Female perspective on armor/fashion choices

phermitgb · October 2019

I identify as male, if that makes any difference. And yet, I find myself curious - women, who play ESO particularly - what are YOUR preferences, as far as the degree to which you are encouraged/forced/allowed to demonstrate some degree of your sexuality/gender identity? While I have no way of limiting this poll to actual female-only perspectives, I'm still curious - given your options, what do you WANT? Everyone ELSE seems to have opinions on how you should/should not have to identify your sense of identity/gender/sexuality, but I'm curious what you all personally prefer. Obviously, this is a bit of a loaded question, and I have no personal judgements on which way you should go - and if I've missed a particular option or perspective, please feel free to explicate - but I'm genuinely curious - what do YOU want? What's important to YOU as far as the physical, visual fashion identifiers that go into visualizing female characters.

and if anyone is wondering why I don't ask the same thing about male characters - the honest truth is, from my own perspective...no one seems to care.

Honestly, it feels to me like most men don't seem to have any particular objections to the armor offerings that male characters are offered, beyond the occasionally annoying hip-flaps that seem to show up on so much ESO armor (me, personally, I hate fur on my armor, but that's just a me thing)

but the point is, lots of people seem to have strong opinions on the offerings of female armor offerings, and I'm curious what women, as a general segment of the population, would prefer - many women I've talked to enjoy some degree of fashion alteration that allows them to demonstrate their physical femininity, but not all of them - so I'm curious what the female proportion of the ESO population prefers.

If you identify as male and feel the absolute need to throw in your own opinion, feel free, but it's kind of contrary to the point of the poll, if you don't mind me saying so.

rotaugen454 · October 2019

I'd like a selection of all 3 (functional, fashionable, and sexy, allowing me to choose depending on how I feel at any given moment)

Choice is always a good thing.

idk · October 2019

[Quoted post has been removed.]

That would defeat a big part of the reason for the outfit system and costumes. Player who choose to use an outfit do not want others to see the piece meal motifs of the effective armor they are wearing and it brings Zos revenue. So yea, you will just have to deal with it.

Donny_Vito · October 2019

All armor options should be "functional" (eg. be as close to "realistic" armor functionality as possible)

[Quoted post has been removed.]

I understand this sentiment, and to be fair I sometimes have this thought in the real world. Unfortunately it defeats the purpose of the other person putting in that "hard work" to make their style. We just have to deal with it.

VaranisArano · October 2019

Choice is good. I use functional-looking armors almost exclusively, except on my MagSorc/MagBlade who can use damage shields as a viable alternate defense.

Foxhearted · October 2019

I'd like a selection of all 3 (functional, fashionable, and sexy, allowing me to choose depending on how I feel at any given moment)

I demand more revealing outfits/armor for both genders

In all seriousness, why limit it to one style? Most of my chars wear pretty revealing stuff but ofc that doesn't mean everyone else has to run around like that if they don't want to. I'm all for customization so I voted for all 3.

Araneae6537 · October 2019

I'd like a selection of all 3 (functional, fashionable, and sexy, allowing me to choose depending on how I feel at any given moment)

I’d say “depending on my vision for that particular character” rather than “depending on how I feel at any given moment” but I shan’t be overly particular.

People should have options for all of the above for both male and female characters. My feeling is that ESO does provide this (and importantly in character creation too!). I personally gravitate toward the fashionable option, but I have male and female characters in all three categories (depending on where you differentiate between “fashionable” and “sexy”).

I do take offense when the vast majority of clothing/armor options for female characters are “sexy” or just ridiculous. Likewise, I HATE when the only options for female characters are large or extra large assets and various overly made up face options that are vixen or doll or whatever. For this reason, in GW2 I played almost exclusively sylvari and male human characters. And whenever I’d complain, I was always told that other MMO’s are worse.

/rant

To be clear, I have no objection to anyone choosing any of the above options and have a female Dunmer whom I think is quite sexy, it is having no other options that upset me in other games.

