Everybody would do well to remember that while it may TECHNICALLY be “civilized”, making back-handed, sarcastic, and condescending comments with an air of moral superiority isn’t any more “mature”.
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This is an interesting point but not at all the one I was making. @TaliaParks is correct that there are, in fact, a lot of words that end in ‘ism’ that aren’t much like the small cluster I mentioned–athiesm, as you say, or spiritualism.
But sexism is about power–it’s about distributing rights and obligations according to gender, with women getting the shorter end of the stick.
Individuals can be sexist but when we want to talk about individuals acting outside, or in conflict with, the broad cultural context we use different words. A man who hates women is a misogynist. A woman who hates men is a misandrist.
A woman can be sexist only insofar as she internalizes sexism, the same set of rules and beliefs that disadvantages her. A woman can’t be ‘sexist against men’. If she hates men or has a strong bias against them, that would be ‘misandry’. (Not that I’ve ever encountered this in life.)
Yeah, the biggest cinematic moneymakers over the past decade have been pretty female driven–the Twilight series was based on a book by a woman with a female lead, the Hunger Games ditto. Harry Potter was written by a woman and attracted mixed audiences.
One notable feature of the Marvel movies is that they attract more female moviegoers than, say, the WB properties do.
With so many, many millions of dollars in the bank it’s really strange that anyone still tries to argue that women, as a market, aren’t profitable.
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I hope the discussion continues to carry on always, especially for the fine females and gentlemen of the forums, but for the love of moses please leave the precious cat gifs out of it.
I didn’t mean in here. As far as I’m concerned, he can pipe those memes straight to /dev/null.
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Im rising above it 
Except you wolf. You can expect another pm like yesterdays 
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I have a lot to say on this topic in general - but I’d like to frame my comments very specifically.
The culprit here is the mis-application of market segmentation.
“Market Segmentation” is an advertising concept - you break customers into pieces, so you can target ads to each segment more specifically. “This product is good for everyone!” is less specific to me, and less compelling than “This product is good for game designers who wear glasses and ride a bicycle!”
Market segmentation has been very useful for advertising agencies - because it allows them to demonstrate when ads are more or less effective. Not that it does NOT make ads more or less effective - it simply allows us to track them better. Which gets to the same idea through a different path.
Putting sexy female art into a game is part of pushing that game into the “male 18-34” market segment. The presence of that sort of art makes men in that bracket think “Oh, this game is made for me!” - this isn’t because men necessarily like/don’t like the art - we’ve been trained to identify that sort of art with things designed for us.
But the problem is that EVERYONE ELSE has the inverse reaction. We have been taught that things identified with a specific market segment are meant to be flags that a certain product is NOT for any other segment. This is very deep-rooted social identity stuff - we’re not generally aware of it.
So my problem with putting sexy women into games is that it drives women away from the game in a subtle way. Not because they don’t like the art - or don’t think it looks good. But because it triggers a subconscious social trigger that they aren’t supposed to be playing a game that includes sexy fantasy women.
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But every game with female character are sexy as exemple lara croft in tomb raider or any female in final fantasy franchise, even princess peach from mario bros… this is what is selling the most i mean i don’t remember any game with a “normal” female character
That’s because for a long period of time, and still might be the case, males spent the most money in/on games. Also I believe there are still a lot more male developers than female. I think that’s changing, but not fast enough. If the stats and market tells you your target spender is male, then you’re going to cater to males. If you want to make money. It’s not all black and white as that, but that’s the gist. Other than that, maybe they set out to make a bad-ass female character that other females could be proud of playing as. I know as a male, our heroes in most games has been muscle-bound and it’s fun to play as them regardless if that’s how you look in real life or not.
Until such time as Mercy starts doing her Meg Ryan impression every time an opposing troop dies, there is no sexuality in GoW.
As a straight 51 yo female I just roll my eyes at most of the female characters in games. I find the overly muscular males comical and definitely not sexy.
In GOW I don’t see the females as overblown.
Lady Anariels breasts are just so bizarre. Seriously wth happened to her? Breasts on Shadow Hunter is kinda freaky to think about. A cat with a pair on her chest? The priestess has such a masculine face it took a minute to realize it’s a she. As for Mercy I think ‘go get em girl!’ when I see her.
The only character that I would think of as sexualized is Nymph. Her pose and expression is definitely suggesting she’s having a real good moment. She’s the only one I would modify.
I think GOW is actually pretty tame.
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NORMAL women aren’t. Unless you’re trying to suggest that actresses like Kristen Stewart or Jennifer Lawrence represent “everywoman”.
Let’s face it a woman like that dressed in spandex from head to toe leaves as much to the imagination as any stylized artwork in this game.
She means females have disposable income to spend too, and it is possible to draw profits from us too if we’re not turned away by the window dressing.
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Kristen Stewart & Jennifer Lawrence are gorgeous. They are also, by necessity, stuck in real human bodies with real human proportions. Most of the really pinupy GOW cards don’t even come close to meeting that standard.
I’m not sure what your point is, here? I thought you were making an argument about ‘is making stuff for women profitable’ but now it seems like you’re veering toward, I guess, ‘ugly people tank profits so fast, man, you have no idea’.
I guess I’m lucky in that I’ve never had to address that topic before & I’m not going to now. Not with a ten foot pole.
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Thank you! Her breasts are weird, they look like falsies from a costume shop. They don’t attach believably to her body and it bugs me.
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The point is that sex sells. Bottom line.
It wouldn’t be literally everywhere if it wasn’t. You’re trying to suggest that game designers should cater to their female consumers by reducing sexual innuendo in their presentation.
In reality pretty much all media suggests there’s no market for it. You basically validated my point by reinforcing the fact that the two women mentioned are gorgeous. Those roles would never be filled by Melissa McCarthy or Leslie Jones.
In all seriousness it’s probably best to stop this argument now. I have zero tolerance for misogyny of any kind. I also have zero tolerance for hypocrisy. Feminists are on shaky moral ground when they’re attacking gaming companIes with their mouths while propping up “strong women” like Rihanna with their pocketbooks.
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Sure they do. That’s why 50 Shades of Gray was so popular.
A nymph is an ancient mythological creature that used sexuality to lure men to their death. She was a baited trap and men were her prey. Same with a succubus. Someone mentioned earlier they couldn’t wait for an incubus. They used to rape women in their sleep, and we’re invisible.
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Looking closer it seems her dress (?) is binding them on the sides and making them pooch and squeeze oddly. Lol
You are free to drop the subject if you like, but others may continue in your absence. Also, how much tolerance you have for hypocrisy is of no consequence to this discussion.
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