No. No problem with me.

Well for me personally, it depend when I see a female kombatant. Outside of a fight i.e. promos and pictures and I think NRS do it on purpose too, I think "Damn look at those honka honka." . But in a fight, she's just another opponent between me and a victory. I better kick her ass or she'll kick mine. In my opinion, the MK series do not degrade women. There are other series who does that. Mortal Kombat, one false look at say at Sonya and you can find yourself beaten by her. That's in my opinion, empower women.

It depends on the character's personality and what the game is trying to accomplish. In the example of MK9, you have a game that's SUPPOSED to be a retelling of MK1 thru 3.

Compare the costumes in 9 to those in Shaolin Monks, where the goal of retelling the MK1 thru 3 era was the same but the costume updates were WAY more accurate to the originals (except for Sonya who looked more like her Deadly Alliance outfit) and in Kitana's case, that coincidentally meant covering more skin too.

Sonya is not the type of person who would wear what Sonya is wearing in her MK9 primary. (In fact, I don't think ANYONE is the type of person who would wear a rough canvas military vest over bare nipples, it would chafe the shit out of them) That's a bit of a problem. But at least her outfit looks vaguely like what she wore in MK1, it's still olive green pants and tanktop with a badge or logo over her heart. That mitigates it somewhat, but really, there's no excuse for a military professional not having some kind of undershirt. They easily could've given her a tanktop small enough to still have the cleavage they want.

Kitana is modest and regal, so a bare midriff being questionable is going to be compounded in a longtime follower of the franchise's mind by the fact that her outfit looks nothing like she did in MK2 or 3. And the Slave Leia shit going on in her and Jade's alts inspires the thought "But Slave Leia was a SLAVE. They're wearing these scarf-thin loincloths in scenes where they're NOT slaves. No one forced them to put that on, do they actually want to look like this?"

Mileena, on the other hand, has showing off her body as a major part of her character. In the games where she has dialogue, she constantly flirts and wants you to look at her tits so you don't look at her face, or to lure you in so she can bite you. And then you've got the "Flesh Pits" outfit, and you absolutely can look at that and go "Well that's fucking ridiculous, it's only in the game to titillate"...but there IS a certain logic there in that in the story mode scene where she wears it, she's fresh out of the cloning tube. She'd be naked WITHOUT rags logically, but it's not an X-rated game, so they've gotta put SOMETHING over her naughty bits.
Umm...I'm not sure what my central point here is other than "what matters most isn't how much skin the outfit shows, but the context they're wearing the outfit in and whether or not it makes sense."
And in MK9, sometimes it does...but I'm afraid more often it doesn't.

Sex appeal is what it is. Girls with bigger breasts and tight garments is just the way it's always been. Most gamers are males and Fighting games especially is a male dominated genre. Not to say girls don't play at all but it is mostly men. So of course they make the woman slutty to give guys something to look at. It would look rather strange if the woman of MK wore generic clothing or baggy attire. Just the way it is I guess.

I wish I had a better explanation but its the way it's always been haha.

that's a good point (the victory one) and with the women as sex symbols, the men are over muscled, topless sometimes and wearing spandex, but men dont complain about it, they just seem to realise its just part of the game, no one wants to fight with a character wearing a sit of armor on!

that's a really good point about the outfits and context, i've had this thought brought up before, in regards to people complaining about the game without actually playing it. They say it harms the players, but surely the players would have context as to why they are wearing what they are wearing for example, your slave idea (which is a brilliant analogy) would give the player context. but what about the idea of its a fantasy game? its all harmless fantasy like in the movies or on TV, so what's wrong with it being unrealistic, or showing a bit of flesh, or being an unreal ninja? its not real

i totally agree with you, it IS always the way its been, and isnt what a lot of women strive for to be beautiful AND strong? so here they are offered a representation of that in the fighting games and feminists bash it down. After all, it's not like Mortal Kombat released a beach volleyball game like Dead or Alive did, but really, so what if it did? it's a fantasy game, to escape real life, wheres the harm?

