When a game as modifiable as Skyrim comes out, capable modders often leap at the opportunity to make the character models look as fuckable as humanly possible. It’s become something of a joke whenever this sort of game nears its release date—how long till someone makes a nude patch? Hint: usually not very long.
So it’s never surprising to see, whilst perusing the metaphorical aisles of the mods database of your choosing, a slew of mods that give all the women in the game enormous breasts and flawless skin and J-Lo butts—not to mention mods that make men’s six packs shinier– but y’know, to each his own. These people probably paid good money for this game and they can do what they want with it.
There’s a thin line to be crossed here, though—while many mods clearly suit particular personal tastes or merely improve upon a game’s default meshes or textures, others accidentally step into body image territory. That’s not cool, guys, and I think it’s something that, as a community, we need to start being more careful about.
In particular, I’m talking about Skyrim mods like Better Females. This mod re-textures all of the females in the game with smoother, more made-up complexions. Lots of glittery eye shadow and lipstick going on around here. Personally, I can’t find the logic in Dovahkiin glamazon-ing it up in the Nordic tundra, but clearly this is a mod built for those with preferences similar to the author’s– and there’s nothing wrong with that, until you start throwing around words like better which the Elder Scrolls modding community has a nasty habit of doing. The author has surely received some complaint, as they’ve put up a disclaimer in the mod’s description box:
“I would also like to say that I made this mod originally for myself then thought others might enjoy it as well. So I am giving you the option of downloading it which I do with most all of my work. With that being said this mod is tailored to my style and not necessarily everyone else. This is my art some might love it and some might absolutely hate it and that's understandable. I'm not saying this is how females HAVE to look and I'm not saying they looked ugly or unattractive before. I just wanted everyone to have the option of something different. Thanks again everyone take care and be safe <3
-Bella”
The author of this mod obviously hasn’t meant any harm, but the mod is nonetheless called “Better Females” and not something catchy like “Glamazon Ladies of Skyrim” or “Glittery Barbie Lipgloss Dreamland: The Skyrim Mod”. By calling her re-textured ladies “Better Females”, she is implying that that these fictional females were unattractive to begin with, whether she’s intended to or not—and it’s not even her fault.
I know what you’re asking—why should it matter? They are fictional females. But ask yourself this: when we’re at a point where even our fantastical polygons aren’t considered attractive enough to look at or briefly roleplay as in our spare time, at a point where we feel we must make even pretend people “better”, where are we as a society? We done goofed, internet.
Character design so often lends itself to the unrealistic expectations we have for ourselves, reaffirming our physical insecurities and the idea that we could always be better. In the real world, we feel the need to create these flawless doll-like versions of ourselves—perfectly symmetrical features, immaculate proportions, no pores, certainly no blemishes. We cake their faces with makeup, take pictures of them in just the right lighting, and then airbrush whatever shred of humanity is left on their bodies and stick them into magazines and onto billboards so that people will buy products in hopes of attaining that sort of perfection. If you’re ever in the mood to make yourself really sad, search tags like “pro-ana” and “body image” on Tumblr and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
Video games and other forms of media imitate life in this fashion, with characters like Nathan Drake and Lara Croft showing us that, “This is what a man should look like. This is what a woman should look like.” And you know what? I’m not really sure anybody is ever going to change that. It’s human nature. I’m not even sure there’s anything too terribly wrong with some of our video game icons looking the image of perfection—heroes always have.
It’s all the more refreshing to me, though, when a game comes out that offers character models that are more varied or allow you to be less than perfect. Lord of the Rings Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic and EVE Online (all MMOs, coincidentally) are good examples of this—all have character creation systems that allow you to customize the shape of your avatar. For MMOs, this allows for a more realistic and diverse player base where you’re less likely to run into similar avatars again and again.
On the single-player side of things, Skyrim offers these same options. By default, Skyrim characters look a little roughed up and dirty, lending themselves easily to their harsh environment. They don’t look perfect. They aren’t especially attractive and they don’t come with hourglass figures.
And while I don’t expect that aesthetic to float everyone’s particular boat, isn’t it a little disappointing how quickly we rush to improve their appearance? Isn’t it kind of a shame how easily we can Photoshop eyeliner and lipstick onto a video game character and unabashedly declare it better than it was without? It scares me just a tiny bit how even in video games—a form of escapism for many—we cling so heavily to our real-world ideals of beauty. A nip here, a tuck there, and suddenly Joan Rivers is trekking to the summit of the Throat of the World. And that is a horrifying prospect, friends.
