Krystal in Need for Speed ProStreet

Female archetypes haven't come very far though have they? 29 years after Grease was made, we're still relegating women to the scarf dropping race start girls. Yeeeah sure, you could argue that the NFS games of late have had girl racers... but for the most part, they're there to wander up and hang their FMV boobs through your window while they tell you how hot and fast you are for beating them at the race.

One of our game designers was recently writing a thesis on gender in games, and picked up a NFS game to find an example of a strong female character. Disappointment. :P

Come to think of it, what strong female protagonists are there in games that haven't had the "boob physics, sex kitten" treatment?

I wonder if, as girls become a more and more viable demographic in games, we'll see something like "package physics", to realistically simulate the unrealistically sized heroic wang of the sexy hero as he runs and jumps around.

Ugh.

Also, she looks like she's just been hit upside the head with a shovel. ;P

Scott.

How much did you expect humans to have evovled in 29 years?

How much did you expect humans to have evovled in 29 years?

Feminism is alive and well :$

The best chick in a game I know of for me was the detective in Indigo Prophecy.... but she was HOT man, probably one of the sexiest characters Ive seen. I can't necessarily agree that its a bad thing though.

I've alllllllways been judged on the women I draw, even by Rez himself a couple of years ago :) and fair enough because all I draw is idealistic women. But why do I draw women that way? the answer is simply because i love them to death. Women have always been my favourite muse, I love the way they walk, their shape, their voices, they're freaken mood swings, everything, and most of all, I love how a woman can fall into almost any emotion and not be judged the same way as men are.

Yeah sure Rambo cried but if he did that more than once in first blood then it wouldn't have been the same (love that movie) Women however are allowed to show constant frailty, and its the reason most of my novels have female leads. My characters I try to make savage, emotional, insecure, stern, proud, frustrated, repressed, dominant, reserved, loud, and just plain schizos, whatever I can make them. But I also make them as physically beautiful to me as I can, and I do that simply because I love them.

But the thing is, when I draw men, I draw them the same way, idealistically. I draw them with completely unachievable physiques, overly muscular or tapered, and the majority of concept artists do the same. The difference is in this Western world at least the ideal man is strong, the ideal woman is beautiful. Iif you analyse half the male characters in games you'll find just as much thought has gone into them as has gone into this Krystal chicky here, and I guarantee the NFS players are going to be remembering her long after they forget the paper cutout who was driving the car. Seriously I don't think too many male characters are that impressive at all when you think of it that way. Kratos was cool, and I like how Freeman's a geek, but neither ain't got nothin on Ripley (and yes I am aware she's a movie character).

the 'wang package' as Rez put it just ain't an attractive thing. It is ALWAYS emphasised, has been ever since the dawn of self awareness, even before breasts, but it will never be made animate like breasts because neither men nor women think of it as an attractive thing, its solely utilitarian. I've always tended to have close female friends and one thing I've noticed with almost all of them is that in digital media, they appreciate the female form a lot more than the man's. They say "she's hot" or "he's cool". They say "she's cool" as well, but never "he's hot"

My point is I don't think its so much the size of their breasts rather than the lack of substance to their character that is the problem, but thats the same with men, its just a different perspective, why? because men just aren't hot. it's why we wear suits and not dresses. I have no issue at all with women being drawn idealistically just like I don't care if the men are as well, that's how I like to see them. In Eve, my avatar was a chick, because if I was going to be looking at a single face for god knows how many months I'd much rather it be a good looking female (though granted I've made her look hell brooding and spiteful as well, I love my Tszyuu, she's awesome).

Yes there aren't many great female characters but you don't make a good one by making them ugly, and the thing is the men ALSO need to have substance to their character as well because without it, people would just rather look at the women. If a female character is present solely for titillation, I cant say I have too much of a problem with it the same way I don't have a prob with a dude being present solely to hold a big ass gun and cigar. With both those characters however I personally soon lose interest, .but hey if someone here was actually impressed by the dude they played in Wolfenstein more than they were with the hot ass Elite Guard then hey, its your bag.