4 Video Game Characters Clearly Designed By Teenageboys

Until recent years, the video game industry has been marketed mainly to men. Even now, gaming companies seem to prefer pandering to the male demographic. I’m not here to argue the finer points of sexism in the industry. The last debate I took part in ended with an attempt to gnaw my own arm, and hitting the bone before realizing I wasn’t literally trapped in the youtube comments section. I am not that deep a thinker is what I’m trying to say. Still, I do enjoy mocking the testosterone-drenched fantasies my fellow men love to concoct. So join me and behold some of the most bizarre softcore porn the gaming world has to offer.

[IcyEyes]

It's awesome how much useless is this "article".

[Anthotis]

4 video game characters that upset women and feminists because despite being virtual reality, they are infinitely more attractive than said women and feminists.

[ShaunCameron]

In other words, they're lashing out outta envy and insecurity. And the article is just merely pandering to such crowd.

[CrossingEden]

Idk how many actual feminists you know in real life, but the ones I talk to are definitely more attractive than these virtual characters.
http://a6.idata.over-blog.c...
http://images.eurogamer.net...
Probably because my friends tend to dress like normal people and don't have the personality of a plank of wood

[DragonKnight]

@CrossingEden: Pics or GTFO?

Anyway, it's been my experience that most feminists have the intellectual capacity of driftwood, and the self-esteem to match, so that's why they get insecure about fictional women.

A person secure in their own selves and their own appearance has no time, nor need, to insult character design because they don't gauge their self-worth off of fictional things.

Feminists are more anti-femininity than anyone else.

[Yi-Long]

Feminists: I'd rather see my kids looking at sexy healthy women, fictional or otherwise, as 'rolemodels', instead of looking at bitter insecure women who have to put down sexy people in order to feel better about themselves.

Nothing wrong with being hot and sexy. also nothing wrong with being unattractive or not sexy.

Everyone has to make that decision for themselves. Not for others.

[Baka-akaB]

Ironically , those are the same kind of people that used to advocate that women have the right to look and dress sexy , without being equated to an easy prey for male or even quite blunty "hoes" .

I happen to agree with that sentiment , and yet obviously virtual characters doing the same rub them the wrong way .

I guess it's only ok for Beyonce to be "fierce and an independant woman" , not Lara Croft /s

[mabreu]

As I got older, I see how much has changed in the video gaming industry with it's view towards the female gender. It's kind of getting better but has a long way to go.

I say, don't complain about unrealistic female characters with huge boobs wearing skimpy outfits. Why? Because it's "unrealistic." It's fantasy and borderline cartoonish. Same applies to male characters with beefy muscles.

On the flip side, if you want realism in games, developers and artist need to be careful how they approach females in their games. This is why people are highly impressed by games like The Last of Us. These games not only make their characters look real but make them believable also.

[UnholyLight]

Also, maybe this is just an excuse to develop a character that looks like Cortana BUT....The AI in Halo supposedly model their appearance based on what they want people to perceive. It's explained in the books and probably somewhere in the games.

[MuhammadJA]

You're probably a teenage boy. Can't blame you.

[Jeedai Infidel]

IcyEyes, the way you worded that reminds me of this interaction from Cheech and Chong's Up In Smoke:

Sergeant Stedenko: "Radio dispatch, do you know who this is?"

Pedro De Pacas: "No. Who is this is?"

Also, I always expect Voodoo Glow Skulls to start playing when I hear those lines. (Hmm... I may be living in the past.)

Also (part 2), I'm in no way making fun or trying to be the grammar police.

[HappyWithOneBubble]

Slow news day for gametac

[Deep-throat]

Video Game Characters That Were Clearly Designed ****FOR**** Teenage Boys.

[MNGamer-N]

Dead or alive - dang those nips are nearly tearing though her shirt! Daddy like.

[Bathyj]

I resent the notion that only teenaged boys are horny.

[Hicken]

It's pointless. Then they'd just say you had the maturity of a teenage boy.

Or that you were sexist.

