On “Video Games and Gender Selection”. Saint’s Row is kind of a bad example when considering the /entire game/ is made up of bad cliches and Shaundi’s lack of clothes is more like a character flaw/feature (Flaw in the sense of protection, I suppose). Shaundi’s over sexualization is also apparently a character feature. Otherwise, I agree with the point of the article.
I agree Saints Row is a terrible example of a game with gender equality… that hasn’t stopped various people from proposing that it:
- Is totally fair to the genders it represents
- Is an excellent example of how to do a multi-gender PC game
- Is the answer to sexism *
It was however, really good for illustrating some particular points and I had the screenshots on hand to do it so it got mentioned in the list of franchises. I probably won’t discuss it in depth on Bikini Armor Battle Damage again though – mostly because of the lack of armor.
– wincenworks
* Yes someone did link us to an article that claimed Saints Row IV is the solution to sexism in video games – with a request for BABD’s opinion on the matter. Hopefully the article made that clear.
Maybe I’m weird, but I always worry about bikini armor girls dealing with menstrual stuff. I know I wouldn’t want to run around in a metal g-string at that time of the month…
Nah, it’s totally not weird to be worried about a legit anatomical problem.
As we learned from The Chainmal Chick, actual panties made from chainmail are out of the question, considering how absolutely uncomfortable (chafy and pinchy!) they would be… It’s safe to assume similarly with any other kind of underwear made of metal or other material not suitable for it… especially if it’s a g-sting/thong.
But then again, we can probably safely assume that any work of fiction conveniently omits certain bodily functions as “too gross” to ever address on-screen/page…
That said, it would definitely be entertaining to see, for example, a video game that decided to acknowledge most of their thong-clad heroines have functioning uteri and thus make them wear something comfortable and conservative regularly for like 1/6 of the gameplay!
You want gritty realism, AAA gamers? Then there aren’t many grittier things about everyday real life than periods! >-D
~Ozzie
edit: Slight rewording of the initial sentence to make it more inclusive.
That post about “attractive armor without bikini” actually left me wondering: why would you actually want an attractive armor? Sure, everyone loves an aesthethically pleasing armor, but we can’t just forget that armor is mostly made to be, well, intimidating. It’s supposed to make people both safer in combat and also more powerful. Not having to battle – because you look so threatening or even downright unbeatable – is some 40% of the purpose of an armor piece. Why does it need to be attractive?
Regarding: this post
That’s actually a very good question! In short, the answer is (and better get your body ready for that)…
Believe it or not, some of the Female Armor Rhetoric Bingo arguments hold up under specific circumstances.
But let’s set some things straight first: armor is done primarily to be protective.
It sure helps if the design makes the wearer intimidating enough to make the opponents surrender right away, but at its core it was invented as a physical barrier between a person and whatever or whoever threatens their life or health.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for decorative armor in the history. Highly ornamented muscle cuirass (male equivalent of boobplate) was designed to impress and worn by high-standing officers during non-battle special occasions, like parades.
That said, in the world of fiction the distinction between purely functional and decorative armor is not necessary. It’s not real, and unless the setting of choice is gritty life-like naturalism, the armor (and any other design) needs just to be believable, not realistic. We commented on it before.
This is where those two bingo squares come in. Fictional worlds, especially the more fantastic ones, can be stylized, sometimes even to ridiculous degree, as long as all of the world is consistent with its level of stylization.
That’s why it’s not inherently bad to have people fight monsters in G-strings… It just needs to all make sense within its own narrative and preferably not be gendered (which basically never happens).
Hope that answers it.
~Ozzie
What is your opinion regarding the Adepta Sororitas’ (Warhammer 40k) armor? The flaws that I can see are their boob-sock-plate-torpedo-things and the general lack of a helmet. Are there any other flaws that you can point out? The ask does not allow links, or I just do not know how to properly add one, sorry. :<
Here’s why I’m not the person to ask such questions, in case you missed the note…
…BUUUUT it just happens that the very first submission to this blog was a very comprehensive article my friend wrote about Sisters of Battle, especially Sisters Repentia.
In short, Warhammer 40k is pretty ridiculous by definition, but regular Sisters have surprisingly decent armor (for the standards of such setting, that is), with the only major fault being the boobplate…
With Sisters Repentia though, as much as the idea of redemption by death is interesting, there is no reason why their death-wish outfits need to be the skimpy, pants-lacking, physics-defying… uh, this:
Edit: Valuable comments by yanavaseva
replied to your post:
And these aren’t even the most blatant sisters repentia outfits I’ve seen. As of regular sisters of battle, sometimes they are drawn with high heels, but on the other hand, sometimes they have helmets and not a boobplate, so this balances it out.
