Comments on: Boobs in Gaming – Overdone or Just Need Balance?

By: tech news

tech news — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 09:50:13 +0000

Great boobs i love to play this game in privately

By: Beauty is skin-deep, Ugliness goes to the bone « Welcome to Spinksville!

Beauty is skin-deep, Ugliness goes to the bone « Welcome to Spinksville! — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:24:07 +0000

[...] EAFAIL advertising campaign, there’s been some discussion about the use of sex to sell games. Muckbeast points out that both men and women like looking at boobs and that people like their characters to look [...]

By: Spinks

Spinks — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 08:40:53 +0000

I don’t have a problem with boobs or pretty female characters.

But when I get the overall feeling that the entire game is designed to appeal to a male audience (ie. people who aren’t me) then … it’s offputting. And the way they sometimes use sex to sell often gives me that impression. It’s almost like saying ‘we don’t really care about female players, they aren’t the audience we’re trying to attract’ – and that’s fine. But I’d be more likely to buy a game that COULD convince me that I was a core part of the audience.

By: Tesh

Tesh — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:24:26 +0000

I played Perfect World for a few days, and a big part of their game design and programming effort seems to be in providing a robust character generator. The gameplay itself is hackneyed, derivative and the same old DIKU drudgery. Their advertising does play up the characters. It’s certainly honest in that such is where they stand out from other games in their weight class… but that’s not really what I’m calling out.

My point is that they aren’t banking on radically new or interesting (or fun) gameplay, they are banking on the characters and the graphical veneer. The advertising may indeed be an accurate representation of what the title has to offer. Thing is, the title itself doesn’t offer much beyond that, and *that* is what I’m complaining about.

By: Muckbeast

Muckbeast — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 07:48:30 +0000

That may very well be true Tesh, but for MMOs I think the sex is part of the product rather than just a false veneer.

There is definitely a visual aspect of graphical MMOs, and “hot” looking avatars adds something positive to those games.

So in that regard, boobs and beefcake can be a very honest part of marketing – assuming the game itself has boobs and beefcake as well.

By: Tesh

Tesh — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:09:23 +0000

More often than not, it’s been my experience that using sex to sell your product means it can’t sell in any other way. As such, I’m not likely to buy it, because one, I’m not a fan of an emphasis on sexuality, and two, even if I did want to indulge in sexual exploits, there’s plenty of free stuff out there.

By: Longasc

Longasc — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:37:35 +0000

Regarding the male hot and buff chars, I wonder if they are and we just do not see it as males… but as I already said above, I often feel that male character models do not get as much attention. I know there are female artists out there, maybe one should have a heart and give the male avatars some love, too.

By: Muckbeast

Muckbeast — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:16:37 +0000

Now, put them on big tittied godesses and smokin hot studs and its another matter entirely.

LOL. Well said. We like hot and sexy people. It is not even a modern thing. While the specifics of how we define beauty change over time, the fact that we appreciate beauty itself doesn’t change.

Boobs specifically represent beauty, fertility, and many other positive aspects. Its really hard not to love them.

But again… game developers/artists: How about a little fair play here? I want my male characters to be equally hot and buff.

By: Jesma

Jesma — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 05:16:44 +0000

I know that I’m a fan of boobs. I like looking at them, and I like other people looking at my character going “wow, she chose the BIG boobs”. It’s fun and harmless. People getting up in arms over the representation of boobs in video games is just ridiculous – look at our culture. Everything imagineable is marketed with sex appeal. For example, lets take clothes. There are no catalogs out there filled with fat women and balding men, or, to be blunt, ugly people, because then no one would buy the crappy clothes. Now, put them on big tittied godesses and smokin hot studs and its another matter entirely. People shouldn’t be such hypocrites.

By: girliegeek

girliegeek — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 20:39:33 +0000

I find this post really interesting, along with the comments to it!

Being a straight female gamer, I am able to appreciate sexy female video game characters. Hell, some of them are friggin HOT!! You’re completely right, even women like to see boobage now and again. In WoW, I actually have no male characters. All of my chars are female and I make them as visualy appealling as I can.

Does this have anything to do with what each sex considers “sexy”? It’s not hard to figure out what men find sexy in a woman … but to be honest, some of the things I find sexy in a man have nothing to do with looks. Confience and humour are things I find very hot in a guy but they are not things that can be seen.