Breast Physics: A Growing Social Problem?

Sex sells, we all know that.

Since the greed generation of the 80’s its been the simplest way to get attention. Just produce a product with scantily clad men or women on it or in it and people will flock to your corner right? Well in a market where every character is sexy or cool the sex obsessed fanboys in the game development biz figured out a simple method to take objectification to the next level using a discipline of emergent mathematics called Breast Physics. Unlike the legitimate field of biomechanics as described in this article we are mostly limiting the discussion to the video game implementations.

Now Breast Physics (unlike say fluid dynamics or quantum mechanics) is not a recognized field of scientific research. Evolving with the video game genre from its earliest days in Custer’s Revenge for the 2600 up through Leisure Suit Larry and the Dead or Alive titles (especially DOA Xtreme Beach Volleyball ), this field of study “floated” to the top of the video game simulation industry (thanks to the huge number of game designers who simply never got out of the office enough to interact with real women).

There are quite a few examples today of games built and sold completely around this unique simulation field and the latest game to show off advances in breast physics simulation - Dead or Alive 4 bounced onto the Xbox 360 in full color-high definition glory, or the numerous scantily clad elves running around in games like World of Warcraft – which is what brought this subject to mind.

There are many questions about this field of study but simply put the unified theory of breast physics states that if you have a female video game character with large.. shall we say assets.. they will have the most expressively modeled motion prediction and reaction of all the parts of the human form – including hair or facial features. Breast physics infiltrates every known genre of games – sports games, fighting games, RPGs, and even simulations . The biggest concern though as someone who enjoys eye candy as much as the next man is: Does this unrealistic portrayal of human anatomy set unrealistic expectations for young male gamers when they actually encounter the real thing? Honestly think of all the boys out there who’ve learned through their video games that women’s anatomy comes with independent suspension! Real women don’t strut around in skimpy clothes while their chests jiggle like strapped on Jell-O for everyone to observe. More importantly how can any real female ever hope to live up to the fantastic behavior of these modeled mammaries?

Gaming is still a fairly young hobby, one that faces assault from all sides in the media circus. While I personally find the continuously exaggerated proportions of modern video game vixens laughable it seems that consumers as a whole continue to encourage such behavior. Eidos’s Queen of the Tomb, Lara Croft recently underwent a sizable breast reduction for her newest game but it seems Lara is an exception. The girls of DOA continue to wiggle and jiggle in outfits no real woman could hope to swaddle their bosom in while throwing a roundhouse.

In order for games to move out from under the scrutiny of gaming for its two biggest attractions – Violence and Sexuality (both key aspects to adolescent wish fulfillment I might add) gamers need to stand up and demand more real portrayals of women in gaming!!

The growing ranks of GRRL gamers out there (well most of them anyway) want interesting stories, social dynamics and good action and so should the guys – its too bad game developers keep delivering breast physics as an answer. Maybe after addressing this we can approach the unrealistic body image that Master Chief presents to young boys and how it is driving them into fits of depression.

Societies ills must be handled!

We must demand less buoyant representations!