Recently, foreign media Inverse editor Issy van der Velde published an interview with Dr. Matt Benny's article, in which he criticizes Shift Up's game Stellar Blade, which caters to men. Benny analyzes gender representation in games from a feminist perspective, with particular concern about the game's producer Kim Hyung-tae's decision on the character Eve's body design.
Kim Hyung-tae has said that Eve's body model is based on the real body of South Korean model Shin Jae-eun. He thought that this figure would appeal to players and teamed up with Shin Jae-eun to achieve this effect. Benny criticizes this practice as exploiting the "male gaze," a perspective in which women are presented as sexual objects, often on three levels: the production crew, the film's characters, and the audience. However, "who will such a body attract?what gender?what sexuality?what nationality?, which already contains the assumptions that many developers consider the player base. ”
Benny further noted that Eve from Sword Star not only shows off her figure in combat and movement, but also has the camera focused on her ass in every narrative scene of the cutscene. There will even be a drone following her during the game, lighting the environment and often highlighting her back. He questioned why game developers only used Shin's body instead of her face or motion capture, suggesting that this was a limited recognition of the value of women.
In addition, Benny commented on the phenomenon of some Western players preferring Japanese dubbed versions, which he believes may be a manifestation of narrow Orientalism, i.e., the West's fantasy and cultural superiority over the Eastern world. Finally, Benny suggested that game developers should broaden their understanding of "attractiveness" and not just cater to the male gaze, but consider including characters of different sizes and ages to increase the diversity and appeal of their games. He believes that such a change will not make the game less sexy, but will make it more attractive to more people.