Did you honestly not expect this whole skimpy-female-armor thing? Are you really acting shocked about this? Especially after, and this is important, ArenaNet outright said a year ago that it would have skimpy armor in the game? People, this is not new. From ArenaNet’s own mouth, last year:
“We make armor that looks protective and functional, but we also make armor that looks sexy and shows a generous level of strategically placed skin.”
Let me direct you to KIASA, which had the best commentary on the subject from February 2010:
“We recognise that most people these days seem to equate ‘fantasy’ with ‘nymphomaniac bisexual female fleshbots’”
What I really don’t get is how this is any different than Guild Wars 1′s armor — which (Elementalist) was not (Elementalist) exactly known (Elementalist) for its modesty. Listen, I love Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 and all, but some days I get the feeling like there’s a portion of the community that’s sipped from the kool-aid of “Our Game is Going to be 100% Different Than All Other MMOs” (which, by the by, ArenaNet never promised) and has fallen out of touch with the larger MMO community.
Yeah, I made a female elementalist in Nightfall campaign and the armor was so skimpy I eventually became embarrassed to even play her. I’ve seen lingerie that was less revealing.
Of course, people don’t seem to mind so much when it’s cloth or leather, but skimpy plate that gets them up in arms. It’s a game, the artists make things to look good or cool or fun, not functional. I mean, most end game armor in WoW is equally as useless as a chainmail bikini, it’s just non-functional in a less “offensive” way.
I’m no fan of immodest dress in any entertainment. It has ceased to surprise me, though. I’ve seen enough of the game industry and game players to ever hope that such will go away.
And so we’re supposed to just bite our tongues and never raise a fuss that this idiocy is perpetuated in game after game? Are people not allowed to be up in arms just because they come across the info later than the rest of us? It’s one thing to be aware that of the issue and a whole other thing to have ArenaNet hit us over the head with it.
@Anjin I say there’s *always* good cause to complain about it. I just don’t expect change.
It is to be suspected we would see the sexy females wearing skimpy clothes, but it is still disappointing to see.
Did you expect that nobody would get upset about this? I mean, this plays both ways. After past discussions, did you think that ArenaNet had somehow earned a pass or that people were done with this issue?
And frankly, I don’t think saying, “I am going to do a thing that you won’t like” inoculates you from complaint.
And this is the internet. Complaining is one of the more popular pastimes.
But you are complaining, if only about other people complaining, so you are surely one of the tribe. As am I, complaining about you complaining about somebody else complaining.
Now somebody complain about my complaint, that the circle of complaining might grow.
Complain it forward!
Actually, most of the complaints seem to be that there isn’t equal representation of skimpy armor for men. I mean, do people still think women (or gay men) don’t play MMOs?
I just don’t get why a portion of the playerbase wishing they could be catered to a bit as well get sneered at by the demographic majority (which is becoming less of a majority every year)? On what planet is increasing the demographic appeal of a game a dumb thing for a company to do?
Maybe it’s time for more players and companies to get with the times and take into account modern gamer demographics before assuming they can keep pandering to the aesthetic preferences of only one gender/maturity level and assume they won’t get called on it: http://www.theesa.com/facts/gameplayer.asp
Gotta love western civilization. Solve every single problem by separating various creatures from their internal organs while racking up a personal body count that puts a world war to shame, and it’s an awesome game. Show a bit too much skin in the fantasy, and it’s the outrage of the week. Again.
Women in gaming are portrayed better than any other entertainment medium I can think of – they’re almost universally strong, independent, tail-kicking goddesses who have literally no difference in what they can accomplish compared to their male counterparts. Seriously, has there ever been a major MMO which had actual capability difference between the sexes?
Personally, I think that’s a far more important issue than how much skin they’re showing, but we’ve gotta have our priorities, and making sure the naughty bits are all appropriately covered is way more important.
The thing people are missing (I have read the several threads currently going on at GW2Guru over this topic, since they started up a few days ago) is this:
1. Nobody is saying to remove ‘sexy’ armor options. Anywhere.
The complaints have been, universally, a worry that there would not be enough ‘reasonable’ female armor styles for players who don’t want to wear skimpy stuff to be able to dress their avatar in the way they like, and a secondary wish from others that some eyecandy armor for males would be nice too, for those that like that sort of thing. One suggestion would be for an option to layer a piece of clothing like a shirt under skimpy armor, similar to what WoW has.
Why those statements are getting mocked as being somehow ‘naive’ and ‘idealistic’ is really beyond me. Nobody has called for censorship or removal of cheesecake armor for females in GW2. People are just hoping (and asking) for more OPTIONS. To frame the issue otherwise is to totally misrepresent what is being complained about, frankly.
Actually (and I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong, because internet), it was my impression that many of the more shocked and disappointed reactions were coming from newer passers-by who may not have gone ’round on the skimpy armor train the first time. The PvP armor, after all, was already featured in the GStar footage, but you’d have to know about the GStar footage first, and that’s not surface-level knowledge.
While I didn’t have a problem with the armor itself, knowing as I do about the variety of styles available (nor do I mind skimpiness, seeing as my Ele wears Sunspear armor as her default -she also wears Ancient armor, though, which drives the point home), but I do find it amusing that instead of letting newbies know that such variety exists, just as we let them know that they can jump, that there is no subscription fee, and that ArenaNet is in fact not a Korean developer, people leap at the opportunity to act as though their very way of life and all the pretty armors in the world are in jeopardy, so quick to assert that women like to be sexy (we do, but does this mean we can’t have diverging opinions?), and anecdotal evidence starts springing up the wazoo.
It’s not merely the initial complainers who are making much ado about very little clothing.
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Wait – female armor gets more mention then the absolute biggest announcement of the friggin month (from the same website no less!!!):
“That noise you heard earlier today, that was the sound of a few writers, websites, and reviewers getting press beta invites to GW2! It seems that they’ll all be under an NDA until Feb 20th when they’ll be able to release the information.”
I am ashamed of you sir!!
The surprising thing is people who don’t know Guild Wars has MALE armor that’s revealing. The monk tattoo armor is more revealing on males than females.
The uproar about Guild Wars 2 is not surprising considering ArenaNet’s videos only feature the revealing female Thief and Norn armor–with close-ups on the breasts.
I approve of this skimpy female armor. If ever there were an internet person you could rail against for supporting the old sterotypes, that would be me. If you want some skin, you could always play Age of Conan too, opt for the no-armor-at-all look. They can get away with it too because it’s a game for adults. Granted, some adults let their children play it and then get all uppity on the internet about how inappropriate things are, but that’s a different issue.
Maybe your time would be better served going after childrens games that have short skirts or bikini’s or other skimpy outfits in them. You might actually make a dent in those!
<3 Grim
I demand equal libidinous treatment for male characters. I want my eventual Norn Guardian to have both plate armor and skin. I demand a chrome and leather codpiece and butt dimples!
Sometimes I almost regret being able to spend my weekends doing other things than trawling the web.
I’ve been saying that the GW2 community is pretty much just as bad as the SWTOR and WoW communities for some time now. The levels of clannish fanboyism and utter smugness is pretty even between all 3 even though they have radically different populations. Truly a great achievement.
I think that is the only game I play where you can have your armor actually appear to be tattoos (monk/necro). I always thought GW had some of the nicest armor though even if some of it was a tad skimpy, it suited the classes well. But there were always choices in looks.
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