The Half-Naked Elf Problem

[Eamar]

there are games out there, MMO's that do have this problem licked ya know like EQ2, which, i don't play cause the combat sucks (and SoE screwed me on a purchase but that's a whole other thing) and really, i have to be having fun before i care about how my character looks.

I totally understand putting gameplay first, I just find it saddening that I am increasingly losing my ability to see past this stuff The minute I see jiggle physics being touted as a major selling point I lose all interest, no matter how good the game might be.

o.0? your gender? *checks profile* oh .... same page now (makes more sense having the complaining coming from an actual female) though I'm not sure what solution to give, a side hoping for a happy medium between sexy and functional.

Haha yeah, I am indeed a woman Ah, I *really* don't want to pull the "you don't get it because you have a PENIS" card but... yeah, I guess it hits a bit closer to home when it's your gender being presented like this (sorry!) Like I said in my original post, it's not just the characters that bug me, it's the comments on videos (either of gameplay or of female games journalists) along the lines of "BOOBIEZ!!!1!11 ZOMG I WANT TO TOUCH YOUR TITS." So I probably tend to conflate the two, which may not be helpful. Though I don't think it's too much of a leap to connect the two a lot of the time...

And actually, it's kind of interesting that you automatically assumed I was a guy (not having a go, just making a point). There are A LOT more female gamers out there than people realise, many hidden behind male avatars and forum profiles and staying well clear of voice chat (honestly, try using voice chat in any popular FPS as a woman. You would not believe the abuse you tend to get. Again, not trying to demonise men here, it's the vocal minority and all that, but it leads to women hiding themselves).

i like the general design of sets like Chiulin, that balance of form and function, i mean yeah it's sorta sexy but it still looks like it'd do the job of protecting the person in it (better the Karoks version, he's just got two leather straps covering his chest)

there's always going to be games like WoW or Tera where armor's held on with a bit of string and wishful thinking, but there's also going to be games where it's handled better, just a matter of looking

Absolutely there are some decent games for this out there, and I'm totally down with sexy as an option for both genders when it's appropriate. I mean, it would make total sense for male and female Blood Elves in WoW to shmex themselves up, for example. Like I said, and as Shamus said, the key element is choice. Also I happen to love WoW

it's cool, a lot of people make that mistake about vin, they see the shield and plate and think 'tank' until they figure out there's like zero agro control in that game (where i have seen bosses stomp a cross a room, ignoring the person whaling on them just to pop some one trying to down a potion, it sucks as much as it is funny XD) i hear you on the heavy hitters though there a few joys greater then wading into a mob and clearing a room with nothing shy of upper to top tier enemy's capable of slowing you down let alone stopping you. i call them bulldozers though, seems fitting

I'm not familiar with vin at all, so my bad. But YAY for tank love

but yeah, i do kinda hear you, there's suspension of disbelief and then there's 'wtf is this ...' my problem though is generally not the armor, but character model size. like when i wanna build a tank and i have to do it with a super model :/ some times, i wanna roll a female that's the size of a house cause i want her to look the part of a tank, armored or not(like the female Barbarian in D3, she's fucking HUGE o.o; and yes, i am one of those guys that rolls female character pretty much exclusively so i encounter this alot

Totally agree, character models are a major problem, perhaps more so than the outfits. Something that bugs me in particular is the lack of variety (again, it all comes down to choice). While still limited in many cases, there does tend to be a lot more variation in male body types in games (compare males and females here: http://en.playpw.com/heroes.html )I can totally understand some people wanting to play as a supermodel lookalike, but I'd prefer my characters to look like they can handle the weapons they're supposed to be using. My personal preference would be for powerful, muscular females who looked more like elite athletes than models.

 

[Eri]

I love all the people up in arms over "sexy" young looking characters but these same people have no problem with mass murder.

 

[Moromillas]

Totally agree, character models are a major problem, perhaps more so than the outfits. Something that bugs me in particular is the lack of variety (again, it all comes down to choice). While still limited in many cases, there does tend to be a lot more variation in male body types in games (compare males and females here: http://en.playpw.com/heroes.html )I can totally understand some people wanting to play as a supermodel lookalike, but I'd prefer my characters to look like they can handle the weapons they're supposed to be using. My personal preference would be for powerful, muscular females who looked more like elite athletes than models.

I think TOR, and for the most part, Bioware RPGs in general do this pretty well.

