Suda 51 and Grasshopper Manufacture's over-the-top, highly stylized games can be offensive to some people, especially in regards to the way they portray female characters.
Now, accomplished designer Suda 51 has addressed those issues in a new GamesIndustry.biz interview . He says that anything anybody creates in the artistic realm has the potential to be criticized. At the same time, this also means you're getting some valuable attention:
"I think in a way when you get criticism, that means people are paying attention to your work. Any kind of artistic value, anything you create, there's always some kind of criticism behind it. Which means we're making an impression and an impact.
So I think we'll stay with what we're thinking and just keep going with that way of thinking…And when I say that, sexuality is a touchy subject. We don't want to make people offended, but we're trying to create something that makes people laugh a bit because we're [dealing with] that topic."
As an example, Grasshopper's Lollipop Chainsaw features the 18-year-old cheerleader, Juliet, who wields a chainsaw, makes plenty of innuendo-laden puns, and sports a very short skirt. That's not the only example of over-sexualized characters in the developer's games but remember, it's all tongue-in-cheek. Still, "all in good fun" is not a popular phrase these days, unfortunately. Rather, hyper sensitivity is the norm.
People should start seeing videogames as a form of art. It´s like making a 3D virtual sculpture or painting. Add to this the movement and it´s a really difficult task to accomplish. The story lines, characters, scaling, acting, research, scripts, and many many more things… Come on, this should be taken seriously.
The fact is that almost every video game that has this things, are very sexual and aggressive in a way when it appears the mentioned scene or character, etc. In fact I can only remember Heavy Rain´s scene when it comes to artistic nudity (or in other words, not aggressive). I mean this one was not aggressive because how the story was, but it still had sexuality as it best. And this obviously affects the points of view of the press, governments or parents.
I mean (random examples given next), what kind of art would it be a jumping and jiggling female character whooping a 50ft monster´s ass? That my friend, it´s called the art of awesomeness, period. Or a miniskirted girl who calls a monster friend to help her defeat another monster. They are just nice touches given by producers, directors, character developers, etc, to making it more appealing to those of us who realize those spicy details in those things, and if you´re innocent or young enough and don´t detect that, well, that doesn´t affect you´re gameplay or point of view of the game.
But again, the line between very suggestive but still acceptable and "just put sexual things here and there so we can grab attention" is very thin.
Also, a main problem is that in this days, very few parents care about ratings. I don´t get it for example how those FPS war themed games that have multiple scenes of pure gore, decapitations, mutilations, terrorist acts, etc etc, end in kids hands and that´s ok for must of us. But if a game that contains a character with very little clothes on ends up in a pubert kid, it´s like the end of the world for those parents. Ratings should be taking so seriously that it may be a good idea to sell them by showing ID if "M" rated, just like buying alcohol or cigarettes. No exceptions. But then again it hits me, that a lot of parents out there don´t care about the ratings, in fact they don´t even know there are ratings for video games too, so they buy the game for the kid not realizing what they´re doing.
Well, getting back in the main subject, I like very much this kind of spicy things, and hell, I repeat, I even recognize how much of a difficult thing may be making a jiggling female character and make it appear real with reflections, shadows, shades, even moles, skin wrinkles, body/muscle shapes, etc. So it´s a double appreciation from myself because of this 2 things.
Last edited by godsdream on 6/24/2013 1:14:24 PM
Didn't you hear? Gaming is for kids and it's still 1985.
Rather than making M ratings a legal restriction and punishable by financial penalty for selling to a younger audience, the workers at these stores could (assuming they don't already) make it clear to the purchaser that the game they are buying contains X Y Z..
That wouldn´t be an option, at least not a practical one. Imagine one guy explaining every person who wants to buy cigarettes, how bad they are… And also many of the employees in those sections at stores don´t know crap about video games. Except for gamestop, etc. that are stores completely focused in videogames.
The fact is that video game makers are doing their job by puting labels on it. The wrong thing is that if a game that contains, sexual suggestive themes, gore, mature content in general, are still purchased by parents and given to their 8 year old kids.
I agree with him completely. If you want to make a game with a tough, well dressed, modest kickass woman as protagonist then please go ahead. If you want to make a game with an 18 year old panty flashing cheerleader then you should go ahead with that too.
Both have equal right to exist and no one should be crying if one or the other isn't to their personal liking.
Yep, to think of it. What you say goes hand with hand with the whole point of what I say. Let them be, but be careful with what you buy to your kids. And also, check what they are playing. Because they still can manage to get other games.
Last edited by godsdream on 6/24/2013 1:46:55 PM
Yes, I know sometimes I get all serious about gaming and where it is headed as a form of art and where violence plays its part and sexuality. But what about entertainment and fun? Is it really so evil to indulge our inner teenage fantasy now and then? Hell don't we do that every time we see blockbuster movies? What are a few bouncing bazooms and d*ck jokes in the grand scheme of things?
Those kind of things make the game more real. Fantasy games, but with real things. And that combination is great.
If it was aimed at kids and rated T or E, I might have an issue. But when it's so purposely absurd like most games, you have to relax a little. Especially when it's CLEARLY rated for adults.
Kids shouldn't ever see it, and adults who are offended by it should just not buy it.
No one says movies are bad because pornos exist. Why would people use some sexual themes make them think video games are bad? lol
A lot people just need to lighten up.. And make track on what games your kids are playing, I know it's tough, but it has to be done since their still growing. I'm glad there is some devs out there that see their own vision of things and turn it to a reality game, instead we get games today that are the same ol same ol but not necessarily a bad thing either.
It all depends on the context that it's used in the game. With Lollipop Chainsaw the game is supposed to be goofy and over the top, so it makes sense to throw it in and laugh at it. Some games aren't there for us to simply laugh at though, and are more of an emotional rollercoaster.
If there is random fan service for no apparent reason in a game world that has really drawn me in, then I might have some objections. If the nudity takes me out of my experience and the game didn't really need it, then I might be a little disappointed it was thrown in there. In Heavy Rain it's tastefully done, and adds to the story, but there are other games that do it just to either garner attention, or satiate some perverted desire to see characters in certain situations.
I like the games that this guy and his team make. But I can certainly see how they're not for everybody. Way over the top and it's not just with sexualizing of characters. The dialogue between characters basically consists of F this and F that. It is funny sometimes though, I have to give him that.