Can CoH Do Better?

To me, where the loading screen artwork fails the most is the lack of any feel of movement.

I can accept a character, male or female, in an awkward position if there is the sense in the drawing that the position is not a static pose. The loading screen artwork fails in that respect.

As far as female characters being oversexualized? There are a few points there.

1) City of Heroes draws its inspiration from comic books. The argument that it is a superhero game and not a comic book game falls flat on its face when you consider that the very idea of what a superhero IS only exists because of American comic books.

2) The target audience of comic books is and always has been teenage males. Your average teenage boy does not want to see a realistically depicted female character. He wants his female characters to be impossibly attractive and improbably proportioned. When a teenage male sees an attractive woman, the first thing he notices is either her butt or her boobs (depending on which direction he is seeing her from). If he tells you otherwise, he is most likely lying. Sure, he will notice other features, but that's what he sees first every time. I won't lie, it's still the first thing *I* notice, and I haven't been a teenager for a while now. I'm not a complete pig, I notice other things as well, but those two features are what draw my eye in the first place.

3) It is exceptionally rare for comic books to get flak for oversexualization from the people who actually READ them. This game has a rather high proportion of female players, but how many of those female players are also comic book fans? Probably not very many.

If you really want to point a finger at something for creating a bad stereotype for women, look no further than the Barbie doll. When you give your 5 year old daughter a Barbie doll, you are tacitly implying "This is what you should aspire to look like", whether you intend to or not.

Then there are magazines such as Cosmopolitan. Those magazines are supposedly targeted at your average woman. So tell me, if that is the case, why is the cover model always supermodel perfect and wearing something impractical and revealing? The same goes for 90% of the magazines targeted at women. Next time you go to someplace that has a magazine rack, peruse the covers of the so-called "women's magazines" and count how many NORMAL looking women you see there.

You can't really point fingers at comic books for futhering stereotypes without a sense of irony. At least comic books aren't pretending to be portraying what women really look like in the real world. Comic books are taking the attractiveness stereotype and making it larger than life, just like they do with everything else. I've never gotten a sense that a comic book artist was trying to convince me that this is what women are supposed to look like......I can't say the same for the magazines I see that are supposedly targeted at a female audience.

I think we should have the option to choose from all load screens previously used, I prefer the groin to this current one. And I hate the groin.

I have a great idea for the next Freedom Phalanx inductee: she's from Indonesia and wears a niqab, plus she's the most powerful psychic in the world! It's basically win-win.

Actually, thinking about Loki, we don't really have an effortlessly sexy villain like him in the game - so many of them seem are either lacking in looks or personality - or both
Sleazy ones like Captain Castillo or Praetorian Percy don't count, as they're trying too hard - and failing - the Loki type need to be accidently sexy, and doesn't really acknowledge it, as he's too busy with his evil plans.

Maelstrom is way too emo to fill the role of effortlessly sexy supervilalin - plus, he's just a lackey

I've been think about the major archvillains in the game, and I think that one that comes closest to the effortlessly sexy type is Recluse - he's the boss of the group he belongs too, he has his own evil lair, stupidly over the top uniform deisgns for his minions, a variety of colorful henchpeople, and a strong desire to take over the world - plus, he has the vital personality trait of just wanting to cause chaos and evil for the heck of it - he's a villain, and he doesn't mind telling everyone he's one - there's none of this pretending to be a hero stuff like Tyrant does, or the regimented and disciplined evil of the 5th Column/Council.
But the major points against Rcluse are his inferiority complex regarding Statesman, and the major lack of sex appeal in his looks and outfit - so the position is still open for our first red hot supervillain hunk in the game

(Gods damn you all, stop making me agree with Golden Girl! >_<)

The main problem with Recluse is...well...he's badly written. He's made to look ineffectual...if he's ever used at all, in fact. He is the master of Webs, for heavens sake, he should be second only to Nemesis when it comes to puppeteering and spinning plots, on level and arguably superior to the Centre and the Council because, hey, you don't see THEM with their own Island nation.

Now, yes, people did feel (rightly so) that being nothing but an Arachnos lackey for the majority of Redsides history sucked. And that's fine. Not being a lackey is good.
But in the same way Villains team up with mad doctors or guys who have more resources or for mutually beneficial backside-whupping, Recluse should be the big-bad that people can turn to to make an offer. i.e. If you lend me a flyer and some scientists then, I dunno, I can take out anyone who is particularly bugging you at the moment.

He needs to be the kind of guy where Heroes do "But, but I did X, Y and Z to stop you!" and he can reply "I know. As expected."
Cue even laughter

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Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

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Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

(some snippage ahead)

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Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect 2) The target audience of comic books is and always has been teenage males. Your average teenage boy does not want to see a realistically depicted female character. He wants his female characters to be impossibly attractive and improbably proportioned. When a teenage male sees an attractive woman, the first thing he notices is either her butt or her boobs (depending on which direction he is seeing her from). If he tells you otherwise, he is most likely lying. Sure, he will notice other features, but that's what he sees first every time. I won't lie, it's still the first thing *I* notice, and I haven't been a teenager for a while now. I'm not a complete pig, I notice other things as well, but those two features are what draw my eye in the first place. 3) It is exceptionally rare for comic books to get flak for oversexualization from the people who actually READ them. This game has a rather high proportion of female players, but how many of those female players are also comic book fans? Probably not very many.

This game should concentrate on it's audience, which as you state has a high proportion of female gamers.