Armor design gender disparity - opinions.

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Fernosaur's avatar
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Hello, first of all! I haven't seen you all in a very long time. Same excuse as always, work work work!

It might not be the most appropiate for me to come here with a somewhat controversial (except not really) topic, but I was browsing my deviantART watches a minute ago and I just couldn't help feeling bothered by how much armor design differs when it comes to women and men. Now, I know this is a very old topic, and it's been widely discussed around the internet. However, seeing as how nothing has changed at all, I think it's still something to think about when praising character designs and influencing marketing decisions.

Yes, we know sex sells, we know that very well, but it's not only degrading, but also unfair that only one half of the population is sexified as widely and universally as women get in trading card games, MMO's (I'm looking at you, Warcraft), tabletops, console games, etc, etc, etc. The idea of a battle armor consisting of a breastplate and a thong is not only ridiculous and completely devoid of logic, but it's also demeaning and insulting. And before anyone comments on how "it's just a game and it's supposed to be fantasy", I don't think having male paladins wearing full-plate and extremely heavy armor vs female paladins wearing just a piece of metal on their breast and crotch tackles the "fantasy" very well, except maybe for the male power fantasy. 

I could ramble on, and on, and on on the matter, but I really just wanted to vent a curent frustration I had with the industry (specially when you get to work in it!). 

What are your thoughts on this issue? I'm all ears.
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Peatchoune's avatar
The only MMO that's more fair with tasteful discovered armors for men/women and covered armor for women/women is Aion. It makes the designs so much more attractive and I wish designers could notice that, seriously.
And what annoys me the most about this topic isn't the armors themselves but the way of thinking that video games are geared towards boys.