Re: Interesting article about Sexism in Geek Communities
Well, as the COH Devs explained it, more body types adds to development time/expense for each and every costume piece and animation in the game. Each one of those things would need to be rechecked and reworked for compatability. Otherwise you get clipping and other issues that make the game look second rate and peopel then complain that the option is there but it sucks.
It's one of the reasosn they were adamant about not adding in additional body types after release. Huge Female (for heavily muscled super women), overweight/fat for both genders and various nonhuman body types were requested regularly. They were also quite reluctant to red light "cross dressing", which was also requested on many occassions, but would run into simialr problems. Mind you I think in all my time playing the "coross dressing" aspect mostly came from players that wanted more "Butch/Tom Boy" options for thier female toons. Relativly few players actually stated they wanted to play a dude running around in a bra and stockings. Though they absolutly DID exist. I still remember one players impassioned plea to the devs to not change the power FX for Brute invulnerabilty, since the sparkling rainbow colors were a vital aspect of his characters concept of Trollvestite (this was years before we got power customization).
Regardless, I also think it was ultimatly felt that any of the above would be features that wouldn't be used much so it was not worth the time and money. Statistically, this is probably true. But, we'll never really know for sure
COH had an incredible degre of customization allowed already, what with the various body sliders and power customization, but no matter how much they added they were never gogn to satisy everyone. Most games don't take the time to even try though, so you end up with the reliable stereotypical.
The majority will always crave statuesque males and centerfold females and the industry will always primarily cater to that majority.
I think that is unlikely to change in the future, but we have deffintly seen a slow shift over time. Afterall, this is what Lara Croft looks like now: