When does in-game armor go from sexy to stripperific?

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So a discussion popped up around the Massively offices the other day regarding MMORPG armor (or the distinct lack thereof when it comes to some titles). A question was raised as to why some games get away with sexualizing female gear while others are raked over the coals for demeaning women, pandering to men's baser instincts, and generally setting the cause of feminism back by decades.

Take today's header image for example. Guild Wars (and its upcoming sequel) are rarely bashed by the skimpy armor police, yet the game does accentuate the female form more often than not. Aion contains some of the racier outfits in the history of the genre, but you rarely see people complaining about it (especially the considerable number of real-life female players who deck out their Daevas in said gear). TERA, on the other hand, is the current whipping boy when it comes to sexy armor in MMOs, as numerous comment threads (likely to include this one) illustrate.

For today's Daily Grind, we'd like to know what causes some revealing armor sets (or the games that feature them) to be deemed A-OK while others are decried as offensive. In a nutshell, what line does armor have to cross before it goes from sexy to stripperific?

TH

For me it's just a way to make male players to play
female avatars, I don't see how would anyone go to
battle looking like a playboy centerfold, but it is
pleasant to our eyes, as to the lines, I leave them to
censhorship committees.

Flatline78 wrote:For me it's just a way to make male players to play
female avatars, I don't see how would anyone go to
battle looking like a playboy centerfold, but it is
pleasant to our eyes, as to the lines, I leave them to
censhorship committees.

Personally I don't give a shit, it's just gear if a girl or... man, wants to look sexy let them.

It's like running, it's not real life, why would someone be scared or offended by sexy revealing gear? I can only think as characters and personalities online become more personal they would feel nervous about it in fear of revealing that they are a slut or some weak-minded shit like that.

TH

Agreed.

The whole concept is superfluous and irrelevant for me, with all the free porn on the internet I find it juvenile for teens to lust over a scantly dressed digital character, the main reason I never got into the whole Lara Croft vibe, and I was relatively young when she first debuted.

rider_xx wrote:The whole concept is superfluous and irrelevant for me, with all the free porn on the internet I find it juvenile for teens to lust over a scantly dressed digital character, the main reason I never got into the whole Lara Croft vibe, and I was relatively young when she first debuted.

I dunno full nudity is one thing, discovering is another.

TH

Nothing wrong with full nudity on games, if it has it it should have the correct age limit on the box and if the child's parents decide to buy him the game it is their risk not the game makers.

TheHidden01 wrote:

rider_xx wrote:The whole concept is superfluous and irrelevant for me, with all the free porn on the internet I find it juvenile for teens to lust over a scantly dressed digital character, the main reason I never got into the whole Lara Croft vibe, and I was relatively young when she first debuted.

I dunno full nudity is one thing, discovering is another.

TH

We are talking about digital characters TH, the only thing to discover is pixelated polygons. I prefer good old porn for my voyer fetishes.