Is it wrong for video game characters to be attractive?

[Queen of Hamsters]

As a woman, I prefer attractive male main characters... or female, for that matter. It might be shallow, but I can appreciate "ugly" characters as well... Michael Wincott was my first ever actor crush when I was 15. Even my mom asked me "... why??". Heh!



For some reason, John Marston is called ugly by many characters in RDR and I'm perplexed... he be fine looking! His son did NOT inherit his father's good looks though.


It isn't wrong other than in the minds of people MAKING it a problem... It's been true for entertainment for a loooooong time, good-looking characters are welcome.

It is equally not wrong if a character is designed ugly, the story is what makes or breaks a character and pretty doesn't equal good character development *cough* Michael Bay movie female characters *cough*...

[Halyon]

HahahaHAHAHAHA! No? It does get boring when it's common though.
@Rorcanna; He looks pretty nice actually, has a deep voice too. I remember him from The Crow when I was younger. He also voiced Death in Darksiders 2!

[Mister Cheese]

https://assets.vg247.com/current//2017/01/the_legend_of_zelda_breath_of_the_wild_switch-8.jpg

Those fucking eyebrows.

[minteK917]

She's underaged you perv.

Shes 117 years old.

[Astalnar]

Let's be honest, catering to the market should be always priority number one. Certain genres have predominantly female audience (those point and click adventure/misteries) while other genres have predominantly male audience (any AAA game). Different tastes and all that.

Sex sells, that's it. To say that video games are any less respected because of that than for example films, literature, or music would be a blatant lie. All other mediums use sex to sell their product, games are no different. Developers are free to do whatever they like, and the market is free to respond to it in whatever manner it sees fit. If people like it they'll buy it, if they don't they won't.

[khazmodan]

it is wrong and im totally against the squarification of women...

[Alfakennyone]

Depends.


Do you find these characters attractive? Then we might have issues.. lol

[zephid]

There is nothing wrong with attractive characters.

[ryanmahaffe]

Fuck no, I am actually going to do my senior project on the falsehoods of sexist game characters and over sexualized game characters being "wrong"

[Spiral Mage]

Any one dumb enough to be like "games are only for horny teens lulz" is too stupid to be worth having a conversation with anyway, so. Furthermore, what is the alternative? Every character should be made purposely ugly? What is that really going to accomplish? We play games to immerse into fantasy, and in fantasy, we look like badasses and the other gender looks hot to us. (Or the same gender, in the event of.)

It's a very important aspect of character design, to assure that the characters more or less adhere to one of the two following, (1) Are attractive to the player, because again, what is the alternative? They'll be disgusted by them? (2) Their look fits who they are in the story, obviously someone who's been horribly tortured or has been subject to cruelty their whole lives, will likely look the part in the game, with a revolting appearance.

Most importantly, either due to them fitting their role, or being made intentionally "attractive". We, as players, will prefer games where we are drawn to or can relate to the characters more often than not. The main guy/girl looks like the player wishes they did, or atleast wouldn't mind looking like -- and the other potential 'partner' gender, is attractive. Or when they are not, the player can understand why they look the way they do from the story/thematics of the game.

Connections are formed when we find appeal in the characters we are presented with, this translates to a more positive experience with the game and also, translates to more successful sales and more positive reviews.

Characters are the very core of every game, so they have to be a very good part of it.

Beauty is also subjective, I don't find all the girls in the images posted attractive .. so your opinion there-of, differs from mine. By my standards, a few of those characters were made "unattractive", so.

It isn't wrong to make *every* aspect of the game appealing to the player. And over every other aspect, characters are front and center, therefore, are of the utmost importance to be viewed as relate-able/attractive to the players.

[Dezerte]

No. I think opting to deliberately designing unattractive characters undermines the whole supposed reason (i.e. diversity). A diverse cast has all kinds of characters, attractive, unattractive and everything in-between. In the end artistic vision is the final deciding factor, but if you're going to claim diversity you need to actually live up to that claim I feel.

[May90]

I think complaining about either attractive or ugly video game characters is silly. Every developer has their vision on what their characters should look like. Let them decide.

[Lisa Frank Succubus]

She's underaged you perv.

No switch to play BOTW yet but isn't she 17? 16 is legal in a ton of countries and even in many places in the US and getting upset over the age of a fictional video game character is really kind of pointless.


And no I don't find a problem with video game characters being attractive,its not something I even think or get upset over.

[Yunru]

I think complaining about either attractive or ugly video game characters is silly. Every developer has their vision on what their characters should look like. Let them decide.

I prefer to make my own character. Like the Oblivion character creation. (where you can create your character to be ugly as heck and then you give him high personality and everyone loves it)

[Halicia]

Has anyone mentioned that at least one of the OP's pictures is simply CG of a real person ?

[Vankrys]

it's not wrong, but it depend on the game.

I mean video game aren't real, they are make believe worlds and stories, a way to escape our reality and be the hero we will never be in real life, why is it wrong to have them starring dashing, gorgeous protagonist?

Of course, there is nothing wrong with the opposite either, it's an art direction choice.

John Shepard from mass effect is in the military, special forces at that, he should be in top physical condition.
Joel from the last of us on the other end is supposed to feel weary but strong and protective.
Not to mentioned they are many way to make your skyrim character totally non attractive.


Loosely related, i was thinking the other day, in the mythology, medusa is supposed to be absolutely hideous. Why are then some depiction of her (not all) actually be gorgeous women with snake hair

[Krawu]

People have always designed fictional characters in such a way that they're attractive - at least according to the tastes of the time. Remember all the nude statues and oil paintings from before there were movies and video games. Think of characters like Betty Boop or Jessica Rabbit. And now video games have joined the fray.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Geralt is love.

I'd hug a Kekimura and wrestly with a Zeugl to have those abs :P.

[Champagne Supernova]

I'm either way. I dislike games that tend to have Ass and titties hanging out 24/7, Tera for example. But like character customization for facial features and other sliders in order to not look like Sloth from the Goonies.

[Daedius]

Fuck what people think, fuck what the SJW-PC crowd wants -- let game devs design how they want it to look. They shouldn't be 'forced' to change their imagery just because of a bunch of insecure halfwits that got nothing better to do in their miserable lives, whom resort to this "crusade" to give themselves a meaning for their sorry existence.