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Women in fantasy

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Mindfire

Istar
Anyway, to get back on topic: just found out about this game called Dragon's Prophet, a little free-to-play MMO game that allows you to create a character and train your own dragon. Looks fun. And then I saw, well, it speaks for itself.

pack-3-item-5-popup.png


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What. Why does a game need 5 different sliders for boobs? I mean, why?
 
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Devor

Fiery Keeper of the Hat
Moderator
I made an Iron Man post but deleted it when I realized I was ninjaed by that. That's crazy.
 

Ghost

Inkling
There are so many things wrong with both costumes.

I'm assuming a male character also has customizable cleavage since he's got a bra on, or maybe some sliders to control whatever's going on with his crotch. Would setting all those sliders on max incur some sort of dexterity penalty?
 

Ophiucha

Auror
I am just curious what the slider for 'breast shape' changes. I get the other four, but how do you make a slider for shape? A slider with at least 43 degrees, no less. Genuinely baffling, and I say this as somebody who spends 20 minutes making sure my Skyrim characters have just the right nose.

With video games, I think my biggest pet peeve is weight. Male video game characters usually range from a relative litheness - sort of an archer or thief body type - to the ridiculous uberbuff Liefeld men. Female video game characters get to range from busty and lithe to busty and thin but with a slightly different texture on their arm and (obviously exposed) midriff to show that they have a bit of muscle definition. Come on, now, I accept that most men would still pick the busty and skinny choice, but where are my barbarian ladies? Aside from games like Saint's Row where you can change everything about a character's appearance down to making them morbidly obese, it's really rare. Though Diablo III did have a pretty decent one for their Barbarian class.

zTnZuDr.jpg


I mean, she still has remarkably little armour in the chest area for someone who just charges into battle, but at least she's got arms big enough to hold up a battle axe. It's the little things, sometimes.
 

A. E. Lowan

Forum Mom
Leadership
I am just curious what the slider for 'breast shape' changes. I get the other four, but how do you make a slider for shape? A slider with at least 43 degrees, no less. Genuinely baffling, and I say this as somebody who spends 20 minutes making sure my Skyrim characters have just the right nose.

With video games, I think my biggest pet peeve is weight. Male video game characters usually range from a relative litheness - sort of an archer or thief body type - to the ridiculous uberbuff Liefeld men. Female video game characters get to range from busty and lithe to busty and thin but with a slightly different texture on their arm and (obviously exposed) midriff to show that they have a bit of muscle definition. Come on, now, I accept that most men would still pick the busty and skinny choice, but where are my barbarian ladies? Aside from games like Saint's Row where you can change everything about a character's appearance down to making them morbidly obese, it's really rare. Though Diablo III did have a pretty decent one for their Barbarian class.

zTnZuDr.jpg


I mean, she still has remarkably little armour in the chest area for someone who just charges into battle, but at least she's got arms big enough to hold up a battle axe. It's the little things, sometimes.

Remember, enemies only aim for the shiny bits!
 

A. E. Lowan

Forum Mom
Leadership
With video games, I think my biggest pet peeve is weight. Male video game characters usually range from a relative litheness - sort of an archer or thief body type - to the ridiculous uberbuff Liefeld men. Female video game characters get to range from busty and lithe to busty and thin but with a slightly different texture on their arm and (obviously exposed) midriff to show that they have a bit of muscle definition. Come on, now, I accept that most men would still pick the busty and skinny choice, but where are my barbarian ladies? Aside from games like Saint's Row where you can change everything about a character's appearance down to making them morbidly obese, it's really rare. Though Diablo III did have a pretty decent one for their Barbarian class.

That's actually one of the things I like about SWTOR. There are several body types, and while you don't get the hyper detail-oriented sliders you get with games like Dragon Age, I can tell you my Bounty Hunter is a pleasant size 16 with a sweet round face, probably, while my Sith Maurauder could bench press a Rancor. Granted, my Smuggler is a pixie, but she's so cute! And one of the male body types actually IS morbidly obese. And aside from the obligatory slave Leia costume to get on Tatoonine (though I think guys should be able to wear them, too), because after all, this IS Star Wars, all the armor sets are pretty tame.

Go Bioware and Lucas Arts!
 
