Nurb:

Chemical Alia:

That this fuzzy race resembles four-year-olds in metal thongs was a conscious decision on the part of an actual developer, you know. They didn't just "get that way" out of nowhere, and characters aren't designed in a vacuum.

Whoa, I don't know where you're seeing 4 year olds, I've never seen one with wide hips.

Sure you do. You even posted a picture of one and excused the idea with the good ol' anime cliche of "It's actually an adult of it's race". XD

Disconnecting loot from dress up mechanics does seem like a pretty decent solution. If they're really deadset on keeping the two connected then they could just make it so every piece of equipment you pick up has a variety of different cosmetic variations you can pick between. IE: presence or absence of spiky bits, full/partial plate, skirt length, color, cleavage line, that kinda thing.

Also don't you dare mock Catelyn/Brienne, they're like my 2 favorite female characters of all time.

intheweeds:
I really hope you're kidding here, it's funny if you think that the only problem with it is that women are showing skin. We actually don't need to look sexy all the time, you know. Certainly not when we are wearing a full suit of armor. I mean, really... really?

It does, however, bring up my thoughts on this:

What if I want to play a bad-ass? Seriously, I'm a girl, if I'm playing a game where I my character requires armor, I am obviously playing a game where combat is a major focus. This is not an "I want to look my prettiest" situation. I want to look like a friggin bad-ass. If I'm carrying a massive sword, I want to look like I might be strong enough to actually swing it and smart enough to protect my friggin midriff in a battle.

It's pretty obvious by the huge muscular men and hardcore armor that is so standard to most genres that men like to play games to feel like bad-asses. We do too! Why should we have to look sexy all the time? I like that feeling of getting off work and relaxing by turning into an online warrior too, you know. I just want to be able to look like one. Why can't women look hard too?

I quit WoW a while ago, but I played for years. Most of my characters were male just because they are the ones who get to actually look like they could battle. I loved my female Pally, but mostly because I found it hilarious and cute that her tiny frame would be swinging around this massive axe. She shouldn't look hilarious and cute - she should look awesome.

I agree completely with this article, but even if every game moving forward implemented this, it wouldn't fix anything. Male devs would just think what this guy thinks: "Surely a practical full-body armor suit can be made to look sexy?" ...and they start using the same armor with the 'skin' part swapped out for an 'armor-like' color and call it a day. Instead of choosing between sexy and badass (which is what it should be, ideally) we will simply be choosing which type of sexy we prefer. The way I see it, unless there is a major shift in the way armor models for women are thought about generally, there won't be any actual choice.

If there were a 'favorite' button on this site, this comment would be breaking it in twain.

This has been a point I've tried to drive home to my guy-gamer friends for years every time I get the "But there's plenty of strong sexy women in games". I can be sexy, I can be professional, I can dress for a gym session, but none of these ideas come close to what I'd be wearing faced with a life-or-death battle with some monstrous beastie or terrorist cell or whatever antagonist is wanting to shred my midriff and all parts outlining it.

If people want to play dress-up with their virtual fodder, that's fine, but I'd like an option that's not quite so insulting to my genders intelligence as a whole. Give me body armor that looks like it might actually protect me, not some ludicrously designed metal-plated catsuit... A warrior-woman who looks like she's actually a warrior, powerfully built, not 'stacked', scarred from her years of battle.. and a WOMAN dammit, not an adolescent 80lb DDD anomaly of biology and physics. I want my girl to be a bad-ass of the highest caliber, not some neurotic narcissist who wants to be sure she gives all the battlefield a good peep-show while she's on the scene.

Sexy is great. I've made a living by sexy on stage and elsewhere, it's quite fun. But if you really want to go the whole 'loses immersion' argument, seeing a party of grizzled combat veterans clad in glowing array of magical armaments, heavy armor, pitted from years of conflict, steel helms with horns, visors and cowls, finely muscled and steely-eyed... and here comes my gal in her tube-top and loin-cloth with thigh-highs... yep. One of us is definitely at the wrong job-fair. And I'm pretty sure it's not one of the guys.

