Health and Mana globe decorations seem (accidentally?) misogynistic

I feel that the Health and Mana globe decorations seem (accidentally?) misogynistic, specifically the scantily clad chained women.

Another person brought this up on Reddit and I thought it should be posted here.

http://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/17zwif/feature_request_alternate_health_globes/

Yup, I wrote that thread. My wife doesn't want to play your game because of it, and I will probably stop too. There are plenty of games that don't degrade women in their UIs.

I agree. I think I could do without the mana and health globe details. It was one of the first things I said when I opened up the game. "Umm...what's up with the globe ladies?"

But what I find so strange is that the two female player classes seem nicely animated. Despite there not being an even female to male ration of player classes, the female classes still seem very tasteful. No ridiculously impractical armor that just covers the breasts, no vastly exaggerated body types. It's refreshing.

And then, in Act 1 the siren phantoms on the female player's map is generated as male. Loved it.

If the concept for the mana/health globe is to create something that is both "sexy" and "exotic" I don't think it has to be quite so "misogynistic" as it currently stands.

Put some clothes on them, make them strong women...a little less dominated and abused. Less like objects of lust. I dunno....that seems like a fair start.

what the actual fuck?

Do you people NEED to complain about every single sideboob,ass and penis you see in a game? How can some ass and tits be offensive in a game, This is not real!

Its a damn game, nothing offensive about it for gods sake, its just some art to remind you of ARPGs from the olden days, they always had some half naked ladies next to the mana/health globes.

just.. stop, too many unimportant threads about the sexual content(that almost no one notices) when there are actual art problems and animations to be solved in this game.

I always laugh at how people are so messed up when it comes to stuff like this.

How in your opinion is brutal violence BETTER than simple nudity, that one would hope would happen to every one of us.

I know I like looking at naked women in real life. But I sure as hell don't want to have myself brutally murdered by some guy that doesn't want to see naked women.


EDIT: Before you go and say every guy like me wants to degrade women. Have you seen what women do to men when they are in full power? Even worse than us guys haha.

But in all seriousness. Women stare all day at "the perfect" woman they should be in movies, magazines, advertisements MADE for women by women. And most of the time they don't get upset and even enjoy it. I know quite a few females that play games and quite enjoy how most of them are portrayed lately. Most women in video games aren't sub servant anymore. Sexualized sure. But not sub servant and often in a role of power. So they quite like that a woman that is sexy isn't gaining power on her back and instead doing it with her skills.

Granted the health globes as mostly just something pretty to look at. But 80% of us never even noticed them till someone pointed it out. And if you watch those female gamers draw some stuff like make a role playing character and still it in a drawing. They are often sexualized.

SO WHY THE HELL ARE YOU COMPLAINING.

If you don't like it ignore it.

/end rant.

This will no doubt just be a waste of my time to type this is a silly forum thread. that no one is going to read. But one of those things I just had to say.

I've only been playing since the open beta but I've really been enjoying the game bar a few things that really just make me go "WTF. Did they not think even a little about these things?" Chained, dominated women directly associated to your live source and entering the Prison as a Marauder, really, really off-putting.

I think these types of forum discussion are helpful for game designers which includes both the likes and dislikes of any of the content. If you like the tool bar art, that's awesome! And your opinion of it is just as valid as someone who doesn't. And it's just as valid to share that opinion. I think the concept behind these types of forum prompts is to promote a discussion of likes and dislikes. So fire away!

For example, I like that the various male player classes represent various male body types from the very built to the very slender. That's a cool way to make the game more realistic and have a much broader appeal. I especially like that the Templar is much older: it gives the character a bit more depth. And that Roman-esque flare is particularly interesting.

I also really like the sort of empowered dialogue that the Ranger has about her self reliance and the nature of survival. I also really like her look in the various armor sets.

I loved this little detail in Lioneye's Watch: the woman holding a small baby. That's a cool detail there in the background. Clever, clever.

I don't as much like the dominated slave girls on the mana/health bubbles and I think it could be replaced with some thing a little more appealing but I also think the designers went to great lengths to include art and designs that were very appealing. For example, it's alway refreshing when the sex of the villains or mobs can be either male or female. It gets boring only fighting men all the time. And also, as I said previously, the male siren phantoms in Act 1 were particularly refreshing. You don't often see a game make an additional effort to include such dynamic details based on the character class you've chosen.

Also, you're welcome to disagree in this "Beta Art, Areas and Effect Feedback" forum thread. That's the point of feedback, after all. And we're all grown-ups here (theoretically) and can have apposing opinions without taking them personally (again, theoretically).


Edit: Oh! I did want to mention that the game in general is clearly directed to mature audiences and so if sexuality or violence is off putting then this game may not be ideal for you as an audience as it contains both mild sexuality and extreme violence.


And ooooo I just had a thought....why not a little shop feature to add sexy men to the bubbles instead. Make a little dough....please the various player bases. Just a thought. :wink:

"

VictorDoom wrote:

what the actual fuck?

Do you people NEED to complain about every single sideboob,ass and penis you see in a game? How can some ass and tits be offensive in a game, This is not real!

No. I don't give a crap about the penises or boobs at all.

Women chained up for no apparent reason and no in-universe explanation, other than "chained women are cool, heh heh heh," is not the same thing. If anything it just presents the game as being somewhat immature, because obviously this aspect of it is targeting people who haven't outgrown the "heh heh, chicks, heh heh" stage. Meanwhile it annoys more adult gamers and many women gamers.

All the people flipping out over the complaints are significantly worse than the complaints themselves, honestly. I've no problem with the nudity and no problem with the violence, but the health globes make no sense and aren't the same thing.

I would like to thank everyone that understands why this is a real issue.

If you don't get it, I don't have time to educate you on why imagery like that is damaging to women in real life.

If you think you support equality, and you're arguing against the OP, you need to do some self-examination. We don't live in a society where minorities or women are treated equally with white males, we never have, and it will take people like us speaking up to get society there.

This is especially a problem on the internet, which has become a haven for manchildren that refuse to grow up and share their toys, men who are cowards and hide behind their keyboards hurling insults at anyone that dares to question their entitlement to their privileged position.

Games like PoE and League of Legends that are exclusively played on the internet traditionally foster this sort of attitude and are a great place to begin changing it with the help of the developers.

First of all: Please define what you specifically find 'sexist' about those decorations. This would make debating the issue manageable.


As for me, I can't understand the fuzz.
a) The female form is generally considered to be more pleasing to look at than the male form. That is probably why we got two girls.
b) Consider the world of Wraeclast. Consider what your own character is: A prisoner, exiled to a murderous continent. What makes you think those girls are slave girls? I see them as two prisoners, just as my character.

->It's a decoration that perfectly fits the mood of the game.

As an aside:
c) I have a real problem with the term "accidental misogyny". Misogyny is a mindset, which kind of precludes the 'accidental' part.

Last note: Not everything that shows boobs or shackles, ties or abs is sexist. I think we are on a way to a society where any imagery, words or anything really that could potentially upset someone has to be censored, a society where the oppression through the offended is so stifling that fun is better had by oneself in the basement lest someone feel offended by another's definition of it.

Lighten up, lads and ladies. If those two girls really upset you so much, try to pack it into constructive feedback. Ask for a shop item that replaces those girls with guys. Or demons, devils, clams, skeletons, rhoas. Or furries. I don't know. I'm sure you'll find something that will please your eye.