Everyone knows how to sexualize female characters in video games.
But how to sexualize male characters and do “fan service” for the female audience?

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23h

Watch some episodes of Charmed and look at the characters the sisters are flirting with, they are all different kinds of straight woman wish fulfillment.

Ofc women also sometimes are in the mood to get railed and knocked up, then a big hairy muscular guy is often the thing. But that mood comes upon most women relatively rarely. It’s a kind of comfort and trust that makes you want to melt into a guy.

Hildegarde
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228h

To sexualize men for women, you have to understand women.

To men, attraction is largely visual. So to sexualize a woman for a male audience means making her look attractive, and dressed in a revealing outfit. Swapping the genders doesn’t work. A visually attractive man in a revealing outfit is far more likely to appeal to either gay men sexually, or men generally as a power fantasy. To appeal to women you need a fundimentially different strategy altogether.

Consider erotic literature. Its a genre that is disproportionately popular with women. Its basically anti-porn, no visuals all story. Male characters in these stories are almost always sexualized by women for women. The attraction mostly from their choices and actions than appearance. You need a completely different approach.

Go read some smut. Talk to straight women about who and what they find attractive. You have to learn a lot about women to appeal to them. What they are looking for, and how they are looking for it is entirely different from men.

Clay_pidgin
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33h

For anyone wanting to know more about these books, Reading Smut is a side-project podcast by the hosts of Reading Glasses. It’s really interesting, with lots of thoughtful guests and often odd books. One of the first episodes covered a book about a door that comes to life and lusts after the woman who lives inside.

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77h

Consider erotic literature. Its a genre that is disproportionately popular with women. Its basically anti-porn, no visuals all story. Male characters in these stories are almost always sexualized by women for women. The attraction mostly from their choices and actions than appearance. You need a completely different approach.

Yes, its no visuals. Thats why there isnt 500,000,000 books with fabio ripped and glistening on the covers.

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35h

Hey, dont judge a book of smut by the rippling muscled hunk on its cover!

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1110h

But how to sexualize male characters and do “fan service” for the female audience?

Easy, just add Caius Cosades to your game:

Herbal Gamer
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79h

Jiggle Physics Ding Dongs

Hermit_Lailoken
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28h

Conan Exiles has good donger physics.

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1112h

I think you need to check out the genre of Otome games. There’s hundreds of weird dating sim style games catered to women which feature a male cast.

It’s debatable of how sexualized these characters are. But whatever they do appeals to their female audience.

orenj [he/they]
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Werewolf him

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15h

And vampire too

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1714h

I think Hades is an excellent example of a game which just sexualizes everyone.

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411h

Seconding the otome comment, and a link to a relevant tag on vndb - you can probably find anything from not very sexualized to pure smut on that list, and there’s often screenshots. https://vndb.org/g542

Klear
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831d

AzuranAurora
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151d

So lots and lots of cocaine. Got it!

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34h

Cocaine doesn’t even begin to cover what happened during Zardoz.

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71d

“Gee I don’t know boss, that’s a lot of hair…”

[gunshot]

“The gun shoots death…”

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Watch jojo. You are gonna get your answer best way possible

Herbal Gamer
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59h

Jojo Rabbit? Not sure if Hitler is that sexy…

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I’ve tried to get into Jojo so many times for the beautiful men, but I kinda get bored.

Regardless ,thanks Araki. I still love the art.

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28h

Strange, cause I’m a straight(ish) dude and it hooked me in season 2. Season 1 was cool, but the hyper batshit insanity of the following seasons hits.

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16h

I think I never finished season 1… I don’t remember exactly but I felt it had a lot of filler. Might give it a chance again if season 2 is where it ramps up.

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1115h

That’s sexualizing men for everybody. He’s asking how to do it specifically for women! It may seem like the same thing but it is different.

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771d

Same way. Hot bods, tight clothes, show plenty of skin.

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421d

Women enjoying the same things as men? Why, I never!

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181d

Says Velma with an oversized sweater, just look at Daphne’s outfit… Like, zoinks, Scoob!

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221d

Velma’s short skirt and knee highs though…

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221d

Velma’s short skirt and knee highs though…

On all fours… looking fo dem glasses…

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71d

Wait, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen that one.

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151d

She was my bisexual awakening before I ever even realized it lol

CapOnBackwards
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91d

Everyone was too busy looking at Daphne to realise Velma had it going on

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19h

dorky chicks like you turn me on too!

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Testicle cleavage and beer belly shirts. What’s the sluttiest hair style a man can have?

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210h

Thinning on top with the “monk ring” style cut. Nothing gets the ladies going more.

But serious advice for guys, know when to just shave your head man. People like full heads of hair, people like bald, nobody likes thinning. Make the call and save yourself the embarrassment. Bald is beautiful.

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101d

Not cleavage. Give 'em the moose knuckle.

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71d

They should be so lucky

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1421h

If it’s uncomfortable and disempowering for men, you’re probably doing it right. It’s often a power dynamic.

But to draw back from a sour take: This will also turn off some people. Both ways. For instance: I love sexualized designs, but some games genuinely went too far. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Nier Automata had genuine, serious stories to tell, but fell flat on some people for sexualizing their main (female) characters in such an objectifying way.

I also think for women, the pure visual isn’t quite as important as their movements and actions. That part gets tricky since tastes vary.

There’s a few gacha games out there designed for women that can give an idea of an extreme end to take it to. Again, keep in mind, there’s not one universal appeal for a whole gender (same for guys) so it will often turn out that the most universally appealing designs are the relatively safe ones you already see.

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49h

Love In Deepspace is your example of highly sexualized men for women.

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719h

I also think for women, the pure visual isn’t quite as important as their movements and actions. That part gets tricky since tastes vary.

I find Wolf (sekiro) very hot in part because of how his movement is animated. BUT the man looks like he hasn’t bathed in weeks so… He’s more of a "hear me out’.

And also not thinking about visuals… Yeah, a sexy voice can do a lot of heavy lifting for a character.

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019h

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401d

According to my wife…

Dress shirt with sleeves rolled up to the elbow.

Kilts.

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81d

KILTS!

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421d

It depends on the genre of the game.

Fighting games like Mortal Kombat? Put the men in skimpy outfits that show their muscles like the women.

Survival game? I don’t need to see the characters sexualized while they’re trying to survive a zombie apocalypse. Give me character depth and growth, empathy, and strong story-telling visuals. I’ll fall in love with man or woman that way.

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251d

Nothing like a miniature sized trikini to survive the zombie outbreak.

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