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[Rhazer Fusion]

I feel that saying sexiness was never the point of Mortal Kombat is entirely missing the point. It’s the principle and double standards of the statements and direction. Sure, the game was always about the blood and gore, but saying you can’t fight in a bikini and then have the men running around in loincloths, buff, muscular and shirtless just strikes me as contradictory and hypocritical. It is not going to effect my enjoyment, but people can see right through this.

 

[Space Runaway]

Are you positive?
Before you replied I did a search and saw at least three reviews between March 1 through 6th that explained that either the default outfits are less sexy or the attire is more restrictive (I think referring to “the bounce”). I also read that breast sizes were reduced for DOA5, so maybe the breast sizes are back to normal/large again for 6, but that it is indeed a tiny bit less sexy on purpose.

Either way, I don’t plan on buying either. I was just curious what was going on because that’s now TWO fighting games purposely steering away from sexiness

Yeah they initially took the toned down approach but pulled back on that and changed their statements to "This is what we really meant with our comments" type stuff, so the final release is mixed. Like the breast sizes remained reduced for certain characters along with more conservative defaults outfits for some, but then they still included a buncha sexed up costumes and the breast bounce was returned, with the larger tit characters having ridiculous bounce and all that. So the game still has a large helping of this kinda stuff

Almost certainly see even more with the dlc as the game didn't sell and they need the whales like 5 did.

 

[mckmas8808]

I already posted my thoughts about this from an artists point of view in another topic so I'll just link that here.

I think this is partly a weird form of PR that may be trying to prevent sites like Polygon from creating drama. It seems weird to me that anybody would want to promote their game by saying some fans will be disappointed.

The statements here are not that different from Shimbori when he was saying Dead Or Alive 6 would be toned down. Both the MK11 and DOA6 have statements that some fans will be disappointed now. I suspect that they are told to say stuff like this.

Saying nothing at all is much better than taking a stance against some fans. Considering the popularity of cosplay and fan art it seems weird to bring this up as it will just cause more division among fans. Just what we need, right?

It doesn't look to be true, anyway. DOA6 did not tone down despite all the months of interviews saying otherwise and MK11 has lots of skin showing on male characters which doesn't match the statements about not showing skin. I wouldn't be surprised if there are classic outfits and more skin showing for the women in the game that they are just not showing.

You might be right. In situations like this, 50% of the fans don't seem to care that it's possible that the designers actually wanted to widen the types of outfits that the ladies wear. We all assume it's due to outside pressure.

 

[Christopher]

Gore and impaling women ...fine.

Showing a bit of cleavage and some side boob!? Horrible!

 

[Saber]

I feel that saying sexiness was never the point of Mortal Kombat is entirely missing the point. It’s the principle and double standards of the statements and direction. Sure, the game was always about the blood and gore, but saying you can’t fight in a bikini, but then have the men running around in loincloths, buff, muscular and shirtless just strikes me as contradictory and hypocritical. It is not going to effect my enjoyment, but people can see right through this.

This.

Btw, did anyone who supports the less sexual content said anything about males at all. I mean, it affects both males and females.

Did anyone in this thread whos in favor of less sexyness ever mention the sexiness of males in games at all? Or is it just one side spamming "porn" or "pedo" as argument(if this can even be called an argument)?

You know...it would be cool to know what your take about buff and half naked males in games.

 

[ph33rknot]

fuck i hate all this stupid shit

 

[mckmas8808]

This.

Btw, did anyone who supports the less sexual content said anything about males at all. I mean, it affects both males and females.

Did anyone in this thread whos in favor of less sexyness ever mention the sexiness of males in games at all? Or is it just one side spamming "porn" or "pedo" as argument(if this can even be called an argument)?

You'd have to ask the other people that are upset over the less sexiness, would they care if the dudes got covered up. It's weird to expect consistency, when none of this has been consistent to begin with.

