Time and Character types

[anon]

There is one elephant in the room here, which would be that Japanese culture is terrifyingly sexist. It's not particularly weird that most games would be made by young men for young men. And that is also why there's all that subset of media made by young women for young women. It's a culture where males and females are basically two separate worlds that never meet. You can't really expect something to be made by said men-dominated software houses to treat female fans fairly, all considered, as much as it pains me to acknowledge it.

Personally, I consider any media to be fair game in that sense when it has good characters which are both male and female. I accept fanservice, but just if it's for both genders. Any nasty move, and not only they can forget my money, but I'll also tell people to avoid whatever the thing in question is so the makers can be actively punished. Take that.

Sorry for the off topic.

Anything "sexist" is pretty much a difference of cultures. Haha, I'm not saying I disagree with you there and there's a lot of stuff that makes me shake my head, but just saying you can't exactly use the same type of judgment cross-culturally.

[Todd]

Ugh, you girls, don't get me started! I watched the e3 presentation a couple years ago when they revealed the 3DS and pretty much exploded. (If you know what I'm talking about...) They had a line of girls, who all looked very similar, with the 3DS attached to their hip. Clearly CLEARLY catering to a male audience. WELL EXCUSE ME, NINTENDO. FOR BEING FEMALE AND PLAYING VIDEO GAMES. Honestly, I lost a lost of respect for Nintendo of America at that moment.

Not too mention, there is just way too much of the catering to the straight male demographic in the way video games are marketed and even the characters. Sometimes I think that Japan "does it right" when there are games that are marketed solely towards women and young girls. Except that there's very little variety in their genres, these days.

I just too often feel like an outcast with my tastes... ;-;

Nintendo was at the GameStop manager conference I went to, and they were telling us plans of marketing toward women and young girls this holiday! They have lots of games like Cooking Mama and design and Barbie games coming out. I think you guys will be pleasantly surprised.

I do agree the mass majority of the video game industry tries to appeal to a straight male fanbase though. It's sad.

[Mikari]

cooking and Barbie? No thanks... I want to make something blow up! But yay for the effort I guess?

[Vii]

cooking and Barbie? No thanks... I want to make something blow up! But yay for the effort I guess?

^seconded~ I also like making things go boom. And they don't even have to explode into sparkles (though I enjoy that too!)

DO NOT FRET, MY WONDERFUL MIKARI. ONE DAY... ONE DAY THEY SHALL UNDERSTAND US!

[Mikari]

Yes, we won't lose hope!

[Destinie]

cooking and Barbie? No thanks... I want to make something blow up! But yay for the effort I guess?

^seconded~ I also like making things go boom. And they don't even have to explode into sparkles (though I enjoy that too!)

DO NOT FRET, MY WONDERFUL MIKARI. ONE DAY... ONE DAY THEY SHALL UNDERSTAND US!

INDEED. :I Even though I like cute things and cooking, I also enjoy genres with beefy guys and explosions.

[dubiousdisc]

Mostly there's the entire idea of marketing things to weeeeemeeeen that I want to kick their guts out of whoever thought that was a good idea. Todd, had I been at your place I would have probably exploded. No joke, I would have gotten into serious trouble if I know myself.

To be honest I find it degrading in itself to have to state that "just because I'm a woman" this or that... I don't like bam boom action stuff at all, but again - so does my father, a fifty-something man, and my father doesn't have to make up excuses for anyone. As long as we feel like we have to say "I'm a woman BUT" we're still losing.

Joe: Well, then can we call it...gross disrespect of an entire gender with an expected infantilization of women that is basically saying that the more you act like someone who isn't a fully-developed, consenting person the more desirable you are? ...Sexism for short??
I don't know, isn't any situation in which there is gender-based discrimination something like that regardless of culture? But I care so little for terms, so if you have something better to describe it, go on. I don't like the word sexism anyway but it was the most accessible one.

[Destinie]

Mostly there's the entire idea of marketing things to weeeeemeeeen that I want to kick their guts out of whoever thought that was a good idea. Todd, had I been at your place I would have probably exploded. No joke, I would have gotten into serious trouble if I know myself.

To be honest I find it degrading in itself to have to state that "just because I'm a woman" this or that... I don't like bam boom action stuff at all, but again - so does my father, a fifty-something man, and my father doesn't have to make up excuses for anyone. As long as we feel like we have to say "I'm a woman BUT" we're still losing.

Joe: Well, then can we call it...gross disrespect of an entire gender with an expected infantilization of women that is basically saying that the more you act like someone who isn't a fully-developed, consenting person the more desirable you are? ...Sexism for short??
I don't know, isn't any situation in which there is gender-based discrimination something like that regardless of culture? But I care so little for terms, so if you have something better to describe it, go on. I don't like the word sexism anyway but it was the most accessible one.

I see where you're coming from now. I think we all have different views and ideas on the topic.

And another thought: Why can't we just market to people who like to play video games (or anything else for that matter) instead of being gender-bias? Why can't we (as society or marketing companies) just say, "If you like X-game you might like Y-game." It gives more freedom to reach a greater market and lessens the chance of unintentionally excluding other people. Instead of being like "You are a woman/man/child/what-have-you so you must like [this thing]."

[Varen]

Guys, I'm really sorry to stop (and start, since I brought it up first) the conversation, but we *really* need to get back on topic here. XD Anyone is totally free to start a meaningful discussion about sexism in the General forum, or if we want to talk about games in general, then in the Video Game forum. But please remember that this is about characters in our fansites.

[Destinie]

You're right, thanks for ringing it back in, Varen. >_<