Or some other crappy excuse for why a grown man can't have designed a sexy female character for a game without being morally degenerate.

[Bimkoblerutso]

I think the point is that "adults" do not require sexuality to be sold to them at the cost of all context or pretense.

I like ogling women too, but I also like playing a game that doesn't make me feel like developers adjusted their vision because they thought a pair of virtual boobies would sell a couple of extra copies.

[frostypants]

Don't bother, man. You're talking over the head of the average N4G demographic.

[DragonKnight]

And what if the developers DIDN'T adjust their vision, and just through those "virtual boobies" in there just because?

The fact that boobs in a game is a problem for anyone is frickin' sad. You're supposed to be playing a game, not critiquing fictional bodies and complaining about their existence in said game.

Now, if it was a game like Heavy Rain where it's more of an interactive drama, then sure you might have something to complain about because you have to sit through something. But a game is a game. It's meant to be played. While you're sitting there wasting time thinking down about the developer, you're not doing what you should be doing which is playing and enjoying the game.

That is one aspect of the "are games art" question I will always detest. People will always say that games are art just so they can have a reason to b*tch about inconsequential minutia like character design and the impact it has on the world.

Games are no longer games I guess. Fiction is real too I suppose.

[Baka-akaB]

"Adults" dont get distracted by sheer nudity and T&A exposure in many movies and dramas , a mostly visual and exposition based medium . Why act as if we do as "horny teenagers" , in another medium that require your focus in interactions ith mechanics or objects primarily ?

Anyway that kind of thinking seems moot and obtus , to me . How often do T&A oriented games lead any sale charts , with that sole quality ? Looking back every years , we can barely find leading games focusing on those aspects , except GTA or Tomb Raider . And the term "focus" is highly debatable . Everyone agree that while some titilation and charm was there , those games sold well on their gameplay , concepts and realisation alone ... not a Cup size .

It's "feminists" and their "allies" that often summon a bigger and more grandiose importance to those designs and details , than they warrant ... even atributing them a far greater power and reach .

[rainslacker]

And yet every game listed on this list is considered great gaming. Shame they altered their vision for a little T&A.

If you're that put off by it, then it sounds like a personal problem. Most of these things are simply common perceptions of what is sexy and attractive, which is probably what the designers were going for more than anything. Most games that primarily focus on such things over game play don't do as well as one would think.

[Bimkoblerutso]

You all misunderstand my meaning. I don't mind sex and eroticism in games AT ALL if it feels like it fits the context of the game.

Heavy Rain, for example, presented nudity and sexuality that did not feel out of place in it's narrative ark. A game like Catherine is overtly sexual because it's context CALLS FOR IT. Even a game like Lollipop Chainsaw is presented as a kind of parody of the very content we are arguing over. All of that is fine.

Even pornography, to me, is nobler than a lot of these games for the simple fact that it knows what it is and what it is trying to achieve. Many game developers just seem to still be operating under the "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" mentality of design and it irks me when the community defends that behavior on the grounds that "we all get horny sometimes."

[UNKLE]

Like it or not there is some right thing in this article... Cortana,and DOA.

[DragonKnight]

There is no right in this article. All you have to do is look at the character designers of the game, see their age, and understand that they aren't teenage boys. Done.

Also, there are plenty of female artists that design characters like this, and no it's not because the Patriarchy forces them too it's because they want to.

I also guess that all female cosplayers that enjoy being half-naked are teenage boys too right? They can't be women proud of the work they put into their costumes and into exercising to look good. No, they're teenage boys, of course.

[JusticeSoulTuna]

Exactly. People have this STUPID assumption that sexy characters are only for horny teen boys, when women design, voice actor, appreciate AND enjoy these characters. This stupid sexism in games debate, based on just sexy characters alone, is so annoying. They act like all women are offended by it, which is dumb.

[Studio-YaMi]

I swear some people are just so dense in their head that they can't figure out something as simple as art direction or different cultures!

