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In retrospective, what do you think of the sexualisation in video games back then?

I think it is a disservice to try to dictate to content creators exactly what they can or cannot imagine and express. Games where much more fun and whimsical when they weren't shackled by politically correct idealisms being forced into works of fiction.

I enjoy a bit of sexiness in my games, but having said that I've never personally liked it when devs try to make uncanny depictions of raunchy sex acts in games (ugly shit like you see in RDR, ME and Witcher titles), but I'm not going to pretend to be holier than thou or virtue signal to others about what I think they should or should not enjoy because that would be beyond lame.
 

Goalus

Member
I can understand that. It played like total ass, though.
Could be.
I barely played it because I didn't have an Amiga, but when I saw it at my friend's house, it was a real moment. I was used to Golden Axe on the Master System at that time :messenger_grinning_squinting:
 
I don't care. Society oversexualizes everything regardless.

Generally there is a boundary to what should enter the public forum for open consumption, but private consumption? Go nuts, do what you want.
 

Aranea

Member
I actually like sexualized character/designs. Contrary to what some websites makes you think, i like playing as attractive ladies and male characters. It reminds me of the time when game developers released the game as originally intended. Which is not something that many of them have the guts to do on this age due to the fact they are afraid of being cancelled. For example just take a look Capcom recent remakes (Resident Evil 3 and 4). Skirts are nowhere to be found there when such things are extremely tame.

When i play video games i don't want real life logic to apply of what the characters are wearing. And that's something i hope more game developers take into consideration.
 

Valt7786

Member
I miss when devs could create the characters they wanted, be they sexy ladies, sexy men, half dressed or not, w/e without being hassled about it by blue hairs they're forced to hire, or turds sitting on twitter.
Stuff like RE4's looking up Ashley's skirt was treated with humour, I doubt there was more than like, 2 people in the world who actually used it to jerk off -_-.
 

Big Baller

Al Pachinko, Konami President
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Vince Mcmahon Wwe GIF
 

hinch7

Member
Didn't and doesn't bother me. I'd rather artists be more creative and not restricted to how they envision a character. Granted, its tastefully done and not tacky in design and fits in a game. Some of the the most iconic characters were defined by their characteristics and outfits (Take Lara Croft and Tifa for example). Nowadays mainstream media and big publishers seem scared to have their characters show any skin for some reason.

Another thing like some people have already said.. that irks me, is that sexualisation of men is fine but not women, which is very hypocritical. If you're going to have one the other should be okay then.
 
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If you go back and look around, all characters in general were attractive and had lean perfect bodies. How many games feature a main playable character that's a huge fat ugly blob for a protagonist, male or female? The bullshit about ripped male characters being "male power fantasy" and not appealing to women is absolute bollocks. All you have to do is look at the cover art of various female targeted erotica to understand that's a lie. Do women suddenly hate Fabio?


Pretty sure no they still like this type of body. And this is exactly the type of male we see in games still. So if that's fine, why can't females be sexualized the same way to cater to males? Why is one way okay and not the other?
 

Eiknarf

Banned
Hopefully Marvel will start to cast men with dad bodies and beer bellies as superheroes who are really strong, can fly and have super fast running abilities -
Get rid of Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans.
 

Fuz

Banned
There's a space for everything.

I don't want skimpy bikini armors in The Witcher.
I don't want censorship in DoA.


P.S.
Yes, I miss it.
Also I miss how that wasn't an issue and there was no back thinking about it and gaming was more relaxed and less politicized, less mentally tiresome.
 
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REdXk5J.jpg


Taki waifu FTW!!! Thanks OP for posting this glorious picture.

But in all serious I don’t care to much either way. I do think the world of gaming can be a bit too sensitive at times when it comes to sexualization of characters. 🤷‍♂️
 
Personally, I think those were better times in the industry where female character designs had more freedom and creativity. Female characters now I feel are safe, homogenized and very grounded design-wise especially from Western developers. You had a mixture of grounded designs as well as sexy designs back then. The majority of female character designs did not look like Taki or Mai. It’s almost like they are trying to eliminate feminine traits of modern female characters. Interestingly, muscular, handsome men aren’t ever criticized though. Hmmmm……

It’s a double standard and hypocritical imo. We can have a plethora of sexy women in movies, TV shows, ads, social media, commercials, etc, but video games are where people generally get offended and draw the line. Also, I don’t understand why people get resentful over fictional characters, yet have no issues with half naked women that happily sexualize themselves all over social media.
 
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taizuke

Member
I think sex mini games are always going to be a bit too much.

But, a character like the protagonist in Stellar Blede is absolutely fine with me. Depending on the genre and style of the game you can have sexualized characters and if people don't like it there's always a million other options.
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
I mean come on, they don't even have to be showing anything.
Both Jill & Ashley got Skorted.
To who this
d4zwg80-088a001e-55c4-4a3c-82f1-13d78b6862d3.png

The middle one, yeah
the other two, nah they perfectly fine.
Boobs are a bit big, but isn't that fat shaming to have a problem with it 🤔
 
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Kuranghi

Gold Member
Those tits don't leave enough to the imagination imo, sometimes it went too far. Teasing is better.

I think sometimes it was genuinely cringe and took away from more important things but for the most part it was grand. Even the super OTT shit is funny at worst though.
 
