Sex appeal and armour design in Guild Wars 2

[Jimbru.6014]

There are already plenty of armor styles in the game to cover (or not cover) the whole spectrum of sexiness in the game.

 

That said, not all races view clothing or sexiness in the same way.

 

The first and most blunt difference from our anthropomorphic viewpoint is simply whether or not the females of the races have breasts. There are several armor sets and outfits that leave Charr and Asura females some degree of bare chested, simply because they don't have breasts to hide. That's not part of their "sexy" factor.

 

Then you start looking at the lore differences and so forth between all the races. Looking at NPCs can provide a lot of guidance, as can reading into the lore.

 

Humans, of course, are humans. And the majority of the people who both program and play this game are males. So human females get a lot of things that show more skin and shape than they practically should. Welcome to the gaming world. But they also have plenty of more modest options as well, especially in medium and heavy armor. GW2 does a better job than most games in allowing players to tailor their toon's level of "sexy" in that regard.

 

Norn happen to look like oversized humans, but the more you learn about them, the more you realize they're not human at all. Norn have the greatest degree of sexual dimorphism in the game, even more so than humans; Norn males are comically bulky and musclebound, while females are athletic and humanly attractive. Norn are hot blooded (literally), thrive in the cold, and have a half-wild society which is very physical and freely emotional. Due to their harsh environment and combative inclinations, their clothing tends by necessity to be practical. But as Norn females know well, they can and do also go full sexy when they want to; Norn females have the same full spectrum of "sexiness" available to them that human females do, with a few sexy racial options like Eagle and Stag armor. Also, I imagine Norns must hate the heat of Elona and Maguuma, and probably dress lighter in warmer environments to a greater degree than most races. So when you see Norns showing extra skin outside the Shiverpeaks, maybe they are actually seeking comfort from the heat more than trying to be sexy. Like the difference when someone from Wisconsin visits Florida, or vice versa.

 

Sylvari are generally human shaped and have visibly have male and female sexes. But unlike all the other races, their reproduction is not tied to sex, so they are more free to express romance and sexuality how they like. Sylvari are generally resistant to weather so it doesn't affect their clothing choices much, though they certainly have individual preferences. Sylvari are the youngest race and tend in general to be the most free spirited, since they haven't had countless years to develop silly repressions; with the exception of sneaks like Caithe and Canach, Sylvari tend to wear their souls openly, and their bodies follow. So Sylvari tend to wear only what is necessary -- either for the task at hand, or simply to keep non-Sylvari from being embarrassed. The idea of clothing -- or anything -- as "sexy" probably didn't occur to them until they met other races, and I can easily imagine a newly woken Sylvari female giggling like mad when she first learns about it. "That human looking at me like that -- for THAT? Oh my!"

 

Like the Norn, the Charr are very physical, but more animalistic, and their emotional expression is more limited due to their racial reluctance to show anything that might be called weakness. The Charr have some sexual dimorphism, but not much; faces and tails are different, but nothing major. Sexual equality has been enforced at literal gunpoint in Charr society. Some Charr mate for life, but most Charr relationships are more casual "friends with benefits" based on personal or instinctual attractions. Given all that, Charr clothing tends to be very practical and unisex, when they wear clothing at all; many Charr NPCs are bare legged and/or chested, often wearing only loincloths or other minimum clothing necessary for the moment. "Sexy" to a Charr is much less about what you wear, and much more about how strong, cunning, etc. you are.

 

The Asura have the least sexual dimorphism of all races. Except for their reproductive organs, male and female Asura are physically almost identical, with only some minor facial and vocal differences between male and female. Asura romance tends to be intellectual first, emotional second, and physical somewhere down the line if it occurs to them. Most Asura live work centered lives, and their merit based society treats male and female probably the most equally of all the races. Therefore their clothing tends for the most part to be practical, relatively modest, and often unisex, with most outfits and armor sets appearing the same on both sexes. There are a few exceptions like the Elonian Elementalist outfit, but generally, Asura don't go for physical bare-it-all "sexy" because that's simply not who they are. For a good example of how this differs from other races, look at Kasmeer's gem store outfit on a human, then an Asura.

 

Bottom line: "sexy" is in the eye of the beholder, as much or more than the intent of the wearer. Take all that as you will.

[Omernon.9762]

> @"Zeivu.3615" said:

> > @"Omernon.9762" said:

> > > @"AzureTerra.1642" said:

> > > Sexy Armour for me at least is armour that actually looks like it can withstand hits and not drive weapons into vital area's or leave substantial portions uncovered

> >

> > Pretty much this. This is so immersion breaking to see all of these half-naked toons running around with flashy weapons that make no sense at all. Although GW2 is still better than almost any other MMORPG out there, because it has some weapons and armor sets that are both pretty realistic and visually appealing.

