Sexy fantasy armor...

[DrDuckman]

Personally, if it's armor, it SHOULD be armor. With very rare exceptions like extremely zany(like Kill la Kill) or comedic settings, most fantasy, even the high kind, atleast TRIES to approximate reality in a basic sense. Hence why male armor is almost always protective. Thus, the whole chainmail bikini idea really does not fly, even in high fantasy settings. Even in "everyone is a supermodel" settings like Guild Wars, male armors protect. There is no excuse for the skimpy female ones.

The extra sad this is, ofcourse, that you dont need to sacrifice protection to make a character sexy. I always come back to the example of Chris, a character from Suikoden 3.

See? Form fitting, beautiful armor that is also practical and is not a death trap. Just dont point the force straight to the sternum... it's not hard.

 

[Zhukov]

See? Form fitting, beautiful armor that is also practical and is not a death trap. Just dont point the force straight to the sternum... it's not hard.

I approve.

A lot.

See what I mean people? Correctly shaped cuirass. Sexy as hell.

 

[faefrost]

I think you all are failing to understand the benefits and practicality of female armor design. After all the enemy only swings for the shiny part

<youtube=OTGh0EMmMC8>

 

[the December King]

I think you all are failing to understand the benefits and practicality of female armor design. After all the enemy only swings for the shiny part

That was hilarious!

On topic, I'm all for sexy armor(that is, a costume that occasionally has metal bits in a 'faux armor' style, like bikini chainmail, form fitting breastplates, giant codpieces, exposed midriffs, sculpted abs, etc.), provided that there are options for both genders, if both genders are represented in game as playable, or, for consistency in representation, like the standard uniform for a town guard should be gender neutral in style, and consider defense and protection first and foremost.

Finally, if there is an individual character who is wearing an impractical costume, I like that factored into the story, or at least in his or her personality. Every instance is different and should be examined on their own merit, I think.

 

[CloudAtlas]

See? Form fitting, beautiful armor that is also practical and is not a death trap. Just dont point the force straight to the sternum... it's not hard.

I approve.

A lot.

See what I mean people? Correctly shaped cuirass. Sexy as hell.

If only more people would share your - and my - preferences. The world would be a better place... for me because my preferences would be catered to more often.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

I. personally, don't think the chain mail bikinis are attractive. I can't get over how horrifically impractical they are and how utterly stupid the woman must be to wear it into battle. Stupidity is not attractive.

It's particularly bad on the covers of books.

So, you've compromised a character of your story, placing her into attire she would never wear, so that you can slap a picture of her on your book cover to arouse my cock and pry away my money. Not only is that vaguely insulting to me, you've destroyed my faith that you'll handle your characters properly and you've done it all in an utterly ham-fisted attempt to arouse me sexually. Not to mention that I've seen art of warrior women in practical armor that still looks sexy. It takes time and talent to pull it off. So the chain mail bikini is nothing more than utter laziness.

To be fair if it's a book a lot of the time the author doesn't get to control the cover, the publisher dose. So its not always the authors fault and you regularly get books where the character on the cover is completely different from the actual description in text.

I was actually going to write this. I recently read a book called "Saturn's Children" which I ended up enjoying a great deal. The American cover shows what I assume is the protagonist of the story (A robot named Freya-47) lying on her side in a rather seductive way with a jumpsuit mostly unzipped. Given that the book is about this robot who's function is to be a sex-bot, this implies a great deal about the book's content and yet the conclusions you'd be completely reasonable for jumping to are entirely incorrect. The book actually explores various ideas such as how success often requires one lose capacity for empathy and questions the relative value of being able to find a purpose for living versus having anything that approaches free will (Freya's purpose for existence is to be a sex bot for people but, unfortunately for her, people went extinct). It is, all told, an incredible book but the cover bugged me enormously.

So I contacted the author (Charles Stross) who replied with "Oh, that cover" and sent me a <a href=http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/03/cmap-6-why-did-you-pick-such-a.html>rant. I wasn't aware just how little creative control authors have over such things.

 

[Aaron Sylvester]

See? Form fitting, beautiful armor that is also practical and is not a death trap. Just dont point the force straight to the sternum... it's not hard.

I approve.

A lot.

See what I mean people? Correctly shaped cuirass. Sexy as hell.

If only more people would share your - and my - preferences. The world would be a better place... for me because my preferences would be catered to more often.

