do women get a bum deal in videogames?

[Danny]

im copy and pasting this in all my regular forum haunts so i can get some info for my coursework. everyone knows some developers will uses a woman with large breasts and little to no clothing to try and sell a game, but im asking any guy gamers if they think its necessary and any female gamers if they think guy gamers aent pulled in by this. and though there are games characters like alyx from hl2 ,the protagonist of beyond good and evil whos name escape me and alex (another one?) from eternal darkness, on the whole we know lots of games use the "sex sells" angle, but is it right?, will games ever be accepted as a major form of media with cliches like this?

[MinionZombie]

If you can have attractive women in movies and TV, why not videogames? Videogames are reaching the heights of the film industry now after all. What's wrong with DOA Beach Volley Ball? It's playing towards a particular market that does exist - so men like to look at boobs and women in skimpy bikinis, big deal, it isn't new and it doesn't mean that guys are evil sex robots hellbent on perving for the rest of their lives. What's wrong with being attracted to the female form in a videogame? They're just as real (or fake) as the women you see in FHM, Playboy or in movies. DOA Beach Volleyball is basically all about fit girls jumping around, but it's a rare case when you think about it. Good looking female characters in videogames is perfectly fine - look at the vast majority of male characters in videogames - muscles, good looks - not a beer gut in sight. On one hand it's Duke Nukem, on the other hand it's Lara Croft. On one hand its Sam Fisher, on the other its Alyx Vance. I don't see a problem with it, it's daft to just pick it out as a "problem" in just videogames, because if you're the sort of person to find fault with fit women in videogames, then surely you're the sort of person that complains about FHM and Jessica Alba's movies - and that's not exactly a balanced opinion. Likewise, if you're whinging about virtual babes, but not Playboy or teen-marketed films then it's a hypocritical stance. Of course it's right to have super hot (or just attractive - Alyx Vance is pretty "normal" in comparison to the bizarre measurements attributed to Lara Croft) women in videogames. It's just a part of videogame culture, just the same as muscled up action men are a part of videogame culture.

[Danny]

jessica alba?, pretty random choice there

[_liam_]

the videogames industry has actually surpassed the film industry (or at least the cinema industry) in terms of revenue and advertising sales, believe it or not... but i think the video game creation & marketing system is still pretty young, and the target audience is still largely composed of young white males, and as such if there's a woman in a videogame, chances are it'll be a big titted bimbo or an example of the razorgirl archetype, or a combination of the two. with some exceptions, of course...

[MinionZombie]

Not really... Sin City: Alba girates in skimpy cowgirl outfit, then walks around in tight white shirt showing off her crackin' boobs. Fantastic Four: Alba gets her kit off to turn invisible but hasn't got the hang of it, hence exposing her bodacious bod to the horny chaps in the audience (three of which were me and two of my mates at the cinema ). Into The Blue: Alba wears a mis-matched bikini and gets wet ... a lot. They even censored her bikini bottoms (painted in new ones) for the trailer as they showed off too much of her ass. See ... I make sense.

[Danny]

thats is officially your greasiest post in this forum

[_liam_]

alba is a bit too babyfaced for my taste, but what a body into the blue, or "that movie where she swims about a lot" is one of those things dvds were invented for...

[MinionZombie]

I ain't seen ITB yet ... but I must get around to it someday. And initially I read "greatest" ... rather than "greasiest"......I'll stick with the first.

[Eyebiter]

For many years the perception was that women don't play video games. Thus the market favored games that appealed to the teenage male audience. Now that more games are being made that appeal to women (the Sims or MMO's for example) we are beginning to see more female gamers.

[Danny]

such as?....think about it.

[capncnut]

I remember a time when it was hard to find a female who played videogames. Now, I have to say, I know just as many female gamers as I do male. Damn, even my cousin Vicki completed Oblivion before I did and she started it two weeks after me!

[_liam_]

hmm, there are a lot more, but i'd say it's still far from an equal ratio...