Finally, A Post Specifically About Porn-Star-Related Issues

DM: "Ok, as the guests walk in, there are female Elven guards standing on either side of the gate, and they look kind of like...this":

(I hold up John Blanche's Amazon painting.)

Player 1: "Hot."

Player 2: "Hot."

Player 1: "She has great shoes."

Player 2: "Those are really great shoes."

Player 1 is Satine Phoenix. Player 2 is Mandy Morbid. Player 3 is a guy and says nothing.

So, I'll stop here and I'll answer the kind of question that gets discussed when the issue of Women In Gaming comes up.

Zak, how do your own personal feminist female players feel about the often hypersexualized depictions of female characters in games?

They like it. They feel good about it. They are 14-year-old-boys about it.

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I asked Mandy about the whole "bust-waist-hips-chart-in-Arduin" thing.

Mandy: "Well I think it's alienating to some women, but not to me. I'd totally roll on that chart and think it was hilarious."

Me: "What do you think of this?"

Mandy: "I think she needs to be hotter. She's all hagged-out. And her hair is gross."

Me: "What about that Reaper Mermaid Mini?"

Mandy: "She has nice tits and a small waist, plus if you turn her around she has a big ass. You know who was really hot is that Guild Wars Necromancer. There was a life-sized cut-out of her outside the game store when I was a kid. She has nice hair. But my necromancer was even hotter than that--she had better hair and she was wearing less clothes."

Me: "Your necromancer? You mean in Diablo?"

Mandy: "Guild Wars. The Amazons in Diablo had big tits but the necromancer was kind of hotter."

Me: "What do you think of this article?"

("I Was Teenage Con Bait" on rpg.net)

(readreadread)

Mandy: "I didn't have low self-esteem when I was a teenager--that wasn't one of my problems. I never felt that my body was the only worthwhile thing about me. I can't relate to this woman at all. I mean, how do you know that those girls aren't really more comfortable in a chainmail bikini than a turtleneck and jeans? At that age, what made me feel insecure was when people told me to cover up, or to stop talking about sex--or about anything else."
______

Adventure resumed:

We all know why there are these guards--there are guards so you can get past them and get treasure. In this adventure, getting past the guards was not meant to be the main event--there was one guard near the door, and she was tipsy.

Satine distracted the guard with her feminine wiles (opposed charisma v. wisdom roll) while the other players knocked the guard out. Satine liked that so much she drew a picture of it while she played:


_______

So this is how my players are.

So, in answer to another question that people on reality shows about What Adult Film Starlets Are Really Like might ask--what kind of characters do porn girls like to play when the cameras are off?

Caroline Pierce:

"I always play sluts."
_______

One more question on the subject:

Me: "Mandy, do you think male characters in heroic RPGs and the like are sexualized? I mean, to you, whether or not their creators meant them to be? Conan, Aragorn, Legolas, Elric, Spock..."

Mandy: "Yes. And Han Solo...if you want another example."

So, yeah, chainmail bikinis are ridiculous. But so is the mostly naked movie version of Conan.

Mandy:

"Y'know another thing that makes Conan sexy? It's the slave girls. That's an important part...I think I might have to buy that chainmail bikini that's at Bed Behavior..."

____

P.S. Mandy's still looking for monsters and things to put into the adventure she's writing. So if you've got something, let us know.