Guest Post by Sintax
Over the last week or so I’ve been involved in the open beta phase for the upcoming MMO called “Age of Conan”. This MMO is set in the harsh world of Hyboria, and is set around the famous novels written by Robert E. Howard.
Thus far, the beta is spectacular. I’ve enjoyed it immensely and as far as beta’s go its top notch. Some of the things that come to mind while writing anything about this game are its major selling points. The two major selling points are the presence of two somewhat socially unacceptable things, at least in “American” culture, which are nudity and extreme violence. These two topics, when placed into the context of video games, seem to ignite the fires of hell within people. So many people get up in arms when games come out that flaunt these properties, yet this game is supposed to be MATURE, meaning no one under the age of 18 is allowed to purchase or play it. So there really shouldn’t be a big stink about this game, right?
So as with many MMO’s one is able to create either a male or female character (sorry to those who prefer “other”). Character creation is intense, as you’re able to customize your character with limitless choices of facial scars and markings, as well as tattoos for the rest of your body, not to mention the numerous size adjustments to almost every area of the body. Males can be the typical video game guys with large muscles, much like the famous barbarian himself, Conan. Yet, they can be short and ‘skinny’ as well as ‘fat’ (which still look muscular in my opinion). Regardless, the males are cut and idealized and conform to the idea of the “perfect male” as propagated by modern American media/culture. You get the option of running around in a small scrap of cloth, with nothing else, if that tickles your fancy.
Females on the other hand can become almost totally nude. This feature, which is what the developers mean by “nudity” allows for the women in the game to go topless and strip down to nothing but a thong if they so choose. One of the posters on the official Conan boards noted, “Boy if that isn’t every mans nightmare, an almost fully naked woman coming at you with a two handed weapon”. Hmm.. perhaps.
On top of the nudity, which in itself has caused quite a stir on the official Conan boards, the game is rife with blood letting and decapitations. Yet, which causes the bigger stir amongst the largely American audience on the forums and in general? It’s the sex and nudity, not the major violence, despite its overly graphic nature. By violence I’m not talking about the Grand Theft Auto violence… I’m talking about full on, graphic overload of chopping people in half, taking folks heads off, and impaling them on your steel. These animations are complete with full blood splatter and blood pooling, combined with Direct x10 (the most current graphics application used by most video cards), makes for a tremendously realistic looking experience.
The video game haters, and those that are criticizing MMO’s in general, need to get a grip on reality here. This is a video game designed specifically for adults and has been given a rating to reflect that design. Parents, who don’t feel comfortable with their kids playing it, shouldn’t buy the client for their children and should learn to be parents for their kids. I also think that there is something wrong with a society that values violence and brutality over the human form. The human form, and specifically female nipples, which are the real issue here, is a gorgeous thing and should be celebrated. I was stunned when I first saw the ‘virtual boobies’ in game, but quite pleased. However, I was a little disappointed that they didn’t go the full Monty for the male characters as well. Females, and males of that orientation, are entitled to their virtual treasures.
As a member of my guild states, “I can’t let my kids see that!” as he has several young children. He continued on by stating, “I like it, but I can’t play it with them around”, sure you can mate, just make sure you fully explain to them that everyone has nipples and that the decapitations are as easy as initiating the right combo at the right time.
Hopefully the land of Hyboria will not disappoint as I’m looking forward to wading in knee deep into pools of virtual blood and entrails, as well as participating in some ogling.
And so we reach a fundamental injustice in our society. Once again we see that the female form can be objectified and exploited, while the male form is shrouded in mystery. Do you remember the 80′s? I remember movie after movie where all the women were beautiful blonds with monster nugs. All toppless!!! Reference: Hot dog the movie, Animal House, Porky’s, Bikini Car Wash, Revenge of the Nerds etc. The more boobie they had, the better their reviews were!!! At the same time, the best you could hope for in way of nude men was perhaps a pair of short shorts!
I really felt bad for women in that time. Having to deal with the unreasonable image that men had of the ideal woman. If I were constantly being compared to some idealized guy like johnny Depp, I would probably fail to impress as well.
so, Here we sit, 20 years in the future and has it changed? While perhaps it is not quite as blatant, the female form remains an exploitable trait to add to any media in order to gain revenue. I wonder what the target audience was for this game…. Hmmm, ultra violent, boobies… Could they be after the 18-35 year old men market? Hmm, I will bet you good money you see this game reviewed and advertised in Maxim Magazine!
Of course, this is not entirely the fault of the consumer. Someone had to draw those boobs! Presumably, the virtual breasteses were rendered by a 30 year old virgin whose closest encounter with a boob is the one he rendered on the screen. The sad truth is that the video game programming market is dominated by White Men who are only just man enough to have a wee patch of hair above their schmekle. Rating of Mature? Not by a long shot.
Now, lets talk about male nudity for a moment…. Why is it that the male form is not rendered in a video game rated mature? Why art full frontal male shots in movies so rare? What is it that scares people about men being nakid? Is it because the women don’t want to see it? Or is it because men dont want people to start comparing their genitals to the ones on the big screen like they do with womens boobs. Perhaps men aren’t ready to suffer self esteem issues at being less endowed than that Don Juan on the big screen. Tough shit men. Women have been dealing with this for years. Get overt it! Besides, if there was more dick on the big screen, then maybe more people would beging to understand what 6 inches really looks like!
By: Illustrial on May 17, 2008
at 9:34 pm