Maybe Space Invaders or Serious Sam don't need characterization, but RPG's and any other games that want to tell a story do. Stop being such a cynical defeatist. :)
That argument holds no weight because it's a vicious circle. 90% of game buyers are male, so 90% of games are designed with what they think appeals to males, which turns off females, which results in 90% of game buyers being male. Rinse, repeat. Unless one has a problem with expanding the games market beyond young males I don't see why anyone should have a problem with appealing to other groups. IMHO the same thing goes for violence as well as objectification and sexism.
I don't see why it's OK to reinforce the lack of social skills you impart on the average male gamer by objectifying and simplifying women for them. Those guys need to know more than anyone that women are complex creatures - as complex as they themselves are - and not some unattainable idealization in an ivory tower.
Your book analogy doesn't hold water either, because ther are many, many more options in the world of books (and movies). The percentage of books that are written to appeal to young males is roughly representative of the percentage of that demographic in the book market. Much as I don't like the way men are protrayed in fiction written for young women, I can easily ignore those books and choose from a wide variety of other options. That same opportunity for choice does not exist in gaming and there is no valid reason it should not.
Games that are designed for marketing first and foremost are indeed marketed to BOYS. I say that you and the big gaming corporate marketers you are manipulated by need the clues.
Unrealistic portrayals of muscularity ala GoW etc. don't offend men. The only thing that bothers most guys in relation to body image is reproductive organ size. If 90% of male heros in games emphasized unrealistic bulges, I'm sure you would hear complaints from male gamers on par with the complaints raised by the women in this article. Does that role reversal make anything clearer to you mysogynists?
I meant women holding the view, that's subject-verb agreement. And not in my experience. Anyone who games as a hobby is laughed at by the normals who don't understand. If anything women who game ("core" gamers) are considered even more freakish by their relative rarity.
And the really sad thing is they're deleting the more overtly sexist and hateful comments, and we still have the neanderthal club represented in spades...
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