A long time ago, I was playing a game (I don’t remember the name) with what I can only describe as “inverted” female armor: the entire torso area was armored to the nines, but the head, arms, and legs were completely bare. Thoughts?
In short? Limbs are expendable. Heart or intestines are not.
Posts I won’t be making
Since the blog almost doubled in popularity since last week, I’ve been getting the same types of asks and submissions, and as far as I’m grateful for attention from you, dear readers, I’ll try to explain why submissions below aren’t what I’m looking for:
voqurnen-jovein submitted:
Here’s another one for your Skyrim collection.www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/30616/
voqurnen-jovein submitted:
Another one for Skyrim… this is actually pretty skimpy armor if you really look at it (sideboob, low slung chainmail over leather underwear), but.
http://images.uesp.net/1/19/SR-load-Woe_to_the_unwary_explorer.jpg
You’ve probably already gotten opinions on it, but the female armor in the elder scrolls games is the best because it’s exactly like the male armor. Like there is no difference.
kiwi-disu asked:
I know you’ve brought up Skyrim before but if I may interject one thing I found while browsing YT, the Evil Lair of Hydra mod. Now this may just be a kink thing but it’s very.. unsettling. It’s a dungeon filled with tons of naked women waiting to be killed, most of them in chains,with nooses around their necks, on torture tables, strapped to a post being stabbed, chained on top of a fire, in a battle arena, laying unconscious on a bed, etc. It just doesn’t sit right with me.. : /
ululato asked:
Hi there! Can’t believe I’ve only just found this blog, it’s awesome! Just wondering what you guys think of the armor sets in Guild Wars 2?
dan-heron asked:
Say, have you seen stuff from Capcom’s Monster Hunter? They have 4 types for each armor, male/female and sword fighter/gunner. While there are some obviously fanservice exclusive for females, there are also some nice surprises like full concealing and bulky armor, or more surprisingly the same fanservice for male armors, like chest and midriff exposed and using short shorts
cat-nip-cartel submitted:
Guild Wars 2does this count as a positive example? i mean /most/ of the female armour is structured the same as the male armor aside from vagueboobplates. at least with the heavy armor anyway!
So, for the future reference:
- Please do not send me just bare examples of badly dressed warrior women. This blog is not just collecting examples. Best place for that would be repair-her-armor, where they are collected for reference for future fixes.
- Do not ask me if I find a certain game counts as a good or bad example. Chances are, I’m not familiar with it, so best I could do is to ask readers for their opinions.
Or, if the game is Elder Scrolls V, I talked about it already a few times and you can check the Skyrim tag.
If you want to quantify how questionable any female armor is, compare it with BABD bingo card as a reference.
Things Bikini Armor Battle Damage is devoted to are:
- Poking fun at sexist female warrior costume designs (preferably by putting them in realistic scenarios).
- Analyzing and commenting on the inherent design flaws of sexist warrior costumes (that doesn’t mean I’ll review every armor design you link to me)
- Providing resources on armor design (especially armor for women).
- Highlighting examples of fully-protected female warriors and realistic scenarios for fighting half-naked.
^Please try to keep your submissions and questions generally within above rules.
As a game design student and one of the only female students in my year, I commend you for the work you’re doing and this is one of the main reasons I chose to do the work I’m doing. Please keep it up (:
Thank you, that’s so sweet! 🙂
Best of luck at showing the guys at your school that games are played by women and can be done by women with respect for women!
I skimmed a couple pages over here and saw a lot of complaining about the way mmos handle things. Tbh, I’d love it if more took the same tact as SWTOR has. With the exception of a few pieces of gear that looks really dumb on both genders, and some female only or male only gear, nearly everything looks the same, male or female, and new gear is constantly being added in each patch. So you can give your Jedi or Agent or Sith proper armor or you can dress them in underwear. It’s up to the player.
Just as with Skyrim before, I have to admit I never played Star Wars: The Old Republic, so I’m not the best person to validate whether or not the game does a good job at keeping costume designs equal. Anyone with specific examples at hand, feel free to submit with your own comments!
And yeah, I will always agree that it should be totally up to the player to decide how their character is dressed (so of course the game should provide as many options as possible).
I am writing a paper on the portrayal of women in video games for class and when I was on tumblr once upon a time I found a picture of a guy (real life model) and he was in “armor” (imagine female gaming armor in real life) I was wondering if you had seen it? or have a link to it? I want to find examples of men in “female” armor. Thanks!
I think you might be referring to this guy! Or possibly this high fashion model (NSFW!). For more men in similar type of “armor” check out the Sexy Male Armor tag. Hope this will help with your paper 🙂
If you, by any chance, happen to publish it online afterwards, please link it to me.