Wait, Tera will let me play as a huge metal dwarf who focuses on buff and debuff spells? It's a shame it also has creepy fox girls and horrendous female armor or I might give it a shot.

I don't mind sexy female attire in a game providing its used sparingly. I also prefer that it still to reasonable materials like cloth and leather, "half-plate" with a plunging neckline and exposed midriff is pretty ridiculous. I rarely play MMOs so it's not a problem I encounter all that often. This isn't to say that you can't find examples in single-player RPGs but they do tend to be much better in this regard. TES is particularly tame, at least since Morrowind; Bioware's games aren't too bad; successive armor in Diablo tends to provide more coverage . . . there seem to be plenty of examples where skimpy armor isn't the norm for women.

I love Tera. I have a Castanic Warrior who I love to stare at. I'm also a dude. Seriously though, Tera did that part right. I. Can't. Stop. Staring.

With that being said, I looked at the human and elf races, and they aren't nearly as offensive as you think. Maybe I'm wrong, but, elves wear dresses, and human females at least wear shorts for the most part.

Tera should be able to at least have one race who can be best defined as slutty-mc-slutt-race. That's okay, as long as it isn't the only race.

I'm a guy, and I also plan on making an elf sorc, because they're alittle classier, though Castanics are much cooler imo. So, no, I'm not playing a Castanic because of boobage. That's only 90% of my decisionmaking process, and once again, nothing wrong with that.

And for what it's worth, I have seen a costume system in Tera. It's not exactly transmorgification, which is a shame, because some of the outfits look really good * flamboyant wrist* but, costumes are an option, and maybe there's something like transmorgificaiton too. I'm sure I spelled that wrong.

To reiterate: there is nothing wrong with one race dedicated to sex appeal. Especially if it's not the only race.

But I've been stalking Tera like that hot next door neighbor that leaves her lights on and her blinds open at night, so what do I know?

EDIT: Castanics aren't even slutty in their personalities. Mainly because that's not really attractive... no, they're cute badasses that wear nothing but pretend not to flaunt it. Yep. Sort of like night elves in WoW if night elves wore nothing.

intheweeds:

DVS BSTrD:
Surely a practical full-body armor suit can be made to look sexy? And as for existing preferences, why not just have the same design, but with stronger materials?.

I really hope you're kidding here, it's funny if you think that the only problem with it is that women are showing skin. We actually don't need to look sexy all the time, you know. Certainly not when we are wearing a full suit of armor. I mean, really... really?

It does, however, bring up my thoughts on this:

What if I want to play a bad-ass? Seriously, I'm a girl, if I'm playing a game where I my character requires armor, I am obviously playing a game where combat is a major focus. This is not an "I want to look my prettiest" situation. I want to look like a friggin bad-ass. If I'm carrying a massive sword, I want to look like I might be strong enough to actually swing it and smart enough to protect my friggin midriff in a battle.

It's pretty obvious by the huge muscular men and hardcore armor that is so standard to most genres that men like to play games to feel like bad-asses. We do too! Why should we have to look sexy all the time? I like that feeling of getting off work and relaxing by turning into an online warrior too, you know. I just want to be able to look like one. Why can't women look hard too?

I quit WoW a while ago, but I played for years. Most of my characters were male just because they are the ones who get to actually look like they could battle. I loved my female Pally, but mostly because I found it hilarious and cute that her tiny frame would be swinging around this massive axe. She shouldn't look hilarious and cute - she should look awesome.

You don't understand the male mind do you? It's not that a woman has to look sexy while wearing a full suit of armor, it's that she can look sexy wearing a full suit of armor. The attractiveness of the female form doesn't depend on how little you wear my dear, and there is absolutely NO reason bad-ass and sexy can't coincide. Really a woman looking bad-ass is just another way of looking sexy. Maybe that's just me...

frobisher:
This kind of design for females would solve all controversies with a pinch of realism.