 

[CatCouch]

You might be right. In situations like this, 50% of the fans don't seem to care that it's possible that the designers actually wanted to widen the types of outfits that the ladies wear. We all assume it's due to outside pressure.

I feel like this is a case of "too many cooks in the kitchen". I think there is outside pressure but not political pressure. I get the impression the business side is clashing with the creative side of gaming and it's resulting in weird things like talking about respect and maturity in a game about hyper violence.

My gut feeling is the audience for the games is not front and center on the business side of the decision making.

I would be fine with MK11 if the statements didn't paint sexy and scantily clad as wrong. It's kind of insulting and seems to imply other games with sexy art are immature or disrespectful. Is the character art in Borderlands 3 disrespectful now? It seems we're getting less clear with what's acceptable and what's not these days.

It's weird to me that the PR around gaming is causing fights. I thought drumming up interest without alienating people was a big part of PR?

There should be room for all kinds of games but we are seeing an increasing hostility to anything sexy. Sexy is an undeniable part of not just gaming but art as a whole so there's really no way to restrict it without causing conflict.

Something is wrong here and I can't quite pinpoint it but I'm leaning towards it being business decisions more than political ones that are resulting in all this.

 

[Paracelsus]

You'd have to ask the other people that are upset over the less sexiness, would they care if the dudes got covered up. It's weird to expect consistency, when none of this has been consistent to begin with.

Men only care if the guys are portraited in a "bara" fashion.

what is bara

There's Conan the Barbarian, there's Marshall Law, there's Liu Kang, then there's -^. Straight men can tell the difference.

 

[Saber]

You'd have to ask the other people that are upset over the less sexiness, would they care if the dudes got covered up. It's weird to expect consistency, when none of this has been consistent to begin with.

I don't think it needs an answer. Its all about the libertity creators can do in a game.
You think I care about a bunch of boobs in a game? Course not..its all good if the game is good.
But then we have cases like that where they're afraid of the outrage. They are clearly afraid, as you can clearly notice in the context. If the reason is about sexiness, it has to do with both sides. How long people have to explain that if the problem is girls wearing a bikini, so is men wearing a bathing suit.

But no. What we have here is that sexiness is problem with women only. Men can be all sweaty and sexy they can be.

And instead of you guys watching the bigger picture, you think its all about porn(no offense, but looks like a teenager typing).

What is the bigger picture? This could result in less violence(or not all) against female characters. Which could later result in no violence in the game at all, until Mortal Kombat dies.

As for me I sincerelly couldnt care less how many time kids spam the word porn. Mortal Kombat was never about porn. Lol, Mortal Kombat wasn't about women boobs at all. Its all about doing what others are afraid of, puting people against each other in a mortal gore battle. Why should they care about their body? Why should I care if a character is "not dressed realistic" for battle? Once the game is over, you can go all and kill them all over again.

 

[LegendOfKage]

At this point you may as well move this thread to the politics section.

My personal opinion on what should go where:

Developer or publisher said something political? Gaming.
Journalist, blogger, or you tuber said something political? Politics.

 

[LittleBusters]

Liana K said on her YT channel she is NOT buying MK11 over this.

 

[LittleBusters]

My personal opinion on what should go where:

Developer or publisher said something political? Gaming.
Journalist, blogger, or you tuber said something political? Politics.

Sorry but political is political, regardless of who is saying it. Dev/publisher do not get automatic 'brownie points'.

 

[Shagger]

As I've suggested in other topics, I don't for a second object to sex/ nudity or stuff like like that in games, I just don't count the the quality and/or exposure level of pixelated tits as a high priority in my buying decisions.

So Netherealms want to show their female players a little more respect. Cool. It's not gonna hurt the game for anybody else. If you want to play a fighting game and appease a hardon, you'll play DOA. Mortal Kombat was always about gratuitous violence, a completely different alleged moral ineptitude.

