How do you justify your character wearing skimpy outfits? [Roleplaying]

[blabba]

There was no meaning behind it.

 

Just the assumption that on average the chance of being male and not minding the skimpiness is higher than being female and not minding the skimpiness.

 

I apologize if this comes off rude somehow.

[Alan47]

[Warning: heavily opinionized, may include sarcasm and irony.]

 

When reading the title, the first thing that came to my mind was: First World Problems.

 

Seriously, it's a GAME. It's supposed to be fun. I'm a male player, and play the game mostly in 3rd person view. Now if I can choose to have some dude's ass wiggling in front of me for 50+ hours of gameplay, *or* some super-sexy CBBE/UNP/whatever-enhanced chick, guess what I will go for.

 

Also, consider this: I've spend a REALLY long time trying to improve my mod setup regarding how my character looks like, getting textures, experimenting with body mods and armor and so on, and I won't even start talking about the endless possibilities of bodyslide at this point. So... after hours and hours of experimenting, improving and fine-tuning, do you really think that I would hide all that "work" of mine in a thick and shapeless shell of metal, where in the end the vanilla body would have produced the same result? Sounds unlikely? It is.

 

So why do I use skimpy armor? Two reasons. The first one is asthetics. I simply like well-done skimpy armor, such as CT77's awesome mod. The second reason is pure pragmatism: I've spent too much time on perfecting the body of my character to hide it away completely.

 

 

I realize that these are "meta-gaming" reasons and not role-playing reasons. So what about the role-playing aspect? Honestly - I don't give a f**k about it. It's Skyrim. To me this isn't even a "real" role-playing game, it's more like a "do whatever you want" sandbox. Basically I just want to go out there, explore dungeons, kill stuff, loot and level-up while looking awesome. It's as simple as that.

 

 

Please note that this is just my personal opinion on this topic. It might sound a little provocative, but that's just because I've had this discussion a dozen times over with a friend of mine who is a real lore-monger and "role player". 

[guk]

 

Also maybe i should add, that i practically never play female characters. ESPECIALLY not with mods like SexLab installed.

I'm a dominant heterosexual male IRL, so i simply can not identify with the role of a female character even if i wanted to.

I'm a dominant heterosexual male IRL too and yet I can identify with a female character. What is this sorcery ?

 

No idea, let's ask Dr. Sigmund Freud?

 

The answer would probably lead to a nasty flame war so i'll leave it at that

We're not here to judge other people about their sexual orientation and fantasies.

[Jexsam]

I don't feel a need to justify a damn thing, honestly. I follow a general rationale of "if I want to do it, I will" for my game character attire. I loosely follow a certain logic - armor should look like armor within reason and skimpy stuff is not combat stuff - but this isn't set in stone.

 

 

 

Also maybe i should add, that i practically never play female characters. ESPECIALLY not with mods like SexLab installed.

I'm a dominant heterosexual male IRL, so i simply can not identify with the role of a female character even if i wanted to.

I'm a dominant heterosexual male IRL too and yet I can identify with a female character. What is this sorcery ?

 

 

No idea, let's ask Dr. Sigmund Freud?

 

The answer would probably lead to a nasty flame war so i'll leave it at that

We're not here to judge other people about their sexual orientation and fantasies.

 

God forbid a person be able to conceptualize a viewpoint outside of their own.

[Fredas]

Legit question...does everyone picture their PC as a whore?

 

Good spot for me to offer my two cents.

 

I may or may not be in the minority in this, but it's not my concern.  I am generally turned off by the idea of a woman thinking of themselves as being whorish, and things like verbal abuse to that effect (even if it's just roleplaying) are definitely not my bag.  My PC (you know, whenever I get around to finalizing one) is not that.  At worst, she is shameless and indifferent, and "armor" is essentially 100% decorative rather than functional, except insofar as it may be purposefully flirtatious.  That said, she is definitely not into men. ;p

[jihadoftomorrow]

I just wanna jerk it while I play.

[Sorus]

my justification is that it's what i want to do if it's an option i have for this game i paid for

 

i don't see a need for any other reason

[gvman3670]

[Warning: heavily opinionized, may include sarcasm and irony.]

 

When reading the title, the first thing that came to my mind was: First World Problems.

 

Seriously, it's a GAME. It's supposed to be fun. I'm a male player, and play the game mostly in 3rd person view. Now if I can choose to have some dude's ass wiggling in front of me for 50+ hours of gameplay, *or* some super-sexy CBBE/UNP/whatever-enhanced chick, guess what I will go for.

 

Also, consider this: I've spend a REALLY long time trying to improve my mod setup regarding how my character looks like, getting textures, experimenting with body mods and armor and so on, and I won't even start talking about the endless possibilities of bodyslide at this point. So... after hours and hours of experimenting, improving and fine-tuning, do you really think that I would hide all that "work" of mine in a thick and shapeless shell of metal, where in the end the vanilla body would have produced the same result? Sounds unlikely? It is.

