Bioware, Please Make A Plus-Sized Female Dragon Age Character!

[MercurySteam]

Of all the traits to ask Bioware to include in their next female Dragon Age character, you'd ask to make them plus-sized all for the benifit of the cosplayers? Seriously? I'm all for diversity but if you're going to put forward such a request, for the love of God please have a half-decent reason behind it. Next we'll be asking for a catgirl character so the cosplayers with furry fetishes get their share of diversity.

 

[Something Amyss]

...which is the point I was making?

No, you made an argument for rules according to the world as we know it, then said something to the effect of "that being said." The first part still doesn't work. Realism was never a part of it.

 

[Michael Dunkerton]

For a bit of additional perspective, these are the character models that the internet has been claiming are obese, unhealthy, fatty-fatty-four-by-fours-who-can't-fit-through-the-kitchen-door:
http://www.bulimia.com/examine/video-games-realistic-body-types/

If I saw any of these revised models on the street, "fat" would not even be at the back of my mind. These are what average, healthy women look like. Video game characters as it stands are not idealized, realistic athletes. They (for the most part) are anorexic, freakish stick figures with plastic balloons on their chest and preteen faces. No one's asking for obese characters, so taking the discussion there is missing the point.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Cosplay is a pretty dumb hobby as it is, so no, concessions shouldn't be made so that cosplayers can have comfortable costumes or whatever the article is on about. It's not like there is actually any obligation to dress up as a character. The whole cosplay scene is, frankly, an embarrassment to gaming.

 

[Therumancer]

This depends on what you mean by "Plus size" if you just mean fat with large breasts... that doesn't fit the heroic fantasy mould for the types of characters your playing. If you meant large, "sexy" breasts on an otherwise fit model, I'd imagine they won't do that due to accusations of it being immature pandering to men. A lot of girls would absolutely freak out and call as many SJWs to the case as possible... Anita Sarkeesian would probably make an entire video about it.

Now yes, some women are good looking, fit, and well endowed... but part of political correctness is to say that such is an unrealistic expectation that should never appear in games or other media.

That said, as a serious answer, I'd point out that if you do the costume right I don't think one person at a con is going to say "your breasts are too large"... and I don't just mean that by way of innuendo, the bottom line is that a lot of cosplayers don't have an ideal body shape for the role they are playing.... unless your doing this in a pro-or semi-pro capacity I wouldn't worry, and honestly I'd imagine most of the "pros" pick characters they know they can pull off as much as trying to make themselves fit a character. One of the reasons why "master cosplayers" are what they are is in part having won a sort of "genetic lottery" and having a body (not neccesarily super attractive) which can easily be adapted to a lot of different roles.

 

[mecegirl]

I don't think them designing a character with a larger frame or just larger breasts is enough. I think it might just be the clothing in general that is the issue. Not all cuts of clothing fit everyone well, and its not necessarily a size of the person thing. Take this reddit page for example. https://www.reddit.com/r/femalefash...ant_to_wear_more_skirts_but_my_giant_butt_is/ It made me laugh because I've had the same issue. I'm not particularly big but the way my body is shaped makes me bottom heavy. Sometimes skirts, pants and even dresses fit me weird and I'm only a size 4-6. There just isn't enough room and things ride up weird. Something that could be on the line of sexy but not over the top. Like a tight dress ends up looking downright scandalous. Not simply because you have curves to show off but because your ass makes the dress ride up when you walk. So you are always tugging the damn thing down. I could go on and on.

But anywho, I know women who have a larger bustline that have the opposite problem. It can be just as hard for them to find tops that fit well as it is for me to find a pair of jeans that don't gap like crazy at the waistline. Just looking at her first example of Morrigan and the string bikini that seems to be what she's getting at. There really isn't a way for a woman with a larger bustline to wear that and give the same aura as being sleek like Morrigan does. Not only would it be uncomfortable but the bust size would draw too much attention and make her look like she's trying to look overtly sexual. In the same way that I can't wear short shorts and look cutesy. My ass is too big for that. I've actually tried wearing the same pair that my smaller/flatter bummed friends try on in the store and my ass hangs out...

 

[LetalisK]

No, you made an argument for rules according to the world as we know it,

Nope. You questioned the idea of being physically strong affecting one's psychic powers. I gave one potential rationale for such thing and it was by no means a rule. Or a guideline, for the undead pirates out there. The fact that I extrapolated that rationale from a real phenomenon and made it fantastical was not an endorsement of just applying realistic standards to fantasy for realism's sake nor was it a denial of any other number of rationales one might want to use. "That said..." was meant to clarify that. Clearly I didn't do a good job.

 

[zinho73]

I find the article very confusing.

The title is horrible and misleading.

That said, what she is actually seems to be asking for is for character clothes that are practical for buxom ladies, even if the character itself does not have large boobs. Some character with large boobs like Morrigan seems to have impractical clothes, and I think the idea is that the cosplayer must be able to copy the clothes exactly while managing to be comfortable.

Nothing to do with fat people, nothing to do with athletic people going to war (by the way, historically there were a lot of fat soldiers, most of them were drafted from the common people and there were no gyms - and dwarfs are fat), nothing to do with beautiful people (as if out of shape people could not be beautiful too).

The few cosplayers I knew, for that matter, were more for the challenge to make the outfit fit, if that makes sense.

I would prefer that developers were focused in creating great characters, not worrying too much about cosplayers, SJWs, the crazy guy that only wants beautiful people and so on.

For the character to have empathy they have to be aware of basic human psychology like identification and idealization - and the best characters uses a mix of both - add a bit of creativity and we are all set.

