"Why is it that people only worry about offending the females?
For what it's worth, in my post above I basically "yes it's sexist against men, but likely nobody will actually get offended anyway".
Anyway, does every thread on the topic have to get derailed like that? Go post on the lounge if you're uspet about feminists.
Female Enemies in Beat 'em Up
Answering directly to your question:
No, I do not think it is inappropriate.
No, I do not feel it is sexist.
Like it or not, scantily clad evil female bosses is a certain cliche in pop-culture. Be aware that by including them you are making all kinds of associations with existing cultural items. So it all comes down to your overall artistic concept and style whether it works or not. Think about the general design, references, artistic style etc. - and if you feel female bosses fit in, then keep them. You cannot please everyone - or even worse - the more people you try to please, the less interesting your product will be.
No, I do not think it is inappropriate.
No, I do not feel it is sexist.
Like it or not, scantily clad evil female bosses is a certain cliche in pop-culture. Be aware that by including them you are making all kinds of associations with existing cultural items. So it all comes down to your overall artistic concept and style whether it works or not. Think about the general design, references, artistic style etc. - and if you feel female bosses fit in, then keep them. You cannot please everyone - or even worse - the more people you try to please, the less interesting your product will be.
"Why is it that people only worry about offending the females?
For what it's worth, in my post above I basically "yes it's sexist against men, but likely nobody will actually get offended anyway".
Anyway, does every thread on the topic have to get derailed like that? Go post on the lounge if you're uspet about feminists.
I was just noting on a few things that no one else seems to be able to notice. It was an answer to the question presented. I wasn't trying to start an argument or derail the thread.
I don't know why people always try to shove words down my throat...
They're not things nobody else notices. They're talked about to death every single time the topic comes up. It's boring. I think the OP brings up an interesting topic if one has the energy to really get into it. You bring up a different topic. There's a button for that, and it's not "reply".
They're not things nobody else notices. They're talked about to death every single time the topic comes up. It's boring. I think the OP brings up an interesting topic if one has the energy to really get into it. You bring up a different topic. There's a button for that, and it's not "reply".
Sorry, I was just giving my opinion on the thread. I didn't know those belonged outside of replies. I guess I could make a blog for it, post it there, make a new thread called "My Opinion On "Female Enemies in Beat 'em Up"" and leave a link to my blog post there.
Seriously though, I didn't mean to offend you (or whatever reaction it provoked; I can't really put my finger on it...) I was just replying to the thread, even if you think I was trying to morph it into something else.
That's OK, I guess the thing is that it always tends to morph into something else and I'm grumpy about it. Sorry for replying sharply.
Do a survey. Ask girls or women about how they would like to see a female superhero portrayed as, ranging from personality as well as attire. You'll find that most of them will say that a female superhero would not run around with a sword (or gun), wearing nothing but a bikini.
Do a survey. Ask girls or women about how they would like to see a female superhero portrayed as, ranging from personality as well as attire. You'll find that most of them will say that a female superhero would not run around with a sword (or gun), wearing nothing but a bikini.
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Just remember the results in a survey won't correspond to what people actually do.
If you ask people what kind of coffee they like, they'll use words like rich, dark, natural and quality. But most people will happily buy and drink cheap, weak coffee. They actually prefer it this way. So I imagine if you ask women their opinion, you'll get results that are skewed in favour of what they feel they are "expected" to say. But that won't measure the true impact of the "bikini superhero" on sales.
Ultimately, the OP needs to define their actual goals. Is their goal only to maximise sales? In that case they are probably worrying too much. There is likely much lower hanging fruit which would yield much higher sales benefits. Is their goal to produce a game that actually respects women? Then they need to think more carefully about how you want to treat female characters in the game. Of course, they can do both.
There is an interesting heuristic that someone came up for gender bias in films. I believe is asks "does the film contain":
- At least two female characters
- Who converse
- And at least one such conversation must not revolve around the male characters
It is very surprising to see the number of films that fail even this ridiculously easy test. Apparently even some "chick flicks" fail it, mainly on the last point.
Rip-off's post seems sharp - as in smart - to me and it reminds me of another dynamic where a lot of movie executives throw in an under-25-male character to "appeal to under 25 males" because data or business plan says they're the target audience. But then there's zounds of action movies and games like Meta Gear Solid feature older men and these have a lot of resonance with the audience in question. Far more people remember and know by name Solid Snake than the added-in young American dude in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Meanwhile I know a lot of women who, for whatever reason, are big fans of Severus Snape.
One can find reasons for those working, but they're not quite "add X to appeal to X" and I strongly douby you'd come up with Snake or Snape thanks to a survey, or at least not a naive interpretation of one.
That reminds me of another survey where they found that asking Americans and Canadians "Do you go to church on Sunday?" yields double the church-goers compared to "What do you do yesterday?" when asked on Monday.
I still recommend my "awesome approach" described earlier, but if you do surveys, you might need to be a bit sly.
Meanwhile I know a lot of women who, for whatever reason, are big fans of Severus Snape.
One can find reasons for those working, but they're not quite "add X to appeal to X" and I strongly douby you'd come up with Snake or Snape thanks to a survey, or at least not a naive interpretation of one.
That reminds me of another survey where they found that asking Americans and Canadians "Do you go to church on Sunday?" yields double the church-goers compared to "What do you do yesterday?" when asked on Monday.
I still recommend my "awesome approach" described earlier, but if you do surveys, you might need to be a bit sly.
When it comes to controversy, you need to find a sweet spot, one where people who will never play your game get offended and cause a lot of commotion, and your actual target audience mock these people. When it comes to sexism, you cant win - if you have a male boss this is not sexist, if you have a female boss it is; somebody is always guaranteed to be offended whenever a piece of fiction portrays something they wouldn't want to see in real life.
I would recommend avoiding the usual stereotypes, and stupid skimpy clothing that we frequently see female characters wearing in fighting games. But you have to accept that, if the fiction of your game portrays a woman with undesireable character attributes, somebody somewhere will be offended.
Some feminists are just as brainwashed by thousands of years of male dominated fiction as anybody else; they want to treat women as a special case, and the result is more inequality, so I applaud any game which treats people as equals instead of pandering to the political correctness brigade.
I would recommend avoiding the usual stereotypes, and stupid skimpy clothing that we frequently see female characters wearing in fighting games. But you have to accept that, if the fiction of your game portrays a woman with undesireable character attributes, somebody somewhere will be offended.
Some feminists are just as brainwashed by thousands of years of male dominated fiction as anybody else; they want to treat women as a special case, and the result is more inequality, so I applaud any game which treats people as equals instead of pandering to the political correctness brigade.
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