So, while we're on the topic of gender portrayal, would it be a "maturation" of the medium if our videogame heroes were more realistic men? Italian plumbers and Larry Laffer aside, when was the last time you saw a balding, portly 50-something star in a game? It's a travesty, I tell you. Our young men need realistic role-models, not prison-buffed warriors and lean, chiseled mages.

The problem is not that there's too little brain or too much boob--it's that every female video-game character gets turned into a conversation about objectifying women or warping teenage minds. If you weren't so focused on turning every video game into a political statement, maybe you'd realize that juvenile games are made to appeal to a juvenile audience. Classy, tasteful, "mature" games that portray mature sexuality are geared to a pretty limited audience. They do exist, but they're the "art-house flicks" of the videogame world.

i agree
i personally was pissed when they did what they did to yuna in X-2, mostly because of how much i loved ffx (personally i think it is a gaming masterpiece and the story, ohhhhhh) i think they really killed the story when they made all the girls in X-2 how would you say it......sexy,cute

@alaren: Funny how well you summed up how I felt about the entire thing.

I agree I think games made for juveniles are just that. Juvenile. However, games made for mature audiences like mass effect do a fairly good job of bringing sexuality to video games. The mass effect sex scene wasn't that big of deal and didn't humiliate women as video game characters. The idustry will always be slandered for whatever, it does wheather it be violence or sex. There a are entities out there in the media that make it a bigger deal than it is.

In response to Alaren's well thought out response:

Boobies.

Alaraenblarba makes a good point...

it's really just that the writing in games has sucked absolute ass period...

it's not just women that have been stereotyped, it's everything inside the game and the plot itself.

Bioshock is a perfect example of a game that has believable characters and excellent writing throughout the entire production....

it's funny because I remember seeing a screenshot for Huxley where there were a group of guys and one female standing in a field. All of the guys were wearing full body armor and the female was wearing a metal bikini. It's the epitome of bad design. Even when I was growing up reading comics I could never understand the logic of having a super heroine sport a thong and bra while fighting guys with Military grade and in some cases alien weapons. "why didn't Scalphunter just shoot her in the stomach?" I remember thinking.

There's well planned, well designed uses of sexuality in games. Pai, Sarah Bryant, Samus Aran designs....good. Christie Monteiro (nothing attractive about her designs, range from stupid to skanky), Nariko (looks great but stupid as hell considering she's running around in the snow in butt floss and a skimpy top) Laura Croft - just silly, did her breast really need to be that big? Really.

Why do we need less boob and more brain? Do boobs and brains have an inverse relationship? I'd like more boobs and brains.

Just wrote a blog post about this, so i'll just paste part of it:

"It's complete bullshit to say female protagonists should be exempt from sexuality. No male protagonist with a semblance of realism to them is created without sexuality in mind, be it overt or not; it's simply human nature to look at a person of the opposite gender and consider the probability and value of mating.

In my opinion, we need to reinstate a policy of dignified sexy. We live in a society where sexy women tends to be equated with childlike weakness and sexual subservience to man, particularly in terms of fashion. Sexy has become the domain of girls. There was a time when sexy meant dangerous, and was a property of women."

Everybody uses the example of Samus Aran when talking about female role models in gaming, for obvious reasons. So does the addition of the Zero Suit version of Samus (which is obviously much more sexual) to Super Smash Brothers Brawl count as a female character that is both sexual and admirable?

@alaren: "They do exist, but they're the "art-house flicks" of the videogame world."

You hit the nail on the head there

@alaren: you know what game handles sexuality subtly but really well...Uncharted. Very well written and well produced. Heavenly Sword has a scene between Bohan and Nariko that hints at raunchiness but is hilarious because of the context of the material. The scene where Nariko is in the prison and Bohan stands in front of her tapping his fingers on the metal sphere that hangs just low enough to look like he's tapping his manhood. Nariko was on her knees too while he stood in front of her. Awesome. But when you see what kind of character bohan is it all fits well in the context of the story.

I prefer love over sex in games anyway. Love can happen between any characters without becoming questionable.

FF9 is my favorite example, near then end when Zidane is pretty lost and the people who love him bring him back over the edge.

@gamadaya: I strongly agree.

Too bad it's way easier to have more boobs in a game than it is to have more brains.

