Do chars have to look like Barbie/Ken?

If this was already posted, sorry.

The thing I like least about Guild Wars is that all the female characters look like models and most of the female armor is as skimpy as it can get. I'm a girl and kind of a tomboy, and the few girls I know who are gamers are not the Prada type, either. We are mostly teenagers or girls in relationships who play to fight, not flirt. I know some of my dude friends stay clear of certain male professions because they don't look quite masculine enough, if you know what I mean. So more (conservative) variety would be a plus.

How bout these options
Makeup for each girls' face - bright makeup and natural makeup
Facial Hair to some degree, or not, for each guys face (more hair looks masculine and no hair can seem girly, I hear)
Body Type thin, average and hefty body types for everyone (I want my warrior to look like she can hold her equipment).
Facial expression permanent emotion options on faces - smiling, passive, angry, etc.(did anyone else notice all the chars seem to glare? I would like my farmer chicks to look happy)

Clothing Dyable shirts and tights to wear under females' skimpy clothes. (like on WOW)

I would love a few unBarbielike face options for each female profession - a scar, freckles, a dimple... glasses? More plain, studious and athletic (Abercrombie and Fitchish?) options. Fewer airhead Barbie options, please!

I think most girls who want Barbies would buy Barbies, not Guild Wars. Perhaps most dudes would, too. I think most people buy GW to compete, not look pretty, and happen to have chars that look like prissy airheads because we're oblidged to.

Undead Barbie FTW!

There's no accounting for taste.

Guild Wars from the start allowed for more character creation variations than most other games of its type. (ie. compared to WoW)

Generally, people wish to play characters that are attractive to them on some personal level. Also, I don't think "Barbie" is a good way to describe the distinct Guild Wars look and style.

Warriors would beat Ken's ass just based on body structure alone. Females aren't grossly big breasted and small waisted blondes, either. They can be customized to fit a wide range of preferences from mousy to slutty or extremely punked out or designed to be the very embodiment of Xena, the Warrior Princess, herself.

sure, and while we're at it, instead of choosing what skills I should bring I ll shall think about what tone of make up to apply first and oh what color of panties i should wear .

/signed if female eles actually get...like...real armor...you know, stuff that could, say, in RL perhaps stop an arrow? As I see it, female ele armor should give 0 armor for most types atm, last time I checked, people with bows and swords dont ALWAYS hit you in the groin area, or on the upper chest...which is the only location of most female ele armor...:P

In many ways the OP's suggestion would make character avatars even more like dolls, which in fact they are, I guess.

O, boy a 38 year old man playing with virtual dress up dolls...eek!

Perspective is a scary thing.

I meant to have these extra character creation options in the character creation screen, not in game.

Anyone see how involved character creation is in Oblivion? It's pretty cool.

We need conservative clothes options. More variety can't be bad, either.

There Not Dolls Damn It There Action Figures



:d :d :d

Heh, that was a good one.

I am all for more customization, and I do think 90% of the females look like they should be on a street corner in japan with little men drooling all over them while waving money around.

I also hate my Paragon's girlyness. The MJ dance does'nt help either....I don't touch little boys dang it!

They can't even give us the ability to change hairstyles so don't hold your breath.

What's wrong with beauty again?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ralli Pemirl I know some of my dude friends stay clear of certain male professions because they don't look quite masculine enough, if you know what I mean.

Chronias Faer, Mesmer extraordinaire, takes offense to that vague allusion to his feminine body structure and posture (and the fact that he shoots purple and pink sparkles everywhere when he casts, but that is beside the point, I think). However, Rayia Elmiald Faer, Queen of the Fissure Arachnids, agrees wholeheartedly, and thinks Chronias would look pretty in a skirt and blouse.

/cough

On a more serious and related note, I agree with your thoughts; Guild Wars needs less Barbie dolls running around, and more human beings. If Mattel wanted / intended Barbie and Ken to be Warriors, mighty Heroes of a scarred land, Hands of Vengeance, (etcetera and onward with the clichés in this space), they'd have made a "Knights in Cameltoelot" set, or something. I'd much rather play a battle-hardened soldier model than a perfectly formed Ken on steroids.

You have a hearty /sign from this particular gamer dude.

I wouldn't call the big and fat warriors Ken, and I'm not even talking about the male elementalists and mesmers.

I played with barbies when I was young... >.>

But this is something I have come to find odd about Guild Wars. It's very realistic (as far as graphics go) until you get to Unwaking Waters and see Malibu Barbie casting Meteor Storm. That just about ruins the mood for me.