In TOR there are 4 male and female body types: small, regular or supermodel, Amazon, and finally curvy, which mirrors the male counterparts .

TOR actually has the same problem as Tera.

 

[Moromillas]

I love all the people up in arms over "sexy" young looking characters but these same people have no problem with mass murder.

lol ^ 100% truth.

It is pretty strange that players would take issue with this, being that it's fantasy land and all, or not real I should say.

 

[BlueKenja]

Use Phantasy Star Universe's system. You use shield items with slots for protection that can add graphical effects (shadowy auras, glowy auras etc) but the actual appearance is determined by clothing you choose to equip your character with which is purely aesthetic.
Make clothing craftable and rare drops from mobs and bosses, make weapons, shields and slot items drops from mobs and bosses that allow you to upgrade your offence and defence without altering your clothing appearance and you get progression and choice. Oh and make the clothing the same for males and females, if its a shirt, waistcoat and trouser combo on the male its the same on the female, if its a bikini on the female, its a bikini on the male.

 

[Faux Furry]

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

Have you ever played Skyrim? If there is a piece of armor or clothing that is even a little bit revealing on a female character, it might not even have a top at all in the male version(especially the various fur armors [http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Fur_Armor_%28Skyrim%29] or rather loin cloths in some cases. Thinking of loin cloths, even the base equipment for the male characters is more minimal, kind of the way it is in Demon's/Dark Souls.)and in one instance, an ensemble which is a baggy top and pants on female characters turns into ragged pants with no shirt on the male characters.
Bethesda games in general tend to do that kind of thing, with the same effect happening with the Bombshell [http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Bombshell_armor] armor in Fallout 3.

That's without having to shy away from RPGs into hack and slash or beat-em-up territory or games based upon real world combat sports.

 

[JaceArveduin]

Spoiler

o.0? your gender? *checks profile* oh .... same page now (makes more sense having the complaining coming from an actual female) though I'm not sure what solution to give, a side hoping for a happy medium between sexy and functional.

Haha yeah, I am indeed a woman Ah, I *really* don't want to pull the "you don't get it because you have a PENIS" card but... yeah, I guess it hits a bit closer to home when it's your gender being presented like this (sorry!) Like I said in my original post, it's not just the characters that bug me, it's the comments on videos (either of gameplay or of female games journalists) along the lines of "BOOBIEZ!!!1!11 ZOMG I WANT TO TOUCH YOUR TITS." So I probably tend to conflate the two, which may not be helpful. Though I don't think it's too much of a leap to connect the two a lot of the time...

And actually, it's kind of interesting that you automatically assumed I was a guy (not having a go, just making a point). There are A LOT more female gamers out there than people realise, many hidden behind male avatars and forum profiles and staying well clear of voice chat (honestly, try using voice chat in any popular FPS as a woman. You would not believe the abuse you tend to get. Again, not trying to demonise men here, it's the vocal minority and all that, but it leads to women hiding themselves).

i like the general design of sets like Chiulin, that balance of form and function, i mean yeah it's sorta sexy but it still looks like it'd do the job of protecting the person in it (better the Karoks version, he's just got two leather straps covering his chest)

there's always going to be games like WoW or Tera where armor's held on with a bit of string and wishful thinking, but there's also going to be games where it's handled better, just a matter of looking

Absolutely there are some decent games for this out there, and I'm totally down with sexy as an option for both genders when it's appropriate. I mean, it would make total sense for male and female Blood Elves in WoW to shmex themselves up, for example. Like I said, and as Shamus said, the key element is choice. Also I happen to love WoW

it's cool, a lot of people make that mistake about vin, they see the shield and plate and think 'tank' until they figure out there's like zero agro control in that game (where i have seen bosses stomp a cross a room, ignoring the person whaling on them just to pop some one trying to down a potion, it sucks as much as it is funny XD) i hear you on the heavy hitters though there a few joys greater then wading into a mob and clearing a room with nothing shy of upper to top tier enemy's capable of slowing you down let alone stopping you. i call them bulldozers though, seems fitting

I'm not familiar with vin at all, so my bad. But YAY for tank love

but yeah, i do kinda hear you, there's suspension of disbelief and then there's 'wtf is this ...' my problem though is generally not the armor, but character model size. like when i wanna build a tank and i have to do it with a super model :/ some times, i wanna roll a female that's the size of a house cause i want her to look the part of a tank, armored or not(like the female Barbarian in D3, she's fucking HUGE o.o; and yes, i am one of those guys that rolls female character pretty much exclusively so i encounter this alot