As if naughtiness or sexuality is a new thing to them! :|

As you said,a simple search would show how old the original artist and designers or these female characters & as you also said,even women artist drew these kind of sexualized/naughty designs.

[rainslacker]

Go to an anime convention sometime. Walk up to the female artist(usually under the age of 25) that rent tables and look at their art. Much of it is much more racy and provocative than any of these characters.

[speedforce131]

These characters were designed for men by men. You make a fantasy world and you're going to put stuff in it from your fantasy. There's always going to be a creation bias.

Back in the day, we didn't have a lot of women wanting to become game designers/producers, etc and a lot of this stuff was seen as "nerdy" therefore naturally a lot of guys did all the designing and creating and this is what they came up with. Can't blame em one bit.

[ShaunCameron]

Exactly. Isn't it amusing that the people crying about how biased the industry supposedly is were the same people who wanted nothing to do with it back then dismissing the men who put the time and effort into building and maintaining it as "nerdy" and "losers," but now that it's cool to get involved in it, they're being dismissed as biased and unfair?

[Aleithian]

Well said by both of you. This has nothing to do with "equality." It's simply a case of "I want to play with your ball, and I want you to want to play with me, my way."

[DragonKnight]

@speedforce131: Not to mention that a lot of women who are artists design characters like these themselves. And why not? Games are supposed to be escapism, not reality. A girl wearing nothing but a breastplate and a thong couldn't take a Claymore to the gut in real life, but thankfully games aren't real life now are they? Else no one would have any fun because one injury and you'd be done.

But no, feminists and the white knights that protect them demand all female characters be 5'4" androgynous husks with a B cup and a tank for armor because you're not supposed to know if you're playing as a female or a male character.

[DMAgony]

That is a fallacy. There was never a point where marketing was split evenly between men and women. Of course women weren't interested in tech fields early on...have you seen some of the ads used back in the 70's and 80's?

It is clear from early on that tech was marketed exclusively to men and the defense that "women weren't interested, that's why there is only men." is not accurate.

[cyguration]

But what about in the 90s when women were heavily influencing the design field? It wasn't like they weren't making games during this time, they were.

The bubble in which they made those games croked, though. The adventure game genre faded after many series (many of which were designed or made by women) failed.

If you do your history, there were quite a few famous female designers back in the day. However, there was a shift in gaming, so titles designed in a certain way (mostly shooters and action titles) became popular and were the ones that started making more money. Sierra tanked, Apogee tanked, Epic Games shifted focus into the first iteration of the Unreal Engine and away from games publishing (yes, they helped publish games back then) and EA became more sports focused.

Of course men were the majority but let's not pretend that there were no women in the field or games made to appeal to the female audience.

[Baka-akaB]

True , , ironically , i used to remember and know far more famous ladies working in games back in the 90s , than currently .

Three of the top 5 names i keep hearing about those days are Corinne Yu , Jade Raymond , Olivia Munn(the fourth and 5th still being Amy Henning and Rihanna Pratchett) . And of those three , one was just an actress/slash co host in a gaming show , and the two other while extremely competent get mostly brought up for their "hotness despite working in videogames OMG" .

And that kind of focus isnt even solely coming from men and teenage boys , even if primarily of course .

I remember an era , with Roberta Williams who not only constantly fuelled the adventure games genre , but co-founded Sierra (sadly digested by Activision later on) , a force to reckon with .

Or Brenda Brathwaite , Carol Shaw , Sherry McKenna (even if in association with Lorne Lanning)and of course again Amy henning .

Of course i wont pretend there were more females designers , creators and workers , in the field . Not my claim , but those gals werent brought up in silly articles or PR fluff for being "sexy despite working in videogames" or being models vaguely circling around the field

[Moncole]

I find I sexist how they make a character like Drax without a shirt or Franky a pervert only wearing a hawaiian shirt and a speedo. They also almost always make fictional male characters good looking with a good bodies when the average joe will never be like that

[Aleithian]

You get it. Bubbles for you.

[Hux]

Only managed four? I think Matthew Smith was only 17 when he made Jet Set Willy, does that count?

