Gender equality in skins

[ardesia]

I'd really like if we could have more female skins.
It would be great if they could be less alluring than the existing ones - or, in order to reach a sort of gender equity, if we could have some more provocative male skins

[Asmodeous]

How can any of them possibly be alluring? The pink archer is a recolor of the green archer. The freya resembles a muscle woman in armour whos suppose to somehow be a dwarf and the pixie is one of the most hated creatures of all time in FT because it refuses to drop a wand half the time. Dont know what a female ogre is meant to look like but im pretty sure that wouldnt be alluring either. A spectremage is probably genderless aswell. A pinkmage too most likely.

Sure a few more female skins might be alright but since weve been waiting on a pvp update for a long time and clan alliances tbh i wouldnt hold my breath. Still. Could add variety i guess in what the mods will spawn next.

[njsveovpd]

I was more wondering if you would implement some of the mod's skins into the normal Company of Heroe since they look much better.

[Leone]

I'd really like if we could have more female skins.
It would be great if they could be less alluring than the existing ones - or, in order to reach a sort of gender equity, if we could have some more provocative male skins

Not sure about the alluring point. Your first comment is saying less sexism and your second one more sexism. But...your first statement is more interesting imo. I wonder what is the m/f player ratio AND would this be balanced if potential players could see a greater variety of female skins? Thought provoking.

[Asmodeous]

I missed that Leone. Lol epic. Good points raised.

[Moonraker]

HMMM ... How about more shemale skins....,

[Crescent Q]

Yes...I would like to see more female skins for all classes myself, that is such a great idea considering there is not much to choose from when buying skins... And if you are a Freya and a woman who likes to play their gender like most people who do, based on gender preference, most times do pick their gender in said race, there would be no need to spend money for a skin cuz you got a Freya who is a mighty woman legend. I have a buddy in game who is a Freya and the skins to buy from are not much of a choice for a gender preference...it only let's you choose only male looking characters within the dwarf spectrum when buying skins which is so limited to the point, it's just best to stay your gender and no need to pay to be a male ingame purchase lol..

Really, I see sales soaring if there was more female skins in each race and class, plus happy female players to be able to choose from a well sort, from using this implementation.

There is a lot of famous woman warriors and barbarians of legend and/or even fiction, for instance Viking woman warriors, She-Ra..lol old cartoon, Red Sonja back in the day lol, and the Warrior Princess...I can't think of her name at the moment. Joan of Arc famous woman Paladin Knight who lead Armies real history. And I am so sure other people could come up with alot more than I have atop my head.

I really like the idea Ardesia, for more skins to choose from in all class and races and as a Sales Entreprenuer and Business Owner it would be a great move for future game updates for players and great for the creators of the game to get rewarded for their efforts too, with ingame purchase of said Skins.

[Asmodeous]

How will the sales soar? If gender based skins are introduced wouldnt it initially be like fairy/mage. Archer/pink archer etc? Theyd have to make more just to throw into the purchase pool. Even then it'l be a brief spike and then trickle down to occassional purchases.

While having more female skins would be alright doesnt this detract from whats really needed in the game at the moment? Like a bit more pvp tweaking on classes. A clan alliance system, better methods to deal with rule breakers?

It is a good idea i admit. But it perhaps shouldnt be a priority atm

[ardesia]

Thanks for all your answers!

I used the word "alluring" in a metaphorical sense, of course, aiming to recall the fact that too often human female is in games (and videogames in particular) more a reward than a playing subject.

It is true that we have a few female skins, but on a female point of view they are not satisfying.
If you want to use a sword, you have to go around in your bathing suit - which is mortifying and quite stupid: going around in bikini in a land full of monsters and hostile people?!?!
If you want to use a bow, u have to be pink.
If you want to use an axe, you can be a nice freya - bearing with her tacky t-shirt and the fact she roams in said dangerous land with naked belly.
If you want to be magic, a cute faery or nothing.
If you feel ogre, you have ogres, which I believe are alien to human genders

To give you an idea of how a girl could feel in this situation, I invite you to look the web for the interesting work of the photographer ashyda, using these research words: "If the men in fighting games were dressed like the women" - have a laugh, then think of it!

Gender issues in games are one of my main topics of interest, as well as a long debated one in Game Studies, and I was curious to see how it is seen and felt by other players - of each gender - in this game community, with regards of skins.
I really like FT, and please be sure that I am not moving a critique but only aiming to reflect on how to bring it to be even better. I agree that this is not the more urgent issue in FT developing, nevertheless I think we can talk and think about it

[Asmodeous]

Thanks for all your answers!

I used the word "alluring" in a metaphorical sense, of course, aiming to recall the fact that too often human female is in games (and videogames in particular) more a reward than a playing subject.

In some games yeah, in others not so much. Theres plenty of games out there that offer either a male or a female skin for your main character, the ones that dont generally have a male as a main character. Of course in these types of games the girl may very well be one of the many rewards that can be earned because half the games out there have some traditional styled romance element to it. Others like DAI for example let you freeplay how youd like your romance to be played out to the point (no issues with this btw) that it can be same gender. It shouldnt also be viewed as a trophy or a possession, just a way that yoir character can progress.