Totally agree, character models are a major problem, perhaps more so than the outfits. Something that bugs me in particular is the lack of variety (again, it all comes down to choice). While still limited in many cases, there does tend to be a lot more variation in male body types in games (compare males and females here: http://en.playpw.com/heroes.html )I can totally understand some people wanting to play as a supermodel lookalike, but I'd prefer my characters to look like they can handle the weapons they're supposed to be using. My personal preference would be for powerful, muscular females who looked more like elite athletes than models.

there are games out there, MMO's that do have this problem licked ya know like EQ2, which, i don't play cause the combat sucks (and SoE screwed me on a purchase but that's a whole other thing) and really, i have to be having fun before i care about how my character looks.

I totally understand putting gameplay first, I just find it saddening that I am increasingly losing my ability to see past this stuff The minute I see jiggle physics being touted as a major selling point I lose all interest, no matter how good the game might be.

o.0? your gender? *checks profile* oh .... same page now (makes more sense having the complaining coming from an actual female) though I'm not sure what solution to give, a side hoping for a happy medium between sexy and functional.

Haha yeah, I am indeed a woman Ah, I *really* don't want to pull the "you don't get it because you have a PENIS" card but... yeah, I guess it hits a bit closer to home when it's your gender being presented like this (sorry!) Like I said in my original post, it's not just the characters that bug me, it's the comments on videos (either of gameplay or of female games journalists) along the lines of "BOOBIEZ!!!1!11 ZOMG I WANT TO TOUCH YOUR TITS." So I probably tend to conflate the two, which may not be helpful. Though I don't think it's too much of a leap to connect the two a lot of the time...

And actually, it's kind of interesting that you automatically assumed I was a guy (not having a go, just making a point). There are A LOT more female gamers out there than people realise, many hidden behind male avatars and forum profiles and staying well clear of voice chat (honestly, try using voice chat in any popular FPS as a woman. You would not believe the abuse you tend to get. Again, not trying to demonise men here, it's the vocal minority and all that, but it leads to women hiding themselves).

i like the general design of sets like Chiulin, that balance of form and function, i mean yeah it's sorta sexy but it still looks like it'd do the job of protecting the person in it (better the Karoks version, he's just got two leather straps covering his chest)

there's always going to be games like WoW or Tera where armor's held on with a bit of string and wishful thinking, but there's also going to be games where it's handled better, just a matter of looking

Absolutely there are some decent games for this out there, and I'm totally down with sexy as an option for both genders when it's appropriate. I mean, it would make total sense for male and female Blood Elves in WoW to shmex themselves up, for example. Like I said, and as Shamus said, the key element is choice. Also I happen to love WoW

it's cool, a lot of people make that mistake about vin, they see the shield and plate and think 'tank' until they figure out there's like zero agro control in that game (where i have seen bosses stomp a cross a room, ignoring the person whaling on them just to pop some one trying to down a potion, it sucks as much as it is funny XD) i hear you on the heavy hitters though there a few joys greater then wading into a mob and clearing a room with nothing shy of upper to top tier enemy's capable of slowing you down let alone stopping you. i call them bulldozers though, seems fitting

I'm not familiar with vin at all, so my bad. But YAY for tank love

but yeah, i do kinda hear you, there's suspension of disbelief and then there's 'wtf is this ...' my problem though is generally not the armor, but character model size. like when i wanna build a tank and i have to do it with a super model :/ some times, i wanna roll a female that's the size of a house cause i want her to look the part of a tank, armored or not(like the female Barbarian in D3, she's fucking HUGE o.o; and yes, i am one of those guys that rolls female character pretty much exclusively so i encounter this alot

Totally agree, character models are a major problem, perhaps more so than the outfits. Something that bugs me in particular is the lack of variety (again, it all comes down to choice). While still limited in many cases, there does tend to be a lot more variation in male body types in games (compare males and females here: http://en.playpw.com/heroes.html )I can totally understand some people wanting to play as a supermodel lookalike, but I'd prefer my characters to look like they can handle the weapons they're supposed to be using. My personal preference would be for powerful, muscular females who looked more like elite athletes than models.

Yeah, I know there's more than a few girls out there, but I've a friend who used to do the whole "be a girl in game to get free shit" thing. I also play Combat Arms, so yeah, I know the extent of the stupidity that happens. (at least CoD doesn't have megaphones...)