....564 reasons why we will not see such design in games....565, 566...

Odd, I can only think of two
Maybe three.

Very good armor Otherwise.

xXxJessicaxXx:
Not really I mean personally Jiggling boobies and ridiculous armour on women does suggest to a female audience that this game isn't for them. It wouldn't take a lot for dev's to stop acting like their audience is a load of 12 year old boys.

I personally find that the things the article mentions makes me feel uncomfortable. I'm sure there are women who don't but I don't think treating women like they are serious heroes instead of eye candy for the men playing would be that big of a jump. Like the article suggests a CHOICE would be nice.

Kingdom's of Amalur, which is an otherwise great game pretty much treats the female character like a guy who has chosen a nice butt to look at. Prominent female characters flirt with you and there isn't a single instance where a guy so much as calls you pretty. Now okay I have no problem playing as a lesbian if that's what the devs wanted but surely not everyone else in the world would be?

It's things like that I think that takes the majority of women out of the game and says to them 'This wasn't made for you.'

HEY! 24 year old boys can like jiggling boobies and ridiculous armor to you know!

As for Kingdoms of Amalur, I doubt it was really an active choice about the character so much as it was the devs being either too lazy or not having enough time to record a second set of dialogues for the game. But what are you complaining about? For once the female is being treated exactly the same as the male. _{No guys ever call ME pretty :,(}

Anyway I doubt "everyone else in the world" would be okay with playing as a lesbian, but for some, their "problem" with it would be less 'tolerant' in nature. And personally I don't think THOSE sort of people should be enjoy a videogame (or ANYTHING else for that matter), but now I'm just nitpicking your statement.

Have a nice day!

DVS BSTrD:

Odd, I can only think of two
Maybe three.

The rest being marketing studies, money, money, money, target audience, money, money, target audience, money, lowest common denominator, target audience, etc

Repetition as a way to accent importance.

Rest reserved for excuses that are always invented. And some already were - eg. in this thread.

You know an easy solution would be to just make armour realistic i.e it doesn't look like something a stripper would wear.

Then everyone looking to play slutty dress up would be stuck wearing their gear for what it is - crappy and unpractical, meanwhile everyone who is looking to play a fantasy hero in their fantasy game would get armour befitting it.

It's not just about the half-naked elf chicks. Fantasy armour in general just looks ridiculous. I remember praising dragon age for having half-decent armour and the shoulder pads still look larger than 40k space marines. Can you really blame someone for wearing something that looks stupid when the alternative is...wearing something else that looks stupid?

Twinmill5000:

To reiterate: there is nothing wrong with one race dedicated to sex appeal. Especially if it's not the only race.

I don't know about that. Blatant pandering to neckbeards and the female equivalent of neckberds in my vidya gaems is always annoying, as is characters intentionally wearing stupid-looking non-protective stuff to fights.

I mean, you wouldn't see this defense of the pedo shit in Tera. Nobody would say "there's nothing wrong with one race dedicated to pedos. Especially if it's not the only race."

Not sure if someone already said this, but you're missing a point here. People like better gear because it allows them to get stronger, but they álso like better gear because people will know they're badass. People will not just think they lóók badass, they will also know that they actually are.