So unless you're a hormone riddled 13 year old boy who doesn't know better, keep it calm. Mortal Kombat will be fine, and if it's not, this won't be why.

 

[CyberPanda]

What the fuck is wrong with making characters too sexy?

 

[Tesseract]

What the fuck is wrong with making characters too sexy?

nothing!

 

[CyberPanda]

nothing!

Exactly! The sexier the better! Bring on more sexiness! And, this is why I like Japanese developers better. They don’t give a fuck about a character being too sexy!

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

So Netherealms want to show their female players a little more respect.

Covering the girls in burqas is respectful now? Much more to the behest of mentaly 12 year olds that are offended by pixels?

 

[mckmas8808]

Exactly! The sexier the better! Bring on more sexiness! And, this is why I like Japanese developers better. They don’t give a fuck about a character being too sexy!

But clearly MK's main appeal was never about "sexier the better".

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

But clearly MK's main appeal was never about "sexier the better".

Neither it was being "respectful and mature."

 

[CyberPanda]

But clearly MK's main appeal was never about "sexier the better".

Sexiness isn’t a bad thing, though. I guarantee this was done to make the SJW crowd shut up. Especially the feminists.

 

[Closer]

Covering the girls in burqas is respectful now? Much more to the behest of mentaly 12 year olds that are offended by pixels?

Didn't see any burqas in Mortal Kombat 11 yet. Mind sharing where you found it?

 

[Enygger_Tzu]

Didn't see any burqas in Mortal Kombat 11 yet. Mind sharing where you found it?

 

[Closer]

~image~

Doesn't look like a burqa to me, but you do you.

 

[Mochilador]

Meanwhile in Street Fighter V

And I say bless you, Capcom!

The little monkey is like "holy fuck, that's really thick!".

 

[Shagger]

Covering the girls in burqas is respectful now? Much more to the behest of mentaly 12 year olds that are offended by pixels?

With all due respect, that's stupid, culturally incepted and badly presented to the point I barely understand what you wrote. Burqas are a cultural and/or religious tradition and dress code that you have no right to question. Dislike it all you want, that ok, your right, but it has piss all to do with this topic.

 

[CatCouch]

Neither it was being "respectful and mature."

I do agree with this. Mortal Kombat is not a series I think was ever about being respectful or mature. I remember when violence in games was considered immature. Things will shift again at some point and Mortal Kombat will get flak for violence, I'm sure.

I just hate the way people are so mean and insulting when talking about maturity and games. Too many people pepper in personal insults when talking about games. It's not immature to like sexy women and it's not insulting to have covered up women, neither is wrong.

 

[InterMusketeer]

I just don't count the the quality and/or exposure level of pixelated tits as a high priority in my buying decisions.

Good for you.

So Netherealms want to show their female players a little more respect.

Why does covering female characters up equal respecting players? And let's pretend for a minute that it is: Why aren't the male players afforded this same respect? Even if you agree or tolerate about their decision, there's a double standard at play here, clearly.

It's not gonna hurt the game for anybody else.

You don't know that.

If you want to play a fighting game and appease a hardon, you'll play DOA.

You don't get to decide that.

Mortal Kombat was always about gratuitous violence, a completely different alleged moral ineptitude.

That's just, like, your opinion man.

So unless you're a hormone riddled 13 year old boy who doesn't know better, keep it calm.

Classy.

Mortal Kombat will be fine, and if it's not, this won't be why.

Again, you don't get to decide that.

 

[ResilientBanana]

Good for you.


Why does covering female characters up equal respecting players? And let's pretend for a minute that it is: Why aren't the male players afforded this same respect? Even if you agree or tolerate about their decision, there's a double standard at play here, clearly.


You don't know that.


You don't get to decide that.


That's just, like, your opinion man.


Classy.


Again, you don't get to decide that.

I don't think there should be anything against wanting to have games with sexy characters, but I don't think Mortal Kombat should really be that place. But that being said, I guess the choice should be there.