However, I do like how small my little Monk is...
She's like a midget... Or a ninja... A... Minja...

/Signed

More options would always be appreciated. On the other hand, I also want to keep the current skimpy, less realistic armor - farming in the enchanters nightgown is really amusing...

I would like to have a rotund fighter, or even mage. or A warrior even thinner than the male necro. Anyways, more flexible shape, not just scaled height, I sould sign on.

Most of the rest of the OP, andseveral supporting posts are on the side of ludacrism(sp?) though.

You mean to tell me you can't find things that cover up a female elementalist?

Tyrian/Elementalist
Obsidian
Ancient
Primeval
Canthan 15k
And both Pyromancers sets

They're all fairly modest.

And remember, it's a game of magic and shit, If we wanted realism, we'd all be wearing platemail....platemale...? whatever.

The genre isn't called fantasy for no reason.

That is the point of all the options though, whatever your modesty there's an outfit for you. If you end up looking like a prissy airhead, it's because of the decisions that you made, deal with it or delete your character and start over.

Glasses? is that a real suggestion?

Make-up? Wait, you fight zoomed in on your char's face right? Of course, don't we all? Dyable underwear? If you spend enough time looking at your characters face to really be bothered by the limited options, and her underwear, you really didn't buy the game to compete either, you're a hypocrit and a liar.

If you'r so modest, you shouldn't be out of your armor, seriously.

If you thought everyone who bought GW only did it for competition you're sorely mistaken. No monthly fees, attracts alot of kids with no money. Go sit in pre ascalon district 1, people make female ele's specifically to dance, and will do so ALL day. It's yahoo with a little 3d cutesy avatars.




All encompasing note on realism:

Whoever buys a fantasy based RPG should never complain about realism.
Why? Because it's a made up world where people use magic and summon undead -n- shite, and you fight unbelieveable monsters that also are as unrealistic.

You want realism, go buy deer hunter 2007, or something of that nature.
Virtual Welder
North Pole Fashion Designer Plus
Sim-Amish Beta


Otherwise get back to playing and quit crapping your undies over the stuff that you say doesn't matter.

Hey, I want my friends to play GW, but they won't because they refuse to play prissy Barbie and Ken doll characters.

WOW girls are more modest.

Yes there are options. I play a female dervish and a female mesmer. More conservative options for all classes from the beginning would encourage more to buy the game.

Dyeable undershirts and tights to put under our gear, like the shirts in WOW, not underwear.

Perhaps GWs is for lonely dudes, not serious gamers. Perhaps I should start paying $15 again and PVP in the sucky WOW system with all my RL friends who play for sport, not for slutty dolls.

If you're so concerned about playing for sport, you shouldn't have time to be oogling your character and how modest/unmodestly she is dressed, to include the state of her underwear.

That's the point I'm making, you're contradicting yourself.

You don't want to play with "dolls" but you want dyable underclothing, makeup, glasses, hair, facial hair, for your competitive play experience?

You're almost as bad as(and I've seen this) Hyper(insert religion here) types that actualy play these games(very avidly), and suggest that the violence be less bloody/graphic, but only so much as to not offend them personally when they log in the axe warrior and hack other people to pieces.

/notsigned

Haven't you ever watched TV? There are no ugly people in fantasy land. Everyone is perfectly proportioned and not at all plain or modest. Jesus! The main characters are always statuesque and beautiful. Only supporting characters are ugly, Like Koss and that damned eye of his.

Yes, some conservatives like playing MMO's. Some children like playing. Some old people play in nursing homes.

The game should be inclusive to everyone.

I posted this thread because the four guys and two girls I played WOW with won't buy GW after playing free trials because of the appearance of the players. We are all agnostic or atheists I think. No one goes to church anyway. Not that I think there's anything wrong with religions. We are from a more conservative culture (SC, USA).

I look great in a bikini but I'd never swim or surf in one because I'd wind up naked. GW females looks like they should be laying in the sun or shopping in the mall, not fighting. It looks silly.

I just wanted to give Anet an idea to encourage new players to get into the game. What's ideal to some isn't to everyone. And that's cool.

Seeing as every class has at least a few armor sets that comprise full body coverage I can't say as I understand the complaint. In comparison to most fantasy art and games of this type, GW's really much better about this kind of thing than most. Anyone that enjoys the game but can't get over the appearance of the characters clearly doesn't enjoy the game very much, and anyone that thinks the characters look too much like dolls and then suggests makeup is going to have a rough time making a credible case.

