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When fit becomes wrong, and overweight becomes right

Sometimes I’m honestly starting to wonder if this world hasn´t been turned-up side down. As everything that used to be normal, is now un-normal and vice versa. Let´s just say that it really takes a fool to remain sane nowadays… Anyhow, this time it´s all about female video game characters and realistic proportions. I know what your thinking right now “realistic proportions? It´s video game characters, for crying out loud!” True, but some people tend to get annoyed, offended and jealous of people who look better than them (even video game characters). That´s probably why this debate keeps coming back time after time again.

Nevertheless, I have nothing against body diversity in games though (I want more of that). However, I don´t like the idea that developers should be forced to create a “certain” kind of body type just to keep “some” people happy. Alternatively, try to beautify obesity and overweight people (which is even worse, in my opinion). Because that´s not something that should be adorned in any kind of way. As it´s a dead serious matter (especially in America, as 34.9% of females and 33.5% of males suffers from Obesity).

And trust me, I know what I’m talking about. As I once was a 130 kg heavy guy. In fact, my overweight almost killed me. Not to sound selfish, but I wish that I would have gotten help much faster than I did. Things turned out just fine in the end though. Any ways, when I found out about bulimia.com´s “video games realistic body types” post on their homepage, so I felt like I needed to give my response to it. As obesity “almost” took my life. With that said, this is what bulimia.com wrote:

“These days, there’s rarely a media type that isn’t criticized for its body image depictions, and video games are no exception.

Video games have grown increasingly realistic over time. New, immersive gaming styles are now somewhat true to life and even cinematic; the environments are richer and more detailed, and PC and console graphics processors are becoming more capable of handling the high-definition imagery.

Some gaming studios boast their hyper-realistic lighting techniques, touting natural cloud movements as the latest features of their games. And with that kind of attention to detail, it makes us wonder, why can’t they accurately portray the female body?

For example, plus-sized women are a rarity in video games, and when one does show up, she’s typically unusual looking. More often it seems video games are home to ultra-slim waistlines only.

If video game creators are going to pride themselves on accurate digital representations, then it’s time for them to get real about women.

With realism in mind, we altered some of the most beloved female video game characters with Adobe Photoshop, shaping their bodies into images that represent the average American woman’s measurements. Check out the results below!” – bulimia.com

All the pictures has been borrowed from bulimia.com

Gym Vs none gym.

Fighters are supposed to be “fit for fight” you know…

How would Lara Croft even be able to do what she does, if she wasn´t fit and well-trained?

Fit Vs fat Sonya Blade.

Someone needs to workout and change her diet asap…

Yes, because a fat Christie Monteiro would be able to pull-off the same Capoeira moves as the fit version.

Reality Vs fantasy

Well, I’ll try to answer each part of bulimia´s text with the best of my ability.

“These days, there’s rarely a media type that isn’t criticized for its body image depictions, and video games are no exception. For example, plus-sized women are a rarity in video games, and when one does show up, she’s typically unusual looking. More often it seems video games are home to ultra-slim waistlines only.”

As far as I know there is quite a lot of body diversity in both media (Friends, LOST, Drew Carey show, Orange Is the New Black) and video games (Overwatch, The Walking Dead, Borderlands, GTA5) nowadays. However, there is always room for improvements of course. I can admit that much.

“Some gaming studios boast their hyper-realistic lighting techniques, touting natural cloud movements as the latest features of their games. And with that kind of attention to detail, it makes us wonder, why can’t they accurately portray the female body? If video game creators are going to pride themselves on accurate digital representations, then it’s time for them to get real about women.”

This question and statement would make 100% sense IF all games were based on America and had an American background story (that´s also based on realistic US BMI numbers for males and females). However, here´s the thing. Many games are based in fantasy worlds, made-up countries, kingdoms and so on. As a lot of games don´t even take place in America, or on earth for that matter. And if you take games that are based on none-American authentic historical events (like Rome: Total War for example). Then it´s quite obvious that the developers in question won´t have the average American women in mind (no offense meant). And there is also a big difference between “curvy/plus-sized” women, and “overweight” women.

Real life “realistic” and fit women

Yes. women such as these does exist in real life.

Some “unrealistic” females.

That´s pretty spot-on, in my opinion, don´t you think?

I understand where bulimia.com is coming from though, but anorexia, bulimia and obesity are three very serious body and health conditions. And I don´t think that they should be put in the same box as “plus-size women” or “body diversity” (no matter if it´s real life or in the world of video games). However, none of that matter as long as you’re healthy, happy and full of confidence. So I think it´s rather strange that bulimia.com has turned all of this into a fight between different body shapes, and fit vs unfit debate. Because let´s face it, if you work out a lot at the gym (and eat the right diet). Then it´s going to show for sure. And why wouldn´t fit, beautiful and sexy people show off their hard work (bodies)? To be honest, I think that there´s much more to this then “just” social justice. I bet that there´s a lot of jealousy involved in this as well. And I’m not just talking about female video game characters. I’m also talking about fit and beautiful female cosplayers (as seen down below).

A top-notch Satsuki Kiryūin “Kill La Kill” cosplayer.

I think that it´s safe to say that she nailed her Cammy Street Fighter cosplay.

Enji Night as Kasumi from Dead or Alive.

I have no idea who this Samus Aran cosplayer is, but she´s freaking awesome!

You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth!

I don´t want to sound mean to all you ladies out there, but sadly enough. You tend to get rather jealous and hateful towards women who look better than you do (don´t be like that). I can´t speak for all guys now, but I never felt like that when I was fat and ugly (I was not jealous or hateful against fit and good-looking guys). In fact, it was the other way around. I wanted to get fit. I wanted to look great, and I aimed for a healthy and happy life. So in my opinion, developers, media (and we) need to find a good balance between body diversity, plus-sized women and obesity. Because there´s a huge difference between having a curvy body, being a “little” overweight, and suffering from obesity.

One should also keep in mind that many video/PC games (especially RPG, life simulators and Mmo games) offer the ability for you (the player) to create and shape your character (s) as you please (height, weight, race, bust, etc.). So if you ask me. I think it´s a much higher priority to fix real-life problems such as obesity, then it is to focus on “realistic proportions” and “body diversity” in games. Another thing, wouldn´t it be a lot better if the real world (in this case America), had fewer problems with obesity? You know, so that the game characters (male as female) actually represent the vast majority of the human population? That´s worthy of a thought at least.

So please feel free to comment on this subject, especially if you´re a female. As this topic is about females and different body types.

Credit:
Desto

Source:
bulimia
publichealth

***Disclaimer***
This is a personal opinion of the writer, and it doesn’t necessarily represent the other writers (nor The Gaming Ground´s) opinions.

Robin “V-Act” Ek
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @TheGamingGround