 

[5secondrulesucks]

i happen to enjoy chicks in bikinis. ill always find it weird how fine people are with just extreme levels of violence and it marks a "mature" gamer but something "sexy" OH HOW FUCKING DARE THE GAME INDUSTRY NEEDS TO GROW UP

 

[Afro Republican]

I'm waiting for them to change mokap into a gay guy and Jade into a. Overweight with dyed blue hair.

Also not enough gold chains on Jax, come on WB go all the way.

 

[LittleBusters]

Looks like a burqa to me.

 

[Platinumstorm]

There's no winning this argument. Please stop politifying MK11, it is their game, their choice. Make a game where everyone is in spandex if this is so important to you. Buy the game or don't. Move on with life. GGHF.

Everyone is lol burka, but no one can deny the importance of masks in the MK series. Little kid me nerded out over Sub Zero because of his mask and ice abilities in MK2, and then he was far less interesting in MK3 when he became NY slickback.

Hooded ninjas, bikini ninjas, cyber ninjas, naked ninjas, they've ALL HAD MASKS.

Here's Skarlet's alternate from Mk9.. where she is both revealing and wearing a head-covering mask. And Her MK11 makes her look like she lives on Jakkuu.

For the love of everything wholesome about games, please stop extracting idiotic political viewpoints on this shit that doesn't matter.

 

[Dice]

some of 11's female designs are absolutely excellent, and the alts are still sexy

mk9/10 designs were kinda sleazy and lazy, they knew they could do better and they did

and the faces are significantly better, more feminine

In terms of the 3D games, I completely agree. It is clear they are taking a more conservative design approach, but in past games they looked like men with boobs (or like some in MK9, creepy meatless stick figures) and potato faces. Just by looking like women they are more attractive even though the design as shifted more conservative. I still think of UMK3 as quintessential MK, though, so they'll have to work hard to make me feel like this is the new normal.

 

[lock2k]

With all due respect, that's stupid, culturally incepted and badly presented to the point I barely understand what you wrote. Burqas are a cultural and/or religious tradition and dress code that you have no right to question. Dislike it all you want, that ok, your right, but it has piss all to do with this topic.

Why? The Burqa authority has spoken?

The western society was built on freedom and he has the right to question whatever the fuck he wants.

Today's prudes want to destroy our freedom but we will resist this shit.

 

[Platinumstorm]

Another interesting question, is why are people going after MK for this, but not KI? I think this is literally just a political backlash based on the current timeline.

 

[Endless Fluff]

Another interesting question, is why are people going after MK for this, but not KI? I think this is literally just a political backlash based on the current timeline.

People were complaining about Killer Instinct 2013 back in the day as well, especially Orchids retro outfit... but the fan base is so small that it didn't kick up much of a stink.

MK11 however is huge, hence there's a lot more people complaining.

 

[Kei_Kurono]

I find it particularly hilarious, that even a game about literally ripping human beings apart in all the glorious details is afraid to reveal to much female skin, chuckle.

Boobies are bad, murder is good. We have to get with the program.

 

[cryptoadam]

MK has gone woke? MK that was one of the catalyst for game ratings. MK with the blood controversy on consoles? LOL and they are worried about showing some skin.

This is a super gory and over the top violent game, but you are virtue signaling over skimpy outfits. Ya lets forget all the decapitations or ripping apart bodies we don't have swimsuites YA for us. LOL.

 

[Pimpbaa]

"I don’t regret making that change by any means"

And I'm not going to regret not buying the game. Can't support ruining characters to appease people who will never buy your game to begin with.

 

[ThatOneGrunt]

I don't really care about the "I want sexy" character design argument you guys are having.

I will say though that that is an awesome character design. She looks badass. Considerably more interesting than the cleavage jumpsuit most of the female characters have had in MK games.

