OK, now who really believes that this game will have any kind of an affect on most peoples perceptions of obesity? OK, now who thinks there are any video games that exist that do not rely on stereotypes of some kind? Sheesh. BTW I am not a hater. fill in the blank.

Try looking for a Japanese game called “Duel Love” where you get to towel the sweaty bodies of teenage boy athletes :)

I know of a couple of hardcore gamers who would be mad at me for saying something like that, is the sad thing. They secretly think of gaming as some sort of magical boys club where they can hang out and it’s all about straight guys, and they can stay away from people who terrify them, like gays and women and sympathizers of gays and women. They need to wise up, so hard. Seriously, if men want an “all straight dudes, all the time” space, they can either get a damn clubhouse and put a “no girls allowed” sign on it, or do what all the other bigots do and join the KKK. Either way they can stay out of an entertainment form meant for ALL to enjoy, and which I have been since I was little so they can stuff it about how they started on the original NES, because shit, so did everybody.

Not that it ever frustrates me or makes me feel bitter, or anything, or that girl gamers ever get comments if they dare to let it be known they game (cough except all the time cough).

For example, from a strictly visual standpoint, I can tell you that even games which are otherwise gender-neutral are made for men and men alone. World of Warcraft is completely fair to both sexes when it comes to power, ability, and the socio-political aspects of the game’s world. But the characters? And their outfits and gear? Holy shit, forget it.

If gaming companies want to design their games so that the players are looking at eye-candy the whole time (because of course that adds to the experience of battling to the death somehow), I fully support their right and desire to do so… just, for goodness sakes, could the people who are attracted to MEN have something to look at too?

Put a piece of armor on a male character in that game, and it covers him from head to toe. Put that SAME piece of armor on a female character, and it looks like a thong bikini. And the character designs themselves… the male characters have rough, unattractive facial features and blocky, un-balanced looking hulk bodies (think a poorly made Ken doll). The females? All but the dwarves and gnomes are thin, svelte, and leggy (yet wielding hammers as big as they are with their stick arms and running with them on spindly legs). The dwarves are stocky but with an hourglass figure. And even the tiny gnome women, who are too squat to have much of a discernible figure, have enormous breasts relative to their size.

It’s ridiculous. Console games aren’t any better. Monster Hunter Freedom II has been kidnapping my attention for some time now, and though the male and female characters are equal in attractiveness without their gear, there’s the same problem with clothing them, in which men must cover every bit of skin possible whilst the girls show every bit of skin possible. How it is that I can take down a giant, scaly, fanged beast with absolutely nothing covering my legs, when my boyfriend’s character needs giant jointed shields on his, astounds me with its lack of logic.

To sum it up: if I have to fight half-naked so fellows can stare at my pixellated ass, the least they can do is also fight half-naked, so I can stare at THEIR pixel-asses. SHEESH.

I DO NOT GET WHY THAT IS HARD TO GRASP. I MEAN, IF OBJECTIFICATION IS SUCH A GREAT THING FOR US WIMMINFOLK, WHY ARE MENZ NOT JUMPING RIGHT ON THAT BANDWAGON FOR US? SHOW SOME SKIN, GUYS. SRYSLY.

What is worse is how complacent people have become to blatantly discriminatory things such as this one.