Blizz apparently in hot water for sexist comment?

[Lisaara]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4XPsStcxX4

This was news to me. Apparently during Blizzcon, one of the HotS people said something bad to someone that asked about overly sexualized females and the guy responded that it 'wasn't his concern' which didn't go over too well.

I personally don't think that's really 'sexist' as it is poorly worded and really dismissive on a sensitive topic.

(If there is to be discussion, please keep it civil as this can be a touchy thing.)

[cowmuflage]

I don't see how that's sexist. O.o I think people are a bit too sensitive nowadays. :/

[Bowno]

LOL. Uh.
That isn't sexist at all. People are just jumping on shit and trying to start a fuss over something.
*facepaw*

[SylviaDragon]

o.O I hate bikini mail but wow that's pretty silly. o.O I haven't heard anything about it. It always makes me a little sad when people get angry over something so small. He probably just meant he didn't have a say in how the females looked or something. Even I'm wrong I don't think its something to get upset about.

[Myrrmi]

Pretty much what Sylvia said >.>
I am a woman, I'm pretty sensitive on gender matters, but then the only thing that irks me about mail- and platekinis, now that we have other sets to choose from as well, is that it's not as sexified on male models
I wouldn't say he was being dismissive to the issue as whole. Let's not get oversensitive and bash the guy for what may very well not be his piece of work at all.

Also, where is that oversexualisation of female characters? I'd say, in Blizz games, females and men get a fairly equal treatment in that matter, at least comparing to other media. Meaning - sure, femchars may be a bit more eye-candy and well-equiped than irl, but so are malechars... (looking at you, daenei... aww, just gimme a hug :3 )

[Lisaara]

I agree. I mean he could've worded it better but c'mon...we've heard companies say so much worse.

[GormanGhaste]

Here's the relevant part from the interview:

RPS: You have some interesting alternate outfits for heroes. Roller Derby Nova, especially, caught my eye. On its own, that’s totally fine – just a silly, goofy thing. A one-off. But it got me thinking about how often MOBAs tend to hyper-sexualize female characters to a generally preposterous degree – that is to say, make it the norm, not a one-off at all – and StarCraft’s own, um, interesting focus choices as of late. How are you planning to approach all of that in Heroes?

Browder: Well, I mean, some of these characters, I would argue, are already hyper-sexualized in a sense. I mean, Kerrigan is wearing heels, right? We’re not sending a message to anybody. We’re just making characters who look cool. Our sensibilities are more comic book than anything else. That’s sort of where we’re at. But I’ll take the feedback. I think it’s very fair feedback.

RPS: I have to add, though, that comics might not be the best point of reference for this sort of thing. I mean, it’s a medium that’s notorious – often in a not-good way – for sexing up female characters and putting them in some fairly gross situations.

Browder: We’re not running for President. We’re not sending a message. No one should look to our game for that.

And here's his apology:

In a recent interview with Rock, Paper, Shotgun, I responded poorly to a statement the interviewer made about over-sexualized character designs in games, and I want to apologize for that. This is a serious topic and I don’t want anyone to think that I, or anyone else at Blizzard, is insensitive about how we portray our characters.

It takes work to make compelling characters, but it’s important to take a step back to ensure that we’re not alienating our players. We have an amazing roster of heroes and we will always strive to make sure that everyone can have a hero that they identify with and feel powerful using. And at the end of the day, we all want the same thing. A great game where we can all have fun battling for glory and maybe some bragging rights.

[Lisaara]

Thank you for posting that.

[Myrrmi]

...and here is said Roller Derby Nova
http://wac.7725.edgecastcdn.net/807725/ ... 962674.png
it really made me lol. "goofy, silly thing" doesn't give it justice. That butterfly gun... @o@

[Lisaara]

...and here is said Roller Derby Nova
http://wac.7725.edgecastcdn.net/807725/ ... 962674.png
it really made me lol. "goofy, silly thing" doesn't give it justice. That butterfly gun... @o@

Rofl. Oh goodness! I kinda want it....XD

[cowmuflage]

Well he is right they are not sending a message to anybody. Still think the person who found this sexist is way too sensitive.

[GormanGhaste]

Well, I do have a problem with what he said in the interview. You have to be running for public office to care about how women are portrayed in your game? And he implies in both the interview and the apology that women have to be sexy to be cool or compelling.

[cowmuflage]

I don't see that at all in the apology. AT ALL.

[GormanGhaste]

You're right, cow, he doesn't actually say that. I'm just angry.

[Lupis]

I agree with GormanGhaste in part- "We’re not running for President. We’re not sending a message. No one should look to our game for that." is a giant load of BS. You don't choose to send a message, they just happen. By over-sexualizing female (and male!) characters, you're sending a message, intentionally or not. The idea that you need to be in some huge position of power to create a message is ridiculous, and either way, Blizzard /is/ in a position of power- they're Blizzard.

