Is anyone bothered by the amount of scantily-clad women in video games?

I admit I am kind of bothered by the overabundance of scantily-clad female characters in gaming.

World of Warcraft is particularly notorious for this. Choices for female armour include lots of bikini armour. Granted, you can make a more modestly-dressed female, but the company advertises its bikini-clad characters as if they were Playboy models. But the thing is, uglier races like Dwarves get more conservative women's armour, because no one wants to see hairy Dwarf-woman legs.

Final Fantasy is another big offender. It seems like it's hard to find a young female character whose outfit isn't fanservice-y. Terra's outfit from Final Fantasy VI is bad. Yunalesca wears a metal bikini. And Fran from Final Fantasy XII wears extremely fetish-y armour, not to mention her entire race wears exposed lingerie.

Even non-fantasy games are guilty of it. Lara Croft is a sex symbol of video games for obvious reasons. And there are plenty of others. Of course, E-rated games tend to avoid this, since it's considered nudity.

What would be a solution? One logical solution is to have a greater variety of female character costumes. Have "women's armour" not be a synonym for "bikini". Or, better yet, do away with female-only armour altogether.

The only other solution I could think of is there to have male characters be scantily-clad as well. Usually it's just an ugly orc or fat man in a loincloth or something, but I've found examples of attractive human males wearing very little. Final Fantasy has a few. For example, the armor that some of the Dalmascan soldiers wear in Final Fantasy XII exposes their navels, their arms, and most of their legs.

I think this might have to do with the fact that video game developers are mostly male, and usually they're the ones in charge of character designs. Woe to the women who work as character designers - you want your female lead to wear a sensible T-shirt and slightly loose pants, but then the other guys are insisting that the female lead should wear a bikini.

What are your thoughts on the overabundance of scantily-clad women in video games?

TBH it used to bother me too - my normally dormant feminist side flared every time Yuna (from FFXII) waltzed onscreen in barely anything. But I started thinking: you know, there really aren't many females that I know of who play these sorts of games, and that in and of itself is a generalization for gamers so it can't just be my area. Then it occurred to me that the people who play these video games are traditionally and pre-dominantly hetero males...which means that throwing in some half-naked ladies is really just fan service. And honestly, if it makes the gamers happy, who am I to care? Really, these women are more than just eye candy, they're also strong women who kick a lot of butt.

I'm a girl gamer myself, and seeing scantily clad ladies is too distracting. I prefer ladies who are a bit more modest in their attire.

It's weird, though: in Anarchy Online (an MMORPG that I play), there is female armor, but there's usually no gender restrictions, so male characters could wear them. Even weirder, some bikini/thong clothing don't have gender requirements either, which caused a running gag among AO players concerning thongs and the genderless yet masculine-looking Atrox race (they're the super strong race in the game). I'd rather not post a pic as it may look too disturbing for many viewers.

Depends on the age-rating of the game for me. If it's under 9, then no, the women in the video game should be dressed properly, not in skin-tight outfits or tiny bikinis, etc. However, if the video game is aimed at children 9 and over, I believe some shortage of clothing should be somewhat acceptable. However, their are some outfits which are just outrageous, and really shouldn't be shown in anything except a 16+ video game. I remember back when I was about six years old, when I played Dragon Quest XIII, one of the main characters, Jessica, had quite a few outfits that you could make her wear. For a six year old, this really meant nothing, but now that I think of it, I was a six year old playing with a character in a bunny costume and a bikini.

I find it somewhat annoying and insulting.

To be quite honest even if I am a girl this doesn't bother me at all, unless it's a case like Ivy from Soul Caliber. Cause in my opinion that's just excessive, and no longer eye candy. So I find it acceptable up to a certain point really.

Y'know, it doesn't really matter to me. It's just a video game, after all.

It bothers me when every single female character in a game is scantily clad and sexed up and no male characters are. I think that sends a bad signal whether the players are male or female: to me that implies that women have to be sexually appealing to be successful. Maybe I'm reading into things too much though, I don't know.

At any rate, I think it's a problem when there are wildly different levels of male and female near nudity and fan service.

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Originally Posted by Meulin Leijon

Depends on the age-rating of the game for me. If it's under 9, then no, the women in the video game should be dressed properly, not in skin-tight outfits or tiny bikinis, etc. However, if the video game is aimed at children 9 and over, I believe some shortage of clothing should be somewhat acceptable. However, their are some outfits which are just outrageous, and really shouldn't be shown in anything except a 16+ video game. I remember back when I was about six years old, when I played Dragon Quest XIII, one of the main characters, Jessica, had quite a few outfits that you could make her wear. For a six year old, this really meant nothing, but now that I think of it, I was a six year old playing with a character in a bunny costume and a bikini.

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...That's just Akira Toriyama being the well-known jokster-pervert that he is. The Dragon Quest games are full of silly crap like that which can be chalked up mostly to cultural differences. You haven't noticed on more recent playthroughs of the whole "puff-puff" thing? Present in some fashion in every Dragon Quest, though the early NES ones had those bits translated out when they were localized. Also, there's a wandering demon out there in DQVIII that is literally called the Pelvic Thruster. Take a wild guess what his idle animation was every five seconds or so >.>

Akira Toriyama has been the art director for the Dragon Quest series since the beginning. I think the staff consults him for a lot of the comic relief, too.

WoW's "bikini armor" was limited mostly to low level trash armor, the higher levels of armor and epic sets usually didn't have bikini sets. At most, some exposed midriffs.

On the flipside, most jrpg heroes are milk-drinking soppy pretty boys, so both sides get their eye candy in some cases.

TERA online would be a major offender in this case, World of Warcraft doesn't even come close. And I do mean a MAJOR offender, especially with females in the game (is that common with korean mmo's?).

As for if I'm sometimes bothered by this, I can be, yes, especially if they go overboard with it.

I only find it irritating when the bodies the humanoid characters have are consistently naturally impossible more often than I find the clothing itself irritating, but that's a discussion for another time. There are plenty of female gamers (surveys have found just as many as males, in a lot of cases; I am happy to find these specifically once I get a stable internet connection back) and this sort of fanservice still appears more with female characters than males. Were it a two-way thing, I wouldn't care at all, but it does make me a little bit uncomfortable and age limits or no age limits, these games do end up played by kids who, with no other guidance, at least, may end up desensitised to (or even expectant of) impossible physiques and skimpy clothing. That, to my mind, doesn't sit right.

I have no problems with it. It's a game, and there are many female characters with questionable outfits that are memorable for other reasons, such as personality or strength.

Ashe in Final Fantasy XII had one of the shortest skirts possible and such, but she really shone as a strong, independent character (who didn't even really need a love interest), and that can apply somewhat for others like Tifa in Final Fantasy VII as well. Personally, I think Serah in XIII-2 also applies.

And there is indeed some fan service for female players as well. Why else did Tidus need a shirtless alternate costume in Dissidia 012, after all? Maybe it's not a proportionate distribution of fanservice, but from my female perspective, I don't really see that as a problem.

Oh no it's sexist! :(

But seriously, I don't care, it's just virtual eye candy, nothing to up in arms about. Now, if it was naked children, then I'd have a problem.

It's 50/50 for me, I don't mind the sex appeal just as long as they don't go overboard with it like in Final Fantasy or Warcraft.

I play fighting games. No one I know can take them seriously because of this.