Everyone knows how to sexualize female characters in video games.
But how to sexualize male characters and do “fan service” for the female audience?

    • Kaligalis@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      2·
      18 hours ago

      This basically is the stereotype I am coming from. So far, the answers don’t contradict it.

  • agent_nycto@lemmy.worldEnglish
    7·
    2 days ago

    Last year the two sexiest guys were a dwarf who can cook and a mean zombie cowboy.

    So I guess write a guy good personality, and throw in giving a shit about people around him.

  • DrPop@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    2 days ago

    I saw screenshots of the new Resident Evil. Leon Scott Kennedy is definitely showing of for those that are into it. Capcom has at least figured it out.

  • Bluedragon012@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    2 days ago

    Oh that’s easy, make them vaugly gay and twinky. Now if you are trying to arouse… Make them REALLY gay.

  • Hildegarde@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    30·
    3 days ago

    To sexualize men for women, you have to understand women.

    To men, attraction is largely visual. So to sexualize a woman for a male audience means making her look attractive, and dressed in a revealing outfit. Swapping the genders doesn’t work. A visually attractive man in a revealing outfit is far more likely to appeal to either gay men sexually, or men generally as a power fantasy. To appeal to women you need a fundimentially different strategy altogether.

    Consider erotic literature. Its a genre that is disproportionately popular with women. Its basically anti-porn, no visuals all story. Male characters in these stories are almost always sexualized by women for women. The attraction mostly from their choices and actions than appearance. You need a completely different approach.

    Go read some smut. Talk to straight women about who and what they find attractive. You have to learn a lot about women to appeal to them. What they are looking for, and how they are looking for it is entirely different from men.

    • Katana314@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      1 day ago

      I’d also say, there’s definitely a big media push on the idea that “men are simple, and attraction is visual”. It’s not always so true as the marketing world wants, and I think a lot of men like myself have more of a “type” we’re likely to connect more with.

      There’s plenty of games out there with giant-tittied, half-naked women, that I have basically no interest in because they all blend together thoughtlessly. At the very least, having an interesting character design that portrays some personality and thought pulls me in. (In gacha terms, the former might be Snowbreak Containment Zone while the latter would be Zenless Zone Zero. The latter still falls back on generous endowment sometimes, but they also have some creative designs)

    • bampop@lemmy.worldEnglish
      8·
      2 days ago

      I guess that’s one of the less-acknowledged reasons why you see more sexualization of women in games. It costs next to nothing in terms of game design. Take any game, slap a scantily clad woman on it and bam, you’ve significantly increased your appeal to male audiences. To do the same for female audiences you have to build the entire game around that requirement.

    • Simulation6@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      4·
      2 days ago

      It is almost impossible to avoid romance novels at the library. There are always multiple men, they are always attractive and mysterious in some way, and if it gets down and dirty it gets really dirty.

    • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9·
      3 days ago

      Consider erotic literature. Its a genre that is disproportionately popular with women. Its basically anti-porn, no visuals all story. Male characters in these stories are almost always sexualized by women for women. The attraction mostly from their choices and actions than appearance. You need a completely different approach.

      Yes, its no visuals. Thats why there isnt 500,000,000 books with fabio ripped and glistening on the covers.

    • NIB@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      2 days ago

      One of the biggest mobile games on the planet is Love and Deepspace. It is a game that appeals to women(and gay men?) and on top of being kinda conventional videogame, it is the modern version of erotic literature.

      I have only seen clips and they were much more spicy than most mobile games, even mobile games that appeal to straight men.

    • Clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      3·
      2 days ago

      For anyone wanting to know more about these books, Reading Smut is a side-project podcast by the hosts of Reading Glasses. It’s really interesting, with lots of thoughtful guests and often odd books. One of the first episodes covered a book about a door that comes to life and lusts after the woman who lives inside.

  • CommanderCloon@lemmy.mlEnglish
    41·
    1 day ago

    I like feminine/twink guys, so everyone recommending big buff guys 💀💀

    But I’m a gay guy so not the target of OP’s question 😅 I just barged in because it’s a dry desert in terms of my preferences out there 💀

  • Aganim@lemmy.worldEnglish
    13·
    3 days ago

    But how to sexualize male characters and do “fan service” for the female audience?

    Easy, just add Caius Cosades to your game:

  • jellyfishhunter@lemmy.worldEnglish
    9·
    3 days ago

    I think you need to check out the genre of Otome games. There’s hundreds of weird dating sim style games catered to women which feature a male cast.

    It’s debatable of how sexualized these characters are. But whatever they do appeals to their female audience.

  • velma@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    211·
    3 days ago

    It depends on the genre of the game.

    Fighting games like Mortal Kombat? Put the men in skimpy outfits that show their muscles like the women.

    Survival game? I don’t need to see the characters sexualized while they’re trying to survive a zombie apocalypse. Give me character depth and growth, empathy, and strong story-telling visuals. I’ll fall in love with man or woman that way.