3 ms·

Nowadays there are more women in gaming, but when Lara Croft first appeared, it would have been odd to expect anything but a male gaze from a popluation of near

Nowadays there are more women in gaming, but when Lara Croft first appeared, it would have been odd to expect anything but a male gaze from a popluation of nearly 100% male developers and customers.

cubefox 3y ago
And "male gaze" wasn't a deciding factor anyway. Lara Croft wasn't even viewed as a sex object like some singers or actresses.
- zztop44 3y ago
  If you think this you weren’t a middle school boy when Tomb Raider came out :)
  - pezezin 3y ago
    Oh man, I still remember the day my parents found my drawings of naked Lara. Not that I was any good at drawing, I just used the old technique of tracing the original pictures on a thin piece of paper, adding a dash of teenage horniness in the process.
- Endy 3y ago
  Did you not see the Maxim "photoshoot"? Lara and Aki Ross from Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within were both covergirls of Maxim, rendered in underwear or swimwear. Or, perhaps you disregard the fact that the most persistent rumor about Tomb Raider 1 & 2 was the "nude code"? Lara Croft was the nerd equivalent of Marilyn Monroe and Madonna, at the same time. She was the gaming sex symbol.
  - cubefox 3y ago
    Gamers would be interested in a nude code for any attractive female main character of any well-known video game whatsoever. Just like men would like to see even a politician like AOC (like any reasonably attractive celebrity woman) in Playboy. But that doesn't make AOC a sex symbol. Lara Croft is more like a mixture of Indiana Jones and Duke Nukem: Hot body, badass (two guns at once), and cool sunglasses. https://64.media.tumblr.com/b3ac6a261a46a4be130b8a908f1f5e8e/tumblr_oadefqjGfV1qkq7tbo1_640.jpg https://64.media.tumblr.com/b3ac6a261a46a4be130b8a908f1f5e8e... Yes, her figure is one property that makes her stand out, but the others were equally important. In fact, sexy video game woman are nothing new, there have been many before Lara, and with far more revealing outfits. An example is the character from the Brandish series: https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Brandish_Cover_PC98_5583.JPG https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Brandish_Cover... https://cdn.mobygames.com/covers/3676084-brandish-2-the-planet-buster-snes-front-cover.jpg https://cdn.mobygames.com/covers/3676084-brandish-2-the-plan... I don't even know her name. It was never a well-known character. It seems gamers don't care a lot about mere "sex symbols".

Nowadays there are more women in gaming, but when Lara Croft first appeared, it would have been odd to expect anything but a male gaze from a popluation of nearly 100% male developers and customers.

cubefox 3y ago

And "male gaze" wasn't a deciding factor anyway. Lara Croft wasn't even viewed as a sex object like some singers or actresses.

zztop44 3y ago
If you think this you weren’t a middle school boy when Tomb Raider came out :)
- pezezin 3y ago
  Oh man, I still remember the day my parents found my drawings of naked Lara. Not that I was any good at drawing, I just used the old technique of tracing the original pictures on a thin piece of paper, adding a dash of teenage horniness in the process.
Endy 3y ago
Did you not see the Maxim "photoshoot"? Lara and Aki Ross from Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within were both covergirls of Maxim, rendered in underwear or swimwear. Or, perhaps you disregard the fact that the most persistent rumor about Tomb Raider 1 & 2 was the "nude code"? Lara Croft was the nerd equivalent of Marilyn Monroe and Madonna, at the same time. She was the gaming sex symbol.
- cubefox 3y ago
  Gamers would be interested in a nude code for any attractive female main character of any well-known video game whatsoever. Just like men would like to see even a politician like AOC (like any reasonably attractive celebrity woman) in Playboy. But that doesn't make AOC a sex symbol. Lara Croft is more like a mixture of Indiana Jones and Duke Nukem: Hot body, badass (two guns at once), and cool sunglasses. https://64.media.tumblr.com/b3ac6a261a46a4be130b8a908f1f5e8e/tumblr_oadefqjGfV1qkq7tbo1_640.jpg https://64.media.tumblr.com/b3ac6a261a46a4be130b8a908f1f5e8e... Yes, her figure is one property that makes her stand out, but the others were equally important. In fact, sexy video game woman are nothing new, there have been many before Lara, and with far more revealing outfits. An example is the character from the Brandish series: https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Brandish_Cover_PC98_5583.JPG https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Brandish_Cover... https://cdn.mobygames.com/covers/3676084-brandish-2-the-planet-buster-snes-front-cover.jpg https://cdn.mobygames.com/covers/3676084-brandish-2-the-plan... I don't even know her name. It was never a well-known character. It seems gamers don't care a lot about mere "sex symbols".