I would think that using the sexy female in a fighting game has just become in so many eyes, one more way to get a couple more sales but the tricks aren't missing in this area. That has been for a long time.

I remember a game called TMNT: Tournament Fighters back on SNES. One of the game that i played the most after SF and Aska was one of the hardest character to fight. She became one of my fav char in the game. She wasn't a TMNT char but an original female created for this game solely. Sad she didn't made it and never became a consistant char, but even TMNT needed some sex appeal to get some more interest at the moment, since it wasn't a beat 'em all up, but a one on one fighter.

And it always grew from there. I would rather have some problem understanding, why all of a sudden, game creators start to feel like they must dress ladies up with winter coats or any other weird clothes. SC's Ivy is my second fav char in the series and she seems to have a really empty wardrobe to say the least. But while her boobs always seemed to get bigger, i hated the fact that people started to bitch or be happy about the fact that Ivy looked like she had gained weight in SC4. I mean, some people can find better things to complain about other than how the ladies look when they like a game. But i play with the ladies. So after one glimpse if i start to get confortable with the gameplay, the rest becomes nothing but a bonus in my eyes. Seriously, i don't understand why someone would complain about that other than if i know they would feel the same about the use of violence in the same games.

Fiction still has to present worlds that make sense within the story. The most important thing when telling a make-believe story is that even though they know it's make-believe, the audience still buys into it, that the characters feel like 3-dimensional people, not just objects or devices to move the plot forward, and are doing things you believe they would actually do.
If you show me that in Outworld society, women like to dress like Slave Leia, and it's convincing, I'll believe that. Problem is, if the characters were NOT dressing like Slave Leia in previous games, then MK9 doesn't feel like it fits the way these worlds were established to be, it stands out awkwardly.
And a fantasy setting still doesn't explain Sonya, who's from a real world-based modern day America. And an Army Green Beret who's currently on a mission on top of that. And there's a big difference between "dressing casual or putting on athletic wear for a kung fu tournament you're forced to fight in" and wearing THAT vest with no undershirt.

They're not too sexy.

...they're just too slutty...


......to the point that I don't take them seriously......





.........just like a one night stand.





If you want arousal, go to your girlfriend/wife/friend with benefits/porn or whatever. Not MK. It just doesn't need to be in video games unless it's this video game.

End of line.

I think that the term "sexy" is a bit loaded here. There's "sexy" ie attractive and alluring, and then there's slutty, which is basically making your characters look and act like strippers.

MK characters walk that line, for sure. Many of the MK women wear rather fetishised outfits that basically look like otherworldly lingerie, and some of the "sexiness" is hinted at (Kitana's cute wink from behind her open fan) and some is rather in your face (Jade using her pole weapon as a stripper pole, basically anything Milleena does etc).

But does that mean that they're too sexy or too over the top? I actually go back and for on this.

I think it'd be nice for some of the women to wear classier outfits and not be quite so objectified, but at the same time, a lot of the men don't have shirts on, and their muscles are practically bursting through their skin. Of course, their actions don't tend to fall in to the "Jade pole dance victory pose" area. So there's certainly a double standard.

I guess that it would be nice for all of MK, not just the women, to look and act more realistically. Yes, women from Edenia wear revealing outfits, but do they have to? Do they have to have such overt allure? Can one man or one woman be a bit more coy? Perhaps their beauty/allure could come from their face, their personality, etc?

I think that this issue kinda goes back to video games' issues of old. Game designers weren't overly interested in creating multi-dimensional personalities for characters back in the early 90's, especially when it came to fighting game characters.

You had your good guys, the bad asses that were like the terminator or the cool, silent assassin types, and you have the evil overlords etc. The women were mainly eye candy.

Now take gaming forward 20 years and you compare MK and the fighting genre as a whole (because believe me, it's NOT just MK) to some of the more character driven games, story driven games and I think that you start to see a bit of a generational disconnect.

If a character likes to dress a certain way and their personality reflects that, then so be it. That's great. Milleena is a prime example of this.