[Gh05t]

Nothing here that hasn't been said before by the many other women/men who feel the need to pick video games as a target of sexism by saying these rules only apply when I feel discriminated against in spite of equality, reality, and artistic freedom.

Time to stop bringing your emotional baggage to every arguement. Please for the love of everything that is holy; if you say you're not a deep thinker stop trying to come up with deep articles they end up being as shallow as you are.

[Aleithian]

Bubbles for wisdom.

[cyguration]

Bubbles for intelligence.

[Are_The_MaDNess]

meh, used to Anime with the ecchi stuff in it. Sexuality and such skimpy things dont even bother me anymore.

dont mind more of it tho TBH...... i guess i have enough of that in skyrim tho XD

[bednet]

Well, sex sells and that's a fact.

[TH3BR3W]

In the good words of psychostick "Because... boobs".

[SilentNegotiator]

The creation of Cortana:

"Gentlemen, we've just created the greatest AI technology of our time. What is our next move?"
"Let's make it a busty woman wearing some sort of revealing stripes"
[everyone stares]
".....OF COURSE!"
[cheering]

[SolarisLTP]

An attempt to sell adspace

[inf3cted1]

Does this guy know how to stretch images properly?

[Kal853]

I'm not ashamed to admit I love Cammy.

[MicDude]

Me too lol.

[JasonKCK]

"4 Video Game Characters Clearly Designed By Teenageboys"

There is a difference between "by" and "for".

[Mister_Dawg]

Not created by teenage boys but created for teenage boys.

Get it right.

[Aleithian]

Because female beauty is clearly

(a) something to be hidden, rather than revealed and celebrated,

(b) sexist,

(c) immature.

[ShowGun901]

why cant they understand, its not the female characters, its ALL the characters (that youre supposed to like anyway)... lets look at the male side, shall we?

marcus fenix
nathan drake
all the guys in Street Fighter 4 that didn't have weird body types LOL
all the guys in injustice: gods among us that didn't have weird body types LOL
all the guys in Tekken that didn't have weird body types LOL

the point is that male physiques are exaggerated to the extremes just like females are. its just muscles and crooked smiles instead of hourglass figures and boobs... shocking really, that if you created a bunch of characters for your videogame, you'd like them not to be hideous, unnatractive beasts...

[ShiftyLookingCow]

These censorwads have more in common with nutty puritans than rational people. They are just as bad at distinguishing reality from fantasy as those idiots who want to ban games for violence.

[smashcrashbash]

I know I will get hit hard for saying this but many women kick up a fuss as soon as any woman real or imaginary has a body that is more voluptuous or sexier then theirs.Now before I get a kick between the legs from the feminists remember I said MOST women.There are those who are genuinely bothered by the look for the right reasons or mature enough to understand. I believe if many of the same women looked anything like the ones they hated on I am sure they wouldn't be complaining as much.And the same thing happens with men too of you think about it.The guy who is seen as attractive to the girls gets the most scorn from guys.

[ziggurcat]

1 article that was clearly written by a white knight dimwit.

[ShaunCameron]

And little does he know that feminists don't respect white knights.

[girlwithturn]

#1 Bayonetta
#2 Bayonetta
#3 Bayonetta
#4 Bayonetta

[T3MPL3TON]

But, I'm like 1000% sure Cortana was designed by a woman. (Lorraine McLees) She was after designed to resemble Nefertiti.

Also, I believe I read somewhere that the original concept artist for Laura Croft was a woman.

Also also, I believe I saw a group pic once of the art team for DoA and most of them were women.

[Megulito]

In this thread myopic people who can't understand why and how female caricatures of women are almost always over sexualized and can be offensive. Anyone who disagrees is a white knight or a evil feminist. Then bitch about anything they feel encroaches on some B.S. rights they have I find most of you to be pathetic.

[Fatty]

Cool story, bro.

[Aleithian]

No, I'm pretty sure the most vocal people in this thread are neither myopic nor pathetic.