 

So why do I use skimpy armor? Two reasons. The first one is asthetics. I simply like well-done skimpy armor, such as CT77's awesome mod. The second reason is pure pragmatism: I've spent too much time on perfecting the body of my character to hide it away completely.

 

 

I realize that these are "meta-gaming" reasons and not role-playing reasons. So what about the role-playing aspect? Honestly - I don't give a f**k about it. It's Skyrim. To me this isn't even a "real" role-playing game, it's more like a "do whatever you want" sandbox. Basically I just want to go out there, explore dungeons, kill stuff, loot and level-up while looking awesome. It's as simple as that.

 

 

Please note that this is just my personal opinion on this topic. It might sound a little provocative, but that's just because I've had this discussion a dozen times over with a friend of mine who is a real lore-monger and "role player". 

 

I have to agree.

 

I don't give two shits about lore or realism in Skyrim at point. Anybody have any idea how many hours I've played vanilla Skyrim on XBox? Over 2000 (probably closer to 3000, but I'd have to check). And a shitload on PC as well. At this point I've exhausted lore and even role playing would be boring.

 

But hot chicks? Fighting dragons and being hot chicks? With jiggly bits and the potential to put on a sex show for me? AWESOMENESS!! LORE BE DAMNED!!

[gvman3670]

No idea, let's ask Dr. Sigmund Freud?

 

The answer would probably lead to a nasty flame war so i'll leave it at that

We're not here to judge other people about their sexual orientation and fantasies.

I don't connect with a female character. She's merely the hot main character in a fantasy porn world at this stage.

[Phelps1247]

Not that I'd ever have to justify it but I use the tropical mod.

When I start with an actual character (when I'm happy with everything) there's at least 2 ways I can write it into the back story too.

[BoozeJunky]

I don't, because I generally don't have her wearing skimpy armors into combat. I must be one of those rare (shit)birds who finds a woman in full plate armor to be incredibly sexy. Confidence and competence are big factors in this, and wearing skimpy armor just obliterates any shred of either of those factors. No, my girl is a tank on the battlefield, and I've even installed mods to make the female armors even more reasonable (no boob plate). Even back in Morrowind when I was playing kind of a ninja/assassin build, my character usually strolled around in full robes covering light-armor that she could discard easily when mobility was needed.

 

 

Also, I'm a little surprised nobody responded with "A festering witch poisoned me and stole my prized armor, so I've been walking around half naked until I can kill her and get it back!". Hey, at least it's lore friendly.

 

 

 

[FauxFurry]

I don't, because I generally don't have her wearing skimpy armors into combat. I must be one of those rare (shit)birds who finds a woman in full plate armor to be incredibly sexy. Confidence and competence are big factors in this, and wearing skimpy armor just obliterates any shred of either of those factors. No, my girl is a tank on the battlefield, and I've even installed mods to make the female armors even more reasonable (no boob plate). Even back in Morrowind when I was playing kind of a ninja/assassin build, my character usually strolled around in full robes covering light-armor that she could discard easily when mobility was needed.

 

 

Also, I'm a little surprised nobody responded with "A festering witch poisoned me and stole my prized armor, so I've been walking around half naked until I can kill her and get it back!". Hey, at least it's lore friendly.

 

MGE Screenshot 016.jpg

That isn't a rare sentiment by any means in general culture.

It wasn't even legal to render characters wearing what many people on this site put their characters in prior to the 20th Century in any form of artistic media(making it a sure-fire way to land one in prison for running afoul of anti-obscenity laws).

Any attempt to dress female characters in anything as form-fitting or revealing as many of their male counter-parts is still a good way to have one's work censored or outright banned and even in the few venues where such things are considered acceptable,it is very likely to decrease the popular appeal of the work.

 

People in the West tend to prefer keeping female sexuality (and 'sexualization') entirely compartmentalized in a distant sphere from their everyday conduct and attire whereas it is just considered another element in a complete,well rounded male character's on-screen/in-series depiction even to the extent that explicit male sexuality can be played for humor.

No justification is ever required for male character costuming no matter how impractical besides it fitting their personality type or vocation(a tough guy or berserker,for example,don't need to give a schpiel on why they think marching off into battle in only their small clothes...unarmored small clothes,at that, is a good idea).

Gauntlet 2014 is pretty much the strongest example of that way of thinking at work as the Valkyrie is changed from a slightly more modest version of the Warrior into a middle aged scarred faced woman wearing boxy form concealing armor.

 

Perhaps you are unusual as a niche audience within a niche audience who would use this site who prefer female modesty?

[Kaz Aanh]

I don't think about my characters as a "whores".

 

She is a pure maiden, and she will patiently wait for a White Knight with a key to her heart.

[FauxFurry]

It is a fantasy game, role playing in a fantasy game needs no justification for anything worn or lack of anything worn. How do you justify something that is not real. Justification is for real world events. When technology is able to insert me into a fantasy game then we'll see about justification and realism.

