Girl in the Machine
Monday, September 24, 2007
Sexy Bunnygirls Want to Play With You

One of the staples in any good RPG is the element of exploration. A fantasy-world opens up to the player, along with a host of varied and exciting locales. It's not uncommon for the towns and villages of these worlds to be themed, and it's likely for the player to find herself exploring villages populated by ninjas, wizards, magical creatures -- or even entirely by women.

Final Fantasy XII picks up on this theme with the all-female Viera of Eruyt Village. The Viera -- as displayed upfront by FFXII's main black mage, Fran -- are a race of bunny people that, because they are bunny people, run around in stiletto heels, thongs, and assorted lingerie.

Okay, so maybe I'm not being fair. The Viera are a deeply spiritual people that have a close bond with nature and are particularly skilled in archery. Their bunny ears allow them to hear over great distances and listen to the voices of spirits. Because of this ability, they can summon monsters from --

I'm sorry, I just can't get past this. The only all-female society in Ivalice just happens to resemble a clutch of Playboy Playmates. This wouldn't creep me out as much if, say, Fran was the only one suffering from an awkward gait because of the leather G-string three miles up her ass. However, every single other lapine-eared lady, from leader Jute's silky teddy to the NPC extras' thigh-highs, has apparently decided that bedwear is completely fitting for patrolling their jungle home. I'm all for being able to choose whatever the hell you want to wear, but there isn't a single Viera who doesn't look like she belongs in Hugh Hefner's mansion. Add to that the consistently cookie-cutter faces and it almost makes my blood run cold.

Final Fantasy XII is a fantastic game, so it's a shame that the overall experience -- and so much potential for a group of strong female characters -- suffers because of such blatant sexism. And it isn't the Vieras' fault; they also appear in Final Fantasy Tactics: Advance, Tactics: A2, and FFXII: Revenant Wings with much more varied character designs, from the sexy to the sensible.

It's not the sexy itself that gets to me. I won't mince words: this entire society, set apart from the many others of Ivalice as being made up entirely of women, has been rendered to a collection of sex objects simply by their character design. Conversely, Final Fantasy IV's matriarchal kingdom, Toroia, avoided this beautifully. For example, while the sprites of the Toroia guards could have been replaced by the scantily-clad dancers, they're in fact decked out in armor. Because they're . . . guards, and, male or female . . . you get the idea.

Unfortunately, it's not unusual for female characters to be subjected to this kind of hypersexualization and objectification, and even less so for women in power to have their status mocked by such. The sad truth is that it's just as common an RPG staple as our aforementioned town themes. If only there were something other than the obligatory Hot Sexy Chicks Who Would Love To Sex You Up that leaves female gamers left out in the cold.

Labels: , , , ,

 Posted by BomberGirl
 12:05 AM + Link to this post
  7 comments

 
About
Girl in the Machine
BomberGirl
Calabar
PlasmaRit

Latest Entries
A Primal Love for Jen Tate
I Love Girls with Big Swords. . . Waitaminute
Loss, Death, and Hope: The Mothers of Metal Gear S...
Swing and a Miss, EA
Video Games as Literature
Checking In
First Friday Drinking Game
Sidetracked: Personal Outrage
On Female Leads
A Look into the Industry's Perception of "Girl Games"

Tags
Action Adventure
Adventure
Body Language
BomberGirl
Calabar
Castlevania
Character Spotlight
Civilization
Elder Scrolls
Fatal Frame
Final Fantasy
Fighter
First Friday Drinking Game
FPS
Getting it Right
Guitar Hero
Half-Life
Harvest Moon
Indie
The Industry
In the News
Legend of Zelda
LGBT
Linkfest
Mario Bros.
Mass Effect
Metal Gear
Metroid
MMORPG
Motherhood
PlasmaRit
Platforming
Primal
Prince of Persia
Race Issues
RPG
RTS
Rule of Rose
Scale
Sexuality
Shadow Hearts
Shin Megami Tensei
Silent Hill
The Sims
Star Fox
Stealth
Stereotypes
Street Fighter
Super Smash Bros.
Survival Horror
Tomb Raider
Turok
Video Game Movies
Violence
World of Warcraft

Archives
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008

Links
BlogHer
Cerise Magazine
The F-Word Blog
Finally, a Feminism 101 Blog Game Girl Advance
GayGamer.net
Iris Gaming Network
Killer Betties
New Game Plus
Penny Arcade
Racialicious
Shrub.com Blog
Under the Table Gaming
Women Gamers
Zone of the Gamers

Best viewed in Mozilla Firefox at a 1028 by 768 resolution.

Powered by Blogger

blogspot visit counter