Rather, the most vocal people are more than likely of the following sort:

1. People who are tired of the social discourse on sex, sexuality, and sexual ethics being dominated by loud and aggressive women who mix truth and power, morality and whim. Women who consistently change the positive message of their "feminism" to suit the historical and dialectical needs of their power struggle (What is it, ladies? Do you want to be women or androgynes? Do you want to be sexual beings, or nonsexualized beings? Do you want to be strong single mother career women, or anything you want? Do you want equality, or matriarchy? Every one of these opposing ideals IS and HAS BEEN advocated by feminists as THE feminism).

2. People who are tired of their gender (typically male, no doubt, but most definitely including women) being demonized, ostracized, and belittled. Tired, in short, of being dehumanized by the Front of Contemporary Feminism (whatever that is on that particular day for that particular person).

3. People who are tired of the demonization and dehumanization of artists, game developers, consumers, and generally anyone who enjoys both portraying and consuming female beauty and physical excellence, for its own sake.

4. People who are tired of the gross double standards applied by the feminist movement, such as: (a) advocating equality on the one hand, while with the other crafting laws and social pressure so as to oppress men; (b) advocating freedom of expression on the one hand, while attacking free expression by those they dislike; (c) advocating the value of femininity on the one hand, while rejecting the uniqueness of femininity and any contrary conception on femininity on the other.

In short, this is not a reactionary "myopic" and "pathetic" pushback from Patriarchy, but a group of men AND women who are saying: ENOUGH! WE have a right to our OWN conceptions of life and ourselves, conceptions that are NOT subject to the power-lust, sentiments, and desires of "feminists" - i.e. one group of men and women who can shout louder and in more "articulate" language than everyone else.

If ANYONE finds such presentations of women unappealing or offensive, utilize your freedom to present alternatives and to present your viewpoint within a rational discourse. Form your own development companies, apply to work within current organizations, boycott that which you don't like. In a word, compete. If you are afraid of competing because "the capitalists" have all the capital, then you sadly mistake the distribution of moral and political views in modern American. Most rich "capitalists" agree with you, so you should have no problem funding your competing enterprises. If these enterprises are unsuccessful, that is because the consumer disagrees with you - but you have no right to have your views or products consumed. Do not, however demonization, insult, dehumanize, or otherwise attack the rest of us. Similarly, do not pick up the gun - you call it "the law" - the deploy force to command us to change our tastes and values.

[yog-sothot]

I don't know who designed these characters, but comments in this thread do at least prove that people on N4G are indeed teenage boys or, much problematic, adults with teenage boys maturity.

[Gh05t]

Yep... Rather than actually present an educated arguement like most people, who didn't just make a joke, start calling people immature.

What mature comment have you made to this discussion? Before you start mouthing off about immature teenage boy/men feel free to actually contribute to the discussiin.

[JusticeSoulTuna]

God forbid women like these characters. God forbid women voice act these characters. God forbid women design, appreciate and cosplay as these characters. Oh wait...

[SirNintend0]

...Candy Kong? Really? I can think of MANY more characters that should have her spot.

[D-riders]

whoever wrote this is an idiot that knows nothing about art. look at history, every painting, sculpture, or piece of art work that is of the body emphasises the fertile parts of the body. look at strong men, womens hips and boobs. your dumb for this article

[contradictory]

oh no! fictional characters that look sexy!
CLEARLY THIS IS THE WORST CRIME IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND!!

pfft...people have too much time on their hands

[JusticeSoulTuna]

I know right "HOW DARE FICITIONAL CHARACTERS BE SEXY. NO REAL WOMEN ARE SEXY". I mean seriously, these people man

[deadfrag]

Horny at 41!Dont tell my wife because she already knows!

[e-p-ayeaH]

facepalm at this article go complain about moe anime while youre at it!

[aLiEnViSiToR]

nice try lol fact is that they were made in the best interest for mankind !!! xD

any way pointless article really...

[Mexxan]

Nowt wrong with a bit a T&A...