Support NeoGAF

[Platy]

I'm sorry man but I can't take you seriously with this statement, what if a woman LIKES to do "sexualized" art? What if a man also likes to do it? Does it mean they're poor artists? They only do that kind of art for money?

There are so many different artists in the world that I can't fathom how you are able to get to that statement.

If they like to do sexualized art awesome.
If they do OBJECTIFICATION on their designs for no reason, it is a bad design.

Also if ANYONE does objectification of women on a drawing or a design for no reason, they are reproducing systematic sexism by choice or by briefing. Whatever they are men or women

No offense Platy, but it seems like you're trying to push your idea/assumptions onto the artist as an explanation for her changing designs. Lots of artists evolve. Not always from external pressures or anything like that, but just based on their own personal tastes. I very much doubt a well known industry artist is being coerced into making designs increasingly more sexual because of systemic sexism or anything like that. I doubt they're entirely based on unconscious desires to "fall in line" with what is popular in the industry at the time. Maybe she just likes making those types of designs

In the 2010 interview she gave for the SF20 The Art of Street Fighter artbook, Kinu mentions that what she likes the most in her art is to emulate early akiman art.
Code of Princess was released 2 years after that interview. So it was wat, 1 year before she created the designs ?
She does not mention that she likes to draw sexy women, objectify her art, draw naked breasts or anything.
She mentiones early akiman

People are just mentioning that she must like to draw sexy stuff but nobody is giving any interview or PROOF that she likes those stuff.

edit : this is her twitter
https://twitter.com/nishi_katsu
Look at what she retweets, what she likes .... the only time you see objectified women or impossible armor are when she retweets her own game work !

 

[Sesha]

The sad thing is BOF5 was a game about 10 years too early. In a post-Dead Rising world where roguelikes and challenging games are a bit more en vogue, it would have carved out a decent niche for itself instead of languishing in obscurity.

Wish that BOF continued along and spun off into a traditional RPG series and a more experimental "Dragon Quarter" side-series (a la FF and CC), instead of what actually did happen...

I agree.

I would have loved a Dragon Quarter sub-series alongside BoF6/7. The least they could do is put the franchise on Steam, but they'd probably consider that not a worthwhile use of resources. They can't even be bothered putting DmC Definitive Edition on Steam for similar reasons.

 

[DarkConfidant]

Glad to see this. Street Fighter V had some artistic choices that made me wonder if any women were involved in its development. This gives me hope for the future.

Yeah, I thought the same.

Hopefully they increase this trend.

 

[Yukinari]

Glad to see this. Street Fighter V had some artistic choices that made me wonder if any women were involved in its development. This gives me hope for the future.

Now that the rest of the content is DLC and doesnt need to be rated by anybody theyre gonna keep adding sexy outfits and cheesecake. Only the base game had changes made to stuff like R.Mika's buttslap.

 

[Air]

Good.

Now ladies, please make powerstone 3.

 

[EpicBox]

So does this mean that Capcom have been hiring people based on their demographic rather than their talents?

Or does it mean that they used to be more discriminatory in their recruitment and now they're making sure that they're not?

 

[Orniletter]

What are their numbers? We know that e.g. all their directors and executive officers are men, no?

Nintendo had about 30% female employees in their fiscal year 2014.

They have several, the Animal Crossing IP is produced by a woman as was Tropical Freeze.


https://www.nintendo.co.jp/csr/en/report2015/employees/index.html

 

[Finale Fireworker]

This is terrific to hear.

I always thought Capcom did a better job with women than they were expected to. Some of the healthiest female characters during the PS1 era of mainstream gaming came from Resident Evil. Compared to the climate at the time, characters like Jill and Claire were extremely uncommon. I didn't play their games then, but looking back, I think they probably did the best job at gender representation relative to the landscape at the time.

It's nice to see this is something they're focusing on now. Female staff in Japan is a great stride.

So does this mean that Capcom have been hiring people based on their demographic rather than their talents?

Or does it mean that they used to be more discriminatory in their recruitment and now they're making sure that they're not?

I am sure it is the latter. I am inclined to believe the former is something concern trolls and racists dole out whenever they hear news about diversity. Has there ever been any evidence to suggest qualified people aren't getting jobs in favor of unqualified people from different demographics? Like, ever?

It just reminds me of the dinner table scene in American History X where the racist father decries school's English syllabus because they had to stop teaching "good books" and start teaching "black books."

It's such a loaded supposition to be wary that people from other demographics might be getting their jobs even if they're unqualified, because it suggests that, well, they're unqualified. While the traditional demos they are competing against are never brought under such scrutiny.

Edit: To be clear, I'm not talking about YOU here. I don't know you. Just used your post as a jumping off point.

