Yep. At least some blogs do a h/t for most of the trending Neogaf threads.
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Overwatch's Laughably Convenient Ageism / Sexism
- Thread starter mindsale
- Start date
Yep. At least some blogs do a h/t for most of the trending Neogaf threads.
Wow... internet journalism
Doctor Ironic
Member
Sure, but then maybe a tenth of the audience is attractive enough to get modeling gigs.
Male Overwatch characters are allowed to look unattractive, female ones are not. Like I said, Blizzard made one progressive step in noticing that there are multiple kinds of attractive body types, but then stopped there, as every female character can fit that. People bring up Zarya all the time like it's not possible to be attractive as a pink-haired bodybuilder? Wha?
More creative character designs in future updates would probably do it. For all the praise Overwatch gets for its colorful characters, the cast is shockingly unoriginal.
You say "dismantling of current DLC plans" like its a bad thing. That's why it's in development - because it's still subject to change.
The do the same in Chicago. It is what is in style. Mei happens to have Internet access and reads fashion blogs. Plus all her friends post similar photos on Instagram.
Talon-ception.
Yes, here's a google image search of "thermal leggings". No "perfectly ass hugging" quantifier necessary. Real life is laughably convenient, apparently.
veloxStrix
Banned
Every time thermals or yoga pants get brought up on here there is always at least one person who has no clue what they really are.
Punished Stallion
Banned
Don't bother me
old manatee
Banned
Everybody praised Overwatch's diverse cast, but it's actually on the same political correctness level as Street Fighter II.
I mean, it's also possible for a thick guy like Roadhog to be attractive (and he does have his share of porn fanart). None of the characters are straight up ugly I'd say.
I just assume the author figured with enough Talons one of the uses would be right. Or the author meant to edit it in post or something.
Eh, I would say Rose is older.
But yeah I agree, fighting games take the cake with this one.
I mean Look at Cammy... or any character in the Tekken universe
Talon must be the new Lorem Ipsum
Steve Youngblood
Member
Haha. I was having a conversation with Nirolak earlier where I suggested that we might be getting some progress on this front as I'd remember hearing that Kazumi Mishima was going to be in Tekken 7 (Kazuya's mother/Heihachi's wife). And then I did a quick Google search of her and said never mind.
Polioliolio
Member
Yeah, they could get some other aged characters in there.
But don't they all look young and healthy no matter how old they are supposed to be?
Older women are the only demographic to consistently avoid videogames. Even non living robot demographics enjoy videogames more than older women, apparently.
But don't they all look young and healthy no matter how old they are supposed to be?
Older women are the only demographic to consistently avoid videogames. Even non living robot demographics enjoy videogames more than older women, apparently.
That's quite apt, actually.
Not really. Diversity doesn't automatically correlate with political incorrectness. Really a reach, I see no offensive stereotyping going on.
Well that adds another element to the clips I've been watching
You see, she has devil blood in her which stops her from aging... I mean the guys have it too but... well it only works on women because... well.... wall combos.
In what universe does Reinhardt look young?
I mean he looks great for a 61 year old man, but young? Nah.
Thelonelykoopa
Member
I mean Roadhog will most likely get a swimwear skin down the line.
Dr. Buni
Member
That is pretty lame, but given how awful companies are when it comes to female characters, Blizzard has done a decent job with Overwatch, especially when it comes to diversity (two black women and no, Indian/Egyptian are not races, Pharah and Symmetra are black), an "overweight" woman (Mei) and a body builder (Zarya). Most companies would just make them all the usual "sexy" women you see in a lot of games. Not only that, but none of them are sexualized! Thanks for that, Blizzard, in fact, Pharah, Symmetra and Zarya are some of my favorite video game characters already.
As for Ana Amari (Pharah's mom), we don't know if she is dead and being "dead" didn't stop Gabriel Reyes (Reaper) and John Morrison (Soldier 76) from being playable. That said, if she is ever playable, I don't think they will make Ana Amari look her age either :| Oh well. All in all, the only thing that bothers when it comes to the women in Overwatch is Widowmaker, who have the worst design among the whole cast. She looks fine in her Noire costume, but sadly that isn't her default costume. It doesn't help she is also THE "no fun allowed" hero of the game. Welp.