But does Sonya need to dress in an outfit that pushes her boobs up and out to such an extent? Should her alt outfit be shorty short shorts and a tiny, white t-shirt?

The counter argumet is that sex sells. Well of course it does. But so does great gameplay and single player mode that pits great characters against one another in an interesting story. Skanky outfits don't overly hurt that, but for some people, I can see why it might be a turn off.

It'd be kinda hard to take Shakespeare as seriously if all the men wore normal outfits and all the women wore stockings and a bra and spoke their lines like they were in a "call me know" phone sex commercial.

So I believe that the knife cuts both ways. Sex sells, and for some people it's great to see these women looking as "sexy" as they do.

For other people, it might be nice to see women depicted more realistically, with different body types, and more realistic clothing to go along with their professions etc.

For some, it might actually be a turnoff one way or the other, with people looking down upon the product as being shouvanistic and out of touch while other people angrily wonder where the sex appeal went.

I personally think that it'd be nice if ALL characters left the 90's style behind and dressed more realistically to what their character and story portrayed them as being. No need to treat the women special one way or the other. No more bright colored ninjas, no more stripper ladies and for the love of GOD no more spandex.

But with it being so 'normal' is it harmful to the representation of women? Although it is an M rated game, teens still get hold of it, and their perceptions of life are being formed in this time. With comics, films, tv and fashion magazines already doing the same with women, is is irresponsible to have women dressed like this in games? or is it just like the movies ect - ie: just a fantasy to have fun with. What about the real life kick ass women (military, karate experts, stunt women)

Your point with Sonya is spot on. but if she wore realistic gear and attire, would she not stick out against the story and scenery massively?

and as for the MK9 standing out, what if its just like this because graphics have gotten better and made this possible now, what if they were wanting something like this in the beginning or even just a few games ago, but couldnt because of graphics issues?

But the other characters within the game take them seriously, and vicariously, you must do to play the game and advance through the story?

Your post was entertaining for all the right reasons! Thank you, I have something for your to think about though, what if: The women wear this because within the story they are taken seriously, what if they do this because they CAN? The men in the story dont treat them any differently than the male counterparts, sure Johnny Cage flirts with Sonya till he gets his ass handed to him, but there is no 'MEN MUST SAVE THE WOMEN' in this story, at one point Sonya saves Jax - so what if the outfits are a nice change from the typical man saves princess videogame story we've all come to know? what if its turning stereotypes on their heads?

I think the only MK characters that are meant to be sexy are Mileena and Jade.

Other than that, it's all marketing. As stated earlier, however, Sonya should not be wearing revealing clothing. She's too self-righteous to do something like that.

I feel the same way with Ashrah (though her reason is based more on being pure), which is why I hate her MKD alternate.

But Ashrah is really well clothed even in her alternate compared to other girls, would you prefer the girls like Sonya, to be dressed more modestly?

Like I said, all she'd need to look more professional and believable is an undershirt under that fucking vest. It could even be lowcut and show off a little cleavage still. Just as long as there's SOMETHING between that vest and her nipples, I'd believe it as an army officer's casual/athletic-wear.



First of all, John Tobias, the original creator and costume designer of every character in MK1 thru 4, is no longer with the team. Clearly these aren't his designs and we don't know what he would have gone with if he'd been there.

Second, the graphics of this generation aren't so much better than they were last generation that it affects costume design.

Everything they have them wearing, they could've had them wearing in Deadly Alliance or Shaolin Monks. And yet, in my opinion, Kitana looks more modest, regal, elegant, and just plain better in both DA and Shaolin Monks than she does in MK9.

And Shaolin Monks is a remake of the arcade era just like MK9 is. So what's it say when both remakes update and redesign the costumes, but one of is way more accurate than the other, and it's the least accurate one that's skimpier?

