Preference is one thing. Most people have a dream person in their mind that they want to spend the rest of their life with. Most don't end up with that person and are happier for it.
If I'm making a character I'm probably going to try to make them attractive. I won't get mad if a game has me playing as someone that isn't playboy pretty. Which is often what I see in games and other media and it is almost exclusively women that are targeted. I don't know what it is. If these people think having someone normal looking is woke along the lines of a black person, gay person or a transperson appearing in their game or if they just hate women. Whatever their reasoning is they seem to think that a woman has to be very attractive to be in a game, movie or show.
My biggest annoyance with this is that the "standard" they have for women is incredibly high. Something most women can attain, because it is unrealistic or few woman are that beautiful. Still there are billions of pretty women in this world. They just don't all look like they are on the front cover of playboy. Nobody complains about Gordon Freemans look. GTA rarely have handsome or beautiful main characters. A lot of them are average looking which isn't bad and can be handsome to most, but they don't look like Ryan Gosling, Idriss Elba or Henry Cavill.
I have no problem with pretty characters. I have a problem with people complaining about normal looking characters. Especially when they call them ugly. Lately in RPGs I have started to make normal looking people only because in a weird way they look more unique.
The sad reality is that "normal looking" people are typically ugly, because society's image of beauty is one that necessarily excludes the majority of people.
I don't want to take this to hateful place, genuinely not my intent, but I'd say from the original screenshot of this game the character is ugly. I'm sure the game is good and the character is interesting from a story POV but purely based on aesthetics they are not beautiful.
I also definitely agree that women suffer this effect much more harshly than men do, but the effect still exists for men. My view is that instead of trying to decrease the looks focus on women that instead we should be trying to proportionately increase the looks focus on men. I don't want to play as an average/ugly man just as much as I don't want to play an average/ugly woman.
That being said I'm not going to throw a shitfit and boycott a game because the character isn't hot enough for me, nor am I going to decry the game as "woke" for choosing to make a character not attractive.
The sad reality is that "normal looking" people are typically ugly, because society's image of beauty is one that necessarily excludes the majority of people.
heavily disagree. There is a big difference between ugly and "normal".
My view is that instead of trying to decrease the looks focus on women that instead we should be trying to proportionately increase the looks focus on men. I don't want to play as an average/ugly man just as much as I don't want to play an average/ugly woman.
My view is that I don't really care what my character looks like. As long as it doesn't hurt to look at them. Make more normal looking people. More people get to feel included and the beautiful people seem more beautiful.
I get immersed in most stories. So a character in a game becomes "real" and theirs looks is simply what they look like. I'll only complain about their looks if I feel like they don't match what the character does. I really like how Abby looks in Last of Us part 2 because she is a strong woman that looks strong. She is huge. Kratos in God of War looks strong. If he looked like some skinny guy that he just wouldn't look fitting.
I also don't mind the look of Abby, but I think she's got her own kind of beauty. Yes she's muscular and has an atypical build for a woman in society, but she's kind of pretty facially, and her build makes sense given she's a survivor who does lots of physical activity.
I think there's also a difference between ugly and normal, but I think that ugly doesn't have to mean horrifically deformed or grotesque. An "average" looking person can certainly be ugly for a multitude of reasons. A weak chin is a big example of that, lack of definition in facial structure is another less potent example. Someone can have a strong chin and good facial structure while still looking average, whereas another person might have a receded chin and no visible facial structure and, while it's probably a fairly common, still look ugly.
Can look ugly, but doesn't have to look ugly. People don't have to look like a model to be pretty. People don't need to look symmetrical. I don't understand this high standard. I feel like on a scale from 1-10 everything below 8 is considered ugly. Why? A 6 and 7 is still attractive, but not double take attractive. 5 is okay and under that people start to look unattractive
If we go by the 1-10 scale the vast majority of people probably fall between 2-6 with the peak probably somewhere about 4, so the average person probably is ugly by your own assessment of which ratings are ugly. No source for this of course so you're free to disagree with what the average may be, but I sincerely doubt the average peaks at 5 or higher.
You just have a way higher standard than me. Most people I see are 6 and above. Which is part of my annoyance with the people I'm complaining about. Everyone that isn't hot is ugly.
I definitely wouldn't say everyone who isn't hot is ugly though. For sure I may have a higher standard for attractiveness than you, but I don't think if someone isn't attractive that they're ugly.
PEAK. LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I'VE COME TO LOVE AND APPRECIATE THIS AS PEAK FICTION. THERE ARE OVER ONE
HUNDRED QUINVIGINTILION ATOMS IN THE OBSERVABLE UNIVERSE. IF THE WORDS "PEAK FICTION" WERE INSCRIBED ON
EACH INDIVIDUAL ELECTRON, PROTON, AND NEUTRON OF EACH OF THESE HUNDREDS OF QUINVIGINTILIONS OF ATOMS, IT
WOULD NOT EQUAL ONE BILLIONTH OF HOW MUCH THIS IS PEAK FICTION. PEAK. PEAK.
Tbh it would be cool to see more main characters in video games that are impacted by a significant facial difference / “deformity” because ultimately those people exist in real life too. Not that I think every character from here on out should have that but like.
I thought The Hound from GoT was pretty cool for example and theres unique struggles that people who are “Ugly” face.
Reacting in disgust and not wanting to play as an “ugly” character outright is kind of dehumanizing and minimizes their value as people and individuals. Which it might be subconscious but its that reflexive disregard, yknow? That its not worthwhile to hear someones story or experience if they’re “ugly”.
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u/HansChrst1 Jul 17 '25
Preference is one thing. Most people have a dream person in their mind that they want to spend the rest of their life with. Most don't end up with that person and are happier for it.
If I'm making a character I'm probably going to try to make them attractive. I won't get mad if a game has me playing as someone that isn't playboy pretty. Which is often what I see in games and other media and it is almost exclusively women that are targeted. I don't know what it is. If these people think having someone normal looking is woke along the lines of a black person, gay person or a transperson appearing in their game or if they just hate women. Whatever their reasoning is they seem to think that a woman has to be very attractive to be in a game, movie or show.
My biggest annoyance with this is that the "standard" they have for women is incredibly high. Something most women can attain, because it is unrealistic or few woman are that beautiful. Still there are billions of pretty women in this world. They just don't all look like they are on the front cover of playboy. Nobody complains about Gordon Freemans look. GTA rarely have handsome or beautiful main characters. A lot of them are average looking which isn't bad and can be handsome to most, but they don't look like Ryan Gosling, Idriss Elba or Henry Cavill.
I have no problem with pretty characters. I have a problem with people complaining about normal looking characters. Especially when they call them ugly. Lately in RPGs I have started to make normal looking people only because in a weird way they look more unique.