objectification of women in video games
Since I largely quit playing new games around 2007 or so, I don't know if this trend ever stopped but I think it's a worthwhile discussion. I personally don't like seeing idiotic needless displays of women in every racing game or fighting game I play. Of course, context is key here. Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball had lots of scantily clad beautiful women. But... they're on a beach, in hot temperatures, and they're athletes. It makes sense.
However, a game like Cruisn' USA where a random trophy girl pops out of nowhere when you win the race? Come on, that's just stupid. Even though racing is a male dominated genre/sport, the game assumes that there aren't prepubescent boys, homosexual men, or heterosexual women playing this game. Same goes for Off Road Challenge where a sexy blonde randomly stands there while you pick upgrades for your truck. Not sure what she has to do with aftermarket truck parts. Is she an ASE certified mechanic? Does she own the parts distribution warehouse where I am buying these parts? Something just doesn't add up there.
And of course going back to my comment about context... again- sometimes it makes sense. Posters of Japanese swimsuit models in Metal Gear Solid 2. Well yeah, you're on a Russian vessel filled with soldiers, virtually all of whom would be hetero men. It makes sense.
There's a fishing game on the Xbox with a woman on the cover in a bikini. What does that have to do with fishing? I've been fishing many times in my life, I've never seen any swimsuit models wearing bikinis as they're reeling in a bass. And again that is a very male dominated sport so I am not sure how the cover makes any sense.
I can give the female characters in Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat a pass because there are half naked men in those games as well, but clearly the animations were meant to appeal to a 13 year old boy discovering masturbation for the first time.
Leisure Suit Larry is a game with attractive bimbos. I'm fine with it. The game centers around a horny desperate guy trying to score. It makes sense. So yes, in the context of that game, it's fine.
This is the same thing we see with Hooters, Tilted Kilt, and other similar restaurants. Because really, when you're hungry, isn't the first thing you think of "damn I really wish I could stare at some waitress's rack right now!!"?
Who are these products and establishments even catering toward? If someone wants to see a naked woman, they can go on Google and see it in five seconds. If they need to see it in person, they can go to a strip club. I am just trying to get into the mind of someone who needs to have women dressed in tight revealing clothing everywhere they go.
And I'm still waiting for the male version of Hooter's. I'm assuming that doesn't exist because women can get laid at any moment, whereas an average schmoe can only be aeound it when he's paying for it? What would that restaurant be called? "Pecker's?" Damn that's a million dollar idea. In this age of women's rights, I think it'd be a runaway success.
Anyways, what are your thoughts? Do you play these games with your 10 year old son? Would you let your daughter watch you play them?
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Alianger
. I don't keep up with the "hot topics" of the moment. I don't care about peoples' skin color when I play a game. To me, that is a false equivalency. Unless it's something like a football game where every single player depicted is caucasian. That wouldnt even make sense, considering the racial makeup of the actual NFL. I dont notice any unrealistic racial depictions in video games like I do with half naked women being depicted