As for Ana Amari (Pharah's mom), we don't know if she is dead and being "dead" didn't stop Gabriel Reyes (Reaper) and John Morrison (Soldier 76) from being playable. That said, if she is ever playable, I don't think they will make Ana Amari look her age either :| Oh well. All in all, the only thing that bothers when it comes to the women in Overwatch is Widowmaker, who have the worst design among the whole cast. She looks fine in her Noire costume, but sadly that isn't her default costume. It doesn't help she is also THE "no fun allowed" hero of the game. Welp.
SixMachine
Member
I don't think Mercy looking as good as she does should be such a surprise. A lot of women who almost hit 40 are still looking good these days compared to the past due to stuff like better diets, healthcare, lifestyle, etc. Marisa Tomei is 52 and she is still smoking hot as Aunt May, so I think Mercy has quite some time before she looks like
And yes those are two grandmas tied back to back and they do fight like that. Though Power Instinct is a gag fighting series, it's hilarious that their Ryu/Ken/Akuma/Heihachi are a pair of grandmas.
And yes those are two grandmas tied back to back and they do fight like that. Though Power Instinct is a gag fighting series, it's hilarious that their Ryu/Ken/Akuma/Heihachi are a pair of grandmas.
Amibguous Cad
Member
Well, basically all the male characters that are ostensibly unattractive also appeal to an audience probably about as niche (and queer coded) as Zarya. 76 is practically a silver fox, Junkrat's a twink, hulking shirtless dude plus gas mask is fetish bait, Winston appeals to furries.
Alternate hypothesis: they're all designed to be sexy or at least aesthetically appealing, but men have a wider array of ages and body types that can be considered appealing than women do with their strict beauty standards, so you end up with varied men and homogenous women. Which is why I think they do deserve credit for Zarya, in that it pushes an aesthetic that's at least different from the young and buxom look.
I would say widowmaker is definitely sexualized, but that alone doesn't make her design bad. I honestly think her design is overall great, especially her goggles/helm. Just my opinion.
Eh I wouldn't consider Symmetra black (by common meaning). There are several races that comprise the Indian population, and given the features she posses, I think it's clear that they were going for Dravidian.
But none of that is cut and dry as there are Afro-Dravidian people and the whole thing gets murky or blurry from there.
Overall I do agree with you, I think they've done a fantastic relative to the industry standards
I don't think anyone ever said it does. However, they've built a pretty diverse cast here except they have one conspicuous absence so the OP pointed it out. It's especially worth pointing out because Blizz twisted themselves into knots trying to justify why old women aren't actually old.
A Link to the Past
Banned
Yeah, this is really frustrating. It's the same deal in Street Fighter, where you have such a variety of age demographics ranging from younger people like Yun and Yang to centennial Oro. Yet, every woman in the game is young and attractive. What about an older women, in her 40s or 50s or even older than that?
No they didn't. Again, even without story reasons neither Tracer nor Mei would be older than Widowmaker.
Except SF2 is takes its stereotypes to the near-maximum you can without being blatantly offensive.
Overwatch is somewhat stereotypical.
Acerac
Banned
Yeah but... Street fighter is faaaaar worse than this game in that regard. They've had significant time passage (in time line, not just in release dates), and cammy sitll looks like this
While sakura and ibuki are the same age in every installment
Compare Ryu from Alpha to Third Strike and see how much he's aged relatively to the women
If Overwatch does a sequel that takes place 20 years in the future and all the characters have de-aged, then we can put it on the same level of Street Fighter
Mr. Pointy
Member
Yeah I noticed Overwatch did the fighting game thing and didn't include a woman over 40.
It's like someone in marketing told the designers that they all gotta be waifuable for some reason.
It's like someone in marketing told the designers that they all gotta be waifuable for some reason.
A better question is, why does it always have to represent the same people?
Because that's where we are now. The same people getting represented over and over, to the detriment of people who aren't getting represented.
I don't think Mercy looking as good as she does should be such a surprise. A lot of women who almost hit 40 are still looking good these days compared to the past due to stuff like better diets, healthcare, lifestyle, etc. Marisa Tomei is 52 and she is still smoking hot as Aunt May, so I think Mercy has quite some time before she looks like
And yes those are two grandmas tied back to back and they do fight like that. Though Power Instinct is a gag fighting series, it's hilarious that their Ryu/Ken/Akuma/Heihachi are a pair of grandmas.
