Poll: Do you hate sexy armor on female characters?

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Riki Darnell

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Dec 23, 2011
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Recently there has been a division among my group of gamer friends...Sexy female armor. Half of them wish the armor on a female would look more realistic than form-fitting or showing off skin. While the other half says it's just a game and if a creator wants to make their character look and dress sexy it's perfectly okay.

I can understand each sides argument, but I lean more towards the not being bothered by it. I am female and I don't find sexy armor on females exploiting or offensive in any way. At the end of the day it's just a game and the character isn't real.
 

Zhukov

The Laughing Arsehole
Dec 29, 2009
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[sub](Oh look it's this thread again etc etc...)[/sub]

Context, madam.

Context is everything.

If the game wants me to take it seriously then the ol' chainmail bikinis and whatnot are idiotic. They make as much sense as going into battle wearing clown shoes and a tube dress. For example, Samara in Mass Effect 2. She's supposed to be a vigilante warrior-monk who enters combat on a semi-regular basis. She is presented in a straight faced manner. Yet she wears high heels and a what looks like a swimsuit with pauldrens. As much as I like the character, that visual design is a bad joke. It's not exploitive or offensive, it's silly.

On the other hand, if the game is intentionally over-the-top or tongue in cheek, then I'm fine. For example, I have no problem with any of the character designs in the various Japanese fighting games. Their whole premise is already ridiculous and both the players and developers are fully aware of that. We're talking about games where a roster of invincible caricatures with super powers conduct combative fireworks displays around the world. Sticking the women in sexy outfits does not make that scenario any more ridiculous.

When all is said and done, I've never really seen the point of it. I don't play games to ogle the pixels. Its just not what I'm there for.
 

scorptatious

The Resident Team ICO Fanboy
May 14, 2009
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Hmm? Sorry, I was just focused on my FemShep's uh... HAIR! That's it! Hair! >_>

I can kind of understand why some people would be annoyed by sexy armor. But I don't really mind it myself. At the end of the day, it's just a game, suspension of disbelief and what not.
 

ChupathingyX

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Jun 8, 2010
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Hmmm, well...uhh...I don't "hate" it per se....

...buuuuuuuut....

I find it hard to take a character seriously if they're simply there for sex appeal (unless of course they aren't meant to be taken seriously), and sometimes it just makes the character look stupid (Jack from ME2).

For the most part however, I'm fine with it and I'll never go campaigning like a white knight over it.
 

DementedSheep

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Jan 8, 2010
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Generally I don't like over the top sexy armours, not my taste. A lot of time I think it look awful and tacky. That not to say it has to be completely realistic, completely hide the female form and cover every inch of flesh. You can strike a balance. More often than not when there is a female version of a set of armour that looks very different from the male version I would much have preferred just a slightly modified version of the male armour because it looks much better.

Whether I hate it or not depends on context. The type of game and the style it has, if it fits with what other chracters are in, the character itself, their role and how it?s been done.
 

sextus the crazy

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Oct 15, 2011
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Generally, when females get sexy armor while the males get regular armor, It bothers me. That said sexy armor can be compensated for with a good character development.

Still, It can be irksome sometimes when they pander specifically to male gamers. (Why aren't there more sexy knights and shirtless barbarians for the girls?)
 

Freechoice

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Dec 6, 2010
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I am in favor of sexy armor on one condition.

If it's a game that has statistics like dodge, parry and the like, all of the those stats turn into miss for a female character.
 

Burrito With Legs

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Jan 27, 2012
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I think every female in League of Legends (at least the humans or close-enough-to-humans-that-it-wouldn't-be-illegal-to-hop-in-bed-with) is dressed as sexy as possible. French Maid Nidalee, Leblanc's Christmas skin....
 

Jandau

Smug Platypus
Dec 19, 2008
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In the end, such things do depend on the game and the context, but in general yes, I do dislike oversexualised armor on women. It's just silly, and not in the amusing way, more in the lame and pathetic way. I like a bit of T&A, don't get me wrong, but I don't like when it's just tossed around like that.

For instance, my favourite female character in Dragon Age 2 was Aveline. She wears proper armor and is written like a real person and not someone's wet dream (I'm looking at you, Merril and Isabella). Shame you can't romance her...
 

Nomanslander

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Feb 21, 2009
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Zhukov said:
[sub](Oh look it's this thread again etc etc...)[/sub]

Context, madam.

Context is everything.

If the game wants me to take it seriously then the ol' chainmail bikinis and whatnot are idiotic. They make as much sense as going into battle wearing clown shoes and a tube dress. For example, Samara in Mass Effect 2 is presented in a straight faced manner. Yet she wears high heels and a what looks like a swimsuit with pauldrens. As much as I like the character, that visual design is a bad joke.

On the other hand, if the game is intentionally over-the-top or tongue in cheek, then I'm fine. For example, I have no problem with any of the character designs in the various Japanese fighting games. Their whole premise is already ridiculous and both the players and developers are fully aware of that.

When all is said and done, I've never really seen the point of it. I don't play games to ogle the pixels. Its just not what I'm there for.
As sensible as these views are, personally a lot of it works the other way around. For instance I can't stand the over lampooning of characters but I'm fine if it's done a little even in games that are suppose to be taken seriously. For me when it comes to comedy and camp there is a very thin line with what I can accept and what I see as going too far.