@alaren: I think it's probably better to have a well groomed, good conditioned guy as a role model, than a chubby guy who doesn't take care of himself.

Balding and portly is realistic? Than I officially don't like reality. Portly? Train more. Balding? Shave your head.

On topic im not sure if it is more prominent in games. If it is though I would argue that it is probably due to the fact games have to be interactive and so the variety is realistically less than movies. A movie about two people falling in love in a normal world? Very entertaining. A game about two people falling in love in a normal world? Where is the gameplay?

I would say it's improving in games though. Look at Lost Planet. I don't feel the main female (Luca? Wow this is one of my favourite games too) was either in the completly innocent or ott category. Yes she was sexy but she dressed for the conditions as well.

I would say FF8 also doesn't quite fall into sweet innocent hand holding or being completly ott. It was a reasonably normal relationship.... monsters and witches aside >.>

I just felt the need to say this... Most of the people up in arms about objectifying women and men as sexual objects are only so incised because they themselves are ugly and are fully conscious of this fact, thus they feel the need to create a world where ugly people feel just as valuable as beautiful ones so that they don't have to feel useless because of their own shortcomings.

But sadly, our society values 'beautiful' things just as all societies in human history have, and if you can be or create something beautiful, you work at Mcdonalds. At some point, they too must also come to grips with the soul crushing reality that no one will ever run out of ways to say 'I'm better than you'.

@Stormrider: I think the addition of the Zero Suit established exactly what your saying, a sexy and yet fierce female role model.
I also want to see more indie or "arty" games that tackle more surreal interpretations of human sexuality.

Leigh isn't kidding about the recent spike in Samus Hentai.

[www.google.com]

@Zim: Heheh.. funny you should mention Luca in Lost Planet. One of the first things I said to a friend while playing that game is:

"Isn't this world supposed to be devastatingly cold? Why the heck does she have a foot of cleavage showing at all times? Those are some pretty hardy boobs."

And I guess Video Games taught 8 year old kids on Xbox Live to scream "Fuck Fuck Fuck!"

In my personal opinion, they should just focus on making a better and more solid game. They shouldn't be mixed together. Because if I want to watch something rated, then I'll grab my collection. But thats just my opinion.

@Papa Midnight: Nah.. *school* teaches them that. (generalization, I know.)

@Wookiee1: I think there's a strong possibility that's somehow related to Smash Bros. Brawl's Japanese release and the inclusion of the Zero Suit. I may be, and probably am mistaken, but I think it may be the first time Samus has been seen in the Zero Suit on a console...

@Wookiee1: lol, I forgot about Google trends.

I agree, Ico didn't go far enough.

A funny banner for "Hot girls playing video games" popped up for me under this article. All of this kind of shows what outsiders and insiders alike think of the industry. The whole Mass Effect scandal brought it out in the open for everyone to see. While I am still playing through the game and have yet to get to that scene (if I do at all) I must admit, sex in games goes a little too far sometimes. It's like a teenager who thinks he'll appear older if he curses and like boobs alot (which is why I think cursing is so rampant in online games). Even an hour and a half into Mass Effect I can tell sex is a big team. The consort seems to imply that she's really interested in pleasing people. I'm not sure exactly what that implies, but I can certainly guess. Perhaps it is essential to the story, I wouldn't know yet, but it seems very over the top. The main villan's sidekick (I'm guessing, not sure yet) also appears to show alot of clevage. It all just seems so.... sexist. It shines a negative light on the industry as a whole and also labels those involved as perverts - sometimes rightfully so.

*theme, not team.

Arguably the problem is not so much that there are no 'ugly' people as main characters, so much as the vast majority of player characters are some sort of godlike beauties (either male OR female) and none of them look, for lack of a better term, NORMAL.

But there are notable examples where this is not the case, Chell from Portal is by no means a goddess - she's lithe, but remarkably plain looking compared to the artistic ridiculousness of Nariko.