That's definitely very sexy.

Until...you decide to do a face-swap and realize that there's nothing particularly "female" about that female besides her head. And if that's sexy to you, then anything could be really *shrug*.

 

[Aaron Sylvester]

Really? Maybe he's attracted to female faces?

Also, isn't it a good thing that there' nothing "female" about the armor? I mean, it's fucking armor. It's there to protect you first and look "good" second. If I wore armor, I'd would prefer look like someone who went to a scrap yard with a magnet on them to being fucking killed.

But that armor DOES look good. I just meant there's nothing creative about it, it basically amounts to plonking a standard male armor set onto a female with a slightly narrower breastplate. But if you personally feel that realism > everything else in a FANTASY videogame then that's your thing
Anyway if things were truly realistic, you'd be a female warrior outnumbered 1000000:1 by male warriors

 

[Someone Depressing]

Really, armour isn't supposed to be sexy. It's like trying to sex up Bugs Bunny. It just doesn't work. It's a big sheet of metal, bent, burnt and linked in certain places to keep you from being stabbed to death; it's supposed to, well, keep you from being stabbed to death. Not to look hot. Also, boob plates are stupid, because A: They jiggle, and B: Having one in real life would break your neck.

If an artist did want sexy and/or exotic armour designs, there are ways to go about it without h-cup sized boobplates and a big metal thong/

 

[mecegirl]

Wow...wait. Are like female chracters suddenly not worth

But that armor DOES look good. I just meant there's nothing creative about it, it basically amounts to plonking a standard male armor set onto a female with a slightly narrower breastplate. But if you personally feel that realism > everything else in a FANTASY videogame then that's your thing
Anyway if things were truly realistic, you'd be a female warrior outnumbered 1000000:1 by male warriors

Ok, listen. There is no "standard male armor" alright? You need to get that idea out of your head. Men and Women have pretty much the same anatomical proportions (aside from tits and hips, mainly, but boob armor is dumb and it is possible to make hips on armor a tiny bit wider, proportionally speaking) with guys generally being a bit bigger.

So unless you think every "normal" armor on everyone everywhere is ugly, I don't see this reaction to someone actually properly gearing up as being rational.

That's definitely very sexy.

Until...you decide to do a face-swap and realize that there's nothing particularly "female" about that female besides her head. And if that's sexy to you, then anything could be really *shrug*.

So, what you're saying is, swapping out a woman's face for a man's makes a woman less sexy? How incredibly shocking! It turns out female faces are attractive and part of the sex appeal to those who don't see women as an amalgamation of tits, asses, and various holes to shove things in.

I guess it just depends on what one thinks that female characters in games should be for. If one views eye candy as their primary function then sexy armor is a must.

 

[CloudAtlas]

That's definitely very sexy.

Until...you decide to do a face-swap and realize that there's nothing particularly "female" about that female besides her head. And if that's sexy to you, then anything could be really *shrug*.

So, what you're saying is, swapping out a woman's face for a man's makes a woman less sexy? How incredibly shocking! It turns out female faces are attractive and part of the sex appeal to those who don't see women as an amalgamation of tits, asses, and various holes to shove things in.

Yes, a face is all I need (well, not necessarily this particular face, since I'm not into anime, but still). And the knowledge/imagination that, under this armor, there actually is a woman, a woman with most likely a well-trained body, a woman who's kicking major ass, and I happen to find that much more appealing in female characters than any amount of tits and asses thrown at me. You can keep your ridiculously sexualized bimbos, thank you, I have no need for them.

Maybe that's a notion that's difficult to grasp for some?

But that armor DOES look good. I just meant there's nothing creative about it, it basically amounts to plonking a standard male armor set onto a female with a slightly narrower breastplate.

To be fair, there's usually little that is creative about all those sexy armors - and-armors- either.

 

[Aaron Sylvester]

So, what you're saying is, swapping out a woman's face for a man's makes a woman less sexy? How incredibly shocking! It turns out female faces are attractive and part of the sex appeal to those who don't see women as an amalgamation of tits, asses, and various holes to shove things in.

I guess it just depends on what one thinks that female characters in games should be for. If one views eye candy as their primary function then sexy armor is a must.