Being aware of your audience tastes is good, but bending backwards to attend to every little preference only hurts the game. DAI is a mishmash of styles that can only survive due to its production values, let´s not add more pandering to the mix, please. If they manage to be creative and focused, I am sure Liana will have a plethora of amazing outfits to choose from.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

My thoughts exactly. She has carte blanche to write about anything in one of the most frequented videogame websites in all of the internet and she goes for "my breasts are too big". What insight.

You do realise this is one of about 20 pieces of content she's made over the past several months, all to do with cosplay, and never once using it as an excuse to just talk about herself other than what is necessary?

Honestly, it's getting to the point where I'm afraid to see big threads on this site, because it doesn't mean 'here's a bunch of people who read and enjoyed the content, and know where this columnist is coming from,' it means 'let's have a big internet fight!' Almost every other thing she wrote has less than 10 comments, because that's not worth your time.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

My thoughts exactly. She has carte blanche to write about anything in one of the most frequented videogame websites in all of the internet and she goes for "my breasts are too big". What insight.

You do realise this is one of about 20 pieces of content she's made over the past several months, all to do with cosplay, and never once using it as an excuse to just talk about herself other than what is necessary?

I don't care to verse myself in the history of every person who pouts about how her breasts are too big to play dress up, which strikes me as really rather disingenuous, in a bad fanfic sort of way. Everything from the title to the very end is misleading and ultimately unproblematic.

 

[Shingeki no Gingerbeard]

I think Liana and by extension posters keep using a certain word, and I don't think it means what they think it means.
But then that's what happens when you boil down language to imprecise Orwellian nonsense such as "plus-size". The speaker's own mental print is lost. A comparison all the more appropriate because Newspeak parlance asks of speakers to affix words such as "plus" for emphasis. We can't say "buxom" or "fat" anymore, god forbid you offend anybody, we have to be ambiguous and go for "plus-sized".
THIS is Liana. She's not "plus-sized", she's buxom.

Spoiler

Try searching for images under "plus-sized" and "buxom" and tell me what results match Liana's figure the most.

She also has the same body type as 99% of every female videogame character ever conceived.
I don't know what she's getting on about.

I don't know her exact measurements or how old (or editied) that photo is, but most retailers mark "plus size" starting as low as Size 14. Some start as low as Size 10. The median size of women in the USA is Size 12.

I do believe she's Canadian, however, so "plus size" might begin at even smaller numbers. We all now how obese Americans are.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I think Liana and by extension posters keep using a certain word, and I don't think it means what they think it means.
But then that's what happens when you boil down language to imprecise Orwellian nonsense such as "plus-size". The speaker's own mental print is lost. A comparison all the more appropriate because Newspeak parlance asks of speakers to affix words such as "plus" for emphasis. We can't say "buxom" or "fat" anymore, god forbid you offend anybody, we have to be ambiguous and go for "plus-sized".
THIS is Liana. She's not "plus-sized", she's buxom.

Spoiler

Try searching for images under "plus-sized" and "buxom" and tell me what results match Liana's figure the most.

She also has the same body type as 99% of every female videogame character ever conceived.
I don't know what she's getting on about.

I don't know her exact measurements or how old (or editied) that photo is.

It's the same pic she uses in her video, so let's assume it is both accurate and relevant to her present malady.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Dragon Age has had an overweight female char since the very first game actually. Shale weighs literally TONS and is female, also ugly and such.


To not count Shale because of her not being anthropomorphic (she actually kinda is) is trans-species-phobic. She actually actively was a dwarf before becoming a golem, through no fault of her own, yet you objectify and dehumanize her cause she doesn't fit your narrative.


Which reminds me, aren't all of the Dwarf women kinda overweight/chubby looking too? Do they need to be elves/humans to count? Please.

 

[RaikuFA]

You know, I vaguely remember a major outrage not too long ago over some female sorceress having big boobs and the developers getting called sexist and misogynist because of it.

Can't blame Bioware for wanting to avoid that type of controversy.

That was Dragons Crown. Senran Kagura got hit with it too but XSEED hit back with "see? Those SJW's don't want certain games being made." Which got the critics to back off it.

 

[Jake Martinez]

I like looking at attractive people in video games. That's all I care about. Attractive, aesthetically pleasing people. I don't care if their costumes are ridiculous so long as they look cool. I don't care if boob armor is impractical so long as it looks sexy. I want my heroes to be buff and my heroines to be babes. Bring on the stupid hair cuts, the improbably big weapons, the gratuitous skin, the bad ass "armor" that looks like fetish gear. I love it all.

So long as people keep making some games like that, I'm happy. It's fantasy after all. Personally I feel that people who demand realism in their fantasy are sad and lacking in imagination and fun. That's probably why there aren't many games made to cater to them.

 

[Hagi]

Whelp, now this is a weird thread.

Going for diversity but apparently not the right kind of diversity. Can't have anyone saying big tits are anything but a blessing or video game characters aren't absolutely perfectly fine just the way they've always been.

 

[Weaver]

Let's be real, bioware basically models and rigs one male and female body then just uses those everywhere. I don't think the reasons are discriminatory as much as they simply don't want to dedicate the art resources.

More skeletons to a game can add development overhead I don't think people think about. If you add a new weapon or psy-power you need to animate it which means animating each skeleton. If you had like 20 skeletons it means doing it 20 times. If you have 2 it means doing it twice.

 

[Something Amyss]

Going for diversity but apparently not the right kind of diversity.

Thaaaat actually works on a bunch of different levels.