Sexual Dimorphism in Fantasy

[HeroicSpirit]

Sexual Dimorphism is, essentially, the difference in a species based on gender. In fantasy games, particularly MMOs, this usually is done as follows:

This is, in my opinion, pretty bullshit, for reasons that should be pretty obvious.

Now, obviously, they usually add some features to make them look different, but usually it’s just enough to make them look like the human or elf female model painted a different color with some monstrous features tacked on.

WoW is an interesting case:

While the Taurens and orcs are alright (even if the women could be more bulky, although that’s something which applies across the board), the Dranei and Troll sexual dimorphism is frankly pretty awful, and are some of the most egregious examples of this in the game.

This trend is also highlighted in a comic from Oglaf, which shows the absurdity of such a world.

There are, of course, exceptions. One is the Charr from Guild Wars, for example, have sexual dimorphism that is very different from humans:

While the male (left) Charr is more monstrous than the female (right) Charr, it is done in a fashion that’s realistic, as there is little doubt that they are not the same species, and that it is more for display than some sort of boon of strength.

Of course, I will not pretend that this is an issue for everyone, nor that it is always so clean cut and dry as “bad” or “good”. Still, I hope to see what people think.

 

[Anonymous Bat]

Or if you still want to push the sex appeal (this is a forum for pornographic games, after all):



Anyway, I loathe that sort of extreme dimorphism aimed at making sure every female humanoid hits a minimum level of conventional attractiveness. I hate it so much that I was finally motivated to make an account after years of lurking just to reply here.

Either make both genders monstrous or neither; trying to have it both ways is nonsensical and immersion breaking.

 

[morii]

I think the first time I complained about this was when I started playing conventional MMOs in my young teens. As a girl, I never understood the need to make armor and bodies so different from each other. There are of course dimorphic traits in a lot of animals, often with a few common ones--females are weaker with lower lung capacity and muscle mass, but better at finding things through sight/sense and having strong legs. Females have to fight smart, but there are of course exceptions with opposites being the case.

A lot of these games go to extremes, making women so much weaker than men in almost every way, with no counterbalance or exceptions or diversity except perhaps, a point or two in the charm and intellect slot. That is what irks me, not the fact that girls are weak or whatever. There is a lot to be inspired from in nature, because nature doesn't follow the rules all the time, and I don't see why game designers should.

As a woman, I just shake my head at the potential for uniqueness in a game; it's like game designers think all hetero men are troglodyte idiots who will only buy a game if all the women are sexy and conventionally attractive. If that's the point of the game like TiTs, sure, but even then there's diversity in what constitutes an alien female depending on the species...

I'm not crazy about a species' women being humans with extra features and the men being actual monsters. I will definitely fall in love with a monster dude if he's got some features I like, likewise for actual monster women. But a race full of ugly gross men and human women wearing sexy Halloween costumes is Not it.

 

[Kesil]

tl;dr I hate it.

 

[Gothic Purple Goblin]

Huh, never actually knew wtf that meant, now I do. Yea it is rather silly when they do that. I do not remember what it was in but the worst I can think of was the male was huge, jacked and monstery and the female was a fucking loli essentially, was so dumb. The only time such drastic differences made sense was some kinda construct, males were built for labour females were made for delicate detailed work.

 

[Upcast Drake]

It often comes down to the majority of men and women who play female characters in games wanting the character to look cute or sexy.

In League of Legends for example, there are quite a few monstrous female characters, but Riot (the company who makes the game) has said that conventionally attractive female characters are much more popular and sell way, way more skins (how the game makes money). This goes for both male and female players.

It's what most people want and it's what sells, and that's ultimately what's going to drive the design.

 

[morii]

It often comes down to the majority of men and women who play female characters in games wanting the character to look cute or sexy.

In League of Legends for example, there are quite a few monstrous female characters, but Riot (the company who makes the game) has said that conventionally attractive female characters are much more popular and sell way, way more skins (how the game makes money). This goes for both male and female players.

It's what most people want and it's what sells, and that's ultimately what's going to drive the design.

Yeah, I would think that'd be the case. But I wasn't really talking about conventional attractiveness as a negative. It's just weird when a race is made up of ugly monster men and human women with extra features. I think women can still be attractive and still look like a monster or mythological creature. Likewise, if you're going to have a race of animal-human hybrids why not just make the dudes look similar to the ladies?

Now, there could be good reasons for such a vast difference in appearance but I usually think it's a copout since there's nothing really stopping a company to branch out with their designs. Sometimes it just feels like they're being lazy since it's so easy to create a human woman as a base, put some extra features on her and call it a day...

 

[Gimsbery]

It often comes down to the majority of men and women who play female characters in games wanting the character to look cute or sexy.

In League of Legends for example, there are quite a few monstrous female characters, but Riot (the company who makes the game) has said that conventionally attractive female characters are much more popular and sell way, way more skins (how the game makes money). This goes for both male and female players.

It's what most people want and it's what sells, and that's ultimately what's going to drive the design.

Screw sexy & cute generic BS!
I want my women to be able to throw me through a fucking wall!