Other characters in MK9 look close to what they did in MK1, 2, and 3. Kano, Raiden, Johnny Cage, Sindel, and Sheeva are nearly spot-on. Kung Lao literally is wearing his Shaolin Monks outfit again. When you look at an MK9 character, if you can squint their eyes to blur the details and it makes them look like they did in the arcades? THAT is the mark of a successful update to me. The ones you can't do that with? Those are the costumes I question the motivation behind. So what IS the story with the characters where they decided to go "Nah, let's do something completely new out of nowhere" like Scorpion? Or Quan Chi wearing his DA outfit which is covered in continuity errors instead of the classic MK4 outfit with the baggy shirt? Hell, on top of the bare stomach, they even got Kitana's color scheme wrong. Powder blue and silver instead of dark blue and black? She's supposed to be an assassin, what's with the pastels? Is that supposed to make her look more "girly"? Am I the only one who sees sexism in that?
Interesting how people have brought up that despite how the women dress, supposedly, the plot and dialogue treats them respectfully? Well consider the following:
In MK1 thru 5
---
- Years prior to MK2, Kitana found out all on her own that Kahn murdered her real father, via detective work during her assassination missions. She wisely decides to keep this secret to herself so she can later undermine Kahn from within and, when the time is right, potentially kill him and reclaim the Edenian throne.
- She is the one who decides, on her own, to contact Liu Kang and Raiden and work with them against Shao Kahn.
- She successfully kills her evil clone, Mileena, for spying on her, before she can tell Kahn about Kitana being a traitor. Then after the tournament is over, when she's finally caught and put on trial for killing Mileena, she escapes Shao Kahn on her own.
- When Jade and Reptile are sent to capture or kill her, Kitana turns Jade to her side, successfully frees Sindel from mind control, and unmerges Edenia from Outworld while Liu is off fighting Kahn.
- During MK4, Shinnok conquers Edenia and locks the royal family away. Liu Kang fails to rescue them, but Kitana is able to free herself and rejoin the fighting.
- Kitana is the ambassador who negotiates peace between the Shokans and Centaurs, then acts the head general of the Edenian army and she and Goro lead a war against Kahn, which they nearly won. Kahn is so afraid Kitana will come to kill him that he makes a copy of himself to sit on the throne and runs away to hide. (The Deadly Alliance get there first though and kill the clone, thinking it's the real Kahn.)
Pretty badass so far, right? Clearly, Kitana has been the lead female hero of the games up to this point. Oh but look out, here comes a sudden and shocking change of pace:
From MK6 to the present
---
- Kitana is slain by the Deadly Alliance and rezzed and mind controlled by Onaga. Ermac and the ghost of Liu Kang free her.
- Exhausted by constant battle and informed by Blaze that Armageddon is coming, Kitana drops to her knees and cries in her MKD: Unchained ending.
- In Shaolin Monks, she's under a spell until Liu Kang and Kung Lao free her. She spends the rest of the game chasing Mileena but failing to catch or kill her (At the end of the game, Mileena is the ONLY villain who did not die), then somehow is captured off-screen and in the last level is found in Shao Kahn's dungeon. Raiden sets her and Johnny Cage free.
- Her MKA ending revolves around forming an all-girl fighting team. Because that's all Kitana's good for, right? Being a princess and promoting "girl power"? It's not like she has an ACTUAL STORY her endings could be used to resolve, right?
- In MK vs DCU, Kitana is repeatedly used as a victim and a tool, rendered insane by exposure to Dark-Kahn, captured by Scorpion, then turned into a docile slave by Quan Chi's mind control magic. He releases her only to win Raiden's trust. She does nothing else the whole game.
And in MK9...
---
- Kitana believes Kahn is her father all the way until the end of MK2. Liu Kang, while outright toying with her because he's a so much better fighter, convinces her by example to be a better person and not kill people like Kahn wants.
- RAIDEN is the one who comes to her with offers to conspire against Kahn, telling her that her life is a lie, and where to go to find the truth.
- She does not kill Mileena, instead choosing to turn her creator over to "her father". Shao Kahn straight-up tells her the truth of her origins to her face, then has her locked away.
- Kitana cannot escape on her own. Jade tries to free her and fails. Liu Kang is the one to successfully rescue her.
- Kitana fails to free Sindel from mind control this time and dies at her own mother's hands. It is implied that she and the others would not have died if Liu Kang had been there to fight Sindel for them.
- At the end of the game, Kitana is once again a villain's mind-controlled slave.
- Her Arcade Ending is, once again, about forming a girl-power fighting team, solely for the purpose of doing a Charlie's Angels joke. Because...y'know...that's all Kitana is. "The Girl", "The Princess", her personality and personal conflicts don't matter, amirite? And y'know what? I bet most of the gaming audience isn't old enough to have watched the original Charlie's fucking Angels on TV, that shit is from, like, the 70's. So...yeah, that was worth it.
Boy, the design team sure does respect the hell out of her, huh? I wonder who they hired who hates princesses?

