Do Cultural Differences Justify The Portrayal Of Female Game Characters?

Are Japan's cultural norms a good enough excuse to justify the overtly sexualized portrayal of female characters in video games?

[chadwarden]

i likes boobiez

[DivineAssault]

ya me too.. Thats the only reason i clicked on the link but i was saddened by the poor quality of the one picture in there

[Bimkoblerutso]

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why developers put them in games.

[Lucretia]

I love boobs.

but it confuses me how parents think its cool to shoot off someones head in a game but its not cool to see bouncing boobs.

[ziggurcat]

oh god not another garbage, "videogames are sexist" article...

[Flavor]

Yup, its more White knighting, in all its clumsy, sexually frustrated glory.

Sex sells, get over it.

[Kureno_Nakamura]

Feminists/White Knights pls go

[Moerdigan]

Fight the good fight Japan. don't become PC.

[ShinraE5]

Yes, it does.

Its their culture. Its their game. And its their right to make the characters however they want to.

If you want something different, go buy it.

If you want this, buy it.

[telekineticmantis]

but, blame the culture, more than the people who were raised in it.

[ronin4life]

either your wording is bad, or you are judging an entire different culture as if all cultures should conform to the one standard you believe in...

[telekineticmantis]

pretty much. Some cultures do somethings better than other cultures. Any culture that practices a philosophy that supports oppression, objectification, and profiling of those they deem inferior, deserves a punishment that fits that crime.

[jc48573]

interesting enough, we were just talking about feminism in my history class this morning.

[SageHonor]

Developers can do what they want with their characters. I like boobs but i think its silly to oversize them or place heavy emphasis on them.

[BuffMordecai]

I wonder why game journalists are so bitch whipped all of a sudden? Its starting to get absurd.

[Nexgensensation]

Games will never change therefor games will never out do movies. Games will always be advertised towards kids.....

I like my women real

[3-4-5]

If this really "bothers" / "offends " people , then they are spending way to much time thinking about a game instead of playing it.

and if it doesn't interest them , they should just walk away and continue carrying on their lives as if it doesn't exist.

Why do people , when "offended " act like it somehow grants them power or authority to tell other people how to live their lives or what to do.

Just because .00000001 % of people are loud and vocal about it doesn't mean we need to pay attention to them.

That is all they want. Attention.

[catch]

Yeah it's funny how people who are bothered by something want their opinion to be heard like it matters. Take this comment section for example.

[Hicken]

"While it can’t be argued that the general portrayal of female game characters isn’t doing women gamers (or women in general) any favors..."

Let's be real here: women have bodies, and men desire them. Games with female characters who are appealing to the eye are playing on a base desire of men. Real-life women do the same thing on a daily basis, and neither they nor the men they entice complain.

So why all the drama from people that aren't even affected?

[ronin4life]

The west just needs to lighten up, and except that there are many different people in the world.

The alternative is one group asking another culture and country to change for their own agenda... you know, like the Nazi's liked to do.

[tiffac008]

The majority of female characters in gaming are personally strong. So to only point out their design does not give them any justice at all.

[madjedi]

You notice you never see any articles, complaining about how unrealisticly good looking or attractively fit men are in video games.

Where were the articles condemning god of war, for kratos running around in a loincloth, or articles in general complaining about how the men are portrayed in a unrealistic idealized manner.

Right you picked 1 of 2 series known for it oversexualized females, then tried to blame the entire culture as believing that. Like the character art style team ninja uses is the only one that japanese developers use. -_-

Stupid article, one your cherry picking your example, and two it is a completely different culture than the us/western cultures.

Btw the original ass kicking female in gaming, samus aran was created by a japanese developer. So stop looking into this subject so deeply, as though it is truly reflective of the views or beliefs of millions of people.

We have female feminists, male feminists, pc thugs and social activists all trying to push their own specific agenda on n4g. Why don't you people discuss something relevant to gaming like the elimination of loading screens, next gen. Better ai, physics, user generated content ect.

Might make you remember why, you got into gaming in the first place to play games and have fun. If it shuts up the preachers so much the better.

[Knushwood Butt]

Yah, I've only ever seen women in skimpy costumes in Japanese games /s