werewolfgold
Well-Known Member
That may not exactly be true. Sexual pandering is widely accepted as pretty much the lowest common denominator in order to draw attention (it kind of is, let's be real). It's a fact of life that sex sells, but if you rely upon it too much, it gives off the impression that you don't have anything of substance or higher quality to attract people with. We humans are supposed to have some higher-level reasoning and goals and such, after all. And with the added layer of the girls not being real (as opposed to, say, pining over a swimsuit/Playboy model), being hyper-invested in wanting more and more bikinis, especially in a game where they are not core to the purpose of said game (to beat people up), pushes it a little further into the "weirdo" category. Not as much as some other things would, sure. But..., it's there.
With that being said, of course the bikinis are gonna sell. I don't think anyone would be surprised by that. It's not lowest common denominator for nothing. But, many people are going to use the logic that if they are pushing the sex part this much, then it must mean that there's nothing deeper to grasp people with. And people may not want to be involved with that.
People may know what DOA is, but as someone already pointed out, some people have no idea it's even a fighting game. So, what is it exactly that TN wants this game to be known for? There is more to this game than just sexy fanservice. And people just wish the creators would spend a little more time making that clear. People are being turned off by the excess from the get go. And some people feel insulted that the creators think that fans need this much fanservice/pandering in order to stay interested. And that's what long-time fans and tourney goers kind of want to change. It's not about denying what "we" want. It's about getting more of the full range of the things that "we" want.
I'm not really trying to ruffle any feathers here. But, being all "moar bikinis, take it off, moar bikinis, gravure movies, yay!" without any interest in ever deviating from that is going to be seen as more base-level than other things, even general aesthetics. Is that right? I dunno.
As I stated before, sexy is fine. Sex is a part of life. But, making it all about that (especially as one-sided toward a specific sexual preference) is not what I personally want, and may be venturing into dangerous territory in terms of the game being taken seriously. I think that for the long term, TN has to balance "what gets them the most money" with how people view their product in general compared to their competition. Because people aren't going to invest hours upon hours playing the game at home or promoting tournaments because of the bikinis. Google exists. Random animu 637 with beach/hot springs episode exists. There needs to be something else on its face. The image has to be tweaked.
If people end up not liking the fighting system, fine. But, random Tekken or Street Fighter guy should at least feel enticed enough to come over and give a try to find out. People say "don't judge a book by its cover". But, I think we all know that the mileage varies on that...
...This was far too long of a response...
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Now I know, why Hoya Destroyer got suddenly so mad in the "wanted costumes" thread.
