No, I said society in general doesn't go on shooting sprees all the time, but casual sexism remains a rampant problem that affects women on a daily basis.
That is not the fault of games, but rather games reflect that ingrained culture and society. Games are a mirror to this behavior and reinforce it, while not necessarily being the cause of it. It's the symptom, not the root...
... But sometimes it's alright to at least address the symptoms along the way.
Sure, entertainment is often a reflection of the culture at large. There is an obvious attraction to many people by the things that are depicted in this game, or similar depictions in other pieces of work. Here's the thing though - i'm not going to sit here & label anything in this game anything as flagrant as being 'casually sexist'. Are you gonna sit here & tell me that all, or even the majority, of women are only capable of enjoying a piece of entertainment if it has depictions that they closely resemble? Thats ludicrous.
Are there some women (& men)who won't or refuse to play a game that features scantily clad characters? ABSOLUTELY! But that doesn't mean the creator suddenly HAS to change their approach. They can, its their prerogative to do so, but they don't have to.
Women in general.
Just because something is fictitious doesn't mean it doesn't matter. Some of the most influential acts of history were found in works of fiction, and great reform and revolution started through fiction. Uncle Tom's Cabin, Invisible Man, The Jungle... fiction, but life-changing.
Fiction can and does impact the world at large.
Like you said earlier, creative works are usually a reflection of the world around them. These works are all already inspired by the current events the person who created them lived through. Are they important? Yes. Did these creators make these works independent of their reality & their observances of it? Absolutely not. And just because some work CAN transcend the majority of most fictional work and reinforce change & observances that already occurring in the culture around them when they were created, doesn't mean all work SHOULD.
Capcom is making a fighting game to sell for profit, with zero aspirations for anything anywhere near as noble.
True, you can't do a Hadoken in real life (to my knowledge), but some things, such as a leering portrayal of women or an emphasis on female sex traits, definitely establish that what they're showing isn't "outside of reality"... it's the norm for video games. It's the expectation. Big, busty, scantily clad women vastly out-populate sensible, realistically sized ones by a large margin. And, even if YOU turn to gaming entertainment to escape into a world where sexist portrayals are okay, WOMEN play games too... and they don't escape anything. it's in the real world and the video game world.
I mean, the same thing could be said about pigeon-holed depictions of the ideal male form as well, something SFV constantly reinforces with no mention from anyone. This game offers zero realistic depiction of anyone, regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation. Heck, they are all 3D rendered anime characters; cartoons if you will. Even if we stick to the conversation of JUST its depiction of women, SFV actually excels in showing a variety of female body types, and even goes one step further by showing them in positive lights, particularly those depiction which are typically considered 'non-idolized'.
Who am I talking about, exactly? Laura & R. Mika. R. Mika is very provocative, but she also has the build of a heavy-body builder, a form that is not typically considered to be overly attractive in western media. Here, they take the idea of the female body builder, keep the features that exemplify that body type, and reinforce its femininity & sexuality. In that sense, it actually potentially opens the eyes of the audience for a body type being sexual that they usually have zero exposure to or interest in.
Then, theres Laura. One thing zero people make mention of when it comes to Laura is that she is a 'curvy' woman. Look at her regular outfits & default outfits. We don't see a lot of muscular tone. Her mid-section & hips are even bigger than the majority of the female cast by a noticeable margin. However, she still retains her sexuality & femininity, even though she doesn't approach the status of fighting-super-model that Chun-Li & Cammy do.
Cammy is actually a fantastic example in retrospect of a character design that challenged the ideal feminine form. Sure, not in 2016, but in 1993 when she was first launched, Cammy came out in a western world where the culture was JUST BEGINNING to switch from focusing on large breasts & cleavage, to attractive butts. Its easy to forget, but the idea of 'sexy butts' is something that is only 20 some-odd-years old in the western world. Look back on ads & magazines, and it was all about breasts & cleavage. Cammy not only didn't have a large chest, but her character showcased something that wasn't held to the same value that it is today.
Nope. But it doesn't hurt to ask and, inversely, it doesn't hurt to listen. You don't have an obligation to do anything, but it's sometimes wise to listen to feedback.
I write comics, and the feedback I've received has opened my eyes to bias and prejudice I never knew I had before.
Bioware once admitted they had a huge romance planned for one of their games and all the men were on board... until some of their female developers spoke to them and said it wasn't appropriate. All the men didn't even think of it as harmful or inappropriate, but when the women explained their grievances, they admitted it absolutely was problematic and needed to be changed.
Some devs do listen to certain feedback, others don't. Doesn't mean they all should, have to, or will. Its not a question of 'will it hurt the title if they do?', from the creators standpoint, its more 'do I care about this at all?'. Capcom clearly doesn't. And good for them that they don't. Is there a dev in this genre that is listening to these same complains? YES! NRS is. I'd be more sympathetic to what you're saying if NRS wasn't doing what they're doing, but they are listening to the voices that are throwing these complaints out there, so there is a venue for those people.
Well I will. "Like what you like" is not a valid excuse. Pedophiles like what they like (extreme example). When what you "like" affects someone else in a negative way, what you "like" is inappropriate and should be challenged.
No, but it reinforces a standard countless millions are sick of.
Okay, its a problem for SOME. Some people don't like this, not all. Tons others do, and the ones who do do-so regardless of gender. Suffice it to say, tons of women enjoy watching the female form as much as men, for a variety of reasons. Are you saying that people are looking at these depictions of cartoons and holding them as a standard against real life?
'Like what you like' is absolutely valid, as long as it isn't harming anyone. Again, are you saying that millions of people are harmed by the depiction of these characters in such a way? They can be perturbed by it; there are millions/billions of people who do not like things that are enjoyed by millions/billions of people. But are these outfits really causing any harm to ANYBODY?