Oh Lord, save us from militant liberal do-gooders...
As much as I'd love to make this discussion about me -- I admit to an unflattering vanity -- this is an important subject, and I think it's important not to make this kind of
ad hominem argument. I am who I am, but it is my ideas you should be concerned with. They are right or wrong on their own merits, and are not any more right or wrong because of who I am or why I hold them.
But if we have to talk about people, I'd like to talk about my wife for a moment, because it is her ideas on this that have informed mine. Her degree is in art history, with an emphasis on costume and society. My degree is in graphic design and marketing, so we both took plenty of art history and critical theory, though she's far more equipped than I for any sort of rough-and-ready discussion of the history of gender, sexuality, attire, and illustration. We're both geeks, though her taste runs more to Jane Austin fanfic than high rules engagement board games.
Can you imagine what her reaction was to seeing the Joctari Beastmaster? I had difficulty convincing her that it was real. I can't imagine she'll ever be willing to give Mage Wars a try, and I can't really blame her. The embodied colonialism in that illustration is kind of staggering. Similarly, she loves the idea of Plants vs. Zombies, but any chance of hooking her interest with the Druid vs. Necromancer expansion was completely shot, as she recently reminded me, by the depiction of the Druid as a naked lady.
Now, understand that my wife is no prude. You can't be an art historian without confronting the vast history of naked ladies in Great Masters portraiture and sculpture. The so-called Venus of Willendorf is one of the oldest extant sculptures, and it's of a nude woman. And the Druid could have tied into that ancient tradition of earth-mother and been a fine archetypical spellcaster.
So by herself, the Druid might have been ok. Just like Fellella, by herself, could have been fine: she looks like Tinkerbell. And the Priestess, by herself, could have been fine (though with an outfit like that... worship of Asyra is probably not pg-13). Any one character, man or woman, can be ridiculous and porny, just like the Grey Angel is kinda doing a Fabio thing, and that's just fine. There's in-game, or in-world, or in-genre reasons for each of these characters individually to be sexy.
But when taken as a whole, my wife isn't interested in the
in fiction justification, she wants to know why the art director
on Earth chose this costume direction for all the women. Why did the chief of marketing define this product's target demographic in such a way that all this flesh and sex was a good idea?
In media criticism there is sometimes a distinction drawn between
Watsonian and Doylist reasoning(warning, TVtropes). The name comes from Sherlock Holmes. Why did Holmes do something dumb? Watson will say it was because Holmes was preoccupied with his broken violin; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle will say that perhaps it was because the Author wrote himself into a corner and needed to break out somehow, and main-character error is more believable than any other sort of plot saving coincidence.
So the Doylist explanation for this sexist pattern is really what she'd like to know. And since my degree is in Marketing, and she's moderately anti-capitalist, she's happy to rib me about it. Because, of course, the art direction in this kind of fantasy game drives away women. That may not be Arcane Wonders' specific intention, but the broader cultural "game geek"
market is gender segregated on purpose, as discussed in this great summary by Anjin Anhut.
Geeks, generally, are a marketer's dream demographic. They have disposable income because they generally have more money, they're neophiles, so they'll naturally be drawn to whatever new product is being sold, and most importantly, they're (we're) clannish, and like to associate their identities with things like media properties (Star Trek vs Star Wars) and technology standards (Xbox vs PS). Geeks will dress up as your mascot and go to conventions. They will get tattoos of your logo. And when you have them all together in neatly defined categories (this is the important part) it is exceptionally easy to target them with effective advertising.
And, unfortunately, the gamer geek market has been shaped into an overwhelmingly male one, as described by Anhut above. When your market is defined as men, you can target their (assumed, stereotypical) libido, and this has two effects. It wins over some portion of the men in your market, and it drives off some portion of the women. This is, in fact, desirable, because it means that in the future your libidinous marketing will be even more effective, because you've increased the proportion of susceptible consumers in your marketing tranche. Your cake is smaller, but that's fine, you've excluded inefficient targets.
And this is one way to run your brand, either accidentally, or intentionally. It does work. It just has other problems. Aside from gnawing on your soul, it will turn your market base into a monoculture. Your product's customers will all become more and more similar, and if something bad happens that strikes a chord with some of them, you may lose them all. Like the Irish trying to live on Potatoes alone, a plague can spread through your entire market and obliterate your entire customer base. You can Jar-Jar your brand.
Corporate brands hedge against this catastrophe by diversifying their brand lines. Pepsi is for children, Diet Pepsi is for women, Caffeine free diet Pepsi is for old people. Mountain Dew is for teen boys. Diet Mountain Dew is for men who wish they were still teen boys. Etc.
Arcane Wonders doesn't have this option, yet. Partially that's ok. They (we) make a niche product anyway, and expanding into another niche is difficult, even if its an adjacent niche. But remember that gamers are neophiles. We love shiny new things. As the game matures, AW releases updates to keep the experience fresh and expand the line, but sooner or later, I propose, the game may regret driving away all those women. And liberal do-gooders.