I'd rather Ashrah remain fully clothed all the times; that is what makes her Ashrah, imo.

I'd rather Sonya be well-clothed all the time as well. I know it wouldn't be right if she was as nun-ed up as Ashrah, but her MK2011 primary is just ridiculous.

As for the rest:

Kitana: Modest; not much skin showing, more regal clothing

Mileena: Scantily-clad; as slutty as slutty can get, it's her trademark

Jade: Underdressed, but not slutty; enough to show off her body but still be assassin-like

Sindel: Well-clothed; she doesn't need to show skin, she's a queen for Christ's sake

Sheeva: Very underdressed; Shokans don't wear a lot of clothing

Khameleon: Varies; she has yet to receive a well-established costume, so any thing goes for now

Tanya: Underdressed; she is sort of a vixen, she may use sex appeal to gain the upper hand in certain situations

Li Mei: Well clothed; can't think of a reason for why she shouldn't be

Frost: Modest; she's an evil Lin Kuei assassin, she needs clothes

Nitara: Very underdressed, but armored; I think having armor instead of a lot of clothing suits her more

Sareena: Underdressed; all of Quan Chi's assassins wear little clothing, so it should stay that way

Kira: Well clothed; Kano is the only Black Dragon that can take his clothes off, anyhoo, she doesn't seem like the skin-showing type

Skarlet: Nude; and the only character that should be nude, blood should be her attire, as it is what she loves being covered in, and she herself is made of blood

Did I miss anyone?

It's just about how to please the men since fighting games are aimed towards them rather than us females. I really don't mind that video games tend to over-sexualize the female characters, I did at first, but then I realized that there's more important things to care about. (Such as Mortal Kombat doesn't lead to violent children)

I will admit, some of the costume choices the artists create for some of the females. Of course Sonya is clearly the main choice for this topic. It wouldn't kill to have SOME of the females all dressed from head to toe in clothing. I mean they did it for Ashrah, but then they KILLED it for her with her secondary. Same with Frost. Not every female character looks "hot" in two-pieces or in very little clothing. I mean, girls can look hot if they're in full attire from head to toe with little revealed.

Some people tended to think that this disrespects females because of the way they're projected in the video games. How they're always in revealing clothing, I mean perfect example is Blizzard's World of Warcraft. The way that the female characters look in some of the armor sets compared to the males. Some female characters have exposed stomachs while the males have it all covered. Some people say it's disgrading. Well, you know, so what. This is just how people gain attention to something. I know that women get mocked, it's been like that for years, but that's when you turn around and just tell them to make your own sandwiches or whatever.

But that's a different topic for another day. Point is, I don't care for it. I really don't. Some women might make a huge roar about this, bitching that it's pathetic and horrible that females always have to look super skinny and look like the "perfect" girl in their dreams. I, on the other hand, really don't care that women look like this. They'll continue to look like this... There's really nothing you can do other than know what's going on in the artists' heads.

I think that we're talking about two different issues then. As I stated in my previous rambling post, it's fine that the women's outfits make sense in the context of the story. Edenian women all walk around in what basically appears to be lingerie? That's fine.

However, if we're asking whether the women are too sexy, then you have to look at both sides of that coin. Too sexy in the context of the story, or too sexy in the context of the game.

