After attending PAX East this weekend, I'm fairly certain that the notion of video game characters — particularly female — being "too sexy" is purely media driven. A problem fabricated by the few mainstream media rabble-rousers to purely spark controversy in order to drive traffic.
It became clear to me as I walked the show floor of PAX East that there’s plenty of gamers that embrace the revealing nature of some characters. I’m not talking about just women either. The halls of the Boston Convention Center were jam-packed with cosplayers — both male and female — dressed as their favorite characters, regardless of their body type. In this day and age, with so much scrutiny over body type, weight, and things of that sensitive nature, it was amazing to me that people of all shapes and sizes proudly donned their revealing outfits. And why shouldn’t they have been proud? The costumes we saw were amazing!
And that’s really my point. It’s okay to embrace what has been labeled by the media as “sexy.” But it’s important to remember that sexy can come in all shapes and forms. At PAX East, it didn’t matter if you were 100 pounds or 500 pounds, big breasts or small breasts, a six pack or beer gut; those who dressed up were proud of their outfits and wanted to show it off.
There’s so much controversy surrounding what outfits characters are dressed in, or the shape of (mostly) female characters. The biggest critique I hear is with Cammy, the female Street Fighter character probably best known for showing off her ample buttocks. Well guess what? While her revealing outfit may offend some, there are just as many gamers — both male and female — who enjoy that look. Sure, it may be for different reasons, but the outfit definitely has appeal to it. It can, and already has, been argued that the outfit merely turns the character into nothing more than a sexual object. But ya know what? There are plenty of cosplayers who enjoy dressing up as Cammy, who aren’t ashamed or embarrassed with the revealing nature of her costume. On the flip side, there are also a number of cosplayers who take her outfit and tweak it to the point in which they are comfortable trying to replicate her look in a style that suits them.
I enjoy a good Cammy cosplay outfit, and it’s not because I’m some horny male gamer perv. I respect a good cosplay outfit and admire the hell out of the men and women who are able to recreate some of my favorite video game characters. I love seeing the unique flair cosplayers put on these characters, and I’m sure the people who create them enjoy the praise they receive for their hard work.
I recently saw an article in which an amateur artist redesigned “sexy” fighting game characters in less revealing clothing. Despite the amateurish drawings (hey, it was still better than anything I could’ve done), they actually weren’t bad designs. The designs were met with mixed reaction, but the only takeaway I could get from any of this was — what’s the point? It’s okay to embrace sexy in revealing clothing; it’s okay to embrace sexy in less revealing clothing; it’s also okay to embrace not sexy (I’m looking at you Zangief). We shouldn’t be ashamed of sexy, but then again, what is sexy? As I said before, sexy can come in all shapes and sizes. While I might find Zangief to be incredibly unattractive, there might be men or women somewhere that would love to just cuddle up next to this proud Russian and rub their hands through his coarse chest hair. People perceive sexy in different ways, and it’s certainly not solely based on a character’s outfit. So then why do we take such offense to characters that wear slightly less?
Is a single outfit really the only way we perceive a character, or person, or an entire gender for that matter? To the argument, why must female fighting characters be drawn in small outfits, I respond, why not? Are we offended by it? I can’t tell you the number of people I ran into at PAX East that embraced the revealing nature of these costumes. Because that’s all it is — a costume — and they are proud to wear it.
It’s okay for people to embrace their idea of sexy. But it’s imperative that we remember that a revealing costume does not give us the right to label someone, belittle them, or act inappropriately in any way. Rather than trying to change how a character is drawn to curb a certain behavior or belief, why not just change that stereotype? As I mentioned, there were plenty of cosplayers wearing revealing outfits, gender-bending, and all that fun stuff. To most cosplayers, it’s not about revealing your body, but embracing this character that you love in video games, costume and all.
Sexy is okay because it’s such a subjective thing. The goal shouldn’t be to have your character or game appeal to everyone, but to have enough diversity in the industry as a whole that everyone can feel included. Team Ninja and Blizzard have proved this when one company told us that big boobs are here to stay in the Dead or Alive franchise, while the other revealed a new character in Overwatch that not only fits the scope of their game’s universe but can also appeal to a wide range of gamers looking for something different than skimpy clothing.
It comes down to this, we just want interesting characters. If we all respect ourselves and each other then it doesn’t matter what a character wears because we can all be mature enough to realize it's just a freaking video game.
[Raychul Moore's Cammy photo can be purchased here]