It was just a different time. Like MTV was all tits and ass back then as well.
A girl raiding tombs in hotpants with 2 enormous guns and 2 even bigger boobs felt like a novel idea.
181609-Tomb_Raider_%255BU%255D_%2528v1.6%2529-1483632989.jpg


Where do you see the "enourmous" guns and even "bigger" boobs?

Not hating if you got small hands.


Wouldn't be surprising if that article was written by Schreier.
 
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Kuranghi

Gold Member
I mean come on, they don't even have to be showing anything.
Both Jill & Ashley got Skorted.
To who this
d4zwg80-088a001e-55c4-4a3c-82f1-13d78b6862d3.png

The middle one, yeah
the other two, nah they perfectly fine.
Boobs are a bit big, but isn't that fat shaming to have a problem with it 🤔

"Fat-tits shaming" lmao
 

ÆMNE22A!C

NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
Expression of sexuality creatively manifested regarding it's current time is a fun subject of conversation.

It'll always be.

The more interesting facet regarding the implementation of sexuality in games comes from two places.

The The creators and it's audience. And even then it's not so cut and dry. Sexuality an sich encompasses such a broad way. Nevermind it's implementation; be it sexual on purpose, some fan servive or just some really subtle implementation.

Fuck i wish my brain and by extension my English was better.
 
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TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
I liked it but I’m a guy so - I get it may not have been fun for women?
Funny, I hear that but if you grab a random girl walking past (not those self proclaiming gamers girls) and give her a character selection with different costumes, guess what they pick.
It's certain girls, girls that don't like other girls who are prettier then them or getting attention because they don't get it.
That's why they don't like it
 

NeoIkaruGAF

Gold Member
Western devs ruined everything by putting actual sex acts in their AAA games.
Sexualization in Japanese games used to be for silly fun and eye candy only. Of course there’s Japanese games with questionable sexualization and some disturbing in-game goals - ironically, those games used to be Japan-only and only started crossing the border and getting localized into English after sexualization in games became a big no-no in the west.

Before this, you’d get some exaggerated boobs, some revealing costumes, and some awkward scenes in Japanese games, but actual sex? Senran Kagura’s girls have huge boobs, there’s some very mild almost-nudity in the games, and there’s some innuendo here and there, but nothing actually sexual happens.

Truth be told, at some point things started getting out of hand. I absolutely hated what they did with the female characters in Soul Calibur IV, expanding their boobs to ridiculous proportions. Taki was always a bit over the top there, but SCIV got so gratuitous with chest size it was a bit offensive. But most other stuff was totally mild and innocuous, and people getting up in arms for stuff like the Street Fighter V butt slap or the Dragon’s Crown designs is idiotic.

Of course some people in here still act like a character with big tits will have gamers unzip their pants and rub one out with Pavlovian reflex. Yeah, having Taki in a game is just like having a direct link to a Porn Hub video. Big tiddies scary, huh?
 

Nocturno999

Member
I like fan service depending on the game's context.

I like Soul Calibur's Ivy and Taki designs, but I don't think they would work in a more "serious" setting.

Also, I like Mika and Laura voluptuous look in SFV, but I don't like that most women in that game look like table dancers.
 
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Azelover

Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.
When I was a kid I didnt have a clue about any of this adult stuff.

I remember I used to like a bloody anime. I was about 8 at the time. My parents and teachers were concerned the show was too violent. And I swear to God I did not see any violence..

A couple of years ago I tried to watch it again, and the show was a bleeding mess. Blood every fucking where, and guts, and even eyes being punctured and removed.

Children have no clue about anything..
 
People who get mad at the lack of it these days need to get a life. we have pornhub now, & sexy women aren't the reason why video games from that era were so good.
Besides, there are still some games with fanservice these days like GG Strive & Senran Kagura (find it embarassing i even know about the latter franchise)
Are you implying we didn't have porn then? What kind of stupid argument is this?
 
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skeebs

Member
I'm a big fan of lewdness and sexual imagery in video games. It's unfortunate that the puritanical right-wing parental groups from the 90's who sought to have video games censored have simply been replaced in modern day by far-left, third-wave feminists who falsely claim that sexualizing women is somehow misogynistic and supposedly has real-life negative implications (the vast majority of peer-reviewed studies indicate that it doesn't). Obviously not all video games need or even should have sexual imagery. But I think the market is big enough to still cater at some level to those of us who appreciate it. For example; there could be options in game settings to change or tone down the sexual content (i.e. Bayonetta 3).

And yes, I'm aware that pornhub exists and no, I have no interest in it. Not everyone who appreciates sexual expression in video games is looking to rub one out. It's annoying when people present this argument because it's akin to saying "Why don't you just watch action movies instead of playing action video games?"
Someone correct me if I’m wrong but it wasn’t conservatives who pushed for game censorship in the 90s and 00s. Even Jack Thompson enemy of GTA billed himself as conservative socially but was not conservative politically.
 
Someone correct me if I’m wrong but it wasn’t conservatives who pushed for game censorship in the 90s and 00s. Even Jack Thompson enemy of GTA billed himself as conservative socially but was not conservative politically.
You are not wrong. From a legislative perspective, it was mostly democrats who led the senate hearings on video game sexual content and violence during the 90's before the creation of the ESRB. I just also remember a lot of Christian right-wing parental groups that would get on Fox News and talk about how video games were making their kids violent and exposing them to "adult sexual content." Remember Fox News' nickname "SexBox?"
 
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