I personally prefer LotRO myself, those monthly payments just aren't for me, especially seeing as I haven't touched LotRO in weeks. I'm not sure if LOTRO even has any stripper armor, now that I think about it... But it does have an awesome cosmetic feature. In real life, I don't much care what I look like, but I put time and effort into making my LOTRO guys look badass.

 

[AppleShrapnel]

Just because Tera's character are ALL dressed scantily doesn't really excuse it's treatment of female characters and, the bigger point, the sexualization of children. Most gamers don't really have an issue with sexy female characters, for the most part, it's starting to disappear. People have an issue with Tera because it has an over-sexualized little girl race.

"Most gamers" obviously not referring to the last 5 pages of posts? It is still an issue... far as I can tell, anyway.

While Shamus didn't explicitly mention the Elin in his article, they certainly are a lightning rod for such controversy, but I was scolded not long ago that the point of this discussion was the chainmail bikinis and the like in general; not a particular race in a particular game.

But to humor you, yes, they are overly-sexualized, just like every other race in there, even the males... the Popori may be an exception, but I'm sure fur-suiters don't mind them.

But seriously, read a bit more, and you'll see plenty of Escapists taking issue to the humans, high elves, castanics and amani of Tera "dressing like sluts"- not just the Elin. ^_^;

 

[Ashannon Blackthorn]

I have an issue with this whole thread... even getting off the original topic of female over sexualization in video games.

Kahunaburger is the lead one for this, I showed this thread and his comments ot my Korean room mate who is a quiet 22 year old female exchange student. All she could say is why is he so racist toward my culture?

And Kuhuna and other like him(her?) are. Korean culture is not American. They have much different views on what is acceptable sexually then Americans do. (to a lesser extent Canadians and Europeans but Americans tend to go right off the prude scale quite easily)

Now before Kahunaburger starts yelling I support paedos or somesuch. I don't. I think paedophiles should be executed. If found guilty beyond doubt, bullet to the head.

I'm also aware not everyone thinks like me, or every culture is the same as mine.

So I disprove of paedophilia? Yes I do. DO I think the makers of Tera are pandering to paedos with that loli foxgirl crap? No. and anyone who blindly screams they are is a fucking idiot at best or a fucking idiot racist at worst.

Try and keep some perspectives here people and realize not every human on the planet views things the same way as you do.

I'm curious to see the ratio of Americans to either Canadians, Europeans or asians in this thread. I think it would be kind of interesting and telling in some ways.

 

[Moromillas]

Totally agree, character models are a major problem, perhaps more so than the outfits. Something that bugs me in particular is the lack of variety (again, it all comes down to choice). While still limited in many cases, there does tend to be a lot more variation in male body types in games (compare males and females here: http://en.playpw.com/heroes.html )I can totally understand some people wanting to play as a supermodel lookalike, but I'd prefer my characters to look like they can handle the weapons they're supposed to be using. My personal preference would be for powerful, muscular females who looked more like elite athletes than models.

I think TOR, and for the most part, Bioware RPGs in general do this pretty well.

In TOR there are 4 male and female body types: small, regular or supermodel, Amazon, and finally curvy, which mirrors the male counterparts .

TOR actually has the same problem as Tera.

I wasn't aware TOR had sexualized children in it.

Not the off-topic pedo thought crime bashing thing, but the limited armor choices mentioned in the article.

In TOR there's one class where pants are difficult to find, and have a vast amount of skirts that go down to your ankles. There is custom armor that you can stick mods in, sure, but if you want "the best" armor you have to wear one of these skirts that completely covers your lower shins.

 

[ArnRand]

I'm just going to throw out here that as a heterosexual girl, I'm DYING to play this MMO and the character design and clothing is one of the main reasons I want to do so.

Really? You even like the Loli stuff? Well, good on you I guess, but as a heterosexual guy I don't want a game to be so fucking stupid.

Seriously, have some integrity.

Sorry, that sounded insulting, I only mean, well, don't play a game with such shitty morals.

 

[Simon1]

Actually i have heard of Tera, the biggest thing i heard about it is that is basically has a "Scantily Clad Loli" class. No seriosuly look;

Yeahhhh... im not comfortable with whoever designed those. Stay the fuck away from me

Spoiler: Hello there bluehole. Why don't you take a seat over here?

Ok, that is wrong on SO many levels. That is n't even armor,thats just tissue-paper spraypainted silver and glued to spandex.

