RPS Interview with Blizzard Goes South Over 'Hyper-Sexualized' Women Question

8CN: Rock Paper Shotgun (RPS) recently had an interview with Dustin Browder, Game Director of Heroes of the Storm, which turned sour because of a question on over-sexualization of women in the game. But in the situation, who really was at fault?

[HelpfulGamer]

Another article attacking Women's Freedom of Sexual Expression.

[pompombrum]

I take it you didn't read the article?

It has nothing to do with women freely expressing themselves lol.

[vork77]

so why is your pic a half naked woman?

[Linko64]

Nothing about all the males being hugely muscle bound? I'm sure Aliens are pissed off with how little clothes the Protoss wear as well.

[TheLostCause]

Do real female gamers actually give a shit? Or is it just the ones with crippling self confidence issues? Hell, is it even a covert plot by the Taliban trying to get video game women to wear burkhas? Isn't there anything else going on in the world we could be moaning about other than women with massive tits and skimpy clothes who aren't even real?

[CrossingEden]

A friend I'm pretty close with yesterday was complaining about the sexism of video games and how she wants strong female characters instead of characters like Quiet or Miranda from mass effect which are more sexual object than actual strong female protagonist.

[NateCole]

The Boss. You can't get any more stronger than that.

[_QQ_]

Bad on your friend for judgeing too early, lets see who still says quiet isn't a strong female character after MGSV releases.

[CrossingEden]

@natecole, too true. Although the scene where she opens her suit to expose her breasts when a c-section wouldn't cover her body was alittle unnecessary.

[Hicken]

Oh, stop lying, CrossingEden. If there's a woman in your life who ISN'T your mother, I'm a monkey's uncle.

Article is stupid, by the way. One more- actually a few, including the interviewer- who doesn't understand the difference between sexualized and sexist, and who thinks that somehow female characters should adhere to some standard that male characters don't have to.

[AztecFalcon]

Seriously? Getting up in arms over "Roller Derby Nova" and how some MOBA female characters look? This is absolutely nothing compared to how some Japanese games show off their females.

Yet, does anyone say anything over there? Not at all. Why? Because the Japanese aren't prudish and actually embrace sexuality as a part of life. Not only that, they have a ton of strong, powerful female leads and no one cares how much clothing they wear as long as there is a balance between male and female character ratio, which there is.

Get over it. It's not a big deal and please stop making it a big deal.

[CLOUD1983]

Whenever I see wannabe journalist make those kind of questions I wish some1 appear exactly the moment of the question & punch him in the face until he brake his nose, I'm seriously sick & tired of those retards & the same boring topic of over-sexualized female chars in video games, make us the favor & go jump from a bridge already fcking scrubs.

[TheOtherVitaOwner]

How did that "go south"? The author is reading way too much into that interview

[NateCole]

If Nathan drake is shirtless in Uncharted or even a cover i am pretty sure most guy gamers wouldn't give a shit.

Honestly i don't give a fvck.

It's like somehow having a sexy woman in gaming is bad or sending a bad message. I still don't understand this logic.

It's just people over thinking things and jumping to conclusions or making a mountain out a mole hill because they are stuck up or are just looking at creating controversy.

Right now even saying a women is sexy is bad and i get attacked because apparently i am suppose to not look at her like that. WTF?. It's like saying she is sexy somehow means that is the only quality she has which is fvcking stupid.

Take the recent MGS character Quiet. People that have no idea about Japanese art or of MGS or gaming in general just jumped to conclusions about Kojima but when i gave them info on The Boss they immediately shut up. It is so fucking typical of these tweens nowdays to shoot their mouths off before understanding something and they all band together like stupid mobs to fight against something that is not really something because they heard about it on the internet.

[cyguration]

I know the comments on this thread are loaded, but I just wanted to say that I thought this article taking an objective look at the RPS interview was really well done.

Hats off to the author.

As for the topic matter at hand, I think it was already summed up in Browder's retort about Blizzard being a business. If guys in short-shorts is what sells, believe me, we'll see a ton more guys in short-shorts.

[Hicken]

Except where they read more into the responses than they should, or essentially intentionally take them the wrong way.

"I love my Marvel and DC women, but saying that's where your sensibilities lie is going to send the wrong message regardless of who you're talking to."

How? If you're taking that approach for your game, how does that send any wrong messages?

They mention something about some Hawkeye Initiative, which is some silly attempt at saying "Let's put a male in a typical female pose and see if it makes sense." Well, no shit, it doesn't make sense, as Hawkeye is a male, and the poses are pretty specifically for females. They're pretty much always action or "power" poses, but they simply don't work with the male physique, which makes the whole thing stupid. We're all created equal, but we're not all the same; this crap is an attempt at saying men and women should be treated the same, rather than equally.

Odd thing is: I never hear about this sort of stuff when it comes to what women want out of their men. Depictions of men are never subject to this, even though arguably more males kill themselves over not being able to live up to the stereotypical male image(or kill themselves TRYING to) than women do.

... I think I went a little off-topic, but this subject drives me up a wall, if for no other reason than those on the attacking side seem to not actually know what they're doing.

[Deep-throat]

Ninja Gaiden series....

[Max-Zorin]

Humans are hilarious.

[DestinyHeroDoomlord]

"Amazing chest ahead..." looks up to see André of Astora ;)