How can game devs do better when it comes to female fashion?

6 comments

1. Don’t resort to designing scantily clad or tight clothing for every female costume.

2. do what dark souls/elden ring did. make it an equal playing field for the male and female options. if an outfit for a female character is revealing then that version of the outfit has to also be revealing for the male character. if an outfit is conservative for a man the version for the female character has to be conservative.

3. Consider the context for appropriateness, not just satisfying the male gaze. Women do not exist to be sexually pleasing. Design them as people first, gender secondary.

   If I’m playing a character fighting in armor, nothing ticks me off more than boob armor with cleavage window and bare midriff. If I’m gonna wear armor, you can bet I’m gonna be both smokin hot in it *and* 100% fully functional. But if I had to choose, I’d definitely go with function.

   If it’s post apocalyptic, don’t make every woman look like she’s got a full face of makeup and freshly plucked brows. Sure, some would. Many wouldn’t.

   Those are just two examples. I’m not saying don’t design sexy women. I’m not saying don’t make sexy outfits. Just don’t stick to the narrow options we face currently.

   Male characters are often designed to fulfill male power fantasies, and that’s equated to the sexy female thing. This is a false equivalence. Sexiness can be power to some, but not to many. The core of that is choice. If a woman chooses her own sexiness, she can wield it (albeit there are other social factors at play here too). But if a woman is simply trying to exist as a person, having “sexy” thrust upon them is the opposite of power. By only having sexy options for female characters, it feels the opposite of the big, buff male power fantasy characters. Like we’ve been “allowed” into the game, but only as eye candy.

   There’s a female champ in the game I play who is big and brawny and I adore her. I’m here to take names and slay things, not show off my butt.

4. Hire more women would be a good start.

5. I don’t have an issue with the fashion available now, but more variety never hurts. That way there’s an option to please pretty much everyone

6. Just stop forcing female characters to wear super tight bikini’s, that would be a great start