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Female Armor Design - Spice it up! Don't be afraid.
Individuated Soul
Member, Alpha One, Adventurer
Love this video:
https://youtu.be/MVIBdu3Fv-Y?si=a1oXFGgjrvo21P3j
I had this thought for sometime but Kaos and Lace have given me the energy to post about it. Hoping to make this a fun post but also generate conversation.
AoC female design (thus far) is very puritan. I don't know if they are trying not to offend people who outrage when females wear sexy/attractive sets in games. I will now attempt to reverse engineer AoC female armor design pillars:
1) Cover as much skin as possible.
a) If skin must be shown ensure its just the belly.
2) Make it as functional as possible despite this being a fantasy game.
3) When you finish your design, ask yourself, can I cover more skin?
4) Make the design resemble the male version as much as possible.
a) Copy paste the male armor and just add a boob armor plate to save time.
Here is a small excerpt of past designs:
Here are some future design ideas that fit this potential design philosophy
Jokes aside, I think there should be more variety that doesn't fit the androgynous design category. Seems there is a conscious choice to avoid anything deemed too "sexy". No this is not a coomer post. I think most female gamers prefer to have their characters look good, and the video above echo's that. I get the realism angle (in a fantasy game) in the designs but its incredibly boring.
https://youtu.be/MVIBdu3Fv-Y?si=a1oXFGgjrvo21P3jI had this thought for sometime but Kaos and Lace have given me the energy to post about it. Hoping to make this a fun post but also generate conversation.
AoC female design (thus far) is very puritan. I don't know if they are trying not to offend people who outrage when females wear sexy/attractive sets in games. I will now attempt to reverse engineer AoC female armor design pillars:
1) Cover as much skin as possible.
a) If skin must be shown ensure its just the belly.
2) Make it as functional as possible despite this being a fantasy game.
3) When you finish your design, ask yourself, can I cover more skin?
4) Make the design resemble the male version as much as possible.
a) Copy paste the male armor and just add a boob armor plate to save time.
Here is a small excerpt of past designs:
Here are some future design ideas that fit this potential design philosophy
Jokes aside, I think there should be more variety that doesn't fit the androgynous design category. Seems there is a conscious choice to avoid anything deemed too "sexy". No this is not a coomer post. I think most female gamers prefer to have their characters look good, and the video above echo's that. I get the realism angle (in a fantasy game) in the designs but its incredibly boring.
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Comments
Boobs are nice and should definitely be accentuated in armor boob-pockets because they need to be protected and pushed-up a bit to keep them out of harms way. How else will the women effectively feed the babies if there isn't some extra padding to keep the species' milk ducts protected?
I also vote you should be able to customize your characters boob size within normal proportional ranges observable in humanity. anything from the knees up goes. Don't think I've seen them hang lower than that naturally.
Though, now that I think about it, in NWO, I did have male and female characters who were scandalous, scantily-clad skanks.
I think even in a High Magic Fantasy setting, people with boobs hanging to their knees are not going to be physically fit enough to do much adventuring. And would most likely use magical means to have breast reductions.
Hence the video I included.
Ha! Sorry, haven't had a chance to watch it yet.
From past discussions about this, opinions vary a lot amongst women too. We're probably not gonna get a consensus, except for maybe a consensus that they don't want to only see hypersexualized outfits.
My personal preference is as always:
Haha, I like this response. But don't you think the magic would allow for them to uphold said boobs and still be fit? or else just have them whatever size they desire and not have their abilities affected? I'd also like to posit that some women are actually just big built with big breasts and this is in fact a super athletic build in the world; though probably not down to the knees. That was a bit dramatic for entertainment effect. But I definitely think there could be a super potent but fat and lazy mage so draw the lines where you want. Maybe she likes twinkies but she's got a mean fireball...
I don't think the female armor in game should be limited to the preferences of female players. I know guys who religiously play female characters in these games. I'm not sure why and they probably all have their own reasons or else don't even know themselves but I think all opinions about boobs are valid.
You think impracticality should reign here in the sense that I'm swinging a giant axe at you and your stomach flesh is exposed but you don't die immediately? Doesn't that kind of debunk the entire idea of armor in the game? Why not just lose the armor entirely and just run around taking mitigated damage because it's a fantasy land? (The answer is because that is impractical and ruins the experience). Our brains still want things to make sense even if we're talking about imaginary worlds. That's why we develop lore and classes and everything else. It still has to make good sense.
If you get belly revealing armor then I want gut shot abilities that kill you faster because your guts are exposed.