Katahdin · October 2019

I'd like a selection of all 3 (functional, fashionable, and sexy, allowing me to choose depending on how I feel at any given moment)

Choice is good
I tend to lean more toward the functional and fashionable but realize others might like a different choice.

However I do feel that "sexy" doesn't necessarily equate to "revealing" or showing a lot of skin.
Sexy can be done in a tasteful manner which is what I prefer over a lewd style.

A couple of my characters use costumes that I consider sexy but tasteful

AlienSlof · October 2019

I'd like a selection of all 3 (functional, fashionable, and sexy, allowing me to choose depending on how I feel at any given moment)

rotaugen454 wrote: »

Choice is always a good thing.

^ This. ^

I'm happy when everything is treated equally - what is skimpy on one should be skimpy on the other(s) too. I use a mixture of covering and skimpy on all my characters, male or female, depending on what look I feel in the mood for at the time. ESO is the one game where I have a mix of males and females - normally, I only play males (am female) and mod for males.

xpixelatedtkox · October 2019

I'd like a selection of all 3 (functional, fashionable, and sexy, allowing me to choose depending on how I feel at any given moment)

Katahdin wrote: »

However I do feel that "sexy" doesn't necessarily equate to "revealing" or showing a lot of skin.
Sexy can be done in a tasteful manner which is what I prefer over a lewd style.

I like how you put this. What I define as sexy isn't necessarily revealing either. Personally, some armor options are not revealing at all, but I find them sexy. All a matter of opinion, I suppose.

Raisin · October 2019

I'd like a selection of all 3 (functional, fashionable, and sexy, allowing me to choose depending on how I feel at any given moment)

TBQH I think the recent thread in this topic had a lot of female opinions already.

I think ESO has a good balance of style options, but if anybody feels a certain type is missing I say give it to them. I don't think it's fair to try and tell others how they cannot cannot dress their characters.
There's a certain style of MMO magic bikini armor I'd find very off-putting to see in ESO... But when I think about it, it's probably because the style doesn't fit. We have some bikini-ish outfit, and they work because they look like something that belongs in Tamriel. All good.

Commancho · October 2019

Donny_Vito wrote: »

show previous quotes

[Quoted post has been removed.]

I understand this sentiment, and to be fair I sometimes have this thought in the real world. Unfortunately it defeats the purpose of the other person putting in that "hard work" to make their style. We just have to deal with it.

Their "hard" work usually hurt my eyes. Most of player characters I encounter in Tamriel either look like Barbie & Ken or like their creators were colour blind. I'm also nearly sure that outfit system causes FPS drops.

Please, let me choose what I see and you can wear whatever you want to, okay?
Also I suggest a therapeutist if you belive that virtual character made of pixels can be attractive!

SidraWillowsky · October 2019

I'd prefer a selection of functional to fashionable (avoiding sexy)

Katahdin wrote: »

However I do feel that "sexy" doesn't necessarily equate to "revealing" or showing a lot of skin.
Sexy can be done in a tasteful manner which is what I prefer over a lewd style.

I agree but I'd rather not give men the option to make their characters look any more like blow-up dolls than some of them already manage to do (which is actually almost impressive given the lack of sexy options.... when there's a will, there's a way, I guess).

They can't be trusted.

redlink1979 · October 2019

I'd like a selection of all 3 (functional, fashionable, and sexy, allowing me to choose depending on how I feel at any given moment)

I have more female chars than male chars.

I'd like to see more options. Yes, being able to choose is great.

Donny_Vito · October 2019

All armor options should be "functional" (eg. be as close to "realistic" armor functionality as possible)

SidraWillowsky wrote: »

show previous quotes

Katahdin wrote: »

However I do feel that "sexy" doesn't necessarily equate to "revealing" or showing a lot of skin.
Sexy can be done in a tasteful manner which is what I prefer over a lewd style.

