Blizzard Reduces Titty in World of Warcraft, but Not Sexism at the Company(kotaku.com.au)
kotaku.com.au
Blizzard Reduces Titty in World of Warcraft, but Not Sexism at the Company
https://www.kotaku.com.au/2021/09/blizzard-reduces-titty-in-world-of-warcraft-but-not-sexism-at-the-company/
9 comments
Blizzard needs to fix their working culture for sure, but I am not sure this reduction of “revealing clothing” or elimination of in-game “boyish” jokes is necessary. There’s nothing wrong with eye candy or crass humor, just as there’s nothing wrong with women showing cleavage or people making risque jokes in real life either. These things are part of what makes the game fun and frankly it caters to their majority audience. I would guess that even if a vocal minority would complain about this stuff, most wouldn’t care. For me, reducing everything to a boring beige that passes purity tests just feels depressing. Additionally, if we really think sexualization in media is a problem, a bigger issue is television and movies featuring attractive people period - whether they’re wearing revealing clothes or not, those casting choices are built to cater to the same human instincts.
I dunno. Speaking as someone whose first Blizzard game was Overwatch, the over-sexualization of women in previous titles felt very blatant and distracting to me.
The fact that basically every major female character got the "armor bikini" treatment feels really weird.
And it's definitely not gender-neutral. Male mage gets monk robes. Female mage gets cape and a bare midriff. Male space marine gets a full-body exoskeleton. Female space marine gets a high-tech swimsuit and boob armor.
The fact that basically every major female character got the "armor bikini" treatment feels really weird.
And it's definitely not gender-neutral. Male mage gets monk robes. Female mage gets cape and a bare midriff. Male space marine gets a full-body exoskeleton. Female space marine gets a high-tech swimsuit and boob armor.
Gender-neutral… and if women on average prefer to dress in more revealing ways, that “neutrality” is not neutral.
I wasn't saying outfits should be gender-neutral.
My point was that GP was implying that sexualization was a gender-neutral problem (eg they were referring to "attractive people", not "attractive women").
It's very much not. Women get sexualized way, way, way more than men in video games, and yes, that's a problem that deserves fixing.
My point was that GP was implying that sexualization was a gender-neutral problem (eg they were referring to "attractive people", not "attractive women").
It's very much not. Women get sexualized way, way, way more than men in video games, and yes, that's a problem that deserves fixing.
And in real life if they choose to be more exposed, what do you call that? My girlfriend hates guys that try and police “sexy”, she finds it ironically misogynist. Her girl friend is a gamer that loves all the scantily clad women, collects figurines and posters etc.
Men just don’t compete as much on physical looks, and we can speculate if it’s caused be patriarchy or natural preference, but I have a real strong feeling it’s the latter. Go to a beach or a party where women and men seem fairly free to choose how to present themselves - they seem to really enjoy it. Women post revealing photos on social media and generally the comments are filled with positivity from other women, yet if it’s in a video game suddenly it’s a problem.
Men just don’t compete as much on physical looks, and we can speculate if it’s caused be patriarchy or natural preference, but I have a real strong feeling it’s the latter. Go to a beach or a party where women and men seem fairly free to choose how to present themselves - they seem to really enjoy it. Women post revealing photos on social media and generally the comments are filled with positivity from other women, yet if it’s in a video game suddenly it’s a problem.
Sure. And if your game has civilians, rappers, pop stars, people on the beach, gangsters, etc, then it makes sense for the women to have revealing outfits.
When your characters are space marines, monks, mages, armored knights, etc, and all the men have practical outfits and the women all have D-cups and tons of exposed skins, it says something about the mentality of the creators.
And sure, maybe some women are fine with that. That's okay. I'm not begrudging anybody for buying those figurines.
But I wouldn't mind if we as a culture could move away from character designs that look like they came from an horny 16-yo. Do like Overwatch, explore other archetypes and body types.
When your characters are space marines, monks, mages, armored knights, etc, and all the men have practical outfits and the women all have D-cups and tons of exposed skins, it says something about the mentality of the creators.
And sure, maybe some women are fine with that. That's okay. I'm not begrudging anybody for buying those figurines.
But I wouldn't mind if we as a culture could move away from character designs that look like they came from an horny 16-yo. Do like Overwatch, explore other archetypes and body types.
Go look at pictures of actual marines in combat fatigues, and look for differences in how male and female soldiers dress. Then look for differences in how male and female soldiers dress in video games.
Of course for marine games that makes sense. I’ve never seen a scantily clad woman in a simulated war game.