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The only game that I've played (this includes video and tabletop) that doesn't have female armour as curve-shaped breasty-showoff rubbish is Mount&Blade where, if I take off my curaiss and give it to a woman... it retains its shape!

I mean, don't give me rubbish about women being uncomfortable in non-customised armour, I don't think that excuse can lead to the extremes we see in wargames and vidya games...

Sure, give them a bit of space for their breasts, but squeezing along the hips surely isn't necessary?

Tbh it just leads me to conclude that we're all supposed to be fapping under the table when Sisters enter play?

Sexism!

You seem surprised?

Maybe it's just me being cynical, but as with all things like that, it's there because it will sell. People that play video and tabletop games don't exactly have the best reputations in regards to women (cue threads about a woman being in the LGS).

It just gives the consumer another opportunity to look at breasts and therefore a reason to buy the game. simple as that.

Because people like that women retain their femininity in armor; otherwise they just look like men with a woman's face (see also, most anime/video game heroes/villains).

So you don't like breasts?

Shaman wrote:So you don't like breasts?

I'm an old fashioned guy, I'd rather fantasise about working on the woman for many a month, eventually being rewarded by a small slip of flesh, perhaps the wrist?


I jest,

Nah, it's just something that bothers me because I'm all-for realism in areas that are horrendously blatant like that (thankfully I can overlook other areas of 40k).

I have 0% feminist credentials but I dont like 'porno plate' either.

Its very common in D&D.

Gladiatorial partial armour I can understand, its supposed to accentuate the figure, male or female, but porno plate is designed to resemble lingerie or at best evening dress but is supposed to count as full armour.

Good example Lady Aribeth from Neverwinter Nights:



That armour isnt going to save her life, it will be fricking cold too.

well, mostly because games are... just games. Man character is way cooler when he looks like a badass in black full plate and giant greatsword, and women character is way cooler, when she looks like a hot chick.

And when your fighting dragons,daemons, or bloodthirsty space fungus, realism of your armour is the last thing you care about

Kubik wrote:well, mostly because games are... just games. Man character is way cooler when he looks like a badass in black full plate and giant greatsword, and women character is way cooler, when she looks like a hot chick.

And when your fighting dragons,daemons, or bloodthirsty space fungus, realism of your armour is the last thing you care about

Full armour can still look alright

Sorry but Joan of Arc was the only one I could think of...

I would rather women in games had armour that looked like armour, rather than porno plate, as mentioned above.

Tbh what prompted me to make the thread was the discussion about female SM... and some people whining for models to be made.

Logically they'd look exactly the same (unless they haven't got a helmet, in which case, use a custom head).

Thus I see it as a further enroachment by what you guys've been calling "porno plate" :-/

Now that it's starting to get a bit warmer, take a look at women in the street and see how they dress. Or go clubbing and see how much skin is shown in relation to clothing. Not a lot of difference if you ask me...

Check out oblivion for more sensible armour, as far as I'm aware there isn't any armour in there that when put on a female character looks like it would only protect them against a demonic tatooist hell bent on piercing nipples!

The simple answer is that the target market for most video games are people with large imaginations and little in the way of 'player' personalities, so why not pander to thier needs and provide them with characters that give them something to fantasise about that fits thier imagination quite well to sell more copies?

Look at car magazines aimed at younger generations, they are selling the models they drape over the cars more than the cars themselves!

Flashman wrote:Now that it's starting to get a bit warmer, take a look at women in the street and see how they dress. Or go clubbing and see how much skin is shown in relation to clothing. Not a lot of difference if you ask me...

Wow, because those women are dressing for combat?

Look at a female soldier... pretty plain... on some of them you could squint and not tell them apart from their colleagues.

Flashman wrote:Now that it's starting to get a bit warmer, take a look at women in the street and see how they dress. Or go clubbing and see how much skin is shown in relation to clothing. Not a lot of difference if you ask me...

Yeah, but admittedly, that's compensating for the warm weather and has the intention of looking good, rather than protecting them from being stabbed. The have a different kind of protection for a different kind of being stabbed...

Well ok, I give you Catachan Jungle Fighters then. They wear nothing but vests and are suppposed to have a 5+ flak armour save.

Yes, girls don't wear a lot in fantasy art and maybe this is a little sexist, but my point was that this is largely reflective of how girls dress anyway, which I thought was the point of the discussion.

Should the armour worn by Battle Sisters justify a 3+ Power Armour save? Probably not, but it looks damn cool.