All that said it'd be nice to see more "battered" faces of both genders. There are a few scarred male faces and I think at least one of the female faces in Nightfall is missing an eye but on the whole it'd be nice to see as many "badass" options as "pretty" ones. Still, it's a low, low priority overall.

I agree with the OP, we do need a little more customization. There have been a few too many times when I was playing that I thought I was controling my character and my keyboard had messed up, when I suddenly relize that the character that i thought was mine was not. There are a few too many twins and triplets in Guild Wars, and we need a bit of customization to express ourselves (btw I like my women mousy with glasses).

Mega Mouse

Personally I'm all for equal-opportunity objectification - if all female characters have to be catwalk models, then all male characters should look like the male paragons. Yow!

I guess I'm used to the elementalists and their gownless evening straps, because they don't bother me - also, when I had one I just stuck her in the Tyrian pantsuit.

The only character design that makes me uncomfortable is the female Ritualist. Usually I wait until after the first mission to upgrade character's armor, but with my rit it was straight to the monastery crafter for a canthan shirt. However, the canthan shirt WAS available. No one is being forced to dress their characters like hookers.

Well, Guild wars does have a decent balance of skimpy an moderate armors but you can't please everybody. the faces aren't to bad they dont look like there giant mattel dolls either but battle scars on more faces would look cool though. You can have your friends wait till chapter 4 preview comes out cause there going to have new armor,faces etc. that they might not find barbieish.

An wouldn't the make up on the female chars add to the frustration you alrdy have with character creation?

Quote:

Originally Posted by art of war An wouldn't the make up on the female chars add to the frustration you alrdy have with character creation?

Personally I interpreted the makeup suggestion as a toggle between, well, what is available now, and a more "Plain Jane" look (take that one female Elementalist face with the obnoxious lipstick, for example; remove the obnoxious, while keeping the facial features).

But that's just how I see it, and I could very well have interpreted it wrong.

I agree it would be nice to have more customization, much like Oblivion. I recall a friend of mine and I going to Lion's Arch, where my friend met his twin... same face, hair... even armour. They just stood there looking at each other for a while, until my friend put his helmet on and said "That's better." It was rather amusing.

However, if people don't like this barbie or ken look though, maybe they should just leave their helm/mask/etc on all the time. It's what I do, in fact, it's been so long since I've seen my warriors face that I really don't remember what it looks like. I think I'll go check it out now...

More options are always better but I dont see any problems.

/not unsigned

/signed

i dont really know what to say, but it is a fantasy game with magic whirling around, but at the same time it is a storyline on how your character, whom you have created and become, grow and progresses in life. i would enjoy actually seeing myself in some of these people, and not perfect dolls.

I'd like to see different body types:

Current -- A bit less thin -- Norgu


Sure, I love supermodels in bikinis [with swords] as much as the next guy, but if I had a choice, I'd make my female warrior with more muscles.

http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Ranger_Ancient_Armor

Oh yes, cause this armor is way to skimpy (sarcasm).

There are armor choices that are quite modest for females out there.

Every class should have at least one pair of pants please.....

Oh well, some people are attracted to fat chicks, I guess it's fine to give them what they want Personally, I'll stick with the models, I roleplay a hero, and heroes aren't fat.

Aye. Most female ranger armors are resonably modest. (with the notable exception of 15k druids) But, then modesty itself is subjective. Those most conserned with modesty tend to have a more restrictive standard than others.

I don't have a problem with Shing Jea Rit armor myself, like the poster upthread. But that poster did have options, as do most professions. I am slightly bugged by the standard ele armor in Elona. Native Elonian ele's don't have a choice to wear non-skimpy armor until they hop continents or make it to Kodash/Bone Palace.

Point is everything in the game they made somewhat realistic...the graphics are great and everything. However, I agree it is a bit ridiculous to have a whos boobs and butt are the only things covered in battle...like someone above said must be because in battle those are the only places the enemy strikes.

Oh Mr Tank I am not scared of you I have my mighty nighty of defense on...hack away!