> >

> > ArenaNet designers should also open up any history book about castles and medieval walfare, so they can see how defensive structures should really look like and why were they build that way, because good 90% of all defensive structures in this game (be it castle, stronghold, or walled camp) don’t have any defensive value in them...

> >

> >

>

> What makes you think Areanet cares about realism regarding medieval warfare? If you find half-naked toons running around immersion breaking, you might want to stay away from gw1. Fantasy always played a role in their design, even back then: It was more D+D inspired. (Though, unlike gw1, you can turn off other toon models in this game.) I couldn't give a kitten what armor designs people want as long as we get more of them and they don't have that kitten tungsten stained glass texture on them.

>

 

Well, but they should care about level design and placing objects where they have rightful place is generally considered a good level design. This issue is mainly prelevant in Core Tyria maps and they did improved their standards quiet a bit over time. The weird thing is that GW1 had very good level design and somehow they couldn’t keep it up in the next installement.

 

About armors... I don’t ask for fully realistic armors, because in most cases they would look dull and unimaginative if they only followed that road only. I want what Ashantra and others before her said - armor worth adventurer, not anime drag-queen outfit, which got nothing to do with the roots of this game (which if you didn’t noticed are more European than Asian-themed).

 

Also, last time I’ve checked equipment section of D&D (and I do this on almost daily basis) armors looked like at least they could protect someone from getting bitten by a dog.

 

[Jimbru.6014]

> @"Omernon.9762" said:

>

> Well, but they should care about level design and placing objects where they have rightful place is generally considered a good level design. This issue is mainly prevalent in > Core Tyria maps and they did improved their standards quiet a bit over time.

 

Don't even get me started about map design. If I had a gold for every time I tried to click on an interactive object like a banker or a resource node, only to have some loitering NPC or other objects in the way, I could suit up my main in full legendaries.

 

[Warobaz.9543]

What about the landscape walls tha appeared everywhere between the 2 games ? What about the half tropical half jungle feel of GW1's Kryta being changed to something more temperate ?

Redesigning climate and geography isn't sexy... :skull:

[MetalGirl.2370]

If you are 39, it's kind of sad you look at and even care about how female character in the game looks like....it's a pixel.

[Leo G.4501]

> @"MetalGirl.2370" said:

> If you are 39, it's kind of sad you look at and even care about how female character in the game looks like....it's a pixel.

 

A photo of a woman that's digitized is also just pixels.

 

If you shame and oppress people's physical desires, you're only going to push more people to more desperate (and depraved) measures.

 

I'm sure there are plenty of people who are married or in long and happy relationships that are deeply in love with their significant other... But not everyone in those circumstances are beautiful (in fact, I'm positive less that 40% are). So what do you think happens when you repress people from even looking at (fake) beauty?

 

Lol there's nothing wrong with looking.

[Elspereth.1280]

> @"MetalGirl.2370" said:

> If you are 39, it's kind of sad you look at and even care about how female character in the game looks like....it's a pixel.

 

Well then I will settle for being sad (quite a bit older than 39 though, does that make it less sad?) :)

[Raknar.4735]

> @"MetalGirl.2370" said:

> If you are 39, it's kind of sad you look at and even care about how female character in the game looks like....it's a pixel.

 

Customization and skins are a big part of video games. People have different tastes on how they want their characters to look.

Don't you care how your characters look, or are they also just pixels to you, therefore irrelevant?

 

On the topic: I'd also want more gender-neutral plate gear. Out of all the pieces there aren't that many that don't feature a "boob-plate" for female characters. Something akin to the "Alva-Set" of the Dark Souls series, or the Dragon Age plate sets.

[Leo G.4501]

My post got deleted.

 

But anyway, to throw my hat in the discussion, don't leave out outfits. More and varied outfits with unique styles that may not fit into the light/medium/heavy category (and absolving the need to make 3 weight variations) would be a consolation. Also, more options to tweek outfits (toggle pieces) to improve options.

[coso.9173]

i dont get why people think wanting to have a sexy characters means we get turned on by them or something. it's just something nice to look at, and considering the amount of photoshop we're used to, fake videogame avatars are almost as "real" as any perfect body we see in pretty much anywhere.

 

[FrizzFreston.5290]

> @"Dami.5046" said:

> After 13 years of online gaming I still wonder why folk get turned on by pixels.

 

Fantasy and imagination.

I mean, getting turned on is no different than any other emotion.

