What Women Want (in Games)
Added 2025-08-28 11:19:16 +0000 UTCWomen want sexy characters in games, and there was a study that said so!
Welllll...yes AND no, Minister.
Comments
Fascinating!
Brenton Clark
2025-09-04 00:53:38 +0000 UTCI just watched that and I'd like a review too. 👍
Fenrir Wolfganger
2025-08-31 20:29:59 +0000 UTCScience of vision territory there +1
Winslow
2025-08-30 01:43:17 +0000 UTCNo, continue the rviews! Here is one I would live to hear your thoughts on. I know mine based on your reviews. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1BxgFfG7Pv/
niadhf .
2025-08-29 14:50:03 +0000 UTC1. Ooh, missed the sword "Done" needlepoint and George next to it! And is that the pair of little cheeses next to him, from her book signing??? I'm not sure what's on the top shelf though... 2. Yeah, a lot depends on how the question was phrased - if it didn't focus on gameplay (or these were not veteran gamers), then "which do you like the most?" would indeed resolve to aesthetics. Or in this case "which looks most like a normal human being"!
Crochet4Joy
2025-08-29 10:30:06 +0000 UTC1. Is that a sword needlepoint on the shelf behind you? Perfection. 2. Absolutely the lady in the dress is whom I would have picked, for this most blatantly obvious reason you have articulated quite well. And there you have it, love it!
StephanieGail
2025-08-29 02:55:55 +0000 UTCYeah, I was noticing the same thing - and the "aggressive" scores seem significantly higher than the other two scores. I wonder if they looked into why that is... Also, it wasn't until Jill mentioned the size differences that I even noticed, since there's not much scale context, so I wonder how that might have played into the results.
Crochet4Joy
2025-08-29 01:12:27 +0000 UTCI think in all three ratings, the difference between the highest and lowest character was about half a standard deviation. So no sign of any strong effects at all. It's a long time since I've needed to calculate a two-sample t-test, so don't ask me if the results are even significant.
Sagitta
2025-08-29 01:07:25 +0000 UTCAh yes, the I've-made-up-my-mind-don't-confuse-me-with-the-facts crowd. I appreciate the intelligent discussion of a study and putting it in the real world. Also, I really have a good time with the armor reviews. Very entertaining and informative.
LT Ellis
2025-08-28 23:03:12 +0000 UTCAlso one thing that stands up for me as a woman and i studied game concept design, it feels a bit staged. the red dress is the only one other than black purple that stands out from the background on these. The black purple is sooo dark you can hardly see any details. Silverplate is the most details and because the backgraound is so meeh it stands out so much more
Suly
2025-08-28 20:35:13 +0000 UTCAs an asexual, I can honestly say I don't prefer sexy characters. "Sexy" is meaningless to my evaluation of a character. So there, "study" pushers (also hello cat tail)
Natalie Arnold
2025-08-28 20:23:58 +0000 UTCI somehow get the feeling, and I could be totally wrong, that this result was not the result the people running the study wanted. I feel like they wanted to conclude that "Women LIKE less sexy characters", but turns out...women like all of these kinds of characters. But the most popular one is the one that has the nicest outfit., regardless of the size of her boobs.
Jill Bearup
2025-08-28 20:09:20 +0000 UTCForever exhasperated at "what women want is..." statements. We are not a monolithic hive mind. Personally, I want to play realistic characters and find overly sexualised toons irritating. If a game only offers manga-girly toons I'm very unlikely to buy it.
Sally4th
2025-08-28 16:19:29 +0000 UTChttps://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/00936502241279625
Jill Bearup
2025-08-28 15:52:13 +0000 UTCI think you hit the nail on the head with "sexy + aggressive" on the sexualized scale. It's a lot more forward than the other character options, especially toward the classic male gaze in game design.
Alex W.
2025-08-28 15:48:21 +0000 UTCCharacter 1 is wearing ... shorty pajama shorts? I suppose that technically means it's 'bedroom attire' but so would it if she was wearing bunny slippers.
Ekij
2025-08-28 15:37:27 +0000 UTCProps to the communication majors for correctly associating armour with being formidable.
What If Brigade
2025-08-28 14:18:21 +0000 UTCin surprising news, it turns out that people are attracted to attractive people. this follows the revolutionary study suggesting that water might be wet.
tzxazrael
2025-08-28 13:53:47 +0000 UTC"Which character do you want to play?" in a game about fighting... maybe the one who looks like she could fight? *sigh*
Eva Schiffer
2025-08-28 13:42:11 +0000 UTCKitty!
Lisa Prolman
2025-08-28 13:25:29 +0000 UTCDo you have a link to the studies?
Anders
2025-08-28 12:32:52 +0000 UTCHad to laugh, because when I saw the pictures I internally picked the lady in the brown dress, and then the one in armour.
Cassandra
2025-08-28 12:22:11 +0000 UTCOooh... Yeah, as a non-gamer girl looking at random pictures of characters, without stats or any other direction, I, too would choose the one that looked nicest, nothing to do with sexiness or formidability. That dress looked nice. The armor was second.
Ann Brookens
2025-08-28 11:32:56 +0000 UTCTBF it was a really nice dress XD
Jill Bearup
2025-08-28 11:31:14 +0000 UTCHave you been listening to me, Neo, or were you watching the woman in the red dress?
Moriel London
2025-08-28 11:30:50 +0000 UTC"But Jill, how will I use my confirmation bias if I have to actually read and understand the study in question?"
Greg Boege
2025-08-28 11:29:11 +0000 UTC
