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Author Topic: Arcane Wonders Marketing and Sexism upsets me :(  (Read 30010 times)

joechip90

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Re: Arcane Wonders Marketing and Sexism upsets me :(
« Reply #60 on: July 25, 2014, 10:52:39 AM »
I personally not offended by nudity. I think gorgon archer art is great, and very appropiate. I think the art of the johktari may be appropiate for a jungle warrior. But i donĀ“t buy the "bikini chainmail" thing as it appear on the angels, or Priestess, Druid...

Is not a problem of nuddity per-se. The Forcemaster does not show much, but i dont find logic in combining deep V-neckline with a dark losse cloack. I would accept a more nude Druid - it she would be more barkskined, and less as if it where a playmate (sorry, english not my first languaje - i expect is clear what i mean). For me is more about the general tone of the game (adult, serious, a bit dark), that get a bit dilluted when females are depicted with a different tone than the males. Look at the poses of the mages... every male has feet properly stand on the ground, separated, but most of the females seem to being posing, not getting ready to fight.

Yeah. The non-fighting poses are pretty annoying:

The priestess (looks like she's about to dance provocatively)
The priest (looks like he's about to preach rather than fight)
The Druid (just standing there smiling like the Mona Lisa, although this is somewhat believable if she barely leaves her corner all game while her enemies fail to attack her.)
The adramelech warlock (lash left down at her side, looking up--as if Infernia were in THAT direction.)

Zorro and imaginator: I agree with you both.  I appreciate that this is fantasy artwork and that therefore there is going to be a stylistic license that means that not every card is going have depictions of individuals most suitably attired for a fight.  That is fine if this stylistic license is applied equally between the sexes.  I guess the issue that I have is that the female humanoid figures have a much greater propensity for being depicted in much less attire and posed in a more sexually provocative style.  I personally have no problem with the Adramalech Warlock or the Priest that imaginator mentions but I agree about the Druid and most of the angels.

The chainmail bikini is a classic fantasy genre trope and one that I'd rather see out community move away from as it doesn't do much to attract a female player base.  Mage Wars is certainly not the worst offender for this (not by a long shot) and I certainly wouldn't go as far as to say that I find these images "offensive" (indeed as pieces of artwork in and of themselves they are fantastic).  However, by not challenging this fantasy trope we give tacit consent to it and I for one would rather a more balanced representation of the sexes in the games that I play.

I really like the art of the female wizard...

However, I don't wish to sound too negative.  This quibbles are relatively minor points about a game that I love.  There are some great examples of female card art in the game and I agree with zorro that the female wizard looks great.  I hope that Arcane Wonder continues in this vein with future expansions.

Anyway I apologise that my comments appear to have knocked us a little off-topic as we are now discussing card-art and not the Toni Darling campaign...
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