I'll give a movie franchise as an example, the Evil Dead series particularly the second and third movie (as much as I saw the first, it was enough to bore me). I love the second movie, but when it came time for Army of Darkness, I couldn't stand it because of this rule. They but the comedy and camp in Army of Darkness felt like it was going too far and trying to hard, and this is how I feel about the OT.

The sex appeal in Japanese games like Soul Calibur or Bayonnetta are just too much for me. They go to far and try too hard, but I can accept a character like Samara and her skimpy fatigues. How? Because to me I find her sexuality more as a weapon than an appeal. It's the Bond girl archetype, the fame fatal, and in the end I find Mass Effect more enjoyable as a tongue in cheek adventure like a Bond or Indiana Jones movie instead of something more serious like....The Hurt Locker I guess....=/
 

Riki Darnell

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Dec 23, 2011
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Nomanslander said:
As sensible as these views are, personally a lot of it works the other way around. For instance I can't stand the over lampooning of characters but I'm fine if it's done a little even in games that are suppose to be taken seriously. For me when it comes to comedy and camp there is a very thin line with what I can accept and what I see as going too far.

I'll give a movie franchise as an example, the Evil Dead series particularly the second and third movie (as much as I saw the first, it was enough to bore me). I love the second movie, but when it came time for Army of Darkness, I couldn't stand it because of this rule. They but the comedy and camp in Army of Darkness felt like it was going too far and trying to hard, and this is how I feel about the OT.

The sex appeal in Japanese games like Soul Calibur or Bayonnetta are just too much for me. They go to far and try too hard, but I can accept a character like Samara and her skimpy fatigues. How? Because to me I find her sexuality more as a weapon than an appeal. It's the Bond girl archetype, the fame fatal, and in the end I find Mass Effect more enjoyable as a tongue in cheek adventure like a Bond or Indiana Jones movie instead of something more serious like....The Hurt Locker I guess....=/
Ah see I feel the exact opposite about Bayonnetta lol. I have no problem with her because it's obvious she's nothing but a walking mix of sexuality. The long legs, the glasses, the beauty mark, the accent, etc. But Bayonnetta isn't a serious game, so the ammount of her over-sexiness is kinda like a joke, in my opinion.
 

Vault101

I'm in your mind fuzz
Sep 26, 2010
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if it covers the women in quation Im fine with it

if it shows skin in a REALLY rediculous way...thats not kosher..thats fucking retarded

(and dont get me startes on high heels..agghhhhh *foams at the mouth* I think Im having a rage seazure thinking about it)
Zhukov said:
[sub](Oh look it's this thread again etc etc...)[/sub]

Context, madam.

Context is everything.

If the game wants me to take it seriously then the ol' chainmail bikinis and whatnot are idiotic. They make as much sense as going into battle wearing clown shoes and a tube dress. For example, Samara in Mass Effect 2. She's supposed to be a vigilante warrior-monk who enters combat on a semi-regular basis. She is presented in a straight faced manner. Yet she wears high heels and a what looks like a swimsuit with pauldrens. As much as I like the character, that visual design is a bad joke. It's not exploitive or offensive, it's silly.

On the other hand, if the game is intentionally over-the-top or tongue in cheek, then I'm fine. For example, I have no problem with any of the character designs in the various Japanese fighting games. Their whole premise is already ridiculous and both the players and developers are fully aware of that. We're talking about games where a roster of invincible caricatures with super powers conduct combative fireworks displays around the world. Sticking the women in sexy outfits does not make that scenario any more ridiculous.

When all is said and done, I've never really seen the point of it. I don't play games to ogle the pixels. Its just not what I'm there for.
^ well put

in regards to samara..her cleavage is rediculous too...however (If I am going to bother defending it) I always saw her as a deconstruction of the Idea of a superhero, (fights injustice, powerful, sees the world in black/white..and the outfit to match)

or you could say since the "justacars" are an "old" order, her flamboyant costume reflects it being a "cultral" thing, I mean just look at some of the crazy stuff the upper crust used to wear a few hundred years ago
 

Nemu

In my hand I hold a key...
Oct 14, 2009
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Most of the time I do.

I dig the armor that is "realistic", which could include form-fitting plate, but that is rare in most games.

When designers put female characters in nothing more than armored bras and thongs, I roll male toons.
 

kasperbbs

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Dec 27, 2009
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I like it, if its not too much, for example the only armors that i added to skyrim were 'lore friendly armor pack' ,every other light armor mod i found was either ugly or basically non existent.
 

corvanjer

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Nov 28, 2011
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It's like fat chicks, no one wants to see them. (Bear in mind this is NOT MY personal opinion nor do I endorse it. But it is fact that designers have this attitude and have a feeling of destain towards the appearance shunned by society - i.e. Dykes.).

It's all about societal views.
 

Keepitclean

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Sep 16, 2009
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Zhukov said:
[sub](Oh look it's this thread again etc etc...)[/sub]

Context, madam.

Context is everything.
/thread by the first post

To me the armour is just part of the visual representation of the character. If what we see doesn't correlate with how the character acts and speaks it is generally to the detriment of the work. Be it game, movie whatever.