Developer Ditches Metal Bikini Due to Community Response
It's amazing what kind of effect a community can have on a game.
Larian Studios have already experienced first hand how important a community is. Their game, Divinity: Original Sin was crowdfunded through Kickstarter.
But gamers were less than pleased about the advertising art for one of the characters: Scarlett.
Scarlett had been decked out in the RPG worlds favorite piece of female armor: the metal bikini. And possibly no pants or underwear. From the image, I'm not actually sure where her underwear would go. Maybe behind the oversized belt?
Larian asked for feedback on the issue after receiving negative comments about the state of heroine armor (the example below features the heroine in a male NPC's armor). 
So Larian fixed the problem. While in-game, you'll have a variety of clothing options, the advertisements feature a fully clothed, armored and feminine heroine.
Larian's multi-faceted RPG is out this month, and with an in-game editor that allows you to create your own single and multi-player campaigns, it's certainly looking the free-roaming experience that was advertised.
What do you think of female armor in RPG's and other games?
Do you want a heroine with armor that looks like the mens? Or do you ache for the return of the metal bikini?
Have some great examples of horrifying armor? Enter in our contest to win a $75 Amazon gift card.
Source reddit.com
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PatriotGrrrlMay 12, 2015, 1:08 pmWomen's armor doesn't have to look just like men's to avoid being a bikini, and the pictures above are proof.
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Huang_6879September 10, 2014, 5:23 pmIt's stupid female characters can be both strong and empowering while being sexy at the same time. If it's that much of a big deal don't buy it simple as that.
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I don't believe the complaint was necessarily that she was sexy. I would argue that simply covering her midriff didn't make her not sexy.
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I think female gaming characters deserve armor as exciting and functional as their male counterparts. It's not even the metal bikini that bothers me so much, it's how visually boring and confusing it is. Looking at her without any context and drawing from my knowledge of video games, I'd take her as a dancer class or a priest class, someone more akin to buffs than physical combat. Adding the armor not only creates a more interesting visual look, but gives a much stronger impression that this is a warrior/knight style class that I'd want on the front lines of my party.
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Agreed. In a lot of games where there is a party, it seems like being the female character automatically means the support. So if you were looking at this image, you could conclude that the woman was a support. With armor she looks more "equal" to the male character.
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- BINGO! Your garb should give some indication of career, talents/skill and maybe some cultural identity (if the game has various races or backgrounds).
If a game had a barbarian class, then I could see some leeway with characters (both male and female) wearing less clothing in exchange for quicker movement etc. and their cultural background would make sense.
And it while does make sense for magic-users, rangers and thieves to have less cumbersome gear, even those outfits don't always have to be stripper rejects.
Like Amanda said some garb even seems to dictate leading or support roles. But trust me, war hammer in hand - this Amazon is barreling right into the fray. -
Okay the picture with the either / or options was annoying. I know it was a simple photoshop to make a point, but it seems like a spiteful point. "Oh, you don't like the teeny tiny option, well here's what you'd be stuck with."
There is a happy medium somewhere, I'm sure.
But, the main point of the debate has pretty much been about choices. Give us choices. Hell, give us an entire wardrobe of them! That was one of the few things I hated about Pirates Online was the limited wardrobe storage. Anytime I'd find something nifty, I had to throw something out.
A couple of things I like about Guild Wars 2 is that I can have a variety of garb and with the skin options you can get the look you want over the abilities you need while not being forced to choose between protection and looks. -
I am so jealous of GW2 players. I play a lot of Elder Scrolls, but they have nothing on the clothing/armor crafting of GW2.
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I was initially fairly annoyed. But when I looked into the reasoning, it seemed to be that they just popped their main character into one of the NPC's armor and thought it looked hilarious so they added it to the menu. I agree that it does look like they're not taking the discussion seriously.
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This is so refreshing, thank you.
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Well good. I'm glad people are having a positive effect on these types of overlooked issues.
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That's probably the best solution to the whole problem I've ever heard. All the advertisements not using the metal bikini idea, but in game, give options to players to make the character look however they want. They want a little lady in a massive mans suit of armor? Go for it!
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I agree. I don't mind if the metal bikini is an option. I just wish sometimes that there was a choice aside from the metal bikini.