Are you going to question why people get emotional when reading books, playing games, watching movies too?

[sorudo.9054]

> @"Trise.2865" said:

> > @"sorudo.9054" said:

> > what's wrong with wanting a skintight shiny leather outfit?

> > i mean, to me skin doesn't really cut it, i can understand we can't have anything latex in GW2 but leather can.

>

> [There ya go](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Sneakthief_armor "There ya go").

 

hahahahaha that's all you got, some flat leather with allot of skin?

if i could show you what i am talking about i would be banned, you're way to easy to please.

[Elspereth.1280]

> @"sorudo.9054" said:

> > @"Trise.2865" said:

> > > @"sorudo.9054" said:

> > > what's wrong with wanting a skintight shiny leather outfit?

> > > i mean, to me skin doesn't really cut it, i can understand we can't have anything latex in GW2 but leather can.

> >

> > [There ya go](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Sneakthief_armor "There ya go").

>

> hahahahaha that's all you got, some flat leather with allot of skin?

> if i could show you what i am talking about i would be banned, you're way to easy to please.

 

I find your ideas intriguing and would like to subscribe to your newsletter

[Dragon Priestess.9760]

I think anet is just being lazy. I could come up with a tonne of different designs for them to use if they wanted, I bet many people on here would. But instead, we're just stuck with these boring old armours.

Also, slightly off topic, but I wish we had a boob slider because Big ol' Bitties just aren't my thing.

 

Anyways, I'm a girl who is really into femininity and 'if you got it, flaunt it'. I'm really hoping they add some ball-gown type designs in the future. I want princess dresses. Maybe even lolita, because it's classical and very varied in design.

 

The only thing I don't want is modern day jeans and hoodies type stuff, but if it happens, I'm not going to flip. It doesn't bother me /that/ much.

 

Now that I'm done, here's some images of dresses/ outfits that I think would be cool to see in game:

 

- https://i.pinimg.com/564x/aa/62/c4/aa62c4709d553345fc09d666ffe7f8b1.jpg

- https://i.pinimg.com/564x/7e/f9/14/7ef914fdb388a8d6ee720aeb50d42452.jpg

- https://i.pinimg.com/564x/7d/ad/fa/7dadfaf6e0e99f5df6611076968ad1a6.jpg

- https://i.pinimg.com/564x/28/44/56/2844563c1d53c1823ab95c01e08c99d0.jpg

- https://i.pinimg.com/564x/6d/4c/5e/6d4c5efcb0ee016f24f4988496ee6a1d.jpg

 

And there's a mobile game called Love Nikki that has a whole massive bunch of ideas because it's a dress-up game! I draw outfits inspired by the ones there sometimes. (https://ln.nikkis.info/wardrobe/dress/)

 

 

[Cerioth.7062]

I am a male and I never understood the appeal of making "sexy" characters, especially "sexy" female characters.

 

Then again, I have 40+ charrs, most of them male.

[Elspereth.1280]

Okay, lets forget about the appeal of "sexy" characters. What about making attractive or visually pleasing characters? I mean just because I make a character that I find attractive doesn't mean that I going to wink wink nudge nudge over it.

[PlagueParade.7942]

sexiness = buttcapes! nothing looks more appealing than a male or female char swaggering along, buttcape in the wind.

[Cerioth.7062]

> @"Elspereth.1280" said:

> Okay, lets forget about the appeal of "sexy" characters. What about making attractive or visually pleasing characters? I mean just because I make a character that I find attractive doesn't mean that I going to wink wink nudge nudge over it.

 

I think there are already visually pleasing and attractive appearances available, though.

[Elspereth.1280]

> @"Cerioth.7062" said:

> > @"Elspereth.1280" said:

> > Okay, lets forget about the appeal of "sexy" characters. What about making attractive or visually pleasing characters? I mean just because I make a character that I find attractive doesn't mean that I going to wink wink nudge nudge over it.

>

> I think there are already visually pleasing and attractive appearances available, though.

 

I never said there wasn't. You were saying that you didn't see the appeal of "sexy" characters so what I was trying to say is that there seem to be the idea that a sexy character is just one step away from pron or something. The appeal of a sexy character is that they are, presumably, attractive to the beholder which to me doesn't imply that I am going to start drooling over him or her. Also a sexy character doesn't have to be wearing battle lingerie, they can be fully clothed in absolutely normal clothing (I'm sorry, what I have in my head really isn't reaching my typing fingers so I'm not really getting my point across very well).