I agree but I'd rather not give men the option to make their characters look any more like blow-up dolls than some of them already manage to do (which is actually almost impressive given the lack of sexy options.... when there's a will, there's a way, I guess).

They can't be trusted.

I can usually tell when a guy makes a female character (which is odd in it's own way, but that's a different topic), as it's usually 6 ft+, athletic, and blonde hair with a revealing outfit. The actual women I play with tend to make their female characters more realistic, not the Hollywood-version of themselves.

SidraWillowsky · October 2019

I'd prefer a selection of functional to fashionable (avoiding sexy)

Donny_Vito wrote: »

show previous quotes

SidraWillowsky wrote: »

Katahdin wrote: »

However I do feel that "sexy" doesn't necessarily equate to "revealing" or showing a lot of skin.
Sexy can be done in a tasteful manner which is what I prefer over a lewd style.

I agree but I'd rather not give men the option to make their characters look any more like blow-up dolls than some of them already manage to do (which is actually almost impressive given the lack of sexy options.... when there's a will, there's a way, I guess).

They can't be trusted.

I can usually tell when a guy makes a female character (which is odd in it's own way, but that's a different topic), as it's usually 6 ft+, athletic, and blonde hair with a revealing outfit. The actual women I play with tend to make their female characters more realistic, not the Hollywood-version of themselves.

Exactly... 80% of male-created female characters look like this. Don't get me wrong- I've seen some fantastic female characters created by dudes, but the majority of them seriously DO look just like you described. And yeah, mine are all short, athletic, and usually wear the Welkynar armor (I've tried other but I just love the wings).

Araneae6537 · October 2019

I'd like a selection of all 3 (functional, fashionable, and sexy, allowing me to choose depending on how I feel at any given moment)

SidraWillowsky wrote: »

show previous quotes

Donny_Vito wrote: »

SidraWillowsky wrote: »

Katahdin wrote: »

However I do feel that "sexy" doesn't necessarily equate to "revealing" or showing a lot of skin.
Sexy can be done in a tasteful manner which is what I prefer over a lewd style.

I agree but I'd rather not give men the option to make their characters look any more like blow-up dolls than some of them already manage to do (which is actually almost impressive given the lack of sexy options.... when there's a will, there's a way, I guess).

They can't be trusted.

I can usually tell when a guy makes a female character (which is odd in it's own way, but that's a different topic), as it's usually 6 ft+, athletic, and blonde hair with a revealing outfit. The actual women I play with tend to make their female characters more realistic, not the Hollywood-version of themselves.

Exactly... 80% of male-created female characters look like this. Don't get me wrong- I've seen some fantastic female characters created by dudes, but the majority of them seriously DO look just like you described. And yeah, mine are all short, athletic, and usually wear the Welkynar armor (I've tried other but I just love the wings).

Wow, no reason to disparage the other half of the playerbase! Yes, I have seen characters as you describe, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but there’s far more variety than that, including in a recent thread on this topic, one male player shared pics of his characters and, while they were all chesty (nothing wrong with that either — all my male characters have a lean athletic build I find ideal), they had a variety of looks and their attire was classy.

There’s nothing odd about a guy making a female character or vice versa. Part of the appeal of fantasy games are to play characters totally different from you or that express different aspects of you, among many other things.

vibeborn · October 2019

I'd like a selection of all 3 (functional, fashionable, and sexy, allowing me to choose depending on how I feel at any given moment)

I like a selection of all three, depending on what mood I'm in

I am female and only play with female characters so far, and it really depends on which character and what role they serve

For my current Nord sorc tank (and when I get my new tank to lvl 50) I wear a realistic armour that shows the ability to restist and defend. In my case, when my tank looks like a tank, makes me feel like a tank, makes me play like a tank

For my khajiit nightblade DD which I mostly use for Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood, I used to wear to wear the Lizardly four-fabric skirt set, but I changed it to merchant lords formal regalia, because I wanted to look "classy"

