Designing Body Swap | Yacht Club Games
Designing Body Swap | Yacht Club Games
Okay, so we had a few people ask for opinions on Yacht Clubs Games adding the Body Swap Mode to Shovel Knight. I want to preface this by saying I completely believe that they have good intentions and have done some very progressive things (like letting you set your pronouns independent of sprites) but that it also has some issues.
The first is that adding a body swap mode to a game that’s been out nearly three years and still uses very distinctly gendered language and tropes on its store page… is well… a gif is worth a thousand words.
The second is that while they’ve attempted to be equitable with the first rule provided: “Body swaps should be exactly as gendered as the original character.” this doesn’t factor in that largely their designs are default (male) and deviation (female). You know, The Smurfette Principle.
Lastly, and linking back to the first point, it’s important to remember that body swap options like this have a very strong tendency to promote an idea of false equality by creating a situation where gender is irrelevant. In real life, people’s gender is often very, very relevant to how the world interacts with them, their internal motivations and their general experience.
(That’s not to say there’s not a purpose to gender options or characters that exist outside of gender, but rather that one cannot just assume gender doesn’t matter – especially after heavily investing in gender roles)
Further elaboration is below the cut, and I would also like to remind everyone that @dogbomber ‘s “Let’s draw Lady Knights” randomizer is still a thing and still amazing.
– wincenworks
To use one of their own examples, compare King Knight and Queen Knight.
Now, honestly I think the design in the sketch without the ridiculous boobplate effect was better but if Queen Knight looks like this, then King Knight should really look like Henry VIII combining his party and jousting attire:
The idea that “boobs decide if female” thing seems to be a trend with a lot of their swap designs, to the point of absurdity with some designs:
And when they don’t opt for boobs as the signal, it sadly seems to fall down to the idea that a male character has slightly more impressive armor (the most obvious example being The Enchantress) and aggressive stance than a female character.
As I said, I believe that the intention is there it doesn’t seem to have led to the actual examination of issues like “why are we sexualizing armors in the first place?” and “are we making the female characters seem out of place or a deviation?”
That can be challenging questions to ask, particularly if you’ve already got a dozen or so designs you really already love – but not asking them tends to result in re-enforcing the same old messages just in different ways.
It also can create a weird situation where the game tells you there is gender equality by gameplay options, but the rest of the game tells you that all the same old sexism is still there, waiting for you.
– wincenworks
Warhammer Total War 2: Dark Elf Sorceress
thenightmarerider submitted (and Ozzie re-bingo’d):
I was watching the Dark Elves trailer for Warhammer Total War 2. I heard a fantastic feminine narration over the the dark elf on the right kicking ass. Then it zooms out and shows that the feminine voice was actually the dark elf on the left.
No bingo, but damn is it ever terrible! I can just think of the many excuses people would have for this as well. “It’s just like the tabletop game!” or “Dark Elves are Sadomasochists!”Apparently only the female dark elves enjoy receiving and inflicting pain so much that they wear as little as possible? Yet another case where it would be more practical for a spellcaster to be naked.
https://youtu.be/zB6FaGBz0Lo Here’s the video link for the full trailer. It looked so amazing until the Sorceress came and spoiled it all!
It actually does get a bingo when treated with the most recent version of the game card! Let the dancing Vegeta commence!
Seeing this game’s penchant for big, silly headwear I wouldn’t be surprised if the defense for her armor was that the costume direction is “supposed” to be ridiculous… Amazing though how it always turns out to be the skimpy kind of ridiculous only for women.
~Ozzie
Ragingghostsbunker asked which outfit was the worst in the game, so I may as well get these out of the way. This is the conjurer raiment. The male sorcerer looks kinda like a neon sign explode all over a german fairy tale dapper gentlemen The female sorcerer appears to be wearing a bikini with a single long belt starting at her shoulder and wrapping down her leg, and then a single thigh high sock which appears to be made of smaller belts.
Wow. Soul Sacrifice is not great at female gear but what the actual fuck is this?
So, the female armor is a bingo-scoring pure absurd, while the male one is exceptionally ugly. Could this design fail at any more levels?
~Ozzie
Did someone look at the pipe dream minigame in Bioshock and think, “now THAT would be a good look for a breasted person!” cause that’s the only explanation I will accept for this monstrosity.
And if it’s not 10 year old minigames and portables, then it’s… umm……. hmm
…. I have questions but I don’t actually want to know the answers.
-Icy
What is video games’ problem with sniper women?
They can’t just be competent combatant ladies who shoot stuff (like male snipers in media always are), there needs to be some “sexy” gimmick to them, apparently. Like navel-deep cleavage and brainwash, breathing through skin or, now… being helpless schoolgirls with clothing damage and panty shots galore?
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!
(And no, no available info suggests it’s an erotic/porn game)
The game itself looks dreadfully dull. And since only footage I could find of it seems to be sponsored by the publisher, it’s safe to say that sex doesn’t really sell, otherwise this would have had fans.
~Ozzie