>For example, some female characters in game from China show too much skin to be appealing, which would be offensive to both female and male players in the West.
Oh the many ironies. Things have truly come full circle.
Are the skimpy female outfits used in some Asian games really offensive to a majority of Western players, or is that just what people say when asked because it's become socially unacceptable to promote sexualisation of female characters?
I don't play games these days, but I can totally see how one can be put off by female "warriors" wearing glorified G-strings. Not necessarily in "Oh how dare they objectify women!" way, but more like "Do these idiots take me for a horny teenager?" way.
What the last reports I've read indicated was that identity trumped objectification, i.e. what engages players for the long haul is not a random boobshot, but a character that represents them in the way they want to be represented. For this reason defaulting female characters towards conventional supermodel aesthetics is a minus if only because it acts to close off all the options of substance - big bodies, short bodies, "homely" or "motherly" presentations, etc.
Furthermore, it's less risky to go the route of the "strong female protagonist" if you have to choose one (binary) gender, as it engages women more and has negligible impact on men vs. a similar male protagonist. That's one I remember clearly but would have to dig a little to find the source for again.
Of course, targeting may fall differently if we're simply looking at conversion on a banner ad, as in the infamous "Evony" ad campaign:
>what engages players for the long haul is not a random boobshot, but a character that represents them in the way they want to be represented
Yet the first major major change in World of Warcraft's character line-up was adding Elves to the Horde (Orc) faction, one of the reasons being that a very large portion of female players did prefer their idealized fantasy representations to be conventionally attractive.
I was referring to the first expansion pack, which added Blood Elves for the Horde and Draenei (blue space goat people) for the Alliance.
To anyone who is bothered by female video game character: I want you to look at the four original Horde female models. Orc, Troll, Tauren, Undead. I want you to note how sexualized they are. And I want you to note that horde was less popular among players of all genders because they were not sexualized enough.
I think it's worth noting that Japan is fairly unique when it comes to this topic. You can't really group it as "Asian" along with the Chinese/Korean market.
I recently got into the latest Metal Gear Solid game (Phantom Pain, fifth in the series) and in articles, reviews, various forums and reddit there does seem to be a lot of (negative) attention and discussion centered around an almost-naked female character in the game, who also happens to be (AFAIK) the only female character of note in the game.
I'm not saying this attention is unjustified, but it surprised me a bit in volume and frequency.
They may not all be interested in it ("weeaboo trash") but I would hazard a guess that the vast majority would openly laugh at the idea that someone is offended by such things.
The people that write about games in the West have little in common with the average player. They project their bubble's academic norms of identity politics on an audience that they hold in undisguised contempt. I wouldn't trust them for critical analysis or social commentary on any group but other angsty liberal arts majors.
Oh the many ironies. Things have truly come full circle.