For my argonian templar healer Bardic tavern-singers dress because as a healer I thought it would fit too wearing a long dress

For my high elf sorc DD, I wear some sort of armour (tho I cannot remember which all I know is that it's all altmer style) I used to wear a dress but was told to change it to something else

For my breton necromancer DD I use kinlord's alinor attire because I thought that it would look good and necromancy-like

The main rule of all my characters (except my khajiit who's a wild card in that regard) I prefer for all my characters to look female, as I don't see a point in making someone a female if you're just going to hide it

BomblePants · October 2019

It’s such a subjective thing though..... everyone has their own idea of what is considered sexy, attractive or even to a certain extent functional..... I say live and let live.... choice IS a good thing....

I love people watching in ESO.... and I love the tolerance (for the most part) that people generally have for everyone else.

SidraWillowsky · October 2019

I'd prefer a selection of functional to fashionable (avoiding sexy)

ErinM31 wrote: »

show previous quotes

SidraWillowsky wrote: »

Donny_Vito wrote: »

SidraWillowsky wrote: »

Katahdin wrote: »

However I do feel that "sexy" doesn't necessarily equate to "revealing" or showing a lot of skin.
Sexy can be done in a tasteful manner which is what I prefer over a lewd style.

I agree but I'd rather not give men the option to make their characters look any more like blow-up dolls than some of them already manage to do (which is actually almost impressive given the lack of sexy options.... when there's a will, there's a way, I guess).

They can't be trusted.

I can usually tell when a guy makes a female character (which is odd in it's own way, but that's a different topic), as it's usually 6 ft+, athletic, and blonde hair with a revealing outfit. The actual women I play with tend to make their female characters more realistic, not the Hollywood-version of themselves.

Exactly... 80% of male-created female characters look like this. Don't get me wrong- I've seen some fantastic female characters created by dudes, but the majority of them seriously DO look just like you described. And yeah, mine are all short, athletic, and usually wear the Welkynar armor (I've tried other but I just love the wings).

Wow, no reason to disparage the other half of the playerbase! Yes, I have seen characters as you describe, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but there’s far more variety than that, including in a recent thread on this topic, one male player shared pics of his characters and, while they were all chesty (nothing wrong with that either — all my male characters have a lean athletic build I find ideal), they had a variety of looks and their attire was classy.

There’s nothing odd about a guy making a female character or vice versa. Part of the appeal of fantasy games are to play characters totally different from you or that express different aspects of you, among many other things.

God, those poor, oppressed males. It's not as if they get that sort of female archetype in, you know, almost every other game ever. Can't we just have a FEW where the option to make a female character look like a sex doll isn't a thing? Yeah, I'm salty or triggered or whatever, but TES franchise is a breath of fresh air for me in a sea of games where females are objectified and degraded.

ETA that I've met many great dudes in this game. Still don't want that option.

Kiralyn2000 · October 2019

SidraWillowsky wrote: »

I agree but I'd rather not give men the option to make their characters look any more like blow-up dolls than some of them already manage to do (which is actually almost impressive given the lack of sexy options.... when there's a will, there's a way, I guess).

Hmm, can't say I've ever seen a character I'd describe that way. But that might be because the image "blow-up doll" puts in my head is poorly-modeled, exaggerated features, and aggressively "un-sexy".

Overly-photoshopped magazine model, perhaps?

(all my female characters are athletic, because - adventure! The Nords are tall, but only one is blond/white-haired - the ice sorceress, also dresses in pale blues. The Bosmer & Breton are short. The Dunmer are, hmmm, Dunmer-sized? I'll admit that I pick the 'clearest' skin complexions & least rough/ragged facial features. But, then, guy characters I make are "conventionally attractive" too - I've never been into the whole dirt-covered/shaggy/murderhobo 'adventurer' look. Ditto for those 'cover your character in realistic piles of bags/straps/pouches' mods - never liked those for Oblivion or Skyrim. Turned off blood-splatter in Dragon Age, etc. Too messy. I like my Adventure™ to be stylish.