[Cerioth.7062]

> @"Elspereth.1280" said:

> > @"Cerioth.7062" said:

> > > @"Elspereth.1280" said:

> > > Okay, lets forget about the appeal of "sexy" characters. What about making attractive or visually pleasing characters? I mean just because I make a character that I find attractive doesn't mean that I going to wink wink nudge nudge over it.

> >

> > I think there are already visually pleasing and attractive appearances available, though.

>

> I never said there wasn't. You were saying that you didn't see the appeal of "sexy" characters so what I was trying to say is that there seem to be the idea that a sexy character is just one step away from pron or something. The appeal of a sexy character is that they are, presumably, attractive to the beholder which to me doesn't imply that I am going to start drooling over him or her. Also a sexy character doesn't have to be wearing battle lingerie, they can be fully clothed in absolutely normal clothing (I'm sorry, what I have in my head really isn't reaching my typing fingers so I'm not really getting my point across very well).

 

I dont really see your point. To me, a sexy character is sexually appealing. There are characters that are otherwise appealing or visually attractive but not sexy.

[Elspereth.1280]

> @"Cerioth.7062" said:

> > @"Elspereth.1280" said:

> > > @"Cerioth.7062" said:

> > > > @"Elspereth.1280" said:

> > > > Okay, lets forget about the appeal of "sexy" characters. What about making attractive or visually pleasing characters? I mean just because I make a character that I find attractive doesn't mean that I going to wink wink nudge nudge over it.

> > >

> > > I think there are already visually pleasing and attractive appearances available, though.

> >

> > I never said there wasn't. You were saying that you didn't see the appeal of "sexy" characters so what I was trying to say is that there seem to be the idea that a sexy character is just one step away from pron or something. The appeal of a sexy character is that they are, presumably, attractive to the beholder which to me doesn't imply that I am going to start drooling over him or her. Also a sexy character doesn't have to be wearing battle lingerie, they can be fully clothed in absolutely normal clothing (I'm sorry, what I have in my head really isn't reaching my typing fingers so I'm not really getting my point across very well).

>

> I dont really see your point. To me, a sexy character is sexually appealing. There are characters that are otherwise appealing or visually attractive but not sexy.

 

Okay how about this. A dress can be sexy. On Raquel Welch (what do you want, I'm old) that dress becomes sexually appealing. On Lee Marvin that dress becomes a lot less sexually appealing (to me anyway :) ). That doesn't stop the dress from being a sexy dress.

 

Now a character can be sexy. As a piece of animation that doesn't mean that I fantasize about going to bed with it but that doesn't stop it from being sexy.

[TwiceDead.1963]

Sure, more armor is always nice. Just avoid the high-heels, please. Don't really like high-heels on my characters, as I like to make armor combinations that are SOMEWHAT believable for what the character will be doing, and high-heels is never a part of that equation. But that, is just what I want, and not necessarily what others want, so take what you get.

 

Also, could we have some consistency in shoe-size for the females? Case in point: Have someone compared the Bladed medium shoes to anything else in the game? They look like PAIN, incarnate.

[Phoenix the One.4071]

I just want more heavy looking light armour beside Bladed, triumph and glorious...

[Mil.3562]

> @"Ashantara.8731" said:

> > @"KeoLegend.5132" said:

> > Yes for more female sex appealing armors

> > hell no for more male sex appealing armors

>

> Wow, sexist much? :angry:

>

> I am female and I refuse to play females for most parts, because there is no good looking adventurer's gear for them, but only ugly high heels version of armor sets or ridiculous half-naked or overly "femmy" designs that no serious adventurer would wear.

>

> I don't want more "saucy armor" designs in this game, but if there is any to be added, I want it to be equal for both genders and not sexualizing just women.

 

Well, I am a female too and I started playing this game with my bf, plus a few friends, six years ago and that was during my junior college days.

 

On the contrary, i would love to have more 'saucy' armors. I won't put them on all the time but on days when I am in the mood, I like to dress pretty and sexy, just like in RL lol.

 

The armour design in this game is mostly ugly and oversized. I have mentioned this many times, there are real girls playing this game and please do give us more choices to dress pretty.

[AzureTerra.1642]

> @"TwiceDead.1963" said:

> Sure, more armor is always nice. Just avoid the high-heels, please. Don't really like high-heels on my characters, as I like to make armor combinations that are SOMEWHAT believable for what the character will be doing, and high-heels is never a part of that equation. But that, is just what I want, and not necessarily what others want, so take what you get.

>

> Also, could we have some consistency in shoe-size for the females? Case in point: Have someone compared the Bladed medium shoes to anything else in the game? They look like PAIN, incarnate.

 

Yes! Heels on amour is another pet peeve of mine and more Boots, everyone need boots