If you're asking whether they're too sexy in the context of the story, then the fairly obvious answer would be no, they're not. These are strong women. They're not prostitutes in Grand Theft Auto that are only there to help "refill your health." They're not just eye candy and within the context of the story, they're not treated in such a way at all.

These women aren't doe-eyed love interests that are going to a life or death tournament to find a man to fall in love with and they're not that kind of plot device in any way, really. So in a sense, these women are more confident, more self-assured (they'd have to be, wouldn't they?) and more advanced than most women in games and movies.

But that sense is within the context of the story.

When you remove the story and you take them at their base. What they look like, they're movements, their victory poses, how they're dressed etc. The idea of female confidence begins to sound shaky at best.

At face value, these women are dressed in fetish gear for the majority audience that plays Mortal Kombat (ie men). They serve as sex appeal to help lure the intended audience.

Is that "too sexy?"

Again, my feeling is that it would be a whole lot easier to take the characters on both sides more seriously if they were dressed like actual warriors that would be in a tournament like this. Some characters look the part just fine. Some don't. Some look like they're stuck in the 90's. Some look like cartoon blow up dolls.

To me, it would be refreshing to see female sex appeal come from their face, their words, their swagger, their actions and reactions within the story etc and not from comically large breasts jiggling in skimpy bras with stiletto heels and war panties.

For some characters, like Milleena, it works and it makes sense. For others, I just think it's a stretch, and for me, it actually detracts slightly from my overall enjoyment of the games. Not a lot, of course, but when someone walks in to the room while Jade's doing her victory pose, well...

I said in the MK2011 thread that I didn't think the female characters were "Sexy" because I think that's more or less the way the body looks, and the character models (especially the female models) look weird and exaggerated (like G.I Joes and Barbie Dolls). But I do think that the costumes were revealing and over-sexulized, more so than any other MK game. My main problem with this is that it just doesn't represent what these characters are all about. Take a look,

Sonya Blade: She's basically a hardcore Special Forces agent with a major vendetta against the arms-dealing thug Kano. She's tough, strong, and doesn't take crap from anyone. Her outfit includes a military vest with no shirt underneath (revealing her cleavage and midriff), some form-fitting (to say the least) military pants, and some high-healed military boots. More like a Playboy version of a military costume. As Johnny Cage said "So that's not a costume? You're actual military?"

Kitana: She starts out as Shao Kahn's "daughter" and personal assassin, aiding him in taking over realms and basically killing anyone who might be a threat. Then she finds out that Kahn isn't her real father and that she's actually the Princess of Edenia, which Shao Kahn took over and killed her father (and her mother indirectly). So then she decides to join the good guys. Her outfit includes a two-pieced, belly dancer-esque costume, a mask/veil thing (okay, that's kind of assassin-y) and thigh-high, high-heeled boots. Actually, this costume might work for the princess aspect of her character, but what about the hardcore assassin part (her alt is a similar belly-dancer costume, but without the veil)?

Mileena: Kitana's more brutal, more provocative clone who stays loyal to Shao Kahn. She is less mature and often more seductive personality wise. She has also been shown to be self-conscious about her monstrous Tarkatan face, which kind of explains the sexy outfit as a compensation of sorts for her face. Her outfit includes... well, I don't even know what the heck it is; some sort of one-piece that barely covers anything with thin suspender type things connecting the top part to the bottom part, and some long high-heeled boots that are fish netted at the top.

Jade: The third assassin serving Shao Kahn. She's an agile warrior and she serves as Kitana's bodyguard. Although she, like Kitana started out working for the bad guys, her loyalty to Kitana ultimately surpasses her loyalty to Shao Kahn. Her outfit is somewhat similar to her UMK3 attire; a one-piece which splits down the middle and is laced together. The main difference is that the split down the middle is much bigger (leaving only spaghetti straps connecting the front part to the back part) and there are fewer laces holding it together. She wears high-heeled boots which are actually slightly shorter than the other assassins'. Doesn't make that big of difference.