This works the other way around as well: if I see someone wearing something awesome, then I might get jealous, and it will motivate me to get to his of her level as well. But if I know it could be nothing more than a pretty picture pasted on some awful stats, then I really wouldn't care anymore. Nor would it motivate that person to look badass, because badassery is in the eye of the beholder. Eh.

not every game has this problem ... just sayin

Lunar Templar:
image snipped

not every game has this problem ... just sayin

You're joking, right? She's wearing metal stockings and suspenders :/

This sort of thing is more appropriate:

EDIT (again): found a decent image courtesy of Kahunaburger

YOu bring up two good points Shamus. Firstly, I totally agree that the level of scantily clad women in videogames is stupid. However, I seem to remember last year the escapist ran a panel on women in gaming, and I was shocked to find out that a number of high ranking female voices in the gaming community all made the argument tha they didn't mind the scantily dresed-ness of many female characters, what they really wanted was meaningful interaction with women in games (a la alix from Half Life). I was surprised because, as a male gamer, I am definately not ok with the amount of ridiculous female objectification in games. It makes gamers look immature and sexist, and I often feel uncomfortable being grouped together with people who enjoy jiggle physics because I like a particular game. Therefore I don't think Shamus has it right, I'm not so sure if this trend is such a turn off for female gamers as we thing. But it sure is a trn off for some male gamers.

On costume armor, Spiral Knights is a game that does this really well. The top end armors all look the same, which meant that before costume armors were introduced everyone looked the same. However now, the ability to put one outfit on for show, and one on for the stats (alongside customisable armor accessories) means that everyone can use their best armor stats wise, while still looking the way they want to!

xXxJessicaxXx:

Grey Day for Elcia:

xXxJessicaxXx:
Of course women aren't going to buy your games if they are aimed at men.

That's something of a hypocrisy there. You are an avid supporter of abandoning gender norms and treating women and men as equal beings (not, for example, having one be a muscle bound hero in battle armour and another in a bikini make squeaks every time they are hit). At least that's what I've gathered from reading some of your posts and I definitely agree. But you can't have it both ways; you can't take issue with a developer making overly sexual female characters and then say something like "Of course women aren't going to buy your games if they are aimed at men."

You are, in effect, creating your own gender roles. Who says this design is for men? Women can't want this? Women won't buy a game because sexy female characters are in it? Aren't you making assumptions based on your own perception of gender and bias? Isn't you saying 'this sort of thing' is for men, just as bad as anything this game has done?

I think you've gone to the opposite end of the extreme scale; you're so against something that you have become just as bad. Not that this is an attack, though. Trust me. I'm on your side.

Not really I mean personally Jiggling boobies and ridiculous armour on women does suggest to a female audience that this game isn't for them. It wouldn't take a lot for dev's to stop acting like their audience is a load of 12 year old boys.

I personally find that the things the article mentions makes me feel uncomfortable. I'm sure there are women who don't but I don't think treating women like they are serious heroes instead of eye candy for the men playing would be that big of a jump. Like the article suggests a CHOICE would be nice.

Kingdom's of Amalur, which is an otherwise great game pretty much treats the female character like a guy who has chosen a nice butt to look at. Prominent female characters flirt with you and there isn't a single instance where a guy so much as calls you pretty. Now okay I have no problem playing as a lesbian if that's what the devs wanted but surely not everyone else in the world would be?

It's things like that I think that takes the majority of women out of the game and says to them 'This wasn't made for you.'

But you are creating gender roles; you are saying some things are for men and some things are for women. You go so far as to suggest it's obvious that certain things just aren't for women. Now, you personally don't want these things and that's fine (I don't want them either, mostly) but to say they aren't for women is just as bad as the problems you are addressing.

I believe you mean yo say that you don't like them and that your individual perception of gender makes you uncomfortable with them. To lump an entire sex into one group and say "this isn't for you" is not my idea of progression.

Lunar Templar:

not every game has this problem ... just sayin

Oh yeah, metal thigh-highs, open sided tops, no pants and almost visible underwear just screams "ready for combat" to me.

I have no idea about TERA, but I don't see this so much as an issue as a reason to try a game I might've otherwise skipped, appealing looking characters capture the eye every now and then, even though in a lot of Asian MMOs they're often rather creepy than appealing.
Heck, thinking about it I likely even clicked this News Post because if had "Half-Naked Elf" in it.