)

srfrogg23 · October 2019

I'm not going to skew the poll results by selecting a response because I actually am a guy and I get the impression that this is more for women, but...

I generally think of video game characters more as action figures than anything else, so more than anything I strongly support customization options. It's really about making your character look the way you want it to. That being said, this is a digital environment, so pragmatism can go out the window if immersion isn't a big concern.

OneForSorrow · October 2019

I'd like a selection of all 3 (functional, fashionable, and sexy, allowing me to choose depending on how I feel at any given moment)

I tend to prefer skimpier outfits because I play beast races and on them skimpy shows off fur/scales without looking as revealing as they would on elves and humans.

I like having both full armor and not so full armor available. Variety is the spice of life.

Loves_guars · October 2019

I'd prefer a selection of functional to fashionable (avoiding sexy)

I think a mix of functional and fashionable is fine. I'm not sure what qualifies as "sexy" If it means showing skin, then it's fine for roleplayers or mages, but if it shows too much skin I'm going to think your character is a sex worker, not that is anything wrong with that. That's my preference for my characters, but everyone should wear what the hell they want obviously. As long we have all options, I can't complain.
I still think that heels are the most stupid thing, luckily this game doesn't have them like many asian MMOs I've seen. Damn even Witcher 3 has them on main protagonist who is supposed to be a badass fighter, I cringed to death. Kudos to ZoS.

Nightowl_74 · October 2019

I'd like a selection of all 3 (functional, fashionable, and sexy, allowing me to choose depending on how I feel at any given moment)

On a sexy versus functional scale I lean more toward functional but the more I have to choose from, the better, and ideally I prefer a variety of style options.

My favorite outfit right now is the fisherfolk work wear and I've also spent a lot of time as a cadaverous assassin. Wearing outfits specifically designed for female characters or to show a lot of skin is obviously not very important to me, I'm not opposed to it but there's no shortage of clothing like that in real life. On the other hand, I don't have many opportunities to dress up as a skeleton or run around with a pole and creel of fish on my back.

I don't want a lot, just the ability to wear the same armor on my female character as someone else does on their male and not have it morph into a metal bikini, and so far ESO has obliged.

Watchdog · October 2019

ErinM31 wrote: »

show previous quotes

SidraWillowsky wrote: »

Donny_Vito wrote: »

SidraWillowsky wrote: »

Katahdin wrote: »

However I do feel that "sexy" doesn't necessarily equate to "revealing" or showing a lot of skin.
Sexy can be done in a tasteful manner which is what I prefer over a lewd style.

I agree but I'd rather not give men the option to make their characters look any more like blow-up dolls than some of them already manage to do (which is actually almost impressive given the lack of sexy options.... when there's a will, there's a way, I guess).

They can't be trusted.

I can usually tell when a guy makes a female character (which is odd in it's own way, but that's a different topic), as it's usually 6 ft+, athletic, and blonde hair with a revealing outfit. The actual women I play with tend to make their female characters more realistic, not the Hollywood-version of themselves.

Exactly... 80% of male-created female characters look like this. Don't get me wrong- I've seen some fantastic female characters created by dudes, but the majority of them seriously DO look just like you described. And yeah, mine are all short, athletic, and usually wear the Welkynar armor (I've tried other but I just love the wings).

Wow, no reason to disparage the other half of the playerbase! Yes, I have seen characters as you describe, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but there’s far more variety than that, including in a recent thread on this topic, one male player shared pics of his characters and, while they were all chesty (nothing wrong with that either — all my male characters have a lean athletic build I find ideal), they had a variety of looks and their attire was classy.

There’s nothing odd about a guy making a female character or vice versa. Part of the appeal of fantasy games are to play characters totally different from you or that express different aspects of you, among many other things.

I suppose that would have been my post here:
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/6393920/#Comment_6393920

If so, thank you for your kind words.

