The issue for me is that the character designs in western games are just ugly and bad designs. That doesn’t mean that all the characters have to be hot and sexy. You can have unconventionally attractive or even unattractive characters that are still appealing to look at because they are designed well. There is an art to a well designed character. Not a game reference, but a good example of a well designed and unattractive character in entertainment is Long John Silver in Treasure Planet. Nearly everything about his design is unsexy, but he is still appealing to look at because the character has soul, his design tells a story about him, his ambitions and the humanity he has, but tries to suppress. He has a recognizable silhouette, his color palette is earthy and warm, the contrast between the dark of his pirate hat + coat against the white of his shirt tells us that he is complicated, has both good and bad in him. Often when he hangs out with Jim alone, the dark hat and coat are nowhere to be seen and he’s mostly wearing white. His shape is round and soft, often a shape related to kind ans trustworthy characters. His hat and coat have sharp edges, the hat is literally a triangle, a shape that we subconsciously associate with danger. He is both a father figure, a safe person for Jim to lean on, but he’s also treacherous and dangerous. He is a cyborg, half machine, half doghuman or whatever he’s supposed to be haha. Warm and soft, and cold and mechanical. That is such a brilliant design for a character who is somewhat of an anti-hero.
With some of the shit I have seen coming out of gaming in recent years, it’s not just that the characters are physically unattractive, it’s that the clothes and color palettes they have been settled with is as unappealing as possible as well. To the point where it’s nonsensical to look at. I don’t get a sense of the character’s history or personality when I look at many of these designs. It looks slapped together. Concord was a great example of ugly af designs that felt entirely void of personality and purpose. Colors were clashing, silhouettes were nonsensical and the clothes didn’t fit together at all and communicated nothing about the character to the player. Many of the characters also had the same mid value if you turned on the graycale. No contrast anywhere. So dull to look at.
I know people desperately want to perpetuate the narrative that gamers just hate these types of designs because they are stupid incels who want to wank to the characters in game, but that is and has always been an intellectually lazy argument used to dismiss fair criticism.
You can have ugly characters that are well designed. Most of the ugly designs we see coming out of western gaming are barely designs. It is what happens when you press a randomizer button and purposefully look for the ugliest result as possible.
I heard a theory that they do this on purpose to give players incentives to purchase better looking skins which would not surprise me in the slightest. The games industry has become so predatory and lazy in the past ten years that it honestly deserves to fail. The fact that they get to hide behind political correctness and blame the criticism from their customers on racism, sexism and whatever other ism is out there is nothing more than a pathetic deflection from the real issue. They treat their customers like brain dead consumers who should be shamed for demanding a better product and they use minority groups as a shield against valid criticism.
It is pathetic. Even more pathetic that so many people are falling for this marketing tactic, that permeates almost all of the entertainment industry. It is shameful.
Concord characters have that look of “it’s 1982, let’s make quick sci-fi cash grab based off Star Wars”, a cheap attempt at making realism “cartoony” - one of the characters is a fucking yellow bucket, half the characters have puffy donuts or some shit that looks like “exposed entrails” on their attire. The aliens are just “human with makeup”. Not a single character in the roster has an ounce of “cool”
It’s funny, because someone claimed the character designs looked good in concept and I looked it up so see if they looked better in concept, but no. Sure they are technically well drawn, but their designs still look like shit in my opinion. I don’t get a sense of character at all.
On the other hand, I came across an artist named Kevin Trentin, who had decided to have fun redesigning the characters and they look so much better the way he did them.
He even bothered to give the characters some much needed personality. Amazing.
I think it’s a very interesting topic in general. Very frustrating too because the important discourse is always shut down by some people who have had too much ideological cool aid. It is a shame because at the end of the day, these companies are predatory toward all of us and should not be defended as fiercely as some people are. I just want entertainment at large to produce worth while art, be it books, movies, games etc. Good stories, great characters, well made art and so on. Stuff that can move people. ❤️
If I told you Concord had some pretty good concept art that was badly translated into playable characters, would you drop the incel talking points? Yes, even the big lady with the dollar store cosplay armor.
How are my talking points in any way related to incels? Also, are we supposed to give them credit for nicely looking concept art when the final product looks like ass? That’s news to me.
You are confirming my point about using cheap identity politics insults to deflect from the fact that these games are made by companies that don’t give a fuck about their customers. The only area where identity politics is relevant is when these very companies use them as a shield against criticism and people like you falling for their tactic and defending shitty game design because you think only incels could have negative opinions on a game like Concord.