The argument that practical combat is the reason for these designs is silly to me. Watch the combat showcases. Flashy, big moves, charging through the sky, magical hammer slams, etc. Not seeing the realism in the combat so why try to argue realism in armor design?
And even if someone could magically get the weight distribution right and alleviate the pain, they would still be severe obstacles to adventuring in a variety of ways.
Boobs at their waist - maybe.
Show me some examples of super-athletic with boobs at their knees.
For actual decades, female gamers (and female non-gamers, for that matter) have been complaining that games that are made predominantly by men, and predominantly for men, have been dressing females in unrealistically small, non-functional armor in order to 'excite' the bulk of the players.
Game designers (at least in the west) are starting to listen, and are dressing male and female characters in similar gear in terms of their body coverage.
Now, unless people advocating for more of the older style are able to guarantee that a game doing that now won't see those same complaints, what they are really doing is asking to swap one set of complaints for another.
It would seed, assuming that guarantee can't be made, that the choice is of getting complaints that the developers are male chauvinists depicting females in a way where their body is their only asset, or complaints that they are depicting females as being just as practical as males.
If I were given the choice of one set of complaints, I know which one I would rather deal with.
Why assume the designers are only male for AoC? If a woman designs the unrealistically small, non-functional armor, is chauvinism still to blame? Sometimes you have to ignore the noise.
I think there are a few factors that led to today. Eastern games making their way to the west, 'wokeism', and outrage culture. With the success of Stellar Blade, there is a definite push back on these lines of thought.
As always, I'm not arguing extremes. Add a variety of designs.
I think Armor should be practical before it is supposed to "look" either Male or Female in Design.
And Clothes regarding Looks should be more Cosmetic and Civilian before they should be accepted into the Armor-Category.
Now when do we get to roll a naked Dunir?
Have you seen Dunir naked - not good taste.
The final signoff for everything is Steven. We don't need to assume anything.
However, you are missing the point - the decision isn't about how the armor look,s of how females are represented - the decision is around which set of complaints you would rather deal with. Yeah, and it isn't as if that game has had any criticizm for it.
Intrepid have the choice to avoid that criticizm by simply treating make and female versions of the same item as being the same look.
Your only argument is that some people may prefer a less "puritan" look. You are completely avoiding the actual issue, the actual reason.
I understand your point. The issue I have with that is that I don't see them as equally opposing views. I see the outrage over female outfits as a loud minority that is amplified by the media. I think most adults don't actually have an issue with it, and would prefer design variety that gives them agency to express themselves however they choose to.
Keep in mind, Intrepid is a company, not an activist organization. It is not their job to further any cause.
If you *really* want change in this area, you need to be out in front of that loud minority telling them why they are wrong, not asking companies to ignore guaranteed bad press.
It's worth pointing out - I feel - that my personal opinion is somewhat similar to your own. I'd much rather everyone have the choice over things like this. It just isn't going to work in a world where that loud minority are given free reign to be loud without challenge (this point applies to so many issues in the world today).
My wife has said on this forum and to me personally. She would love to have many styles. From formal evening wear you would see at a gala. To dresses from the 1800's that used corsets and large hats. Summer dresses to full on mage robes you would see on an elven queen.
As for showing skin. That's a line IS will need to decide that. I hope it does not get to the level of Korean MMOs.
We do have to remember, we need the cosmetic cash shop to be a big win in this current market. These designed need to speak to a large pool of women and sure enough, also to men designing their wifefoo.
https://youtube.com/shorts/Yz4Tzbyakuk?si=99RSuhjrzlMUy84O
yeah but (almost) no one faps to gore. video game blood is fake, nips r real !_! opan bobs plz
In MMORPGs, I exclusively play female characters and so far, I find the armor designs in AoC quite good.
I understand that some might want a bit more sexiness. My suggestion would be, like in real life, to have elegant outfits for both genders. These could possibly be shown instead of the worn armor. I believe there are MMORPGs where this is already possible. With today's wokeness, such decisions are certainly not as straightforward as they used to be.
nah bruh we r getting gender neutral skins xDDDDDDDD
https://youtu.be/ZHkMaNWiKg0?t=1410
Glad we mostly agree. Where we don't is how to handle the loud minority. When you cater to it then you are giving them power over you. It's always better to live by principle rather than what others think. Same with Intrepid Studios. If this is there principles expressed through there design then so be it, but I don't think they've explicitly said that though so I will continue to advocate for more design variety.
Also, don't underestimate the power of free press!
Oh and I'll say it again! Non realistic combat doesn't require realism in armor designs.