I consider all of them characters, not toons, nor shallow eye candy simpleton dolls, yet I do prefer them to look appealing and unique. Or as you pur it so nicely - "classy". Each of them has a story, and their looks are vital parts of telling those stories.

Glurin · October 2019

Kiralyn2000 wrote: »

all my female characters are athletic, because - adventure!

Bingo! You generally don't see fat people in careers where they are near constantly running, fighting, jumping, crawling, climbing, etc. They are going to be a lot more fit than say, the average person sitting behind a computer desk controlling their every thought and action.

Araneae6537 · October 2019

I'd like a selection of all 3 (functional, fashionable, and sexy, allowing me to choose depending on how I feel at any given moment)

SidraWillowsky wrote: »

show previous quotes

ErinM31 wrote: »

SidraWillowsky wrote: »

Donny_Vito wrote: »

SidraWillowsky wrote: »

Katahdin wrote: »

However I do feel that "sexy" doesn't necessarily equate to "revealing" or showing a lot of skin.
Sexy can be done in a tasteful manner which is what I prefer over a lewd style.

I agree but I'd rather not give men the option to make their characters look any more like blow-up dolls than some of them already manage to do (which is actually almost impressive given the lack of sexy options.... when there's a will, there's a way, I guess).

They can't be trusted.

I can usually tell when a guy makes a female character (which is odd in it's own way, but that's a different topic), as it's usually 6 ft+, athletic, and blonde hair with a revealing outfit. The actual women I play with tend to make their female characters more realistic, not the Hollywood-version of themselves.

Exactly... 80% of male-created female characters look like this. Don't get me wrong- I've seen some fantastic female characters created by dudes, but the majority of them seriously DO look just like you described. And yeah, mine are all short, athletic, and usually wear the Welkynar armor (I've tried other but I just love the wings).

Wow, no reason to disparage the other half of the playerbase! Yes, I have seen characters as you describe, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but there’s far more variety than that, including in a recent thread on this topic, one male player shared pics of his characters and, while they were all chesty (nothing wrong with that either — all my male characters have a lean athletic build I find ideal), they had a variety of looks and their attire was classy.

There’s nothing odd about a guy making a female character or vice versa. Part of the appeal of fantasy games are to play characters totally different from you or that express different aspects of you, among many other things.

God, those poor, oppressed males. It's not as if they get that sort of female archetype in, you know, almost every other game ever. Can't we just have a FEW where the option to make a female character look like a sex doll isn't a thing? Yeah, I'm salty or triggered or whatever, but TES franchise is a breath of fresh air for me in a sea of games where females are objectified and degraded.

ETA that I've met many great dudes in this game. Still don't want that option.

I would prefer that options in ESO be kept lore appropriate, but that would include some very scantily clad options and that’s perfectly fine, IMHO, so long as they are among many options and we have them for both male and female characters.

I am sympathetic to your point of view, agree with much of it, but felt I had to say something when it was not these other games being spoken out against, but instead a whole group of our fellow players.

Goregrinder · October 2019

SidraWillowsky wrote: »

show previous quotes

ErinM31 wrote: »

SidraWillowsky wrote: »

Donny_Vito wrote: »

SidraWillowsky wrote: »

Katahdin wrote: »

However I do feel that "sexy" doesn't necessarily equate to "revealing" or showing a lot of skin.
Sexy can be done in a tasteful manner which is what I prefer over a lewd style.

I agree but I'd rather not give men the option to make their characters look any more like blow-up dolls than some of them already manage to do (which is actually almost impressive given the lack of sexy options.... when there's a will, there's a way, I guess).

They can't be trusted.

I can usually tell when a guy makes a female character (which is odd in it's own way, but that's a different topic), as it's usually 6 ft+, athletic, and blonde hair with a revealing outfit. The actual women I play with tend to make their female characters more realistic, not the Hollywood-version of themselves.

