A gentleman values discretion

deathy:

wincenworks:

videogamesmademegay:

“Lawrence Croft” — or what would happen if gay dudes who play video games were catered to like straight guys who play video games are.

Via Ulysses0302 on Deviantart.

Y’know I’m straight and I think this looks way better than “Rape Escape Lara”.

I understand where this is coming from- But these companies are not doing anything more than trying to make as much money as possible. A laaaarge majority (although definitely less so than say, 4-5 years ago) of the gaming community is 12-20something guys. Clearly the stereotype of Lara and of female video game characters as a whole stems from the issue we have as society, but trying to make a statement with something like this is misguided. If the majority of gamers were gay males, this IS exactly what the game would look like. Are they supporting stereotypes? Yes. But only because that is what sells, not because they care if their main character has huge breasts or a shirtless muscular upper torso.

Incorrect.  Nowdays women over 20 make up more of the gaming population than males under 20 and they have more disposable income (since they have jobs etc).  The myth that women make up less of the market is frankly just nonsense people repeat much like “video games are for kids”, “comic books are written for children” and “The Star Wars prequels were for children.” only with man-children instead of just children.

Yes video games exist to sell products. But this doesn’t justify the ridiculous bullshit small studios with a poor reputation (like Crystal Dynamics) will use to try to explain their nonsense when there are much bigger, more successful studios (Valve, for example) putting out products that sell like hotcakes without being packed full of digital fucktoys.

They don’t do it because “it sells”, they do it because the people in charge are narcissistic fools who think that because they’re the head of a gaming company they have some sort of divine presence that anything they like, the gamers will like.  Check out some quotes from “Creative Director” Noah Hughes (link).

“I thought, what would be the modern equivalent of that feeling? It’s not polygons anymore. It’s the emotions; you need the emotions to make it feel like she’s a real person.”

“If I genuinely want the character to succeed, if I genuinely care about her,” says Hughes, pausing to laugh at his own disclosure. “If I’m scared she’ll fail. That’s when I’m the most sweaty-palmed.”

“We want to show her as human. To see her be scared, to see her get hurt, to see her have relationships with people. But we also needed an adventure that changed this person into something that is much more like the Lara Croft people remember. What we’re trying to do by grounding her and starting where we do on the island is to invest you in that experience.”