Also, those are Asian developed games, they have a slightly different culture and you're basically trying to impose prudish USofA views on them, it's (hopefully) not going to work just as it didn't work for the French and their nudity in most of their cinematic hits.

There's a few games with the system you are describing though, most famously DC Universe Online, that has a dress system where you can lock outfits and collect new ones and then Mix+Combine. There was also another MMO I remember called "Spellborn" that was based on a similar system of being able to customize your entire looks and gear, it failed horribly and doesn't exist anymore I believe.

Eamar:

This sort of thing is more appropriate (I know it's not full plate armour, I gave up looking for a realistic example):

EDIT: Godamnit I'll just post the link http://www.lecourtierdelombre.com/image/lady-hawke-dragon-age-2/

Here's a good source for this kind of linking: http://womenfighters.tumblr.com/

It's the Women Fighters In Reasonable Armor tumblr. Reasonableness of the armor and quality of the art varies, but it's great for making a point.

Kahunaburger:

Eamar:

This sort of thing is more appropriate (I know it's not full plate armour, I gave up looking for a realistic example):

EDIT: Godamnit I'll just post the link http://www.lecourtierdelombre.com/image/lady-hawke-dragon-age-2/

Here's a good source for this kind of linking: http://womenfighters.tumblr.com/

It's the Women Fighters In Reasonable Armor tumblr. Reasonableness of the armor and quality of the art varies, but it's great for making a point.

Awesome- favourited for future use, many thanks :)

DVS BSTrD:

Anyway I doubt "everyone else in the world" would be okay with playing as a lesbian, but for some, their "problem" with it would be less 'tolerant' in nature. And personally I don't think THOSE sort of people should be enjoy a videogame (or ANYTHING else for that matter), but now I'm just nitpicking your statement.

Have a nice day!

I think you misunderstood me, my point was that every other women in the game world is unlikely to be a lesbian regardless of the main characters sexuality. Sorry if it was vague.

Grey Day for Elcia:
snip

I see what you are getting at but I think an average female gamer prefers her hero to be an actual hero and not an underwear model.

There is a few posts in this very thread establishing that. Even then we should still be given a choice of whether we want our characters to be half naked or not and whether we want 'sexy' to be the main feature of our character.

The problem with games at the moment is that women are seen as object for guys to look at. Even Lara Croft, who was actually a pretty great character, had boobs as her central selling point.

We need more femsheps as main characters in games.

Kahunaburger:

Eamar:

This sort of thing is more appropriate (I know it's not full plate armour, I gave up looking for a realistic example):

EDIT: Godamnit I'll just post the link http://www.lecourtierdelombre.com/image/lady-hawke-dragon-age-2/

Here's a good source for this kind of linking: http://womenfighters.tumblr.com/

It's the Women Fighters In Reasonable Armor tumblr. Reasonableness of the armor and quality of the art varies, but it's great for making a point.

Some of the armour on this is great it's still feminine but not silly :)

Okay, everyone is missing the real glaring problem with this mmo and Guild Wars 2 for that matter. We always have elves is various states of undress, but fewer and fewer MMO's are including the best and manliest fantasy race: The Dwarf.

You guys can argue about how dress up time should go with your pointy-eared forest smoocher, but you are ignoring the real problem of the phasing out of the far superior race of dwarves.

We are losing the bearded, beerchugging dwarf, compared to which, every other race may as well be that creepy little girl race that Tera has.

xXxJessicaxXx:

DVS BSTrD:

Anyway I doubt "everyone else in the world" would be okay with playing as a lesbian, but for some, their "problem" with it would be less 'tolerant' in nature. And personally I don't think THOSE sort of people should be enjoy a videogame (or ANYTHING else for that matter), but now I'm just nitpicking your statement.

Have a nice day!

I think you misunderstood me, my point was that every other women in the game world is unlikely to be a lesbian regardless of the main characters sexuality. Sorry if it was vague.

