Makes me frustrated and hopeless, Its quite clear that they do this for the male gaze and whatever its called, but that doesnt justify it and makes me very sick.

Not saying that beautiful characters are bad, but semi naked characters with unrealistic beauty which both have nothing to do with the game at all is terrible, very terriole.
Why ruin a good game for the so called" male gaze" or "sex sells" thing? why?

I feel like a hypocrite and a loser.

Not sure if indie games are any better, itch io is very good, it has great (hidden) gems.

But its also filled with dating games and whatnot, I didnt check the nsfw games, but I wouldnt be surprised if they filled the entire front page.

Anyway, Its a deep issue for me, wanted to vent, thanks for reading.

Not sure why an "off the chest" post would get downvotes (perhaps they suspect virtue signalling) but glad you shared.

For-profit companies and even indie devs gravitate toward the demand. I don't play many games that have this trait but even wow has its share of female thongs and chainmail pushup bras. The fact that its widely accepted and very rarely frowned upon let's you know that they e nailed their target demographic.

For me the problem here is that the only characters that are sexualised are women. If the game is sexual, then just add the beautiful naked guys. I am sure that this move will double the audience (i am the audience).

One of my favorite games of all time is Neir Automata and I don't admit that to normies because it just makes me look like a fucking pervert because of how oversexualized 2B and A2 are.

It genuinely distracts from a beautiful story. It makes it less impactful.

In a lot of games the men are not exactly realisticly sized either. They aren't often as sexualized as the women, but most are max 15% body fat and shredded to the point that they'd need steroids in real life.

I found the constant almost upskirt shots to be distracting tbh. I thought they were kinda cool at first from an animation stand point but that feeling wore off pretty quick. I think it would have been better if they kept shots like that to a minimum, it would make the times it does happen stand out a lot more.

Dummy thicc Solid Snakes clapping cheeks come to mind.

That Marvel wannabe Overwatch video game puts women in tons of skimpy outfits but those men's asses and chests are on display as well in skintight outfits.

"It's like I'm wearing nothing at all."

...stupid sexy Flanders.

I always hate looking at pictures of dudes who are roided to the eyes and almost dangerously dehydrated; it just looks painful like I could poke them and they'd bruise.

I super liked Horizon: Zero Dawn because they refused to sexualize Aloy. There is only one outfit that shows bare midrif, and it's not accessible until mid-game. Male characters would hit on her and she'd generally respond like she didn't understand what was going on.

But then I didn't like the "changes" for the sequel. It felt kinda cheap for them to suddenly be

Edit: apparently I can't spoiler. Sorry.

i miss 70s and 80s male sexualization

Have you seen the incels? They have nervous breakdowns over peach fuzz.

I just saw that post to lol

Im sorta surprised games don't do something like this. Have an option for male and female clothing levels in the game. I feel like the coding would not be massive and suddenly you can bring in horndogs of every persuasion.

Saints row had breast and package modifiers for your character.

yeah im thinking options of nude to victorian.

Just curious about what games specifically that you're referring to.

I don't generally get distracted or feel the need to address sexualization either way. I'm more or less ace sexually and I have a female ace friend who is super discouraged by female sexualization but unless the game is about specifically displaying women sexually it's not so much a sticking point for her. Hades/Hades 2 comes to mind.

Generally at this point, at least compared to the 90's, games where sexualization is being really held up are largely advertising the sexualization as part of the point, and I consider that seperate from 'sexualization is inescapable and my games are less fun because of it.' Nier Automata was mentioned in another reply and I would agree that that is probably the best argument for 'how is this necessary to the story' but I don't find it strictly unforgivable. Bayonetta could be argued as a reclaimation of female sexuality but it's pretty flimsy as long as most of the directorial staff are men.

Either way nothing hits the peak like Tomb Raider did where no one even knew what the game was about until you rented the thing when it first released. Gameplay photos were reserved for longer magazine articles.

And then there's the rare case of Marvel Rival Captain America's Summer Skin.

women and men are sexualized in all sorts of media, unrealistically. and folks love it and folks also hate it, often the same folks who hate their gender being sexualized but love it when it's done to the gender they are attracted to.

why do you care so much about this to the point it is causing you self-negativity? do you like enjoy it and think you shouldn't?

There are counter examples

BG3 is a fabulous one. Asterion is sultry and seductive. Raphael is sexy as hell, and so is his succubus. TBH there was a lot of male nudity and sexiness.

Meanwhile, Karlach and Laezel are just badasses. Never once did I feel that squick from them being overly sexualized.

I'm okay with it if the men are also sexualized. Like Hades. So many sexy men... 🤤

Oh how horrible that anything should appeal to men's preferences and not women's sensibilities. The game just isn't for you then, why does that bother you so much?

Okay, but most of the male characters look like this:

Why ruin a good game for the so called" male gaze" or “sex sells” thing? why?

... because of the 'sells' part? Game publishers aren't in business to make good games, they're there to make money.

One recent game that surprisingly reversed the trope was Ion Fury. Despite her origin (lewd, very stereotypical sketch from Duke Nukem), Shelly (main character) is not sexualized in the game.

In my experience game studios are a cesspool of white toxic males so it checks out

the woman are often scantily clad , while the men are roided up.

Not disagreeing, but... have you seen male video game characters? They're less often half-naked, but usually similarly sexualized.

In fact, video edits about male characters' appearance are vastly more popular than the ones about female characters' appearance.

The male characters are also incredibly more unrealistic. At least from my experience. I have yet to meet a guy who looks like Leon Kennedy, Geralt or Adam Jensen. While having met many women who looked exactly like or better than various female game characters.