 

[ArnRand]

I have an issue with this whole thread... even getting off the original topic of female over sexualization in video games.

Kahunaburger is the lead one for this, I showed this thread and his comments ot my Korean room mate who is a quiet 22 year old female exchange student. All she could say is why is he so racist toward my culture?

And Kuhuna and other like him(her?) are. Korean culture is not American. They have much different views on what is acceptable sexually then Americans do. (to a lesser extent Canadians and Europeans but Americans tend to go right off the prude scale quite easily)

Now before Kahunaburger starts yelling I support paedos or somesuch. I don't. I think paedophiles should be executed. If found guilty beyond doubt, bullet to the head.

I'm also aware not everyone thinks like me, or every culture is the same as mine.

So I disprove of paedophilia? Yes I do. DO I think the makers of Tera are pandering to paedos with that loli foxgirl crap? No. and anyone who blindly screams they are is a fucking idiot at best or a fucking idiot racist at worst.

Try and keep some perspectives here people and realize not every human on the planet views things the same way as you do.

I'm curious to see the ratio of Americans to either Canadians, Europeans or asians in this thread. I think it would be kind of interesting and telling in some ways.

Well, the game features little girls in outfits that are commonly used by adult females to appear sexually attractive. Therefore, it is trying to appeal to people who find little girls attractive. That's just logic.

I'm pretty sure Asian people don't think it's acceptable to think little children are sexually attracitve. (although actually I think it's allright to THINK it, but I don't think it's ok to act on it, for example by making a game that features scantly clad little girls.)

And if they do, well, I hate to break it to you, mate, but that it NOT OK.

 

[AppleShrapnel]

That sentence got a bit garbled from brain to page. Like I mentioned, it IS disappearing, big western games are moving away from it, mostly because it's a negative stereotype.

and like I said, just because it sexualizes every other race, DOESN'T excuse this kind of disgusting designs.

Ah, I see where you're coming from now. Yes, the first point can be easily illustrated with the Elin, of all things. In Tera's Westernization process, the Elin were toned down a bit, while leaving the other races completely untouched... http://www.bitgamer.su/imagebucket/Elin-2.jpeg End results are kinda fugly, though. A huge chunk of the fanbase cried foul, and En Masse ended up closing threads speaking against it. May have even banned a few people, wouldn't surprise me.

I guess that's more an example of good intentions with poor implementation than anything else, iddnit? 'Course, now I'm kinda worried how Blade & Soul and Kingdom Under Fire II are gonna get localized. ._.

But now that you mention it, you have a point... where're all the smexy women at in our games? D:/ (j/k j/k... sheesh)

I'd beg to differ on Tera's characters being of "disgusting designs", but... meh, that's just a clash of opinions, and no real winner emerges from that kind of fight.

 

[Moromillas]

Totally agree, character models are a major problem, perhaps more so than the outfits. Something that bugs me in particular is the lack of variety (again, it all comes down to choice). While still limited in many cases, there does tend to be a lot more variation in male body types in games (compare males and females here: http://en.playpw.com/heroes.html )I can totally understand some people wanting to play as a supermodel lookalike, but I'd prefer my characters to look like they can handle the weapons they're supposed to be using. My personal preference would be for powerful, muscular females who looked more like elite athletes than models.

I think TOR, and for the most part, Bioware RPGs in general do this pretty well.

In TOR there are 4 male and female body types: small, regular or supermodel, Amazon, and finally curvy, which mirrors the male counterparts .

TOR actually has the same problem as Tera.

I wasn't aware TOR had sexualized children in it.

Not the off-topic pedo thought crime bashing thing, but the limited armor choices mentioned in the article.

In TOR there's one class where pants are difficult to find, and have a vast amount of skirts that go down to your ankles. There is custom armor that you can stick mods in, sure, but if you want "the best" armor you have to wear one of these skirts that completely covers your lower shins.

Nope, that isn't true, if you want to wear pants, it's pretty easy to find a piece of customizable gear that's a pair of pants. and the new "best armor" can have mods removed to be placed in any other piece that can be modded.

TOR has a vast variety of armor choices you can make, and it's even bigger if you're one of the light armor types that usually wear long dresses.

Incorrect.

The armor you're talking about doesn't have augment slots, and is not the "best armor." The only light leg armor that have augments, are all re-textured ankle skirts.