The issue for me is that the character designs in western games are just ugly and bad designs. That doesn’t mean that all the characters have to be hot and sexy. You can have unconventionally attractive or even unattractive characters that are still appealing to look at because they are designed well. There is an art to a well designed character. Not a game reference, but a good example of a well designed and unattractive character in entertainment is Long John Silver in Treasure Planet. Nearly everything about his design is unsexy, but he is still appealing to look at because the character has soul, his design tells a story about him, his ambitions and the humanity he has, but tries to suppress. He has a recognizable silhouette, his color palette is earthy and warm, the contrast between the dark of his pirate hat + coat against the white of his shirt tells us that he is complicated, has both good and bad in him. Often when he hangs out with Jim alone, the dark hat and coat are nowhere to be seen and he’s mostly wearing white. His shape is round and soft, often a shape related to kind ans trustworthy characters. His hat and coat have sharp edges, the hat is literally a triangle, a shape that we subconsciously associate with danger. He is both a father figure, a safe person for Jim to lean on, but he’s also treacherous and dangerous. He is a cyborg, half machine, half doghuman or whatever he’s supposed to be haha. Warm and soft, and cold and mechanical. That is such a brilliant design for a character who is somewhat of an anti-hero.
With some of the shit I have seen coming out of gaming in recent years, it’s not just that the characters are physically unattractive, it’s that the clothes and color palettes they have been settled with is as unappealing as possible as well. To the point where it’s nonsensical to look at. I don’t get a sense of the character’s history or personality when I look at many of these designs. It looks slapped together. Concord was a great example of ugly af designs that felt entirely void of personality and purpose. Colors were clashing, silhouettes were nonsensical and the clothes didn’t fit together at all and communicated nothing about the character to the player. Many of the characters also had the same mid value if you turned on the graycale. No contrast anywhere. So dull to look at.
I know people desperately want to perpetuate the narrative that gamers just hate these types of designs because they are stupid incels who want to wank to the characters in game, but that is and has always been an intellectually lazy argument used to dismiss fair criticism.
You can have ugly characters that are well designed. Most of the ugly designs we see coming out of western gaming are barely designs. It is what happens when you press a randomizer button and purposefully look for the ugliest result as possible.
I heard a theory that they do this on purpose to give players incentives to purchase better looking skins which would not surprise me in the slightest. The games industry has become so predatory and lazy in the past ten years that it honestly deserves to fail. The fact that they get to hide behind political correctness and blame the criticism from their customers on racism, sexism and whatever other ism is out there is nothing more than a pathetic deflection from the real issue. They treat their customers like brain dead consumers who should be shamed for demanding a better product and they use minority groups as a shield against valid criticism.
It is pathetic. Even more pathetic that so many people are falling for this marketing tactic, that permeates almost all of the entertainment industry. It is shameful.
Concord characters have that look of “it’s 1982, let’s make quick sci-fi cash grab based off Star Wars”, a cheap attempt at making realism “cartoony” - one of the characters is a fucking yellow bucket, half the characters have puffy donuts or some shit that looks like “exposed entrails” on their attire. The aliens are just “human with makeup”. Not a single character in the roster has an ounce of “cool”
It’s funny, because someone claimed the character designs looked good in concept and I looked it up so see if they looked better in concept, but no. Sure they are technically well drawn, but their designs still look like shit in my opinion. I don’t get a sense of character at all.
On the other hand, I came across an artist named Kevin Trentin, who had decided to have fun redesigning the characters and they look so much better the way he did them.
He even bothered to give the characters some much needed personality. Amazing.
i love inspiring these essays 😍 thanks
I think it’s a very interesting topic in general. Very frustrating too because the important discourse is always shut down by some people who have had too much ideological cool aid. It is a shame because at the end of the day, these companies are predatory toward all of us and should not be defended as fiercely as some people are. I just want entertainment at large to produce worth while art, be it books, movies, games etc. Good stories, great characters, well made art and so on. Stuff that can move people. ❤️
If I told you Concord had some pretty good concept art that was badly translated into playable characters, would you drop the incel talking points? Yes, even the big lady with the dollar store cosplay armor.
How are my talking points in any way related to incels? Also, are we supposed to give them credit for nicely looking concept art when the final product looks like ass? That’s news to me.
You are confirming my point about using cheap identity politics insults to deflect from the fact that these games are made by companies that don’t give a fuck about their customers. The only area where identity politics is relevant is when these very companies use them as a shield against criticism and people like you falling for their tactic and defending shitty game design because you think only incels could have negative opinions on a game like Concord.