Some years ago, it may have been the case that female characters were much more sexualized than male characters, due to lack of female gamers. Nowadays though, I feel like it's nearly equal both ways. The difference is in how the characters are portrayed and received by men and women. Both have, on average, different preferences.

The issue isn't really with men, female characters or video games. All industries of our entire society are filled to the brim with porn and erotic material. And that's largely because of capitalism. Porn and anything containing porn sells well. So in a society built around selling and profits, all of that sooner or later becomes the most popular, and the norm.

East Asian games are the worst offenders though.

The one is for male gaze, the other a male power fantasy. None of this appeals to women.

I have kinda realized that this stuff is everywhere, not just in games and the "female gaze" is just as unrealistic in portraying men, it just isn't (as much) sexual. Read any romance book aimed at women and you know what I mean. There are very few men who can live up to being a hot billionaire werewolf!

Jokes aside, even "reasonable" standards are still something only like 5-10% of men could live up to. Even in lesbian and gay romance books you will find strange and unrealistic standards.

Humans just love dreaming about having a hotty in bed... Probably better if we don't encourage it, but catering to people's appetite sells better than selling something healthy... Ask any food industry.

It is because people make stuff mostly to make money or to make their own fantasies come "true". Hardly anyone out there is making media for "educational" purpose and where everything is realistic and proportional.

Hell that's just real life, we consume media to escape "realistic and proportional" because that's just ordinary and boring!

You can scratch the white part, you will find plenty of toxic men amongst colored people driving this too, as soon as they get an opportunity. No need to whitewash them (pun intended)!

I don't know about that, read some women's romance and you'll see that women eat that shit right up. The male lead is always hot, often rich and more recently also "special" in one way or another (werewolf etc).

Those are pretty unrealistic expectations too, they just aren't as sexualizing.

The problem isn't sexualizing, the problem is unrealistic expectations and standards and that is rampant in women's media too. And why shouldn't it be? Women are humans too with dreams and desires for more than the average.

If it's third-person and I'm going to be staring at my character's ass for 30+ hours, might as well pick a nice one

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

As someone raised evangelical, this was me before realizing my honest attempt to live and breathe the Bible were incredibly self-destructive. When your life is ruled by guilt and shame, you end up despising the things that make you human.

Capcom literally had a panel filled with women to be absolutely sure they were making Leon as sexy as possible for everyone. He was hand sculpted for one purpose.

Although I slightly disagree about your claim for how women vs men beauty is presented, I do like/agree with your response. Thank you! 🤍

Porn and anything containing porn sells well. So in a society built around selling and profits, all of that sooner or later becomes the most popular, and the norm.
This is what makes me sad too, it troubles me to think that porn is so addictive and is being used to sell stuff. It somehow makes me lose faith in myself.

Used to be a porn addict and its been months since I quit.
But I cant remove the guilt and shame I have for myself, so maybe this sexualization is only making it worse for me.

Because I believe its not ethical.

Its enough how dark the porn industry is, and this sexualization only makes me remember the terrible crimes committed there.

Not to mention how it also affects our expectations for the other gender. (even if subtly)

Glad to know that you recognize its bad, Thank you brother. 🤍

What is peach fuzz, and there is an incel community in the fediverse out of all places?

How come I didnt hear about any of this, I have been using piefed for 2 whole years (including lurking without an account)

I agree with you, there is also a game that I really really like the story of. But for some reason most women characters have to look sexy and the men characters look modest and humble (there are some sexy looking men too, but they are uncommon).

This doesnt make it okay. Its still bad, and makes me disgusted. Just because they reversed the gender that this applies to doesnt change it.

And why shouldn’t it be? Women are humans too with dreams and desires for more than the average

Look, if this was in a romance novel, then it would make sense, you go watch porn and expect the actors to look humble, makes no sense.

But if it was in everyday media, like how its the case right now, then I believe this becomes an issue, a big issue.

Generalization doesnt make me feel better.

Right now, the only thing I can do is stand against it and boycott.
But I am losing hope for that too. 😣

Look, if this was in a romance novel, then it would make sense, you go watch porn and expect the actors to look humble, makes no sense.

But if it was in everyday media, like how its the case right now, then I believe this becomes an issue, a big issue.

Now I know why it sells, people like you exist.
Please, can you tell me why you dont feel bad for it?

Doesnt sexualization just make you disgusted? if not, do you know why?

What are you even saying?
I did focus on women for my post because I believe its commonly applied to women, but my rant applies to both genders.

The book industry providing strong market segments for women has not much to do with the video game industry.

It's interesting that people will find issue with sex appeal and unrealistic body proportions in fantasy media but are fine with everything else unrealistic about fantasy. I think the real issue is the unrealistic expectations people put on themselves and others because they can't separate fantasy from reality.

I will never be as buff and chiseled as batman.

I am talking about sexualization and pornification.

Too much of those is very common in games, and they contribute nothing to the fantasy game / story.

Not saying that beautiful characters are bad, but semi naked characters with unrealistic beauty which both have nothing to do with the game at all is terrible, very terriole.

You did talk about unrealistic beauty as well.

And as for why, the answer is simple. For every person like you that strongly dislikes it, there are probably 9 gamers that prefer it this way and buy games that do it. Which of course results in about 9 out of 10 games including it. (numbers made up to illustrate point). There really isn't anything wrong with that. If art had to appeal to everyone, there would be no art. You are just unfortunate that your taste is in the minority so there is less content matching your preferences.