Honestly, I think he said something really, really stupid. And I think Blizzard already has some serious issues with over-sexualized characters. Especially taking comic books as a reference- what was he thinking? But as some others have said, in the world of over-sexualized characters, there are bigger fish to fry.

[Lisaara]

I agree with GormanGhaste in part- "We’re not running for President. We’re not sending a message. No one should look to our game for that." is a giant load of BS. You don't choose to send a message, they just happen. By over-sexualizing female (and male!) characters, you're sending a message, intentionally or not. The idea that you need to be in some huge position of power to create a message is ridiculous, and either way, Blizzard /is/ in a position of power- they're Blizzard.

Honestly, I think he said something really, really stupid. And I think Blizzard already has some serious issues with over-sexualized characters. Especially taking comic books as a reference- what was he thinking? But as some others have said, in the world of over-sexualized characters, there are bigger fish to fry.

Definitely. As I said, what he said was bad. He could've been better at it. I don't think it was sexist, personally, but just poorly worded and compared to a lot of other companies (EA, Square, etc.), they're small time when it comes to over sexualizing females. Infact, they're pretty tame. XD

[cowmuflage]

This is a bit like how people do things on Tumblr in a way. When you make a huge fuss over a little comment like this (and that is what this is a little comment ) it takes away peoples attention to bigger more important and worse things. Ya get my drift?

Why make a mountain out of a mole hill when you can go after the real mountain the moles have made? Like have you seen what the Japanese have been doing for the last forever?

I dunno just my two cents I guess XD

[Bowno]

I'm sorry.. But I don't see over-sexualized characters as a bad thing.
We remember we're playing a Medieval fantasy game, right? Back in 'the old days', the proper way to say it was "A game for nerds/geeks." Now, I know no one says that any more and the game isn't really aiming for that any more (e_e casuals.. *shakes fist!*).. But the game still wants to reach out to the same people.

Let me see if I can make this make more sense.. because I'm rambling again xD!

If you have sexy female characters in a game and you slap them in the games cinematic being all sexy and such, chances are you'll grab a LOT more attention from people that see it! And if you are able to make your character that has their booty shaking from between their metal thong then that will grab a lot more attention from people! More attention means more money.
No one can tell me that there aren't people (a lot of people) that play only to stare (or mostly to) at the female characters and think/do naughty things with them. Goldshire, perfect example. Not bashing my server.. But it is there and it is a good example indeed. I've watched some people there and many stay there all day almost every day there without actually logging on another toon, it seems. They spend their days wiggling in their thongs and paying their monthly subs for it. Kinda gross but what ever floats their boat!

But I'm rambling again. My main point is Sexy attracts customers. It's a well known thing that EVERYONE seems to be pulling in every product.
"Use this shampoo and be SEXY~"
"This sexy lady is eating this cheeseburger!"
"Lick this tire and you'll be SEXY~"
And for WoW:
"Play this game! We have sexy too!"

Hopefully my input didn't sound too dumb xD And I hope no one is offended as I'm not trying to attack.. I am simply stating my feelings (which I know can be dangerous here some times >_>) and why I feel this way.


As for how things were worded... EEEEEH~ Poorly worded, maybe.. But overreacted? I think yes. I do agree he could have worded a bit better, but I also think that the people that got offended just were looking and praying for him to screw up. They took the poor wording and ran with it, IMO. I see it being like this in their heads: "OKAY! I dropped the question! Now we can cause drama over WoW when he says females need to be sexy or somethin-- Oh.. Oh.. That wasn't the answer I was expecting.. BUT IT CAN STILL WORK! I'LL TAKE IT!"
People need to cool their tits.

[Lupis]

Sexy sells, yes. But sexy sells has started to turn into "sexy is all ___ can be if you're not sexy gtfo". Sexy has turned into the reason some characters exist at all- and unfortunately, it happens with females a lot more than males. There are so many (to put it crudely) walking breast machines in video games, it hurts. You know, the female character that only exists to wiggle her butt and be the love interest? That's sexy selling. And that's the norm for women in video games- sexy. When the only female character can be replaced with a pair of perky balloons, I stop caring about the game and the company and anything that company has made. Because if they're willing to turn women into boob machines just for sales, then they're sending a really loud message- these boob machines aren't people, they're sex!

Blizzard has done a good job of avoiding this! It's certainly not at the horrible level of many companies. But I'm still a little disappointed every time I see, say, armor that's completely covering on males, but turns into a thong on females.

(Though Cow and Junrei have a good point- Blizzard may be an offender, but it's like a petty thief compared to a mass murderer when you look at other companies.)

[Lisaara]

I don't think we've even had mailkinis since...what...BC?