Esteban. Please tell me how you would make an angry bird character look female without any of those stereotypes she mentioned. Like I said, I understand what she means, but she's also not taking into account the context of the game. Some are set up and make it nearly impossible to really design a female character without a stereotype to differentiate gender. For instance her references to mario. I would LOVE to see others do character mockups of how it "should be" for her version of Mario female characters. I guess it's lazy design, but it's also not easy design for certain games.
I also can't believe she took 25 minutes to talk about how bad designers are with depicting females, then show 1 minute of good female designs. Well those were already based around "1" character for "their" game. That's easier to be loose with your design. At that point you can create the character however you want, since it's new.
There's also a ton of games with female characters that do it right. I guess with all the time she took she didn't have enough to mention those other games. All I got from it, was any game that makes a female character look female "at all" is a stereotype.
Also, my comment above yours Esteban was kinda shitty, but the earring thing was a knock at her issue with bows and anything that "might" resemble someone stereotypically as female.
Don't worry about it.
I had fun ranting before, but I'm more mellow now.
This is what would have been nice:
(1) the default for characters shouldn't be male 99% of the time
(2) character designs should be varied and creative, period. We need well-rounded female (and male) characters.
(3) Gender of character does not have to be overt. In other words, I don't need a ball sack/bosom to smack me in the face (hints/clues from other aspects of game can suggest gender). Subtlety is lost on mainstream pop culture, sadly.
(4) if gender is overt, please don't make the entire personality of female character based on her femininity. (Male characters have been given a wide range of interests/personalities, whereas female characters tend to be limited to simple stereotypes).
(5) Suck my left one.
(6) the use of hyper-masculine and hyper-feminine is OK, but it shouldn't represent 99% of any medium (video games, music, film, literature, etc.)
MY OWN THOUGHTS:
Going beyond the critique presented in the video, we can find further shortcomings:
(1) Do you know how bored I am of the shallow, stereotypical MALE characters in film, TV and video games? It's so mind-numbingly sad that we can't move beyond JOCK, HYPER-MASCULINE-WARRIOR, NERD, etc. etc.
(2) I can't change the past, but, damn, why is 2013 so lame? TV, Hollywood, video game industries are regurgitating garbage over and over and over.
THEREFORE:
Who should I be more upset with: (pop culture producers) the condescending crap pouring out of entertainment industries? Or (pop culture consumers) the fact that this garbage makes a profit and guarantees a second, third, fiftieth helping of banality?
ANSWER:
I'm upset with both producers and consumers. AND THE CYCLE CONTINUES. Producers rarely take risks when they need a ROI. Consumers gobble it up, even when they are bored.
SADNESS
FUN:
I have concepts for character designs. I'm not saying these are progressive, but ANYTHING to move beyond the tripe we usually see:
(1) HAIRY CHESTS featured prominently in male characters. Ideally, even if character is fully clothed, every effort should be made to indicate/suggest a wooly mammoth's quantity of hair on chestal region.
(2) BULGING BALLS + TIGHT PANTS in male character design. This must be gratuitously used in ALL male characters and BALLS MUST BOUNCE & JIGGLE. All efforts should be made to ensure that viewers gaze can't escape jiggling crotches (cinemas, camera placement, etc.)
2-D or 3-D, we all need more crotch with cock. (3) Find yet more ways to draw attention to #2. I suggest SLOW-MOTION replays with exaggerated ball sack jiggling. The bonus, of course, is that the OUTLINE of semi-hard penis will be even more prominent in slow motion. PENIS CAN BE PENDULOUS, but not mandatory.
(4) Male characters, even pre-pubescent boys in "cute" games will feature "tightie-whitie" frames of animation/cinemas/artwork.
(5) EXPANDING #2 & #3: Semi-HARD PENIS prominently featured with bouncing, jiggling balls. Semi-hard Penis is, literally about to burst out of clothing. Literally. Seams are already ripped.
(6) PENIS is pendulous. (Now mandatory requirement). Pubic hair optional.
(7) Defying all known laws of biology, physics and equestrianism, male character designs should feature 90 cubic feet of
Elephantiasis* Balzac Maximus + pendulous penis + PUBIC HAIR stuffed into tight pants.
( 8 ) Recycle #1-7.
(9) Gladly accept $$$ from consumers. Recycle #1-8.
*Originally I used the term "elephantitus" but I guess I'm not up-to-date. My rant sounds better with elephantitus.
