Scantily clad characters in gaming-General discussion READ OP BEFORE POSTING

[Ratty]

Depends, most videogame worlds are far enough removed from reality for me to not really give a shit. Unless it was something truly outrageous like throwing the ninja bikini stripper squad into Hearts of Iron or STALKER.

Personally I reckon that games, especially MMO/RPG types should come with a sensible and scanty option for each type of armour, you could turn them on or off for each gender, so you could have dudes in banana hammocks and women wearing half a blacksmith's, everyone in pieces of string, everyone wearing twice their weight in iron etc as you see fit. Choices! Choices for everyone!

That was one thing I liked about LotRO when I tried it out years ago. You could upgrade your armor and such but still choose to appear like you were in any armor you had. So I ran around looking like I was dressed in the spiffy purple starting robes even when I got better equipment. Didn't fix the soul crushing "kill x of y report back for reward" MMO gameplay though.

 

[Angelblaze]

I have a few very simple views on seuxalization:

If it happens to both classes it's fair, if it happens to only one without it being either a story point, having a logical reason or a point of personality development/story development it's sexist (male or female). (Example, Dragon's Crown's sorceress has massive boobs that jiggle everywhere. EXTREMELY over-the-top even for the game's standard at first until you realize that the main art designer uses big boobs to symbolize life/necromancy. Then it becomes questionable and up to opinion. There are however, other instance of sexualization but...its up to opinion I suppose.)

If it's added, do both, if you don't want to do it to males don't do it to females. (Tera is a good example here)

That's about it.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Actually, the caption for that image should read "Ability to move like a terrifying ninja Hulk included".
Space Marine Power Armor only makes them faster and more agile, with only a moderate reduction in flexibility.

Only by interfacing with the Black Carapace. Sister of Battle Power Armor or Inquisitor Power armor and artificier armors don't have the interface. However, they also aren't built like fucking tanks.

 

[MHR]

I think Sexualization is good.

Pointless impractical armor is not good. There's some obvious middle-ground that's being ignored here. You can have a "snug" breastplate that's still plate armor and even *gasp* some chain to protect the limbs! and still be very sexy.

As a guy I don't buy into "less is more" sexiness. A well accessorized female can look more interesting than one barely wearing anything. It's called fashion.

 

[Raikas]

Both designs are pretty sexualized and designed to show off the wearer's body more than protect them. And I have to say it feels much more fair when both genders follow the same rules when it comes to wearing armor. Having one in full plate and the other in metal bikini's just feels lazy, not to mention it kind of smashes any internal consistency the game was going for and just sorta breaks its own rules.

Yeah, that's fair.

Personally I don't require realism to enjoy a game, but I do like consistency, so if it's mostly realistic I don't want to see one character who's randomly dressed for a fetish shoot (now if the fetish shoot is actually part of the plot, that's a different story!).

 

[mecegirl]

I pretty much agree with the OP. So long as everyone is treated equally I'm fine.

Was I the only one that laughed when Rasler died in FF12? I know that it was supposed to be a sad moment but for once the impractical gaps in armor was addressed. That arrow got him right in that stupid hole in his armors breast plate.

Spoiler

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

I'm all for armor being stylish and revealing, provided an excuse is given to why the characters choose to forgo the protection more modest armor provides.

Off the top of my head, here are some reasons why a fantasy character might wear revealing armor:

The character doesn't have the means to create and maintain a full suit of armor (a barbarian tribesman, for instance).

The character's religious beliefs cause them to reject armor, instead putting their faith in the faith in the God/s.

The character specialises in parrying and dodging attacks, forgoing armor for increased agility.

The character is so obscenely powerful that normal attacks simply cannot harm them; they can wear whatever they wish into battle.

It's easy to think of reasons a character wouldn't need to wear armor, but just because a character doesn't need to wear armor doesn't mean they would dress scantily. Thinking of reasons for a character to wear something like a chainmail bikini is a lot harder. If a character has a reason or motivation to wear or more not wear clothes, that is fine. It's kind of a good thing too. A characters look should reflect their character. Though some times, I ponder which comes first. Was the sexy outfit picked to reflect the character or was the character made to support the sexy outfit.

 

[Ieyke]

Actually, the caption for that image should read "Ability to move like a terrifying ninja Hulk included".
Space Marine Power Armor only makes them faster and more agile, with only a moderate reduction in flexibility.

Only by interfacing with the Black Carapace. Sister of Battle Power Armor or Inquisitor Power armor and artificier armors don't have the interface. However, they also aren't built like fucking tanks.

True enough.
Hence why I said Space Marine Power Armour.

 

[CloudAtlas]

What?s your view on it? Do you agree with me? Disagree? If so why.

I mostly agree with you. Armor should have first and foremost a reasonable degree of practicality, regardless of the gender of its wearer. Games who aim for a realistic, immersive experience and do it regardless, like Mass Effect, well, they're just shooting themselves in the foot. If characters of both genders have to wear heavily sexualized armor then I guess it's at least not unfair, but still ugly. I don't like female characters who look like they're straight from some cheap porn movie, and I don't like male characters who look like they're straight from a CSD parade.
Heavily sexualized armor is just a quadruple fail for me: Immersion-breaking, ugly, the opposite of titillating, and (often) sexist.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Actually, the caption for that image should read "Ability to move like a terrifying ninja Hulk included".
Space Marine Power Armor only makes them faster and more agile, with only a moderate reduction in flexibility.

Well yeah if you want to kill the joke. Also as already said the actual ability to move does not come with the armour it is sold separately via the final implant. More important, if you took one look at that armour with knowing nothing of the back story would you say it gives great mobility? The fist is several times bigger than the head. It is just taking the piss out of how impractical the armour looks.

