[文章] RN特约文章之二:Sexy Lady还是Iron Lady?

作者:Replays.Net撰稿人Lawrence“““Malystryx”””Phillips
翻译:bonedriven|Replays.Net

　　无论是谁先想出来在Iron Lady系列赛中加入女子Dota项目的，那个人一定是天才。不仅仅是因为Dota在中国和War3一样受欢迎，而且这样一来女性选手的数量一下翻成了五倍。绝对是天才。

　　在欧洲“性感”一词是一个正面的词汇，通常指迷人的女孩用一种正确的方式裸露部分身体。而在中国这个词则常常对女孩作负面描述时使用，那种在QQ上寻找男人，并旅行到临近城市去发生一夜情的那种女孩。所以在中国，要以女性作市场推广手段时，一定要格外小心。西方女性展示的性感已经能够被中国人接受了，但如果有中国的女孩试图去模仿，他们就会紧皱眉头了。

Sexy lady or Iron lady?
by  Lawrence Phillips

　　Whoever had the idea of adding a female dota tournament to the Iron Lady series is a genius.  Not only because it’s the most popular eSports game along with WArcraft3 in China but also because it multiplies the number of female players by five.  Pure genius.

　　What is more noteworthy however, is that despite having a handful of extremely attractive girls –sorry but true –such as KIllah, the competition continues to be presented with an air of dignity when it comes to taking photos of the girls. Of course at a male Warcraft3 tournaments, you’re not expecting or perhaps in need of photos of Grubby holding his bottom in tight shorts, but if Cassandra were willing, no one would complain.

　　The pure fact is that esports is a man-dominated scene regardless of how many women now play computer games according to the latest statistics  (more than 40% apparently).  What do men like to see? Women, and even more so if they are showing an interest in a male-dominated area, men are not “into” cosplay because they love the costumes, its because they love to see women interested in something they like. China Joy brings smiles to the facts of Chinese fans not because it’s a big gaming convention, but because it means lots of galleries full of girls posing in short skirts. However, the choice for a more modest approach to the marketing of the Steelseries Iron Lady –apart from a few bras showing –is more a cultural choice than anything.

　　The word sexy in Europe is a positive attribute, normally given to an attractive girl showing off a bit of flesh in the right way. Meanwhile in China the word is usually a derogative term to describe a girl.It is usually given the kind of Chinese girl that find men on QQ –Chinese messenger - and travel to neighbouring cities for the day to meet them for illicit sex. Therefore when marketing Chinese women in China, marketers must tread more carefully. Western women are generally accepted by the Chinese to be more attractive and “sexy” in the positive sense of the word, but when Chinese girls try to mimic them it is frowned upon.

　　In the China media it is so easy for someone to be vilified, firstly because of the sheer amount of people that make word of mouth such a powerful tool here, and secondly because of the huge wealth of media on the internet (the ones that are not banned I mean). I teach English in China and it is amazing how students associate one famous star with certain negative attributes, for example Fan Bingbing, hated by all almost all my Chinese students –aside from the ones that share her hometown –because she allegedly slept with film producers to get her roles. In Europe they might be shocked momentarily then just accept it and move on, while in China it means an eternity of shame. So even in Esports marketing women is serious business, there is reason why Chinese women in general go for the “I’m so cute you want to marry me” look instead of the “I’m so hot you want to sleep with me”.

　　That is not to say Steelseries have always perfectly managed their marketing of Iron Lady, in particular the ridiculous decision to include the body weight of all the female players in their trailer for one of their competitions.

　　Don’t get me wrong no heterosexual men who are interested in Esports are sitting at home staring at Venema from Mousesports in the Razer advert wishing she could be wearing more clothes, quite the opposite in fact. As far as female gaming goes, this is unfortunately all that men are generally interested in seeing, but if female gaming is to be taken more seriously, a more modest approach like the one taken with the Steelseries Iron Ladies would prove more beneficial in maintaining a certain level of integrity than simple eye candy.  Female gaming can be so much more if presented in the right way.