Ad Issues

[X-Fighter]

I was looking at the ads that were "sexually explicit", and the most obvious difference between the first two(the "bad" ones) and the third was positioning--both of the Starscape ones draw specific attention to crotch of the female characters; it doesn't show anything lewd, of course, but the positioning of the aegis/prowler in each is a bit risque. If the images were moved to a less-suggestive level(perhaps raised to about the navel, or there abouts), they'd probably go by just fine.

[Fost]

I think I may enforce a new forum rule: No polls which are predesigned for your desired outcome

I don't really see what you are saying myself, but if you were really stretching things then maybe. I suppose that's where they are coming from, so you may have worked it out. If it were that, I especially can't see the problem with the shot of JJ. Is giving birth to ships erotic???
I think it's a case of them seeing something becausethey want to see it; in which case we can't have any ads featuring women in them any more, in case any objects that are in the room point at their groin or chest

After all, there are women out there naked beneath their clothes, it's disgusting

The intention was of course to show Rin holding the fate of the Aegis in her hands, next time I'll model a women that has arms half that length so that she doesn't put them anywhere too erotic, or maybe I should just not give her hands at all, or in fact a body. No wait a minute: the world can be taken over by asexual robots? Whilst it's funny, it's actually quite depressing

[HunterXI]

[X-Fighter]

Well, like, for Rin, think: when you present something to someone, or hold something before you, you normally hold it out at about your navel, where your elbows bend to extend forward, or equal with your chest, extended almost straight out.

The JJ one might be a bit more innocous, but the center of focus is still her crotch(where the ship is roughly located). If you could avoid making the center of focus there, I don't think you'd have any problems.

[HunterXI]

[Fost]

sigh: but this isn't in any way whatsoever sexually explicit.

Are women not allowed to have their hands anywhere near the lower halves of their bodies? Where let's face it your hands naturally lie when relaxed. There was no intention whatsoever on our part to use sex to sell our game, in fact quite the opposite: we had hoped to have an 'equality' amongst our characters, because we strongly believe in an equal society.

This is just silly, and I thought we Brits had a reputation of being prudes. Seriously: if I actually wanted to make something sexy, then anyone offended by those ads would probably die from the shock

I won't be changing the ads - because I cannot undertand what I would need to change, we'll just use them elsewhere.

Anyway: Rant end Just in case we may have lost it: we've asked every woman we know their opinion, and they've laughed at us for it. I have yet to find anyone who actually thinks the ads are sexually explicit, although many have tried to second guess why someone else has said that.

[Lothar]

If you didn't actually know what Starscape was -- so you didn't recognize the Aegis -- what would you think Rin is holding in her hands? It might at least make you wonder. I think that might be where people are coming from...

[Fost]

[Lothar]

I don't think you can get a good idea of whether or not reasonble people might consider it risque' from people on the moonpod forum -- because we all look at the thing she's holding in front of her crotch and think "Aegis", while people who don't know the game don't know what that is.

Probably the best way to get an idea of what people think would be to post the image on a different forum asking for opinions. Remember, the people reviewing the ad don't know what Starscape is, so if you want to figure out what they're thinking, you have to talk to others who don't know what Starscape is. (Or... it might be possible to just ask the people who turned down the ad.)

[Weeble]

I can't help but think that this kind of thing wouldn't keep happening if everybody's age was plainly obvious. While it can be good that the Internet allows children and teenagers to be treated like adults, it can sometimes be a bit much to ask them to behave like adults. This kind of conversation would be over in seconds with some stern looks and a "grow up!" if it were actually conducted face to face.

Note: I've not even seen this ad, but I don't particularly care about it.

[Weeble]

*Thinks for a minute* Oh yeah, I was the one to bring up the issue of short skirts on the science crew. Still, I hope it was obviously tongue-in-cheek...

[Fost]

Re Age: yeah you are are probably right there. When you are a teen, you make innuendo from anything (actually, come to think of it, we still do )

Man, this, combined with the short skirts, and the whole porn star naming convention discovery: people must be getting a bad impression of us The daft thing is, whilst we are entirely capable of being lewd, none of this was intentional! As long as we don't get the same reaction that Sophie Dahl billboard did, I think we'll be ok. I recall seeing a bunch of old ladies on ladders trying to paint her out on West street in Sheffield -very bizarre. (what was that an ad for? I can't remember now, perfume?)

I suppose I should repost the pictures here so everyone knows what we are talking about:

[Weeble]

Ooh, nice lighting there.

[X-Fighter]

I was slightly shocked by the ads...

Honestly though, I must stress the center-of-focus thing. It's a matter of where you're trying to attract attention to. Although I'm sure it's innocent enough, that is still the point you're attracting our eyes to, as that's the part of the image that is radically different. It's not really an innuendo thing as much as a simple perspective thing...

To think on it: Say you see two women, both wearing the same style of clothing(let's say turtle necks). Each also has on a gold chain necklace with a cross on it.

The length on one puts it about 5 inches below her neck, centering it on her upper chest.

The length on the second has the cross positioned directly between her breasts.

Which one is more provacative?

[Fost]