Sindel: Apparently Sindel was originally a kind, caring Edenian Queen who, after losing her realm, her husband, and her freedom, being forced to marry Shao Kahn, she sacrificed herself to put a magic spell on Earthrealm which will stop Shao Kahn from invading it (yeah, that worked out well). However, when she was resurrected by Quan Chi (originally Shang Tsung), she was corrupted and came back as a hardened, dominative, sadistic Banshee warrior. Her outfit includes a V-shaped breastplate thing that doubles as a one-piece, a vampirish collar (which is cool) and a pair of high-heeled boots (do you see a pattern here with the boots???).

Sheeva: The only female Shokan that's ever appeared in MK, she serves Shao Kahn along with Goro and Kintaro. Like her male counterparts, she is extremely tough, mean, and extremely loyal to Shao Kahn. Also much like her male counterparts, she wears very little clothing; just some sort of weird mankini and... WHOAH! NO HIGH HEELS! Mind=Blown !

So, while the female characters are pretty diverse as far as backstory and personality goes, and although they're pretty well represented in the story mode, most of them have the following primary costume traits:

Exposed cleavage (exception none), exposed legs (exception Sonya Blade), exposed midriff (exception none), and those dreaded high heels (exception Sheeva), and I won't even get into how it all rips like tissue paper in fights. It's like the lead developers wrote these down as a requirement for the designers.

Don't get me wrong here, I don't think all of these aspects are bad, except the high heels (okay, I don't like heels at all). But I think they really need to focus more on dressing the characters in a way that represents them well, then maybe add a little spice where it makes sense. By that I don't mean unzipping Sonya's shirt for no reason, I mean maybe have Mileena show a little more skin, as if to say "look at my body, not at my face".

I'm not saying that all the women in MK should be dressed "like nuns". Keeping in mind that this is a fighting game, it would make sense for some of the female character to show a little more skin, similar to how many of the male characters are shirtless (although the female characters wouldn't be completely shirtless for obvious reasons).

I read people say "This is a fantasy game..." blah blah blah "Just get over it, you're playing for the wrong reason." Well, yeah, it is a fantasy game, but I don't really see that as a justification for the slutty costumes. All the past Mortal Kombat games were also fantasy, but they didn't sex up the outfits to this level. When I look at the fantasy element of MK I tend to think "Yeah, there's a realistic modern-day city merging with a mystical ancient Asian inspired realm and Shaolin monks and traffic cops are fighting ninjas and monsters." I don't think "Yeah, all the girls are wearing lingerie". Come on now.

A lot of people basically say that this game is made by men for men. It's not meant to appeal to women, so of course the women are going to be dressed that way, blah blah blah. I don't really believe that one either. Shouldn't a good game appeal to everyone (over 17)? How many men do you think actually bought this game for virtual cleavage? I know I didn't. I bought it because I'm a fan of the series, I love the storyline, it's reviving the brand, and apparently it revolutionized the fighting genre and frankly it's pretty much the best Mortal Kombat game yet. I'm sure I'm not alone here.

At the same time, how many women do you think are bothered by it? How many women who don't know what the game is really about (or just don't know much about videogames in general) do you think take one look at the game and dismiss it as something guys play just because they like boobies?

Or how many women who do play videogames (or maybe even are already fans of the series) do you think feel alienated by this. I think it's safe to say it's at least a little bit easier for people to relate to a character who's the same gender as them. So how would a woman who wants to give this game a chance feel after seeing that all the female characters are dressed like strippers? I don't know, but I think if all the male characters were dressed like Shao Kahn or Goro (although I do think the costumes fit those particular characters) then the game would lose a few points from me.

Sorry to the people who have to scroll through this long-ass post (will this thing even fit on here, I wonder?). I guess I just had a lot to say on this. I'm not trying to come off as a male feminist here or anything, this is just how I feel about the subject. I already made a post in the MK2011 message boards, but I guess I still had more to say. Faye_Tality, if you're still working on that essay, I hope this helps and I wish you luck. Anyone else who bothers to read this post, hopefully you don't hate me and maybe you'll get something out of it. Johnny1up signing out

... and then the thread gets locked. Great.