 

[Platinumstorm]

People were complaining about Killer Instinct 2013 back in the day as well, especially Orchids retro outfit... but the fan base is so small that it didn't kick up much of a stink.

MK11 however is huge, hence there's a lot more people complaining.

Appreciate it, and didn't know, as I had to wait for PC version to play KI.

Her alt outfit is horrible anyways from a burning your retina perspective. Honestly the only reason I like KI is because of the Killer soundtrack.

 

[Shmunter]

I recall the days of Jack Thompson and mainstreamed media demonising games and their fans. And gamers standing united against such regressive conservative Puritanism. When gamers, and gaming journalists stood side by side to fend off political influence upon their cherished hobby.

And now we stand in the ruins off it all. So called Liberals now fighting for censorship and strict moral codes. Who could have predicted such a failure of society?

 

[LegendOfKage]

My personal opinion on what should go where:

Developer or publisher said something political? Gaming.
Journalist, blogger, or you tuber said something political? Politics.

Sorry but political is political, regardless of who is saying it. Dev/publisher do not get automatic 'brownie points'.

Not sure what you're talking about, so maybe you misunderstood me. Brownie points? I'm saying if it's a post about someone with a political view who doesn't actually have something to do with game development or publishing, it probably belongs in the political forum rather than the gaming forum.

 

[Paracelsus]

It seems lately "badass" replaced "realistic" as the buzzword with no substance used in a positive fashion to portray something negative, like ugly faces or that lousy over-designed Skarlet outfit. The tagelmust or however you wanna call the headgear is just adding insult to injury.
I think Scorpion looks like garbage too, as do Sub Zero, Raiden, and pretty much every fully covered character, except maybe Shao Kahn and one version of Kabal. Noob Saibot gets through because all-black blends everything together.
The only characters that survived this were military units like Sonya, Cassie, Johnny and any character that has the privilege of having little clothes.
MK11 character design looks tacky, gaudy, and memorable in a bad way. I don't understand why Tekken and Street Fighter can survive for over 20 years with simple iconic character designs polished over the years, and MK has to be this comically bad.

 

[Jill Valentine]

Appreciate it, and didn't know, as I had to wait for PC version to play KI.

Her alt outfit is horrible anyways from a burning your retina perspective. Honestly the only reason I like KI is because of the Killer soundtrack.

In my mind the story was;

They designed the retro outfit, there's concept art of it with the ass hanging out, but it was in fact Mick Gordon - creator of the soundtrack - who was responsible for it being removed or altered as he would refuse to continue work on the game if they did add it. Source is my ass, but that's how I kind of remember it...

And they had the benefit of doubt due to the fact there were 2 styles of outfits Orchid wore before, so they opted for the safer one.

 

[Macapala]

Are we not allowed to like attractive people anymore? Should I be offended if I see a beautiful woman walking down the street? Should I call the police???

 

[LittleBusters]

Are we not allowed to like attractive people anymore? Should I be offended if I see a beautiful woman walking down the street? Should I call the police???

I suppose Sega will have to issue an apology because the female sprites in Phantasy Star II were quite the eye candy in their 16-bit glory.

 

[Whitesnake]

“Our character lead, Brendan George, has been a breath of fresh air of just introducing new ideas. Our design is just getting more mature and respectful. You’re not going to wear a bikini to a fight. You’re not going to be showing so much skin. I think it’s just what the game is about: You’re going in to fight for your life, and you’re not going to be wearing such scantily clad items”

Is this motherfucker really gonna sit there and try to tell us that Skarlet’s old costumes were too ridiculous, but Shao Khan’s costume isn’t?

 

[lock2k]

Are we not allowed to like attractive people anymore? Should I be offended if I see a beautiful woman walking down the street? Should I call the police???

No, ogle with all your will and brag about it. Beauty is what we live for! Screw SJWs. Can't stand this "correct police" anymore.

As our great master Dee Snider would say "we're not gonna take it anymore!"