Disclaimer: The following is the opinion of Vesna Savic and not necessarily that of GC Café or its affiliates. If you suffer from a heart condition or are easily offended by real human language, dirty jokes, or references to human anatomy, you are advised to go away. Don't say you weren't warned!

Modern video games have changed drastically over the years, not only in appearance and depth, but the audience at which they are aimed. Video games have grown rapidly since their prior standings and not just with the men, but girls too! The number of girl gamers is quickly increasing, and girls are coming to the forefront of the game market. The gaming world, once dominated by men, is now gaining support from the female community and it’s about damn time! Not only are more and more girls playing them today, but more games are being aimed solely at the female audience. Despite the rising numbers of females in gaming, not all games are designed for them. Allow me to explain what I mean by that statement; Tomb Raider, under most circumstances, is a perfectly fine game, but not necessarily aimed toward the female market. The male market, however, is head over heels for such a game. Any guy who has ever played those games has noticed the fact that the main character, Lara Croft (for those of you who didn’t know), has an extremely large bust, and has a regularly increasing cup size every game. Had Eidos placed a minigame in which she would jump on a trampoline she would have been knocked out for at least a week by those things! If you can show me one male gamer who is complaining about the character model of Lara Croft, I’ll show you some guy who says, "please stop sucking my dick or I’ll be forced to call the police." Needless to say, men enjoy games like that because, well, it gives them something to look at while they play. That’s all I have to say about that game and how it depicts women. Degradation! It gives men the idea that all women should be these buxom beauties with guns. Seriously, these games, not just Tomb Raider, give a poor depiction of what women should be. Also, it makes me wonder where she kept all her weaponry. To discover where she holds all those items and guns not in use, well, look no further than the chest. I’m thinking that she’s keeping more than one small weapon in there. For all we know she could be smuggling in foreigners. Makes you think... okay, maybe not. Really makes you wonder what else she’s got parked under the canopy.

Those Things Weigh About 50 Pounds!

I have a riddle for you, a conundrum for you, if you will. How is Lara Croft like a shotgun? Answer: Give them both a cock and they’re ready to blow. I imagine that she could fall flat on her face and not have any damage done to her precious little nose because of her extremely large... uhh... "cushions."

Sadly, in modern day women are being portrayed as objects and little whores. Games like Dead or Alive show this clearly. Lest we forget the upcoming DOA Extreme Beach Volleyball with see-through clothing as well as the upcoming Dave Mirra BMX XXX which features strippers and dirty jokes. Women are being degraded in games and it gives little girls all around the world a poor impression of what the female form should be.

There are, of course, many positive female characters in games. A perfect example is that of Princess Toadstool. Sure, she gets kidnapped by Bowser and needs Mario to save her, but not all the time does she go without a fight, and lest we forget her fighting spirit in Super Mario RPG. Games need these strong female characters, for they give all the little girls out there a hero and someone to play as. Another strong female, possibly the strongest of them all, is Samus Aran of Metroid fame. One of the first heroines of games, and one of the strongest characters ever created. It takes "a lot of balls" to travel the universe fighting life sucking alien jellyfish things.

The fact still stands that there are more and more girl gamers every day and they need more games aimed a little more for their needs. Male gamers have their half- to three-fourths- naked women running around, yet the women don’t get any hot stuff guys running around flexing their muscle and whipping out their junk all the time. Games are still aimed toward men, but are gradually changing more for women. Let us all pray that Mario keeps his clothes on for the rest of his life. I feel bad for Princess Toadstool, but then again you know what they say: "Love is blind."

One of the few games out with strong female characters is Super Smash Bros: Melee on Gamecube. This is a very good game, in my opinion, because it shows the true power and prowess of the female characters. This game broke the mold of its 1950 stereotype that all women are weak and should hide behind the men. Samus, Peach, and Zelda all could kick the men’s asses on any given day. Some girls are ashamed to admit that they play games, and that’s unfortunate. They feel as though their opinion doesn’t mean anything when it comes to games, and then there are people like myself who will give you my opinion whether you like it or not.

Some games are just meant to be pretty and meant to be eye candy for men. Women characters well bend forward, just about fall out of their top and wave their behind for all the world to see. I can definitely see why guys would want to play games like that. Women, we need to stop these kind of things. Any self-respecting woman would find a game like that offensive and downright awful. There are games for girls and games for guys. It’s just that simple. There are better ways to spend my money than on some game full of half naked women. I don’t know about you, but that’s just not my bag. Bring me the half-naked men, then I’ll buy the game.

Sexist games rule the market right now and sadly show no signs of slowing. Buxom blondes who just have to look pretty sell games. Frumpy looking housewives with two kids just don’t sell games. It’s a shame that some of these women character’s chest sizes are only about three or four times their IQ. It’s a sad, sad state of affairs when that’s the case and maybe, just maybe, I can be the one to change it. Just being a strong female character doesn’t mean having a huge bust size, it means having a personality and a mind of their own, metaphorically speaking.

Alex Roivas of Eternal Darkness: How Women in Games Should Look.

Eternal Darkness and Resident Evil are perfect examples of games with model women. Alex and Ellia in Eternal Darkness were very down-to-Earth characters and still had their own sex appeal. Jill in Resident Evil had her tight clothing, but still looked like an everyday woman, something that girls could look up to and say, "Hey, I could look that good in those pants."

In conclusion, the girl gamer is very quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with and should not be taken lightly. Sooner or later there will be games like DOA with scantly clad male characters and there will be much rejoicing from the women of the world. Just remember this one thing I have to say: You win some, you lose some, but ultimately the girls will always win. The idea of it being a man’s world is a thing of the past and I only have one final thing to say. As it says on my T-shirt, "Girls Kick Ass!!"

Vesna Savic