One also has to be realistic and admit that the vast majority of people playing games have the collective maturity of a Kindergarten class, and any deviation from the extremely idealized 'runway-model' look tends to be met with howls of derision from the maladjusted pocket-mining demographic. An honest portrayal of human sexuality is both foreign and terrifying to them. And in their discomfort they'll savage it because actually coming to terms with something that you find discomforting is WAY too mature for them. Yes, there is a significant portion of gamers who actually ARE adult enough to deal with mature portrayals of sex and sexuality, but they are still vastly outnumbered by masses of social retards who think having big boobs makes a game worth buying (note how popular DoA Beach Volleyball was).
And then of course there are mature THEMES in games that are still almost impossible for a huge chunk of the gaming populace to handle in an adult manner, like homosexuality for example. Anytime someone touches that one people who not 10 minutes ago were playing a game where you can sleep with and then kill hookers will start claiming some sort of bizarre 'moral high ground' on that subject... o_O
I can only hope the gaming community as a whole matures to the point that sex and sexuality in gaming shows a greater depth and value rather than being used for cheap money grabs and attention whoring...
Of course I am also not holding my breath either ;)

By the way, I was no way implying that Mass Effect was worthy of receiving the moral panic that it did for something that, as many have said, could be viewed on primetime TV. I was just saying that sometimes in video games, there appears to be sex and boobs just for the sake of sex and boobs. It's adding sexuality to a game simply because beforehand, it was just a story with violence.

@alaren:

Art house games do not exist in the same context that art house films do. We do not have an outlet for this kind of thing. So I don't agree that these things exist. I think that's the main reason for the stagnation of the medium.

At this point in time, we have very few games available, or in development, that are actually attempting to push the medium forward. It's been relying on the same game play concepts, storytelling mediums, and interfaces for the past ten years. Video games still have no idea what they are or what they do best. Our narratives are horrible, our characters are designed from a purely aesthetic point of view, and we have yet to skate away from our traditional genres.

I would even go as far as to say that art design is the least important thing to current game developers. Why create an original character when you could easily cut and past Master Chief 50 times? Why create a realistic, intelligently designed female character when you could just dress her in an armored bikini and call her a damsel in distress?

I suppose that you could also blame writing for these things as well, and I agree that it is part of the problem. Video games need to figure out what kind of story they tell best. What kind of story can they tell that no other medium can tell? Final Fantasy games are poor examples of how narratives should be presented. The stories they tell could be easily adapted into a film or a television series, so even though they are enjoyable experiences, this form of storytelling is out of date. Perhaps its the lack of skill or creativity in the game writers, but I suggest that it is more likely due to the fact that they only know one way to tell a story. I think more experimentation is necessary (Portal, for example) in order to move the art form in a new direction.

And I know the arguments. Why change the formula if this is what everyone likes? Why? Because it makes gamers look like fools and makes games look like toys. I look forward to a day when video games figure out what makes them unique.

@Furiursa:

"I can only hope the gaming community as a whole matures to the point that sex and sexuality in gaming shows a greater depth and value rather than being used for cheap money grabs and attention whoring..."

:D Thank you. Perhaps there is still hope...

@Spaceboy: WTF...the consort is a prostitute or high class "escort service". Obviously it's going to be overly sexual. Not sure how you didn't understand that if you are, indeed, of proper age for an M rated game. It's actually the only sexual part of Mass Effect outside a sex scene with the person you've spent the entire game courting and are in love with which should not be seen as objectifying anyone.

@alaren:

I felt sorry for guys who packed into gyms, trying to look like how Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger said they should.

That's what your post made me think of right off the bat, anyways.

Personally, I think the maturation of the genre will go a long way towards the inclusion of sexuality in games. Games are still a relatively young medium. Film didn't dive right into sexuality, either. As more and more people game, as more and more gamers get older, there will be a market for mature games with mature themes.

@KirbyMorph:

In love? Please, the conversation system is good, but not once when playing did I ever feel I was actually developing a real relationship. The sex scene jumps out of nowhere and is not intelligently placed. It's undeveloped and undeserved.

@alaren: You roughly described Kane and Lynch, but I gather that we don't talk about that anymore round these parts.

@Wuth: I would like to point you in the direction of Endless Ocean. Then i would like to suggest that you go out and buy some of the award-winning Japanese dating sims (not h-games, the regular ones). If you're still unconvinced, go pick up Indigo Prophecy or go WAAAY back and check out Phantasmagoria. Art-house games absolutely exist and are available, but really good ones are few and far-between because these genres do not sell well in the U.S. Not all of them deal with sexuality, but they are "experimental" in many regards.

The premise that "mature" sexuality will have a maturing affect on the games market requires one to ignore the handful of games out there that already employ sex in a mature way--games that have not enjoyed market appeal.