Also, one of them is disqualified, as she has the power to turn herself into a young girl.
Keep forgetting which one.
...
I think you're onto something here, hell, Junkrat and Roadhog (twink and bara) are posed as team, they're totally ship baiting.
have you ever met an indian in your life? have you ever seen india on a map? you realize india is in asia, right? you realize it shares a border with china, right? are the chinese black? why are we not counting mei as a black woman? cuz apparently asians are black now.
Even with all the weird conveniences, the art style of Overwatch makes Mercy look pretty young. I didn't need Mei's cryogenic freezing backstory to believe someone looks like that at 31 when they have Mercy at 37 looking like she's a decade younger.
But yeah Blizzard has been hilariously two-faced about Overwatch's sexist portrayal of women. They say they didn't want to make a bunch of barbies in swimsuits but the one woman who isn't wearing an outfit emphasizing their figure is the fat one, who makes up 50% of the physically different female heroes. And when one guy called them out on one of Tracer's poses being just all ass they went to change it to the typical boob and ass shot feminists that criticized to death in all media.
If it took this long for gamers and journalists to have a discussion on Overwatch's sexism post release, then it does seem like the influence of feminism in gaming is waning, and that's depressing.
But yeah Blizzard has been hilariously two-faced about Overwatch's sexist portrayal of women. They say they didn't want to make a bunch of barbies in swimsuits but the one woman who isn't wearing an outfit emphasizing their figure is the fat one, who makes up 50% of the physically different female heroes. And when one guy called them out on one of Tracer's poses being just all ass they went to change it to the typical boob and ass shot feminists that criticized to death in all media.
If it took this long for gamers and journalists to have a discussion on Overwatch's sexism post release, then it does seem like the influence of feminism in gaming is waning, and that's depressing.
damn, I learn so much on GAF
User 73706
Banned
Could just be sharing temporary assets in development, considering both widow and sombra are snipers.
This is gonna blow your mind, but people like seeing characters like them in their videogames and movies, crazy i know, but you know, it really brightens their day.
When i was a wee lad in the 90s i remember when Super Street Fighter 2 came out and it had new characters, you can't even begin to comprehend how fucking hyped we were about there being a mexican in this game, it was big deal to all of us little kids in mexico, and we're talking about T. fucking Hawk, who looked more Apache than any traditionally mexican tribe (yes, the apache have/had lands in mexico, but they're hardly one of the representative native tribes of our nation) and sucked donkey balls as a character, and yet it fucking made us go nuts because, holy shit! there is a mexican in street fighter! I have the option to play as a paisano!
That's how fucking starved we were for representation, that's how starved a lot of people in the 90's were, and in modern times, we barely have made any progress (Street fighter in 20 years barely has gone from one mexican to TWO mexicans, altho SNK has been more serviceable, they're even giving us a whole mexico team for the new KOF! for reals this time!) and the difference is the world has become more globalized than ever, so now the absence of representation really leaves an after taste, we're not [as] isolated anymore, we know all the people who are out there, why isn't media reflecting the overwhelming diversity of real life? Why does new york in friends have only white people? why are biblical characters from the middle east being portrayed by white guys? why are we barely moving from the "short brown haired middle aged white guy" protagonists in videogames? Those are the questions you should be asking.
I didn't know I was black I always thought I was Indian. Funnily enough I looked up Symmetra's profile and she's from Hyderabad, where my father is from.
SixMachine
Member
I think both of them do actually but iirc in most games you play them mostly in their old form, while the young form is mostly for grabs and special attacks (though I think one of the early games allowed you to turn young and stay that way for the round). Plus the fact that their hadoukens are throwing dentures repeals your disqualification!
NeonZ
Member
Ibuki is a bad example though. She first appeared in SF3, so her appearances in SFIV and V are meant to be before that. She can't really be older in the newer games since Capcom doesn't want to go past SF3. Cammy also is actually fairly young. She's meant to be about 10 years younger than Ryu.
Now, Sakura is another matter. She's around Cammy's age, but it's pretty odd that she still keeps the school uniform even in her SFV appearance (it's just a story image, but that seems to suggest they intend to keep it even if she becomes an actual character).