OOOOOOOOOOooooooooooh! I get it now.
If you'll excuse me, I need to go make a female avatar in Kingdoms of Alamur

I dont see a problem. >.>; My wife actually loves it. When she plays Skyrim, all she runs around in is either the Forsworn armor, or the Saviors hide. She isnt even skilled in light armor, she just think they look way more bad ass then the others.

Its not like women DONT want to look attractive, and wear less clothing then is legally allowed. Go to a beach someday. Sure, they could ALL be wearing one pieces or swimming trunks, but im sure 90% of them will be in skimpy bikinis. Do we complain about that? No.

In the end, if you look at fashion these days, showing off your legs, cleavage and mid drift is common place (in america anyway). Just like how men want to play a buff Warlord of DEATH wreaking havoc across a country side, dooming all who stand in their path that doesnt bow to their might, im sure there are plenty of women out there who like to play supermodel spell flingers with pointy ears and poor jiggle physics.

While yes, i will say its a little tasteless, its not like nobody wants to see it.

I thought Dragon Age was pretty good in this regard where my female warden wore armor and it looked like armor, though as a straight male I don't completely mind the stripper armor, but if we fantasy gamers want to be taken seriously we should realize it's time to grow the fuck up.

sorry double post (failed to quote)

Nurb:

Scrumpmonkey:
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

It's an adult female of that fuzzy race, only with smaller boobies compared to the gazungas on the other characters. I think people are being too pedo-paranoid and games are a bit silly to get weirded out over considering most gamers have beaten and burned innocent people to death in GTA or Saints Row. But that's just me, I've never come across anything in a video game that "shocked" or weirded me out.

If anything it's more of an issue of sexual dimorphism.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BizarreSexualDimorphism

Yeah but however you spin it those things are a pedo's dream come true.

Honestly I don't see the problem here, if Girls don't like this kinda fantasy rpg, they can go play fable 2 where you can wear loads of clothes. This is obviously a rpg aimed at dudes (I mean boob jiggle physics!), so you have got to expect this sort of thing.

I wouldn't care if they made a fantasy rpg where men only wore pants, and girls wore plate armour, I honestly wouldn't care I would just find it funny.

People can complain about loads of stuff developers do but the bottom line is they do a lot of it to sell their Games. In short BOOBS SELL GAMES.

For example I don't really like the fact that the bad guy in pretty much everything happens to be British, but I understand the upper class British accent is great for Baddies. Fantasy will always have Boobs, and your heroes nemesis will always be from Chelsea.

kouriichi:
I dont see a problem. >.>; My wife actually loves it. When she plays Skyrim, all she runs around in is either the Forsworn armor, or the Saviors hide. She isnt even skilled in light armor, she just think they look way more bad ass then the others.

Its not like women DONT want to look attractive, and wear less clothing then is legally allowed. Go to a beach someday. Sure, they could ALL be wearing one pieces or swimming trunks, but im sure 90% of them will be in skimpy bikinis. Do we complain about that? No.

In the end, if you look at fashion these days, showing off your legs, cleavage and mid drift is common place (in america anyway). Just like how men want to play a buff Warlord of DEATH wreaking havoc across a country side, dooming all who stand in their path that doesnt bow to their might, im sure there are plenty of women out there who like to play supermodel spell flingers with pointy ears and poor jiggle physics.

While yes, i will say its a little tasteless, its not like nobody wants to see it.

Well, how hard would it be to give them a choice? Seriously, if you give them a choice for the itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka-dot bikini and they choose it, fair enough. But you could still let them choose to wear armour that actually looks like armour, instead of the masturbatory fantasy of a frustrated adolescent.

verdant monkai:

Yeah but however you spin it those things are a pedo's dream come true.

Well so what?
They're just 3d models.
No harm done to anyone if someone in their basement jerks off to that kind of thing, right?
Let 'em have it, who cares. It only becomes a problem if real kids are involved, doesn't it?