Exactly... 80% of male-created female characters look like this. Don't get me wrong- I've seen some fantastic female characters created by dudes, but the majority of them seriously DO look just like you described. And yeah, mine are all short, athletic, and usually wear the Welkynar armor (I've tried other but I just love the wings).

Wow, no reason to disparage the other half of the playerbase! Yes, I have seen characters as you describe, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but there’s far more variety than that, including in a recent thread on this topic, one male player shared pics of his characters and, while they were all chesty (nothing wrong with that either — all my male characters have a lean athletic build I find ideal), they had a variety of looks and their attire was classy.

There’s nothing odd about a guy making a female character or vice versa. Part of the appeal of fantasy games are to play characters totally different from you or that express different aspects of you, among many other things.

God, those poor, oppressed males. It's not as if they get that sort of female archetype in, you know, almost every other game ever. Can't we just have a FEW where the option to make a female character look like a sex doll isn't a thing? Yeah, I'm salty or triggered or whatever, but TES franchise is a breath of fresh air for me in a sea of games where females are objectified and degraded.

ETA that I've met many great dudes in this game. Still don't want that option.

Male characters are objectified to be strong, muscular, heroic individuals who kill things or save other people from harm. Let's break all the sterotypes.

Araneae6537 · October 2019

I'd like a selection of all 3 (functional, fashionable, and sexy, allowing me to choose depending on how I feel at any given moment)

Watchdog wrote: »

show previous quotes

ErinM31 wrote: »

SidraWillowsky wrote: »

Donny_Vito wrote: »

SidraWillowsky wrote: »

Katahdin wrote: »

However I do feel that "sexy" doesn't necessarily equate to "revealing" or showing a lot of skin.
Sexy can be done in a tasteful manner which is what I prefer over a lewd style.

I agree but I'd rather not give men the option to make their characters look any more like blow-up dolls than some of them already manage to do (which is actually almost impressive given the lack of sexy options.... when there's a will, there's a way, I guess).

They can't be trusted.

I can usually tell when a guy makes a female character (which is odd in it's own way, but that's a different topic), as it's usually 6 ft+, athletic, and blonde hair with a revealing outfit. The actual women I play with tend to make their female characters more realistic, not the Hollywood-version of themselves.

Exactly... 80% of male-created female characters look like this. Don't get me wrong- I've seen some fantastic female characters created by dudes, but the majority of them seriously DO look just like you described. And yeah, mine are all short, athletic, and usually wear the Welkynar armor (I've tried other but I just love the wings).

Wow, no reason to disparage the other half of the playerbase! Yes, I have seen characters as you describe, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but there’s far more variety than that, including in a recent thread on this topic, one male player shared pics of his characters and, while they were all chesty (nothing wrong with that either — all my male characters have a lean athletic build I find ideal), they had a variety of looks and their attire was classy.

There’s nothing odd about a guy making a female character or vice versa. Part of the appeal of fantasy games are to play characters totally different from you or that express different aspects of you, among many other things.

I suppose that would have been my post here:
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/6393920/#Comment_6393920

If so, thank you for your kind words. I consider all of them characters, not toons, nor shallow eye candy simpleton dolls, yet I do prefer them to look appealing and unique. Or as you pur it so nicely - "classy". Each of them has a story, and their looks are vital parts of telling those stories.

Yes, it was your post that I had in mind!

That is how they looked to me, like individual characters with their own story to tell.

I am sure that we have all seen the previously described stereotype in media plenty, and I agree with complaints about that, but I see it much less in platforms such as ESO where players have options in creating their characters.

jircris11 · October 2019

I'd like a selection of all 3 (functional, fashionable, and sexy, allowing me to choose depending on how I feel at any given moment)

I choose functional and stylish . My female khajiit actually has her body fully covered but the chest hugs her form well enough that it looks sexy in an assassiny king of way.

The Elder Scrolls Online

Female perspective on armor/fashion choices

Female perspective on armor/fashion choices 179 votes