Speaking of shiny bits, this excellent article on Tor.com explains the perils of wearing boob-plate armor.

boob-plate-armor-would-kill-you

boob-armor.jpg

I'm always surprised by the girls in chain mail bikinis at SCA events. I'd figure the chafing would be a very serious drawback to that variety of leisure wear O_O

In fighting, here is a quote from the Marshal's Handbook in the SCA (note: the people wearing chainmail bikinis are not fighting, they are spectators. Fighters have very strict armor requirements):
3. For women, groin protection of closed-cell foam or heavy leather or the equivalent is required to cover the
pubic bone area. The wearing of a male athletic cup by female fighters is prohibited.
4. Separate breast cups are prohibited unless connected by or mounted on an interconnecting rigid piece, for
example, a heavy leather or metal breastplate.
Source: www.sca.org/officers/marshal/docs/marshal_handbook.pdf (pg 12)

That's about the only difference in requirements of armor.
 

Addison

Auror
In my opinion any MMORPG with any number of sliders, especially FIVE, relating to breasts, is sick and clearly made by either men with no life and lots of dreams and/or women with low self esteem.

But back to the thread topic (as there was one about fifty pages ago about Women in Fantasy) a female character, especially the hero, follows the same arcs as a male hero. Farmer turned valiant hero, rags to riches and all of those. As a woman myself, yet an avid reader, I'm pulled toward both but it's the story itself that draws me. Yet even my kid siblings have differences. My sister loves reading books about girls her age throwing sleep overs and bake sales, my brother is loving the Janitors series and something about a kid and a school virus. (Not a Janitors book) But he will not pick up a book with a strong female hero like Fablehaven or Winterling or Enchanted Forest Chronicles. My sister is eating the Chronicles and a Frog Princess series and is devouring Alosha.

When I asked my brother why he wasn't reading those books he said the hero was a girl and, and I quote, "Girls can't be as good as heroes as boys can." As a girl, reader, writer, and big sister I laid down the law. I asked him to make a list of what makes boys better heroes than girls and girls worse heroes than boys. If my scanner was working I'd upload is list it is so little-boy-cute-and-ridiculous.

Needless to say I turned each of his items on his "Girls worse" list around. So at the end when I asked why girls aren't as good heroes all he could come up with was "They're girls." So I made a bet for him to read the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, at least the first one. And if he either honestly didn't like it or didn't read the second, then I would make him a whole pan of special brownies. If he did like it and/or read the next, I got the whole weekend free of little kid interruptions and I didn't have to make his bed or feed his dog.

Needless to say I'm going to have a very pleasant weekend.
 

Kit

Maester
You handled that very well. I would have just knocked him down and given him noogies till he took it back.

Please let us know what he thought of the book!
 

Mindfire

Istar
Hmmm... I wouldn't have given him the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. I would have given him Percy Jackson instead.
 

Mindfire

Istar
Ohhhhh Enchanted Forest over Percy Jackson, every time. We are now bitter enemies forever.

I have nothing against EFC. It inspired some elements of my own WIP. I just like the Percy Jackson books more. :p

In any case, I speculate that Ophiucha's brother doesn't really have anything against girls. He just prefers male heroes because they're more like him and he can relate to them and imagine being them better. This is normal for children and nothing to worry about.
 
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Jessquoi

Troubadour
I have nothing against EFC. It inspired some elements of my own WIP. I just like the Percy Jackson books more. :p

In any case, I speculate that Ophiucha's brother doesn't really have anything against girls. He just prefers male heroes because they're more like him and he can relate to them and imagine being them better. This is normal for children and nothing to worry about.

That doesn't seem to fair to me. What about little girls reading books then? Do you think they'd relate better to a heroine, of which there are usually less? I'm female and I related to Harry Potter and other male MCs just fine. It's normal for young boys to relate to heros but then it also has to be normal for young girls to relate to heros too?
 

Mindfire

Istar
That doesn't seem to fair to me. What about little girls reading books then? Do you think they'd relate better to a heroine, of which there are usually less? I'm female and I related to Harry Potter and other male MCs just fine. It's normal for young boys to relate to heros but then it also has to be normal for young girls to relate to heros too?

I actually, I do think girls are more likely to relate to heroines. Disney has built an entire franchise on that idea.
 

saellys

Inkling
I actually, I do think girls are more likely to relate to heroines. Disney has built an entire franchise on that idea.

If you think the franchise Disney has built is based on heroines, I want to know what movies you've been watching.
 

Mindfire

Istar
Studies have shown that little girls will watch TV shows and read books about male characters, but that the reverse tends to not be true.

I think this merely shows that girls are willing to watch shows starring male heroes. It does not show that, given the choice, they prefer male heroes to female ones. I would suspect they don't.

If you think the franchise Disney has built is based on heroines, I want to know what movies you've been watching.

Disney Princesses are the protagonists and heroines of their stories, or at least that's the way Disney markets them. Not to mention 70-80% of what airs on Disney Channel is clearly marketed to girls.
 
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