I just don't see the problem here, apart from this making explaining the game to your parents even more awkward than chronically pseudo-clothed chicks thrown in for no reason already do.

verdant monkai:

Honestly I don't see the problem here, if Girls don't like this kinda fantasy rpg, they can go play fable 2 where you can wear loads of clothes. This is obviously a rpg aimed at dudes (I mean boob jiggle physics!), so you have got to expect this sort of thing.
...
People can complain about loads of stuff developers do but the bottom line is they do a lot of it to sell their Games. In short BOOBS SELL GAMES.

I have no idea what sort of wretched, neckbearded creature actually buys games because they have tits in them. I mean, seriously, if you really must look at pictures of boobs while you play vidya gaems, the internet is full of that stuff. Bonus: you don't have to see the creepy pedo shit bluehole put into their game to pander to a different demographic.

Lets get some fully naked men out their to make up for the all half naked women.

I, for one, thoroughly enjoy the scantly clad womenfolk of gaming, functionality be damned.

If I wanted authenticity and realism, I wouldn't be playing fantasy video games.

You object to the armor because it is not realistic? Really? Just say that you think it wrong to objectify women too much in these games or whatever, but unrealistic armor is not the strong argument you think it is. I mean people run/jump/swim/fight in full plate armor and walk as fast as the dude in leather armor or casually run around with heavy chainmail in scorching desert environments but suddenly the lightly-clothed women is where you draw the line?

Personally I don't have a problem with it. Practical? It's a fantasy game where people swing giant swords and axes that would make Cloud blush, ride Pegasus' for transportation, and have sentient animals as a playable race. When games, movies, anime, etc. are clearly stepped into such a fantastical and unrealistic world then I can overlook many issues of practicality and realism.

As for sexism, yeah the women in Tera do wear sexier/more revealing armor than males, but imo the outfits aren't THAT bad. For the most part I've found them to have a good balance between aesthetics and protection. Most armor I've seen have been more than just "battle bikini's" and do provide a reasonable amount of cover for the body. Perhaps not practical irl but again its a fantasy game not a rl simulation.

Overall I think that this issue is overblown and overdone. It's an asian mmo and thus has different cultural views and preferences. And if you don't like the Elin or think the women are too scantily clad then simply play a male, or a different race, or don't play at all. Personally I've been having a blast with the combat and other features which are a much larger part of the experience.

DVS BSTrD:
Well Maybe I just don't want to play an MMO with the sort of prudes who don't dream of running around casting spells, slaying Dragons and kicking ass while wearing metal underwear? Ever think of that Shamus?

OT: Why do we really need a double inventory system. Surely a practical full-body armor suit can be made to look sexy? And as for existing preferences, why not just have the same design, but with stronger materials? Or maybe they could let you wear that wizard's robe Over that suit of armor. Multi-level > double inventory system. I also feel that the later system was kinda hypocritical.

Shamus did say that their are men and women out in the gaming world that want to run around in their underwear. However, there are also people who don't. In most games women have to be be almost naked, and men have to be "dressed like stupid emos in armor". A system that lets you have the best of both worlds would be a perfect fix. It wouldn't stop you or your friends from "running around casting spells, slaying dragons, and kicking ass while wearing metal underwear", but rather it would make it even better.

With this type of system for armor you could use the stats of the games most powerful armor, but run around wearing nothing but your actual underwear. Also, say you want to wear the underwear armor but the most powerful one isn't your favorite looking one? This makes all that a non-issue. If you want to be naked male or female fine you can, and if you want to wear your favorite armor instead of the most powerful then you can do that to if you so wish.

So how would this be at all hypocritical, if everyone gets what they want, and nobody has to change what they already do?

I may be wrong, but isn't The Secret World doing what you want Shamus? Uncoupling look from stats, by having the stats work on things other than your gear? I think there will be gear that you can only get with certain amount of XP (there's no levels, either) and you can always change your look.