Guild Wars2 continues to be the textbookiest textbook example of most typical of double standard cliches in video game armors.
For a game that
can provide occasional (relatively) nice female armor and has a commendably self-aware fanbase, GW2 itself is lacking self awareness of its very obvious shortcomings. It just plays the bikini armor tropes straight and pretends there’s nothing out of ordinary about a lady in metal lingerie being the direct equivalent to a dude in heavy armor.
~Ozzie
Yikesaroonie. This also seems to be the Norn race, which live in a place that’s so cold, they have giant ice statues just standing around in town, as depicted vaguely in those background colors. I can’t even tell where her crotch flap is supposed to be attached? Is it coming from her underwear??
Armor like this becomes even more hilarious when you’re in the super serious story cutscenes, and people are talking about military tactics and loss of life, and your character is just… dressed like that… being a commander and stuff… yeah.
(The color scheme is also Awful, but it’s customizable. I just wish their algorithm was better at picking the preliminary examples for you.)
-Icy
edit: Corrected the Norn name. Thanks for correcting us, no thanks for the tone, dear rebloggers.
So I’ve been liking my mesmer character, figured this should be one of the two I spend my level 80 character boosts on. Those boosts come with a trial period where you get all the top-level abilities unlocked and can run around a specific area of the game to make sure you want to use this boost before you commit. It also gives you upgraded armor. And locks out your ability to spend transmutation points to change its appearance. And locks away your old gear so you can’t put it back on, even at a significant stat disadvantage. Meaning that upon deciding to try out this boost (which I could only get by pre-ordering their expansion packs or by spending lots of in-game time/real-world money to buy on their gem store), I am very suddenly, unexpectedly, and irreversibly naked. Yes, I’m saying naked, because I can see her fucking crotch.
This game falls squarely within the genre of MMORPG – massively multiplayer online role-playing game. No, I don’t fully ‘role-play’ this character like some people enjoy. But this type of game generally holds the expectation that the player puts fairly significant investment into character creation and advancement. That’s the point of the genre. After playing this game for years, I tend to make characters that reflect some aspect of myself – in this case, (if the hair didn’t clue you in), my queerness. I directed my feelings about my identity, about pride and resilience and sometimes having to redirect attention, into this character and how she looks and how she plays. It’s a game, yes, but it’s also a fun escape that I’ve poured hours into around grad school and a family that I can’t come out to yet. It still means something. So to have that character’s appearance be suddenly taken out of my control, in a way that left her fucking *naked*. Is appalling. And uncomfortable, and sick, and makes me want to scream. Especially in such a clearly objectifying way that even added tattoos that point at her crotch for good measure.
GW2 certainly doesn’t have a perfect history with this kind of stuff, most notably because their starting light armor for their humanoid female characters includes a short skirt and garter belt. But that’s pretty easy to get rid of quickly, and not still not as bad as this. Otherwise, this kind of ‘armor’ tends to be one option among many, there for those that want it and easily passed by for those who don’t. Which is how it should be. But this shit. This isn’t okay.
Guild Wars 2′s track record regarding female designs is, in the most generous words, flawed. And wow, this situation is the textbook example of everything wrong with the skimpy high level trope. The game gave you an opportunity to test all the high-tier gear… by locking the character in probably the most objectifying costume possible. How charming!
Also nice commentary on the fact that MMORPGs are the game genre where players put a lot of investment into their characters. And how making top tier armors like this directly contradicts the appeal of character customization.
Hope you still can decide not to commit to this boost.
~Ozzie
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“Hey, this combination of light armor pieces looks really nice on my elementalist! Let’s see how those exact same armor skins look on my mholy fuck why.”
(I love Guild Wars 2 with all my heart, it’s such a beautiful and fun game with many many good styles and pieces and colors to choose from and to mix-and-match freely, but this. this really bugs me.)
What I notice about Guild Wars2 fandom is that they tend to express their adoration for the game, while being completely aware of godawful double standard “armors” that can be found there (the game does have better examples for comparison).
Fans of a certain type, like the ones religiously devoted to whatever Blizzard or Warhammer40k spews out, could learn a thing or two from GW2 players about proper critical attitude towards the thing they like.
My Revenant character’s armour was looking a little shabby, so I went to the armoursmiths in Hoelbrak to see what they could set me up with.
I don’t think “disappointment” is quite a suitable term for this. Usually Guild Wars is pretty good with heavy armour, and then there’s the S&M harnesses the Norn characters get….
My Revenant character’s armour was looking a little shabby, so I went to the armoursmiths in Hoelbrak to see what they could set me up with.
I don’t think “disappointment” is quite a suitable term for this. Usually Guild Wars is pretty good with heavy armour, and then there’s the S&M harnesses the Norn characters get….
I love Guild Wars. I just bought heart of Thorns and I am greatly enjoying it. While the game has many great examples of female armor, sometimes not so much. This is focusing on the heavy armor class, because Light Armor is too easy of a target
The Vigil armor. The Vigil is a faction dedicated to eradicating the Dragons that are destroying the world through uniting the races of Tyria. If you join them, like the other factions on this list, you can get their special armor…which is not so great for ladies, because apparently the Vigil, which is not only lead by a woman but a Charr, a race “Forged in the crucible of battle”, only supplies boob window armor.
Next, the heavy armor for the Order of Whsipers. The Order of Whispers is an ancient secret society that has been influencing the leaders of Tyria for centuries. And they make bad armor for their agents. While a bit of extra work, this armor set could be nice but, no, boob window. This seems to be intentional, as this is the concept art for this hot mess.
Thanks, Anet, and Hello Esher Girls.
Finally, the Durmand priory. A faction dedicated to scouring ancient relics and lore for ideas on how to fight the Dragons, with an oddly low scoring armor. Weird.
Anyway, if anyone asks why I always play Charr, a catlike beast race with little to no sexual differences, this is what i‘m going to show them
I get the feeling that someone at Guild Wars decided that they wanted them to be “sexy” but didn’t want them to look conventionally “sexy” so they decided to do things like put windows on the side of the belly and above cleavage.
Presumably they were hoping the shift would distract people from the obvious gaps in the armor and exposed vital areas.
