Taking a look at unrealistic portrayals of video game characters
Throughout the history of video gaming, video game characters have been, more often than not, notorious for hyping up the machismo of male characters by bulking up their biceps. There is a notable element of encouragement for violence (as if roid rage was okay!) and a devil-may-care attitude towards the characters’ surroundings. In games like Grand Theft Auto, one can steal cars, shoot things, and mess around the digital realm doing “manly-man” things with whatever NPC Rockstar Games decided to put in the game. Meanwhile, characters of the female persuasion belong to a relatively consistent mold—hyper-sexualized to the max. They are typically fit and thin, with big breasts and waistlines so tiny that one is left wondering as to whether they had a rib removed or if their staple wardrobe piece is Kim Kardashian’s waist-training corset.
With the consumer-driven hunger for hyper-realistic games on the rise, the video game industry has notably been improving their animation techniques. Painstaking attention to detail is paid to the various in-game graphics, and with the complex correctness of said graphics increasing, it should (naturally) follow that the portrayal of video game characters’ bodies would also increase in accuracy. So, why are video games still posing their characters after “ideals” that are so overemphasized that they can be viewed as something bordering laughable? An article published on Bulimia.com posed an important point, “If video game creators are going to pride themselves on accurate digital representations, then it’s time for them to get real about women.”
One may argue that this is all a part of the creative element of video game design. Sex, after all, sells. So, it makes sense that women in popular video games are created muy caliente. That is not to say, however, that every female character is hyper-sexualized, although it appears to happen more often than not.
So, what’s the harm? At the least, these ridiculously inaccurate portrayals of body image can be merely that: ridiculous. On the other end of the spectrum, however, they can perpetuate what should be a long-outdated view on women as objects. Sam Deford, Bulimia.com project manager, in an interview with Polygon says, “Every character design that perpetuates an unrealistic and impossible ideal for the female body distorts cultural perception of the female body, and in turn, hurts all women.”
Deford makes mention of some videogame developers having a more realistic outlook on the female form. He explains that “game developers for Tomb Raider have actually started to make Lara Croft more realistic in [the] most recent iterations, which is a far cry from where she started. […] Her form looks healthy and fierce; much how she might look if she were real.”
The importance of integrating “more realistic forms” is that, according to Deford, it would “almost certainly have an impact on cultural perceptions of, and respect for the female body.”
On the flipside, the super-macho depiction of men in video games can also hurt male body image.
“The difference here is that the majority of women in gaming are hyper-sexualized and objectified. The same cannot be said of most male characters in games,” Deford said.
In short, until video game companies and developers gain a reality check—no matter how hyper-realistic the graphics the video game may be—the portrayal of women and men should be looked at upon as this: unrealistic. Video games should be enjoyed in moderation, and you should not let the bodies of the characters skew your perception of the bodies of real people. You know, IRL.