 

[DRes82]

LOTRO has the least-revealing outfits of any game I've played, MMO or otherwise, for female characters. There are some outfits that are slightly more revealing than others (low-cut dresses), but you probably wouldn't be wearing a ball gown into combat.

You havn't played SWTOR, obviously.

Honestly, Tera does kind of push the limits of sanity with its outfits. The boob jiggle physics are amusing, though. Also, the Elin race is wrong on several levels in my opinion.

Heh...I should probably read threads. But yeah...elin...funny.

 

[Cecilthedarkknight_234]

Oh I am just loving the moral fag butt-hurt level in this thread. Guess what people this game was developed in South Korea for the people there get over it, you don't like it then don't play it. We are not or never intended to be the target audience for this game. Oh boy... I love the butt-hurt tears so much. On a different note I hate mmo's so I don't care how many loli's they throw at me the majority of those type of games are s*** to begin with and this includes WoW

You should really try harder next time, I don't think everyone quite got your point yet.

maybe i should be that would require effort on my end and I am to drunk/lazy to do so lol

 

[Riki Darnell]

"Half-naked Elf problem"...that sentence doesn't make sense. Unless you mean "Half-naked Elf problem...because there isn't enough half-naked elves"
How is it that over macho men, or overly muscular or rough men don't "break the story or the game b/c of what they are wearing" yet people say it happens with women?
As a woman, I like my women dressed sexy-like. If I'm gunna play as a female I want her to be good look and showing it off. (but that's my preference)

 

[Eventidal]

It's sad that this is still an issue. Gaming really needs to grow out of it. I hate all these BDSM looking female characters in games. It doesn't do anything to dispel the gamer stereotype of us all being perverted basement dwelling virgins.

But I don't really like the system of wearing one set of clothing but appearing to wear another. It just seems to make itself redundant to me. Why bother making different sets of armour with different stats if you can just ignore the stats and wear whatever you want? Maybe it would be best if there was some sort of system where what you wear isn't connected to your armour stats at all. Maybe you could make it so all armour sets have no effect on their own, but all have enchantment slots in which you can place magic gems or something which give the item the stats you want. That sounds like a workable system which makes sense to me.

EDIT: This idea is going somewhere... It could also be organised in a way that there are different classes of armour and only certain types of gems can be put in to certain classes of armour. That way you don't get people walking around in magic robes that give the same armour ratings as the biggest beefiest platemail, etc. That could be seen as a bit too restrictive, but I think it just makes sense and wouldn't unbalance the game. And so that it makes sense to unlock "better" armour as you level up, higher level armour could have more slots for these gems than lower level stuff. But there would also be an option to add extra slots to lower level armour if you wanted to keep with that style. The ability to unlock these extra slots correlate with the unlocking of higher level armour.

If that system was in a game I think it would be totally awesome. If there's anyone here planning on making an MMO/RPG any time soon then feel free to steal my ideas, because I know I won't be using them.

What would be the point of that system, though? You'd still be collecting new armor sets that are more powerful as ones from before. Just now, you'd have another layer of menus to go through and a few more minutes added to the process of improving armor.
Weapons and armor exist as they do now in games because they're one of the many carrots dangled in front of the player's nose to keep them going. The look of an epic new armor set and the high stats it promises is as enticing as any level up or awesome skill or big boss to take down. Take that out and what are you left with?

I hate the fact that I'm forced to look a certain way, though. That's the point here. If I'm wearing Badass Bone Armor, I look exactly like every other high level dude wearing the same armor. And what if I just started collecting a set of Enchanted Green Leather Armor? Now my pants are layered, studded green leather with bits of fur here and there and everything else is massive, dark skeleton-looking gear. But should I dare take the pants off or try to mix it with weaker but more fitting gear, I lose out on a lot of really good stats and buffs.

I hate looking bad in an MMO. I want my character to look a certain way, and I don't care if that changes as I go because I find more armor that looks cool and works together. The look AND stats of armor can still be enticing in a system where you can appear to be wearing anything. In fact, I'd say it only enhances the desire to obtain more armor, because you might want to look for lower level armor to improve your appearance, whereas otherwise you'd just sell that armor to the nearest NPC without that system in place.

 

[alrekr]

The method Shamus just mentioned has been in place for DC Universe Online for a REALLY long time

Not the only MMO either. Age of Conan had this from launch and made a minor fuss about it as well...but they also made a fuss about it having tits so I guess that off-sets it.