Off Topic Discussion Megathread

[Misplaced_Marbles]

And also for my personal preference it feels like all of the gear is designed for male characters ( there's even a huge bulge armor lol ).
Even just how it looks on my female character it looks more like a guy wearing it I felt it was better in that department in the old games.

Well, if this is true, at least they did one original thing in that they did the exact opposite of how everyone else do their games by focusing on the one of the two that sells worse, but i guess it doesn't really matter with the series staple terrible customization and no shop to sell some frilly dresses and/or bikinis.

[Kolsykol]

Well, if this is true, at least they did one original thing in that they did the exact opposite of how everyone else do their games by focusing on the one of the two that sells worse, but i guess it doesn't really matter with the series staple terrible customization and no shop to sell some frilly dresses and/or bikinis.

I didn't even mention '' frilly dresses and/ or bikinis '' tbh it's really annoying how people literally always jump to this the moment anyone talks about '' feminine gear '' or whatever.
I dunno how '' original '' this is considering that it's basically the norm in AAA games and in the West too ( terrible customization included, I dunno why it feels like it has gotten worse with time ).
If you want to sell to mainstream audiences you basically make games for dudes and focus on muscle men and design everything for male characters.
That's the safe bet.
In the end of the day what you're talking about is more of a niche audience tbh, there's a reason why '' generic derplander '' is the staple for marketing for basically every game.


All I want is some gear that doesn't look like it was fitted for a broad guy.
They actually did have it in the past games, the Dancer of Boreal Valley armor set comes to mind and in general they did fit the gear to make it look a bit more like it was fitted to your character.
In Elden Ring it feels like it's two sizes too big for my character, I did find some robes but they've got terrible clipping issues even just from moving normally.

I did finish the game today too altho I didn't kill all of the bosses and finish the whole map but I didn't find any, it was truly an incredibly experience tho and my opinion on it only went up it only got better and better.
It does affect my excitement for exploring and finding new gear tho.
I honestly didn't find any I liked.

[Vyrerus]

If you want to sell to mainstream audiences you basically make games for dudes and focus on muscle men and design everything for male characters.

This is a blindfolded denial of reality lol.

Making games for dudes always includes putting incredibly attractive women of varying sorts into the game in various states of dress and personality. They'll put in muscle men too, because that's considered attractive, but audiences always respond far more favorably to the attractive women side of things. Or just the women side of things.

If there's customization and sex selection options, lady oriented armor is almost always designed in a way that either highlights or accentuates the female form. Highlighting is stuff like the bikini armor or platemail with titties. This involves making some sort of extra graphical design choice specifically for the female body, and it usually gets far more attention than just pasting the armor over the male body lol (like really, they don't design armor for male bodies, it usually literally just replaces the body, completely layering over it).

And what do the majority of gamers do? If the option is available, they play women.

As for your "generic derplander" assertion... If it's even still true, it has more to do with the fact that it was the default marketing for so long, that it's what people expect. Also though, more than ever before, there are many women who game. A lot of them are into that sort of portrayal of dudes. It doesn't feel like pandering, it feels like the default.

Keep in mind that times have changed, and the best selling game of all time is still Minecraft. Almost all of the top 50 best selling games don't even focus on customization or men or women. They're generally sandboxes, pokemon, or real world based. That's the real safe bet.

As far as Elden Ring goes, I'm not sure how far into the mainline of it I am. It's an excruciating blast so far, and I'm a long time souls veteran. There is nothing different about it from the other Souls games, aesthetics wise. The default armor is male, and the default enemies kill en masse are also male. Most armor is identical across sex selection. I'm willing to wager that as in past entries, there's still some specifically female sets from specifically special females. Think Ciaran, Desert Pyromancers, Sable church robes, and the Doll Clothes.

I started as a buff dude Hero. The first platemail I found was literally from male enemies twice my height, and it's oversized on my guy, too. It has a cape that's so long, it trails like 2~3 feet beyond my heels. It completely covers everything I customized about the character. That just Souls.

[SturmChurro]

And what do the majority of gamers do? If the option is available, they play women.

In this game perhaps, but in reality most 'gamers' play male characters, and male characters sell better. Companies have released actual stats of it. A lot of male players like to play idealized versions of themselves, or somebody they can relate to.

[Merrigan]

In this game perhaps, but in reality most 'gamers' play male characters, and male characters sell better. Companies have released actual stats of it. A lot of male players like to play idealized versions of themselves, or somebody they can relate to.

I'd actually be interested so see this stats ? Not because I don't believe you (and I searched as well, didn't find it), but because I would have think that most players actually prefered fem characters.

In ffXIV for example there is a majority of male players... and an overwhelming part of the characters I see IG are female.

[SturmChurro]

I'd actually be interested so see this stats ? Not because I don't believe you (and I searched as well, didn't find it), but because I would have think that most players actually prefered fem characters.

In ffXIV for example there is a majority of male players... and an overwhelming part of the characters I see IG are female.

Male characters look dumb in this game, and catgirls are a cultural phenomenon for weebs.

Just a couple examples off the top of my head:

Mass Effect: Legendary edition


AC: Odyssey

Who is played more Alexios or Kassandra?
Nearly two-thirds of the player base for Odyssey chose to play Alexios as their protagonist. In an issue of Game Informer, the game's director Scott Philips revealed that the majority of players favored Alexios over Kassandra.

There is a reason that a male midlander is the canon WoL, and the face for this game.

[Merrigan]

Male characters look dumb in this game, and catgirls are a cultural phenomenon for weebs.

Just a couple examples off the top of my head:

Mass Effect: Legendary edition


AC: Odyssey


There is a reason that a male midlander is the canon WoL, and the face for this game.

Just to be clear: I'm really curious to see the full stats, it was an unbiased question.

What you're quoting is a single player game, it's a bit different in my opinion. Do you have numbers for MMORPGs?

[ZedxKayn]

Male characters look dumb in this game, and catgirls are a cultural phenomenon for weebs.

Just a couple examples off the top of my head:

Mass Effect: Legendary edition


AC: Odyssey


There is a reason that a male midlander is the canon WoL, and the face for this game.

I don't know anything about ME but I wonder if for AC it's not because it has a history of male MCs.

I usually play females when I am given the choice in a franchise with a long precedent of giving the player a choice (ie Pokémon, The Elder Scrolls, Animal Crossing) but never could bring myself to play a female character for very long in AC because it just felt kind of wrong.

[ZephyrMenodora]

I'd actually be interested so see this stats ? Not because I don't believe you (and I searched as well, didn't find it), but because I would have think that most players actually prefered fem characters.

In ffXIV for example there is a majority of male players... and an overwhelming part of the characters I see IG are female.

I stopped playing female chars in MMOs, I inevitably would be hit on and invited for ERP. In other MMOs with Chest Sliders I'd play modestly-sized female chars so people assumed I must be a "real girl" due to not having maxed out chest-slider. Even as a male char, I've had people insist I'm female when I won't get on mic, saying I won't be on mic as I'm hiding being a girl.

It's very strange to get ERP whispers as a female char who is dressed quite modestly.

This has happened to me on every female char I ever made, though I did once get 1 mil from a stranger as I died to a trash mob in front of him as a female char, so he assumed I must be a "real girl" as I died to trash while questing lol.