from watching the trailer. However I do think it would have been a more appropriate choice to have not to chosen a female model for this scene, because it did in way come off as making women seem submissive and diminutive. But I believe this scene was about artificial intelligence and how society can mass produce a companion but society itself has failed to acknowledge the sentient life form of the robot itself. Thus showing society’s lack of compassion and understanding. I have a question for you, would you have placed this trailer in your article if it was a male AI? Would you have said this scene was sexist towards males? it is true that society is or rather media is sexualizing women (forgive my incorrect grammar).

@145, I disagree with the first 3 words of your post. This article would be good if it was well thought out, planned, and prepared. It’s obvious from the fact that it has been unanimously refuted by everyone (I saw links to this article on 4 other VG news sites). The problem with people who complain about the over sexualization of women in games, is that they all say the same things. They refer to the same games, the same characters, the same plots. Yet none of them provide any new information to the argument, despite the fact that 99% of the population finds their argument to be garbage. I can think of a few ways to get people to stop complaining about sexism in video games:
(1) just remove breasts entirely. Or just have no female characters. Then they can get mad about how there are no female characters instead. (2)we can also go the community route, and just make every single character in every video game from here on out into an androgynous, multi-racial, hairless, creature thing.
(3) Probably the best option, but a bit time consuming. At the beginning of every game, before the players can start the game itself, they have to single-handedly create the appearance for every pc and npc in their game universe.

@pottejd, I see your point, I posted my own opinion comment 140, that’s where I stand with this whole issue.

Im all for censorship too, as long as the guns, knives, swords, guns and gore is still clearly visible of course…

Anyone would think this article was about removing the internet, rather than a critique on sexism.

@pottejd

“(1) just remove breasts entirely. Or just have no female characters. Then they can get mad about how there are no female characters instead.”

What you have just stated is objectifying and sexist in itself. Breasts are merely and have always been a natural and beautiful part of the human body; mammary glands. How are breasts to blame? All we have to blame is ourselves for perverting their primal image, and what we claim to be “sexualisation” in this area is just our immature inability to accept that being attracted to the human body is a natural thing.

Sexualisation is when a character is portrayed as nothing more than a sexual object, not merely endowing them with a conventionally attractive body. For f**ks sake.