Henners, you make the point that today's male and female combat soldiers look alike. Well if you put a girl in Space Marine power armour, it would just look like a Space Marine with lipstick. Aesthetics demand that female warriors look a little different in these kind of games, so that it's obvious that the character is a girl!

This is sisters in reasonable armor disappointing no?

See I still prefer porno plate.. Guess Im sexist then haha.

@Shaman that's a comprimise eh?

@Flashman I can see why from a modelling/artistic PoV you might want to distinguish female soldiers... but seeing the whole "sci-fi babe" with a pistol in one hand and another hand on her hip with her tremendous arse poking out is a bit too far, imo... I'd just model SM with female heads!

Sex sells, you know it.

Henners91 wrote:Tbh what prompted me to make the thread was the discussion about female SM... and some people whining for models to be made.

Logically they'd look exactly the same (unless they haven't got a helmet, in which case, use a custom head).

Thus I see it as a further enroachment by what you guys've been calling "porno plate" :-/

If you read those threads then you will have seen that those of us who want female SM's are neither whining nor wanting "porno-armour"
As a point of fact I agree with most of your comments.

The reason for the fetishistic costumes of female characters stems from a culture which not merely tolerated the sexualisation of women but promoted it.
In Anime I believe it is called viewer service as is meant to please a mainly male audience.

It has become self parodying and a terrible cliche apart from anything else. IMHO it is time to move on and for designers to come up with some fresh ideas when portraying women.

I'm against porno plate as well. The entire idea is just stupid.

This is one of my favorite female models:


She's the Death Cleric from the defunct Chainmail line.

She's covered in fantasy armor, but she's not friggin' wearing a plate belly shirt with a garter belt and thong like half the figures out there. Because she's here to murder you. I like the idea of it. She's obviously female, but also mostly protected.

Maybe it's just me, but "porno plate" is perfectly acceptable, if not preferable, because I happen to like checking out hot fantasy ladies.

I note that no one seems to mind big, beefy barbarians being portrayed with nothing but a fur loincloth and a battle axe fighting off hordes of monsters.(Wulfgar or Caramon come to mind.)

Why the double standard?

In closing, the more exposed She-Elf skin the better.

Henners91 wrote:
Tbh it just leads me to conclude that we're all supposed to be fapping under the table when Sisters enter play?

Aren't we?

well, it all depends on what are you looking for in games/movies etc. If the game/movie is supposed to be realistic, than ok, I agree "porno plate" is just ridicolous.

But, if play something like Warhammer or dnd? 2m long swords, repeating crossbows, chainswords, power fists, swimming in full plate, casting fireballs all around. The last thing i want from my character is to look realistic (which means lame in most of cases). The same goes for strongholds, starships, weapons and female armour. These are the rules of "awesome"

I guess it depends on the role of the character. I like the fact of SoB having a full power armour (well, with breasts and a corset), and I also like the fact of Red Sonja wearing a chainmail bikini. They are both justified (better or worse) by their stories.

I don't have an opinion in general. I just guess that the target for this material are male teens...

Why is armour in video games usually sexist?

Lets see I wake up in the morning, turn on the radio and hear Lady Gaga asking me to "poke her face, Rihanna: "is you big enuough" etc. etc. Turn on the tv and women rythe around naked in the shower on shampoo commercials moaning like they are being seen to by casonova. Buy a newspaper turn one age and I see tits, magazine about tits, magazine about electronic equipment...complete with tits. Everywhere I look, women are being sexualised.

And you expect wargames, an industry who's market is almost exclusively male, to be any different?

no I expect the whole of the media to grow up too

Un?fortunately that wont happen because it's all ruled by the common rule of: 'man see naked woman, man want naked woman, man want what naked woman advertising.' Also known as: testosterone.

Porno-plate has actually been proven to be the most effective armour for hunting dragons.

Much like dogs a can be said to have the mentality of about a four-year-old, most dragons have the mentality of a 13-year-old boy. When they see breasts, the rest of their brain immediately shuts down, and they don't even notice the sword in the buxom warrior's hand until it is too late.

In this way, bikini-mail is ideal for the task at hand, and it explains why there are more pictures of near-naked women hunting dragons than full-armour-clad men; the women actually return to tell the tale.

@ henners isn't it?
That armor does not highlight tits. Yet is still sisters of battle armor style.. I am Confused..

Also just so you know.. Realism is generally speaking Really boring.

BOOBIE BREAST PLATE FTW. You will never take that away from my video games NEVER!

Kubik wrote:repeating crossbows

How is that fantasy?