The Rigged Slot Machine - Overwatch’s Female Character Creating Engine
Every time we criticize female sexualization in Overwatch, we’re sure to get at least a single reply along the lines of “What’s wrong with having ONE sexy assassin/pilot/etc. in the game?”, to which our answer would be “Nothing. But where’s that ONE person you’re talking about? We see a whole bunch. Also why no male character is coded unequivocally sexy with his design and/or clothes and/or posing and/or personality?”
I figured the best way to illustrate this is a rigged slot machine, in which slot devoted to describing character design lands on “sexy” 6 out of 8 times.
All heroes in the game have unique ethnic and cultural backgrounds, backstories and personalities. Most of them look quite diverse. The problem is that for women in Overwatch, more often than not,
the visual design compromises that in one way or another, in favor of making them conventionally attractive for the presumed cishet male gamer.
While a few of the game’s problems listed in old articles like this or this one got resolved by expanding the lineup, sadly, year and a half later
a lot of them remain true.
You know what’s great about this? If a game came out with really ugly female characters who were all fat and just fugly as get out they’d complain that horrible people are making women out to be grotesque and dehumanizing them. There’s literally no point in pandering, or even listening to, SJW rhetoric. Ever.
Pretty sure 90% of the male overwatch characters could be described like the OP did. But if she did that she wouldn’t have anything to bitch about.
OH. Also note that OP breaks down every character into ‘sexy’ if they’re remotely attractive. Note how they have two women in full body outfits, Mercy and Pharra, as ‘sexy’.
Lets be brutally honest here. OP boils down all women by how they look, lumps different body types into one ‘sexy’ category and thinks that being attractive is ‘sexy’ and thus shameful.
OP is a sexist sack of shit.
Speaking as a woman, I cannot stand this backlash against attractive, physically fit women in video games. Like, NO ONE wants to talk about the fact that male video game characters are also often modeled to be unreasonably attractive. People just like looking at attractive characters. And besides–what message are you sending to female gamers when you vilify beautiful women? You make it seem like there’s something wrong with being pretty, or that attractiveness and personality/strength/intelligence are mutually exclusive. Women can be beautiful AND powerful. They should also be allowed to be stylish, and look sleek. And if they’re running around on a battlefield trying to stay alive, guess what? They’re probably going to be in decent shape, too.
Stop trying to police video game characters out of your own jealousy and bitterness. If all you care about in a female character is her face and body, YOU’RE the ones objectifying her.
IS THIS SACK OF SHIT IMPLYING THAT ZARYA AND MEI AREN’T SEXY???
@ op: ya’ll know hanzo literally got his titty out, right? and that genji’s ass is literally out in the open? and have you seen reaper’s thighs?
