@Riot Sexualized Character Art

Mike Teavee·10/21/2018, 5:11:42 PM·9 votes·4,359 views

I know I will get some flak from people telling me it's part of the game and I should just suck it up, but: @Riot, will you be doing anything to rectify oversexualization or female characters in League? I just notice the same, unrealistic poses being used that disproportionately emphasize the chests of female characters (think Kai'sa's pose). This is seen in the majority of female characters, even going so far as to sexualized a completely hollow suit of armor as seen in Warden Ashe. Will there be any rectification of this? Especially in light of the sexual misconduct at Riot and those employees still having careers at the company despite evidence violating code, but that's a whole other tangent.

TLDR: Will Riot make more realistic poses that don't objectify, but rather emphasize their character?

55 Comments

Fasmodey10/21/2018, 5:29:37 PM11 votes

I mean... males are oversexualized too. Most of men in real life don't look like Tryndamere, Braum, Rakan, Kayn, Udyr, Taric.

I am ok with oversexualizing if we also get other body types too. Riot is a company and sex sells. Sorry but that's how it is, so I suggest you to learn how to deal with it.

ADCsRCrybabies10/21/2018, 5:16:46 PM9 votes

First off, you're wrong. Second off, Riots target demographic is teenage and adult men mostly. Sex sells. Why should someone make their art worse because some people get insecure?

Zyranium10/21/2018, 7:32:49 PM9 votes

It's a video game, PLEASE

Why do we always need to spit out the bullshit SJW narrative everytime we see the body of a female character?

So what do you propose now ? We should cover up all the sexy champions in a trashbag just to not get offended by a character like Evelynn ??

Riot has been working on diversity in term of female body types, since the past 5 years, to get rid of the hour-glass females they gave in their early years such as : Ahri Akali Janna Elise Leblanc Syndra Zyra

We recently got female champions like : Taliyah Lissandra Kalista Zoe Xayah RekSai Illaoi Camille

Having a character like Kaisa is not the end of the WORLD, and Riot is certainly not a sexist video game company, why do we keep having this debate everytime an attractive female champion is introduced ? It's actually hurting female gamers more than anything, it's a video game and if you don't like to see a female character showing her female attributes (which is normal) I suggest you to quit the game and go to Saudi Arabia.

I'm actually feeling the next female floral mage champion to come, to be in the center of an endless debate about sexualization...

Sigh

Hyquiem10/21/2018, 5:13:49 PM8 votes

Better question :

Don’t you know how to ignore pictures of people wearing short clothes?

Rivier10/21/2018, 6:52:52 PM7 votes

Female characters twist themselves like fcking cobras into unnatural poses and all of them look like they wear push up bras but kids be like "no theres nothing wrong! Look how sexy grandpa braum is!"

Mike Teavee10/21/2018, 5:30:05 PM7 votes

These comments were so expected it hurts.

FunkyMonkey369610/21/2018, 5:23:56 PM6 votes

pretty sure male characters are more sexualized. Name one female humanoid (not reksai) skin that is topless.

DrCyanide10/21/2018, 5:36:14 PM5 votes

I think League makes it's characters/art in roughly the same theme as comic books, where "normal" is considered boring and not worth doing (at least, not often). In that regard, everything is dialed up to one extreme or another. You can get a skin that screams action, or leadership, or serious, or corruption, or "I'm having fun!", or "I'm so cute!", or sexy, or whatever else I missed.

You could argue sexy is too common a fall back, a crutch for the artists, but I think a better idea would be to think what else you'd want highlighted in that particular skin. Don't just say "it's too sexualized," give another attribute the skin should focus on more. If you make a big enough list of these (probably with examples done right) then you'll make your point much clearer and be much more likely to see those changes pan out.

RyzeTheSmurfMage10/22/2018, 7:03:31 AM5 votes

So apparently just cause they are not fat/obese ALL of them are sexualised? Yeah MF actually is but that's her theme, same with Eve and Ahri. Most female champs workout or are in dangerous missions of course they have a fit body. Ah and male champs are sexualised too but you don't see me complaining about that because they workout and fight too.

jocomotion10/22/2018, 5:18:33 PM4 votes

You’re right, Braum Taric Kayn Rakan Tryndamere shouldn’t be sexualized

Infernape10/22/2018, 6:36:47 AM3 votes

I always find it funny how no one says nothing about male champions in League being sexualised. Sexualisation happens in the game on both sides.

MF is my Waifu10/22/2018, 5:52:18 PM3 votes

Lemme be a nice guy and cry about women exposing their beautiful bodies in a video game.

If you need your own three-page thread, why not discuss something actually important?

Mike Teavee11/1/2018, 2:37:34 PM2 votes

Also, I still don't understand why people instantly downvote en masse conversations about sexual prominence in video games. If people actually read my explanation, they'd understand it's more about back-breaking, rib-removing anatomy than about clothing and big boobs.

DerMangoJoghurt10/22/2018, 9:40:34 AM2 votes

It's kind of sad that we can't have a mature discussion about sexualisation on the boards, at least not without so many comments missing the point.

Anyway, if I understand you correctly your main complaint is not that female champions are sexy, but rather the unrealistic nature of their splash arts. Wrong body proportions, spine-breaking poses, impractical armor and so on. Additionally, the splash arts focus too much on displaying that sexiness when they could be used to better emphasize the character of the champion.

While this is certainly true, the core issue lies not with Riot Games, but with media and human psychology in general. Our minds don't really understand how human bodies should work until we start thinking about it. Sex sells, so everybody started using sex to sell. We have been fed unrealistic body proportions through the media for years, to the point where the ideal body marketed to us now is borderline anorexic. Normal body proportions look fat in comparison, normal poses look like bad posture. Sadly, marketing with realism is just less effective.

While I would really appreciate Riot trying to change the general view of how a realistic attractive body should look like, they can't do it by themselves and would more likely than not reduce their income through that decision. However, what they can do is settle on compromises. Riot already has made progress. We have less sexualised characters lately, sure a few spine-breakers here and there, some wide shoulders sprinkled in between, but ever since Vi's release there has been a drastic change in champion designs. As long as Riot continues this trend, I'm fine with some releases like Kai'Sa or Braum from time to time.

Eryl Fauna10/23/2018, 3:27:12 AM1 votes

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DeracadaVenom10/29/2018, 5:55:20 AM1 votes

Guys he isn’t talking about the clothes really, it’s the way they’re posed. I think morgana gotbher spine removed and MF broke her back. At least Varus doesn’t look like he broke a bone or grew extra ribs lol

mrmeddyman10/22/2018, 6:04:50 AM1 votes

Really not a big deal for me.... meh not for or against it to be honest