 

[PtM]

Platy's got a point.

So does this mean that Capcom have been hiring people based on their demographic rather than their talents?

Or does it mean that they used to be more discriminatory in their recruitment and now they're making sure that they're not?

Your concern has been noted.

 

[Waddle Dee]

Honestly surprised that a company that made Street Fighter V would be this progressive towards women. This is a good start and I hope other Japanese publishers start making similar strides. Maybe, if Japan gets more female devs, we will start seeing a return to Japan actually being the king of good game design again, instead of being 90% composed of weeb-pandering shit.

 

[EpicBox]

I am sure it is the latter. I am inclined to believe the former is something concern trolls and racists dole out whenever they hear news about diversity. Has there ever been any evidence to suggest qualified people aren't getting jobs in favor of unqualified people from different demographics? Like, ever?

It just reminds me of the dinner table scene in American History X where the racist father decries school's English syllabus because they had to stop teaching "good books" and start teaching "black books."

It's such a loaded supposition to be wary that people from other demographics might be getting their jobs even if they're unqualified, because it suggests that, well, they're unqualified. While the traditional demos they are competing against are never brought under such scrutiny.

Edit: To be clear, I'm not talking about YOU here. I don't know you. Just used your post as a jumping off point.

Agreed. My belief is that "diversity targets" shouldn't exist. Recruiting talent from all walks of life should just happen by default.

 

[PtM]

Agreed. My belief is that "diversity targets" shouldn't exist. Recruiting talent from all walks of life should just happen by default.

It doesn't.

 

[Mufausa The 3rd]

Konami take fucking notes

 

[thepenguin55]

It doesn't.

Which begs the question of why? As someone who loves stats and pie charts I'd love to see data on this sort of stuff as I find it all super intriguing. While I'm sure there are plenty of racist and sexist people in powerful positions at companies big and small, but one would think those people would be smart enough to try not to make their prejudices obvious to the world around them, right? Either way, this stuff is super interesting to me.

 

[Garlador]

Which begs the question of why? As someone who loves stats and pie charts I'd love to see data on this sort of stuff as I find it all super intriguing. While I'm sure there are plenty of racist and sexist people in powerful positions at companies big and small, but one would think those people would be smart enough to try not to make their prejudices obvious to the world around them, right? Either way, this stuff is super interesting to me.

It's a complicated issue, one that goes from just the games industry to social issues and bias as well.

On a cultural and societal level, women rarely are encouraged to pursue degrees or careers in programming or computer science, and the ratio of women who pursue academic careers in science and technology is statistically lower than those of men, thus giving industries like the games industry a disproportionate number of resumes and applications to choose from compared to their male counterparts.

I've read reports from some companies looking for diversity who were asking more women to apply, since they were getting at times 1 female application compared to 20 or more male ones. The industry has, itself, been at times blatantly hostile to women, and many female developers have spoken at length about some of the experiences they've had with players, businessmen, and the media. Many lead female developers have gone to conventions and reporters will just assume she's a spokewoman or a secretary or an assistant and not actually a lead developer in management position by default. Many respected female developers have told of conferences where they experienced sexual harassment and how they often "put up with it" because it's from investors or lead publishers that have the means to fund or de-fund their projects and if they want their games to see the light of day, they have to pretend those comments don't bother them.

Women developers ARE on the rise, but it's slow and difficult, because it's working against decades of the industry catering almost exclusively to presumed male players. It's fighting against something that was, for a period, considered culturally acceptable to wear your prejudices on your sleeve, and it's really only been in the last few years that voices of protest have become loud enough and strong enough to enact noticeable change.

 

[The Lone Dragon]

edit : this is her twitter
https://twitter.com/nishi_katsu
Look at what she retweets, what she likes .... the only time you see objectified women or impossible armor are when she retweets her own game work !

She retweeted one of BENGUS' pictures of Mika, which is precisely one of the SF5 designs that people in this thread thought "wouldn't be made if more women were around":
https://twitter.com/GoudaCheeeeese/status/689027715169517568

She also retweeted this: https://twitter.com/NEBU_KURO/status/642779547163725824

You're trying way too hard to find "objective" evidence that she doesn't like the art she creates. She shouldn't have to prove to you that she likes what she draws. The burden of proof is on YOU to find proof that she DOESN'T. You have no proof of that.

A person can appreciate sexy designs without her twitter being filled with retweets and posts of half naked women.

And, no, the fact that she didn't come out and say "I LIKE SEXY DESIGNS, EVERYONE" in one random Street Fighter interview in 2010 is not proof that she dislikes sexy designs. Your personal conclusion is leading your evidence. It should be the other way around.

 

[PtM]

Lone Dragon got a point, too.