It might be time for the days of female video game characters being squeezed into Croft-tastically revealing clothing to be left behind.
Despite the gaming industry's obsession with impractically skintight and scanty female attire, a recent survey of US teenage boys has found that 47 per cent of those aged 11-14 and 61 percent of those aged 15-18 "strongly agreed" that women are objectified in games.
The survey also found that 78 per cent of boys in total didn't care one way or the other about the playable character's gender.
Girls just wanna have fun
Conducted by Rosalind Wiseman, author of Queen Bees and Wannabes – better known by its Mean Girls film adaptation – the survey revealed that 55 per cent of male gamers felt there should be more games starring female leads.
While the study found that a greater percentage of girls don't engage in gaming at all (19 per cent compared to a measly three), girls that do enjoy gaming aren't too different from their male counterparts, with 26 per cent playing first-person shooters, 36 per cent playing RPGs, and 17 per cent tackling sport titles.
Happily, the industry seems to be following this trend, with a tonne of games with awesome women announced at E3 2015 – we're particularly keen to see more of Horizon Zero Dawn.
- Want to know what else went down at this year's biggest gaming event? Check out the top 10 moments from E3 2015.