Well, I'm a girl, and I don't mind how the girls look. And there's always a way to make your character look more modest if that's what your after. There are always faces with no makeup, and even the elementalists have Ancient armor. It's not flattering, but it's modest! :P
Nope, MY biggest gripe is with the way the MALES look.
The male warriors? The male monks? Good LORD they're horrible!
The guys get to stare at their pretty female pixels no matter what class they play, but I have to play mainly girls, where I far prefer to play males, because the only male characters I've been able to make remotely nice-looking to my tastes are my Ele, my Sin and my Necro.
Oh how I'd love a male monk. A nice, skinny little male monk whose neck is NOT wider than his skull.
No such luck.
Heck, I'm not expecting them to implement anything like this, but I guess what would help us all out (at least to an extent) would be a WEIGHT SLIDER.
Would give so much more variety in game as well - less of the clones.
So yeah, I agree with you on the weight / build issue.
Still, highly unlikely, I reckon - imagine the reworking of the armour system so that armour of a single style would fit all builds... ouch.

i guess my warrior would be male if it didn't had to look like conan

/signed

Ok im skinny as hell in life, but if i can be 500 pounds in gw, count me in!
/signed

Thanks Faer, your interpretation was right. I and most of the friends I hang out with think makeup is unneccessary / hides beauty. And then I know at least one gamer who think make-up is best and rarely plays a char without it. I was trying to be inclusive. Sorry my original post was confusing.

One of my guy friends said he'd play male characters if there were more options with facial hair (which he thought would make them look less gay), which led to that suggestion.

Related note: I gave my dead WOW subscription to my invalid grandfather, who has much more time to enjoy it. He rolled a Draenai mage and enjoys sheeping everything and dancing naked in the auction house. He's leveling quickly and happier than ever. See, I wouldn't really think to share current Guild Wars chapters with him. I would hope to God female sex objects and gay dudes wouldn't be his thing. Now I may buy myself ANOTHER WoW account to enjoy his company before he kicks the bucket, instead of buying other GW chapters that no one I know in real life wants to play. The social part of the game is important.

It's all about who Anet wants to market to.

I'd play male characters if I could make them look MORE gay.

Probably not me then ^^'

I'm all for more customisation, but I'd hope it would go both ways!
If they ever let us make less-attractive male elementalists, they should certainly let us make more attractive male warriors and monks too!
(And mesmers who don't run like apes! Please god, a shoulder-size slider on the male mesmers!! )

I find it rather natural that combatants be physically fit, and naturally phyically fit bodies are more attractive. But I do agree, the bimbo, C and D cup, functionally weak revealing armor and simply slutty attire on female characters are rather silly and unorthodox for combat.

At the same time, the majority of players, male or female character, are men..... er boys perhaps. So making a sexually attractive character is a simple sales advantage, in any feature, whether it be game, cloths or.... soda pop. And the reverse can also be true, physically attractive male figures can be a sales too for women....... to a degree.

But naturally, the highest goal would be to please all interests, and providing the option to create unique characters with simple features, unattractive features, and even weak features would be a plus. My only concern is that it stay realistic, Elderly and Overwieght people do not belong on a battlefield, sure they can still fight, but in a game with a speed and strength status, pretending to use unqualified combatants in the same fashion as fit ones is rather silly.

There is also a great degree of payload requested with such an interest as well. Notice that the only real difference between bodies in a particular class is size. By adding additional body types, not only do the character models require new visual figures, but every single piece of armor available and created for every class would require multiple visual figures as well to portray different proportions. That is an exponential payload of graphical programing, which can be done, but may be too costly or time consuming.

It would be alot easier to create new classes with different physical features, regretably it doesn't not allow you to play as whatever you want and look like whatever you like, but it does add some physical diversity. For example, the Female Assassin is rather flat and small.

Reguardless, if it could be managed, I would like to see some physical diversity, I will never appreciate a Male Warrior just because he looks like a Line Backer. But in thinking, if they are willing to go through all the trouble of making entirely new physical models and armors associated with them, than it would be loads easier to provide different Races instead of slightly different physical models for Humans. In this way, they do not have to reproduce all of the armors in the game, but only a few new armors for that Race/Class combination. And instead of offering a slight physical alteration, it offers entirely new identities as well as unique physical features. And in closing, they could offer a human simular race as an alternative to human features, that would allow a simular option that doesn't require a complete redevelopement of all exsisting armors for humans. And no I don't mean Damn Elves..... Perhaps something like Wardens or perhaps something a bit more simular, but please let it be original, I still greive the inclusion of Dwarves......

I dont think is has to be to the extreme of redoing all the armor types. I'm thinking more of a skin that could be scalable with character proportions.

But for the most part, I think the proportions are appropriate for their classes. who is the warrior type in real life? Line backers, body builders, bullies, ring fighters. Mesmer? Magicians, artists, actors, none of those seem specifically "buff" to me, actually I think the mesmers look a little too beefy for the kind of people they are suppose to be. But I suppose being the idle of sensory pleasing would allow a number of proportions... I think the Dervish and Paragon class males should be a little bigger. Necromancers are proportionally skinny for the "emo" type they are.

If anything the male body types are the only ones with any diversity in their models, the FEMALES however are all the same.