Yes, a face is all I need (well, not necessarily this particular face, since I'm not into anime, but still). And the knowledge/imagination that, under this armor, there actually is a woman, a woman with most likely a well-trained body, a woman who's kicking major ass, and I happen to find that much more appealing in female characters than any amount of tits and asses thrown at me. You can keep your ridiculously sexualized bimbos, thank you, I have no need for them.

Maybe that's a notion that's difficult to grasp for some?

To be fair, there's usually little that is creative about all those sexy armors - and-armors- either.

We're pretty much battling opinions/preferences at this point of what's sexy and what's creative, that's not going to get anywhere

Don't get me wrong - I'd actually prefer if BOTH types of armor sets were in the game for females to cater to players like you and me. I know for sure there are tons of players who love full-covering armor sets on their females, it'd be in the developers' best interests to have options for those people.

Some MMO's do it quite well e.g. Guild Wars 2:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Human_female_heavy_armor
(interestingly I've seen one or two threads about female heavy/plate armor sets having not enough sexy options, hehe)

But sexy/revealing male armor sets just for the sake of equality? Can't really see the point of that. There's not much of a demand for those because most players prefer not to look like Conan or He-Man, so I wouldn't blame the devs for not investing time/money into making said armor sets. Devs CAN do it, but it would go largely unused.

 

[yundex]

So, what you're saying is, swapping out a woman's face for a man's makes a woman less sexy? How incredibly shocking! It turns out female faces are attractive and part of the sex appeal to those who don't see women as an amalgamation of tits, asses, and various holes to shove things in.

I guess it just depends on what one thinks that female characters in games should be for. If one views eye candy as their primary function then sexy armor is a must.

Yes, a face is all I need (well, not necessarily this particular face, since I'm not into anime, but still). And the knowledge/imagination that, under this armor, there actually is a woman, a woman with most likely a well-trained body, a woman who's kicking major ass, and I happen to find that much more appealing in female characters than any amount of tits and asses thrown at me. You can keep your ridiculously sexualized bimbos, thank you, I have no need for them.

Maybe that's a notion that's difficult to grasp for some?

To be fair, there's usually little that is creative about all those sexy armors - and-armors- either.

We're pretty much battling opinions/preferences at this point of what's sexy and what's creative, that's not going to get anywhere

Don't get me wrong - I'd actually prefer if BOTH types of armor sets were in the game for females to cater to players like you and me. I know for sure there are tons of players who love full-covering armor sets on their females, it'd be in the developers' best interests to have options for those people.

Some MMO's do it quite well e.g. Guild Wars 2:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Human_female_heavy_armor
(interestingly I've seen one or two threads about female heavy/plate armor sets having not enough sexy options, hehe)

But sexy/revealing male armor sets just for the sake of equality? Can't really see the point of that. There's not much of a demand for those because most players prefer not to look like Conan or He-Man, so I wouldn't blame the devs for not investing time/money into making said armor sets. Devs CAN do it, but it would go largely unused.

Women I know in real life and most i've met online seem to really like skimpy armors on the females they play. More weirdly is my sisters preference of bikini xmog gear in wow. I don't know who the women are in this thread but it would be interesting to hear their opinion.

 

[Aaron Sylvester]

Women I know in real life and most i've met online seem to really like skimpy armors on the females they play. More weirdly is my sisters preference of bikini xmog gear in wow. I don't know who the women are in this thread but it would be interesting to hear their opinion.

I'll add to that - a few months ago I decided to try a fanservice MMO called Scarlet Blade because their adverts were stamped everywhere, didn't find the gameplay too interesting so dropped it after a week (visuals alone aren't enough).
But what shocked me was this thread: http://www.aeriagames.com/forums/en/viewtopic.php?t=1793473 (should be safe for work)
It's basically a huge introduce-yourself thread, and a STAGGERING number replies are from female players. My mind was blown.
This is a game where you could only play as a female and only wear super-revealing outfits, total fanservice aimed 100% at males...and yet has so many female players. All I can think is "wat". Does not compute

 

[CloudAtlas]

I guess it just depends on what one thinks that female characters in games should be for. If one views eye candy as their primary function then sexy armor is a must.

Congratulations, then you've just created porn! Really shitty softcore porn that doesn't really show anything, but still, it's porn.

But now it's crappy porn, and atrocious anything else, what now to do?

Good question. But not the only problem - since fantasy MMOs are increasingly moving towards more action-oriented control schemes, I find it increasingly difficult to play with one hand only too.