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

I don't care for practicality, it's a fucking video game. These kinds of games aren't suppose to be realistic in the first place, just as long as the character under the armor is good. I'm not afraid to poke fun at a character's outfit, though, but I would NEVER scream sexism about it. I don't see characters in video games as being proper representations of an entire race, sex, or species. If I don't like a character, it's gonna be because I just don't like the character itself, not whether that character is making a statement or not.

 

[Rolaoi]

I like scanty outfits, and I wish more males could wear revealing stuff
I like joke outfits, and I wish more females could wear funny stuff
I like really elaborate outfits especially
I like most any outfit as long as its interesting or well designed.

That's really all that's important to me: interesting designs. If that means I end up with lots of sexist designs, then I'd rather deal with the sexism than the boredom. I can see why there's a lot of sexy armor on females only though. A lot of guys only really want to see their characters as powerful primarily.

 

[MacChris1991]

I guess I agree with the original poster, to a point. I don't mind a little skin or the occasional bit of fan service, but I feel that when it is over done, regardless of the gender of the character being sexualized, well I typically tune out there. Part of it is that I feel that if your game isn't good enough to stand on its own, if you need to go and extremely sexualize your characters to get people to buy your game, then I can probably go and use my time for something else, maybe find a better game to play. And again that isn't with any and all sexualization, it is just reserved for things that either go overboard or focus entirely on that type of fan service. Maybe I am a prude or something but it is just not for me.

 

[Exhuminator]

picture worth a thousand words

I just wanted to say your picture encapsulates exactly how I feel about the topic as well. It's the only logical viewpoint on the matter.

 

[Exhuminator]

Browser glitched and double posted, sorry.

 

[Schadrach]

What happened to the "simple" times where women wore leather string ropes on their nipples and nether regions and men looked liked a fucking castle without the ability to move?

Spoiler: real armour

Spoiler: Male models/armor from the same race as that example, for comparison

Don't worry, I'm pretty sure Sweet Abs are a +6 to Armour Class. He'll be fine.

...what you didn't tell him is that we're using 2e D&D rules, in which a lower armor class is better.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

What happened to the "simple" times where women wore leather string ropes on their nipples and nether regions and men looked liked a fucking castle without the ability to move?

Spoiler: real armour

Spoiler: Male models/armor from the same race as that example, for comparison

Don't worry, I'm pretty sure Sweet Abs are a +6 to Armour Class. He'll be fine.

...what you didn't tell him is that we're using 2e D&D rules, in which a lower armor class is better.

But you brood so much better with the big armour.

 

[Ieyke]

Well yeah if you want to kill the joke. Also as already said the actual ability to move does not come with the armour it is sold separately via the final implant. More important, if you took one look at that armour with knowing nothing of the back story would you say it gives great mobility? The fist is several times bigger than the head. It is just taking the piss out of how impractical the armour looks.

Sorry.
Jokes regarding Lord Calgar (i.e. Space Marines) are sorta lost on me.
I'm far too familiar with him and the fact that he's a 9 foot tall cyborg whose arms, legs, and parts of body and head have been replaced with bionic parts. The fact that the Gauntlets of Ultramar, to him, are as natural and comfortable as if they were his own hands (because a lot of the time they essentially ARE), and that he holds court in his fortress while wearing them and delicately drinks Macraggian wine out of ordinary sized wine glasses that look tiny between his fingers.
The fact that Power Fists in general aren't impractically huge armored gauntlets like in WoW or whatever, but rather massive strength amplifying robotic fists/arms designed for smashing and squeezing enemies, and tearing apart tanks and fortifications.
I'm in too deep!
To me it sounds like a medieval knight looking at a car and going "Look how impractical that carriage is. It has no place to hook up horses!"
My brain just goes ...uh...no.

 

[DementedSheep]

I don't particularly like it either way most of the time though not so much because of realism. A lot of fully covered armours aren't either or at least wouldn't be used the way they are. I just don't really like the aesthetic but if both genders are scantly clad its not going to piss me off and make me ditch the game unless they are also terrible with animations and camera angles. It's not just the clothing that makes this shit horrible. Even when guys are scantly clad they generally still get to look somewhat powerful and be the hero where girls often get scantly clad and weak.

I'm all for armor being stylish and revealing, provided an excuse is given to why the characters choose to forgo the protection more modest armor provides.

Off the top of my head, here are some reasons why a fantasy character might wear revealing armor:

The character doesn't have the means to create and maintain a full suit of armor (a barbarian tribesman, for instance).

The character's religious beliefs cause them to reject armor, instead putting their faith in the faith in the God/s.

The character specialises in parrying and dodging attacks, forgoing armor for increased agility.

The character is so obscenely powerful that normal attacks simply cannot harm them; they can wear whatever they wish into battle.

It's easy to think of reasons a character wouldn't need to wear armor, but just because a character doesn't need to wear armor doesn't mean they would dress scantily. Thinking of reasons for a character to wear something like a chainmail bikini is a lot harder. If a character has a reason or motivation to wear or more not wear clothes, that is fine. It's kind of a good thing too. A characters look should reflect their character. Though some times, I ponder which comes first. Was the sexy outfit picked to reflect the character or was the character made to support the sexy outfit.

People keep saying this stuff is totally ok if its justified with the characters and it can be but I don't see developers adopting this attitude resulting in less scantly clad female characters. It's more likely for them just slap the seductress archetype or "different culture" excuse on them all which would be even worse.

 

[MoeMints]

Its only context sensitive for me.

Like take Fire Emblem for example.
http://imgur.com/UcX6sbC