It is true that we have a few female skins, but on a female point of view they are not satisfying.

Because the majority of game designers who create these multi million dollar games aren't female and the ones who do have a hand in them are quite happy with entities like cortana from halo. Or ones like cassandra from the dragonage series. Their main goal is to bring in money, gender equality and all is good. I support it, but slapping everyone in scantily clad armor. Or slapping them in full plated armor based on principle of equality doesnt quite work. While scantily clad armor does appear mostly pointless as the stomach regions are usually unprotected it still serves to bring in money.

If you want to use a sword, you have to go around in your bathing suit - which is mortifying and quite stupid: going around in bikini in a land full of monsters and hostile people?!?!

A bit extreme. A bathing suit? Sure maybe in the anime versions of games yeah, elder scrolls games have included leg armors pauldrons so on and so forth while taking into consideration the female makeup and changing the chest armor a bit.

It would be stupid roaming a monster filled land in a bikini. Itd be outright stupid, but again its game designers mostly being male and thats what their creating. Others dk it differently.

If you want to use a bow, u have to be pink.
If you want to use an axe, you can be a nice freya - bearing with her tacky t-shirt and the fact she roams in said dangerous land with naked belly.

Well. Yeah. Theres no other female archer skin. Theres a skeleton one and a ghost one im assuming is genderless. But with limited models borrowed from an open source place along with the graphics of a mobile game built in this engine, you cant exactly expect HD models. The pixilated ones have their charm as it is. We who play arent after HD like aralon offers afterall.

Is the freyas belly truly naked? Or could it all be considered to be chainmail? Ill go look at the model after this but im pretty sure that same shirt extends to that region too.

If you want to be magic, a cute faery or nothing.
If you feel ogre, you have ogres, which I believe are alien to human genders

Fairies are generally pretty magical in all settings. Tinkerbell wears whats close to rags. Mages wear robes. What exactly is wrong with a fairy? It was well received when it came out. You could go for the spectre mage, its undead and undead generally arent male or female. I could invision ogres not really having too much of a difference considering ogres are masses of muscle.

To give you an idea of how a girl could feel in this situation, I invite you to look the web for the interesting work of the photographer ashyda, using these research words: "If the men in fighting games were dressed like the women" - have a laugh, then think of it!

If men generally dressed in female armor they'd look stupid even if it was practical. Because it wasnt made for them. The same as putting an oversized piece of platemail made for a dude onto a girl. It just doesnt look right because it wasnt made for their body type. While i agree that running around in a bikini is stupid it stems mostly from anime and anime styled games. Companies like bethesda or obsidian etc. Have managed to mix feminimity and practicality into their armors quite well.

Gender issues in games are one of my main topics of interest, as well as a long debated one in Game Studies, and I was curious to see how it is seen and felt by other players - of each gender - in this game community, with regards of skins.

Skins arent a problem. Skins eventually get made after other issues are addressed. Overall skins are a pretty small issue that'l probably be addressed eventually after more gamebreaking ones are dealt with.

Its good that its debated in game studios. But it shouldnt come to the point that they start adding more females into the game if the setting doesnt call for it. Vice versa with males all because of gender equality. Settings should stay true to what they are. In an amazon styled game for instance, i wouldnt expect to see a 50/50 ratio of men to women unless in some places it was warrented.

If an all female setting was created as a gameworld with some interlinking storyline as to why or how that'd also be neat but it'd have to be a solid setting that stays true to what it was created to be. Just as any other setting should be.

I really like FT, and please be sure that I am not moving a critique but only aiming to reflect on how to bring it to be even better. I agree that this is not the more urgent issue in FT developing, nevertheless I think we can talk and think about it

I personally dont see it as a critique and yeah it would add a bit more for all who want to use a variety of female skins. In saying that though things like skins or whatever else shouldnt just be added because of gender equality. Skins no matter what they are should be added because its true to the setting.

The main issue i see is that how women are portrayed by society and what society has built their views upon. Even femenists who claim to be fighting for equality arent actually doing that, their enslaving them to an unrealistic standard and trying to force dual roles upon them. People should do what they are good at, doesnt matter what it is. If they want to wear scantily clad armor, go for it. If they dont and want something bulky. Go for it. So instead how about this proposal. Why not make both types of skins for those who'd want to play either? While not trying to get across that its dissatisfying to women on a whole. Because it might not be. Im also sure scantily cladding up (not in female armor) a dude in similar armor would be outright hilarious and im sure some people would play it because its humerous. Id do it merely as troll humor.

If the skins system could support it, people would play what they wanted. A scantily clad pixilated warrior. A fairy. A bulky dude. Whatever a female ogre looks like. A bulky armoured chick with all the swords. So on and so forth, so why not support this aswell off the basis that its setting appropriate and not to do with attempting to address equality?

Setting appropriate skins ftw.