 

[CloudAtlas]

I guess it just depends on what one thinks that female characters in games should be for. If one views eye candy as their primary function then sexy armor is a must.

Congratulations, then you've just created porn! Really shitty softcore porn that doesn't really show anything, but still, it's porn.

But now it's crappy porn, and atrocious anything else, what now to do?

Good question. But not the only problem - since fantasy MMOs are increasingly moving towards more action-oriented control schemes, I find it increasingly difficult to play with one hand only too.

WoW has always been like a bloody piano in the later levels, I applaud you if you've ever managed to furiously masturbate while raiding.

Eh, I can't claim I have ever tried, but I imagine it would have been well possible. I only "really" played WoW during vanilla, and was a secondary tank in my guild. When I tanked, I rarely had to move and use more than a few keys, and when I didn't, my contribution didn't matter anyway. Oftentimes I was just swimming along casting random spells so it didn't look like as if I was doing nothing, and I guess I could have done with just one hand as well. Needless to say I didn't enjoy myself greatly, and consequently quitted soon.

If someone does feel this desire while playing games, induced by scantily clad women, I imagine that to be rather distracting though. Is it really enhancing someone's game experience if he's actually wishing to do something else instead?

 

[Fdzzaigl]

For me personally, it's about two things:
1) Suspension of disbelief
2) Being creative with the design

Other than that, I'll let actual female gamers be the judge of what they find degrading.

As far as my nr1. goes: something just irks me the wrong way if my "heavily armored" female warrior is actually just wearing a beach outfit when going up against that massive dragon. Especially when all the male warriors are wearing protective gear that actually looks like it could protect you.
I'm not one to complain about boobplates or someone who wants fully unisex platemail for all characters (boring as fuck). But please, let it make a little bit of sense.

Nr2. has the ability to cancel out nr1 for me. Creative designs for the skimpy outfits, or creating a world where this doesn't look too much out of place can make up for the lack of believable clothing. Tera is an example there, female characters wear mostly skimpy stuff, but the outfits themselves are actually fairly intricate and detailed.

By far most of the time developers use the skimpiness as an excuse to make a poor outfit with some muddy textures over the breasts and crotch, just ugh. Or they add useless attributes like high heels to every design as a form of supposed sex appeal and perhaps even product placement (aka Samus in the new Smash Bros).

 

[mecegirl]

I guess it just depends on what one thinks that female characters in games should be for. If one views eye candy as their primary function then sexy armor is a must.

Congratulations, then you've just created porn! Really shitty softcore porn that doesn't really show anything, but still, it's porn.

But now it's crappy porn, and atrocious anything else, what now to do?

Profit?!

Oh I wish I could just leave it there without worrying about getting a warning for a short response.

 

[Hagi]

I guess it just depends on what one thinks that female characters in games should be for. If one views eye candy as their primary function then sexy armor is a must.

Congratulations, then you've just created porn! Really shitty softcore porn that doesn't really show anything, but still, it's porn.

But now it's crappy porn, and atrocious anything else, what now to do?

I don't really get this sentiment...

Just because hardcore pornography exists it's now apparently weird and a waste of time to enjoy fan-service, tittilation, erotica and softcore porn? Not everything erotic needs multiple full-screen penetrations to be considered interesting.

Look, if your interest in sexy things is either none at all or hardcore pornography and nothing in between, that's cool. Enjoy, but so what if other people enjoy something more tame?

I completely agree that it'd be a great thing if there were more realistic and practically dressed women in games, but this sentiment about fan-service that people should just watch porn instead because all it is is just porn without the good stuff just seems like an incredibly stupid strawman.

You don't have to enjoy fan-service. You've every right to ask for more games and content without fan-service, right there with you. But saying fan-service is just crappy softcore porn? It paints a rather sad picture on your views of sexuality...

 

[Hagi]

I'm sorry that I bashed your fap-material. Listen, either the material if there to get you to jerk off at it, which is prefectly fine. The problem is when the game devs try to act like it's something else, it's just dishonest.

If you manage to fap at a sexy lady standing around in a skin-tight outfit, short skirt and stocking, or just plain underwear, than all the power to you. I'm just saying it get's pretty much impossible to take it seriously as a work of art if the only thing the visual design seeks to do is wake arousal.

Because everything that's sexy must be fapped to?

Sad views on sexuality indeed...