This isn't a gotcha thing I'm doing, I was watching this AI vs artist Arch was doing where he did one before with black April O'Neil and he's done another with dark skin Velma this time. Some flaws here and there but a massive improvement over the HBO show, at one point, he puts out the idea with what I like to refer to as 'milfy Velma' was having it that she was detached from the group, is a reporter herself and events brings her back with her old friends, so like the show just, not shit.
One of the immediate things that detached me from even trying to watch it was how ugly the self insert Velma was yet if this AI made hotter Velma was in it, I might at least give it an episode.
But a key part of this is that watching shows is passive, you're not interacting so for games it depends for me. Does it fit the setting as if it's a game about giant mechs then it isn't really a factor. If there's character customisation beyond just selecting outfits, then it becomes a big factor as if I want to create a really hot character, the game itself shouldn't limit me. Same as if there's 'romance' choices and all of them are fugly.
I've gotten to the point where having attractive guys but ugly women in a game is a massive red flag for me as then it means this is a self insert game and there's likely to be a lot of ideology in the narrative too. So just want to hear your guys takes if having attractive female characters even affects the shows and games you play/watch.
This is my thinking for action movies and action games.
I feel more inclined to play the game if I'm playing a character who fits the theme.
Gears 1 - 3 were perfect because you had these beefy, roided up refrigerators fighting equally huge monsters. But they played the whole scenario straight -- these guys looked like they were gruff and tough and had seen some serious stuff. So it made it easy to believe the story and just as easy to feel compelled to see the journey through.
The same applied to a lot of games made before 2014, like the original Halo trilogy, or Killzone, or the golden-era of Call of Duty games.
Same applies to movies. The gritty films of the 70s and campy but ultra-violent films of the 80s also took themselves seriously enough to immerse the viewer. The characters were believable even if it was over-the-top.
There's nothing more immersion-breaking than being forced to play a character that doesn't fit the theme, and worse yet, characters who are making horrible Twitter-tier jokes the entire way through like Redfall or Forspoken or the Saints Row Reboot.
99% of all "scifi" woke bullshit made today has this kind of cringy dialogue, no matter what part of the galaxy or century it takes place in. You will have cringy "lmao wtf?" kind of dialogue being uttered every two seconds. Typically nobody respects ranks and are free to talk back to their superior officers with cunty remarks as well.