http://tera-online.cc/uploads/gallery/main/55/castanic_m_h01.jpglesterley said:I think I just talked about this last week in my cartoon:
http://www.serialmmogamy.com
I think I would be more comfortable with the sexual objectification of an MMO avatar if it was an equal-opportunity objectification. If YOU can have the choice of playing a half-naked FEMALE avatar, why am I not given the opportunity to play a half-naked MALE avatar?
Leslee
This is heavy armor.
Heavy. Armor.
http://tera-online.cc/uploads/gallery/main/62/highelf_m_r00.jpg
http://tera-online.cc/uploads/gallery/main/89/aman_m_no-armor.jpg
http://tera-online.cc/uploads/gallery/main/45/aman_m_l01a.jpg
There's plenty of fanservice flowing both ways, but a part of the issue here is what our genders look for when determining what we think of as attractive. Men tend to value physical appearance more, women tend to value success and confidence more. The equipment speaks to this to a certain degree, although there's certainly examples of skimpy armor on men and more regal looking armor on women.
http://tera-online.cc/uploads/gallery/main/64/human_f_h20.jpg
http://tera-online.cc/uploads/gallery/main/52/castanic_f_h21.jpg
http://tera-online.cc/uploads/gallery/main/43/aman_f_h21.jpg
Honestly, though - the market will speak. You can crusade for all of the moral values you like, talk about how gaming needs to 'grow up' to be taken seriously (because no serious grown-up industry uses sexuality to try and sell it's products, like say, cars), and complain about how this sort of thing only reinforces negative stereotypes... but at the end of the day, when someone looks at the promotional art for this game, they know what they're getting: thin, attractive women and burly, overmuscled men. It's a stylistic choice, just like how LotR wants to make itself very moderate and realistic, and how WoW wants to be a colorful high fantasy where your strength is directly proportionate to the size of your shoulder pads.