And while we're on the subject, the idea that film handles sexuality in a "mature" way is pretty ridiculous. Teen sex romps handle sex in a juvenile way. Romances handle sex in a romanticized way. Action flicks handle sex about as well as mainstream video games (who was the last overweight actress you saw naked on the screen?).

The most realistic portrayal of sexuality I've ever seen on film was in HBO's Tell Me You Love Me, a series that practically screams "art-house." People want their sexuality idealized just like they want their heroes (and their heroism!) idealized. Maturity goes hand-in-hand with realism, but the majority of gamers don't game for realism, they game for escapism. Which is not a bad thing, but realistic and mature is by definition antithetical to escapist media.

In short, gaming as a medium is doing just fine. I expect as the demographic continues to mature, the availability of genre-busting games will imrove, but there will always be teenage boys, and they will always like their damsels busty and beautiful.

I always thought the Silent Hill series has handled gender related and sexual issues rather well, for example the whole Mary/Maria and James thing in SH2.

@magically_delicious: So not having a perfect body and a perfect girl is considered a "short-coming"? Your statement is placing value on a very subjective ideal. Good luck in a debate.

Sex sells. It's no different than MTV broadcasting "reality" shows instead of music videos. The creators of media know that using sex is a shortcut for getting money. The ideals caused by sex in media is what is being argued here, not the fact that they do it.

Still, think of the effect of having more modest characters in a game. Many successful and (often) big-budget games series put more focus on game play (ie - Halo, Mario, Final Fantasy, Castlevania, Oddworld, Crash Bandicoot, Resident Evil, so many more) instead of the sex appeal of their characters. Many games that do involve sex have very little or very repetitive game play and it seems that something is needed to draw more attention from players.

I haven't played Mass Effect yet to know about character interactions and personalities, but I do respect them for trying to tie a more mature view of sex into the game tastefully.

@alaren: "juvenile games are made to appeal to a juvenile audience. Classy, tasteful, "mature" games that portray mature sexuality are geared to a pretty limited audience."

and here i thought that gaming's key demographic was males aged 18-34.

we do deserve some classy mature games. if anything, thats the MAIN thing that videogames need to really break open into the mainstream, to become a distinguished artform, like movies and television.

we see hints of it all over the place, but its rarely accomplished tactfully.

i think sex is a good thing for gaming. it makes all forms of media, and entertainment more interesting. god knows, we humans love our sex.

thing is... theres a way you can do it that appeals to the 13 year old boy in us all, and there is a way you can do it that doesn't embarrass you to show a significant other.

...so i think thats one of the key things designers have to realize when they integrate sex into their games. it needs to be done WELL.

I'm not arguing the subjectivity of beauty, I'm arguing that societies as a whole can often agree on what is relatively more or less beautiful than something else... I'm not saying they are accurate to hold such opinions... I'm simply say that they do hold such opinions.

@joelface: Jane Austen deals with sexuality in a classy, mature fashion. She's not exactly all the rage among 18-34 males.

Your comment implies that 18-34 males want classy, mature sexuality in their games. That may be true for some of us (I'm 27), but as a demographic, we're much more likely to watch "American Pie" than "Sense and Sensibility." When it comes to sex, young men are, as a demographic, juvenile about it (and, for the record, always have been--this isn't the result of video games by any stretch).

I think sexuality comes down to story, and story means exposition and dialogue, and exposition and dialogue mean slowing down the pace, focusing on emotional details, basically stuff that often means low sales figures. These games do exist. But we (again, that crucial 18-34 demographic) don't buy them. We buy Halo.

@alaren: I like your point of view and your comments are great, but what do you think of some of the bigger titles that had a large effect on video games?

Xeonosaga, for instance, began with anime-based character designs and switched to more modest and realistic models for the second and third games (KOS-MOS excluded). Granted, the second and third games did not sell well for more than their lack of sex, but the series still effected how games are presented in a dramatic context.

The Resident Evil and Silent Hill series changed how games can effect our sense of "fight or flight" - very much without the attraction of sex.

The Wii might not be changing how games are presented, but rather how we interact. Nintendo places a lot of emphasis on game play instead of sex and none of their games could be considered art-house titles.

I'm wondering if sex isn't the problem with the medium, it's the lack of funding for creative artists.