For those of you who have heard my talks and
read this before, I
apologize!
Avatar representation is always a hot-button issue. Whenever I talk about it, some guy always says, "Well, they exaggerate male characters as much as female characters and *I* don't get offended. Girls are just too sensitive and should just get over it!"
In some ways he's right, and in some ways he's wrong.
An avatar is a representation of the user in the virtual environment. When we select something to represent us, we want that person to be a hero. In our culture today "heros" have certain characteristics. They are young, strong, and virile/fertile.
These traits manifest themselves physically.
In the male physique, that means broad shoulders, slender waist and hips, large legs and arms, and long, thick hair.
For the female figure, it's large breasts
placed high on the chest,
slender waist, long thick hair, round derriere.
So we do exaggerate these things on both the male and female characters, because these things say, "I am a hero."
But with female characters, there is something
else that is also
exaggerated.
On the female characters we will also see
an exaggeration of those
physical signals that indicate sexual arousal and sexual receptivity.
In
other words, on the female characters, we not only exaggerate those traits
that say "I'm a hero" but also those traits that say, "I'm
ready for sex RIGHT NOW."
What are those traits? Any "Introduction to Human Sexuality 101" course will tell you that the human body has several physical manifestations that indicate when we are sexually aroused.
When the human body is ready for sex, a blood rush to the face makes the lips fuller and redder and the eyelids thicker and heavier. Also breathing will become faster (which in art is represented by open mouth), and the nipples will become erect.
In female characters, not only are the "heroic" traits exaggerated, but these traits which show sexual arousal are also exaggerated. Once exaggerated the female character will also be dressed in a manner to emphasize and draw attention to those traits (chainmail bikinis, etc) and she will be posed in a such as way as to indicate she is receptive to sex.
The interesting point is, the male body exhibits the EXACT same traits when ready for sex – the nipples, the lips, the eyes and, of course, one additional indicator – but we NEVER see those exaggerated on our male characters!!
So, the game industry says, "Here, girls,
you get to be represented by
this character who's ready for sex all the time" and yet would never
THINK of doing that to its male characters.
And why is this different from Cosmo magazine? Because when a woman reads Cosmo and looks at those sexualized women, she thinks "Wow.. if I use that perfume.. I can look JUST like that WHEN *I* WANT TO!" In other words, she can look like that at her choice!
We do not give our female players that choice
in our games. It's be
hypersexualized or be male. That's it. And, just as guys are uncomfortable
looking at hypersexualized male pictures (and if you don't believe they
are uncomfortable, come to one of my talks some day! ;) females are likewise
uncomfortable looking at and being asked to identify with a hypersexualized
female character. Instead, they simply don't play the game.
Does this mean make our female avatars unattractive?
NO!!!!!! Just the
opposite! You want your players to be heros! Make them Heroic! Make them
young, strong and fertile... JUST DON'T HYPERSEXUALIZE THEM!
Anyway, I guess the answer is to give our
players a choice in their
character creation.... but isn't that usually the answer to most game
design questions?? ;)
Gender Inclusive Game Design: Expanding the Market