 

as an aside. just who am I supposed to justify my choice of attire for my fantasy character in my fantasy game to. Myself? why?

Apparently,you are supposed to feel shamed about doing so simply since it involves a female character,so you have to justify it to yourself for some reason. It is primarily a pre-Sexual Revolution hang-up that people have yet to fully let go.

That or, to give everyone the benefit of the doubt,if minimal attire is considered 'immersion breaking',how does one keep it from breaking one from the spell woven by the game?

 

I know that I never considered it for a moment when parading Carl Johnson of Grand Theft Auto:San Andreas into the final battle in nothing but his underpants(who needs 'Sex Appeal' when they've got moxie and more guns than an armory?) nor was I snapped out of any immersion state by playing through Fable without ever once suiting up 'Chicken Chaser' in armor since there was a bonus for completing missions naked.

Come to think of it,the latter case is justified in game in a way that would likely be considered problematic if given to a female character hence its exclusion from future Fable games(along with player prostitution).

 

If I can take the character's clothing off in the game,sometimes I will do so just because the option exists and other times,I will do so because it increases the challenge of the game. It was the only way to make Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning even slightly tough even on the hardest settings.

 

Skyrim(like Morrowind before it) is one of those games made with the foresight that people will make underwear replacer mods,treating characters wearing underwear as if they were wearing nothing at all .

It even makes for an amusing bit of dialogue when the Inigo follower is in one's game as he comments on the character's level of dress,giving him something to brag about when the Dragon-Born's party wins while they are completely naked.

That's a bit of 'justification' for you right there.

 

I know that I don't need an excuse for having my male character in Skyrim run around in nothing but an armor condom (I only might feel a little guilty that I went into the Creation Kit to buff the armor value for the Schlong Protective Gear to make this a more viable option...emphasis on might) outside of recreating an old off-color joke about a man fleeing from the house of a woman he was committing adultery with and right into a marathon while 'clothed' in nothing but the condom he was caught in the act wearing and I don't need a reason for doing so with female characters,not even my motivation of recreating the aesthetic of Heroic Nudity(found in Norse mythological artwork and fitting for a game that borrows so heavily from Norse mythology) but without any sexual discrimination unlike there was in most of antiquity.

 

I could see this being a more pressing question in games where one has to remesh and/or retexture the character's default gear to be nude since the option to strip down was never presented in the game's primary feature set since one can never switch back to more concealing armor at the press of a button unlike in games built around costume customization. 

Naked Chris Redfield or Ada Wong in a Resident Evil game would result in...puzzling conclusions if one were to try to reconcile it with 'lore'/canon.

[NexusCron]

Because I generally play a Drakian. (Complete with the animated wings mod.) I dress her skimpy, up to/including Lingerie outfits because she's so exotic. She doesn't NEED to wear full plate armor or full body outfits cause her scales provide a natural armor rating that adds to the armor rating of whatever she's wearing and whatever perks she has. THis does mean that at some points she can have some absurd armor ratings. Especially in something like Ct77 Daedric.

 

She's a humanoid dragon in a sense, she's tough as nails, she could effectively get away with fighting in the nude.

 

IN a sense. My Drakian dose it for two reasons. A. Because she can. B, because imagine trying to tailor armor or clothes to wings AND a tail. Just try it.

 

 

 

[Kawauso]

This topic saddens me, so many of the answers could be resumed to "fuck roleplay, I want my boner". 

 

There was no meaning behind it.

 

Just the assumption that on average the chance of being male and not minding the skimpiness is higher than being female and not minding the skimpiness.

 

I apologize if this comes off rude somehow.

Not rude, but a simplistic view. Some females don't mind it, some like it, and some others hate it. Same for males.

 

 

 

Also maybe i should add, that i practically never play female characters. ESPECIALLY not with mods like SexLab installed.

I'm a dominant heterosexual male IRL, so i simply can not identify with the role of a female character even if i wanted to.

I'm a dominant heterosexual male IRL too and yet I can identify with a female character. What is this sorcery ?

 

No idea, let's ask Dr. Sigmund Freud?

 

The answer would probably lead to a nasty flame war so i'll leave it at that

We're not here to judge other people about their sexual orientation and fantasies.

 

Not about judgement but simplistic / close views.

Saying that because you are male you can't do something is making a generalization that, in this case, you shouldn't.

Humans are more complicated than that, you can't put them in a binary system.

[pinky6225]

The mods beastess and naked mage add a reason for being naked as the pc but i always have the difficultly set fairly high so it pretty much doesn't matter what your wearing as being hit in the head hurts so i'm comfortable with ebony armor only really covering a few area's and those area's covered are strong points since as i understand fighting in heavy armor its more about taking the hit where it wont penetrate than not being hit which is why they have the high values

 

Which to my mind is quite realistic since regardless of whether you were wearing copper, bronze, iron or steel being hit in the head by a flail hurts where as deflecting the stroke with your shoulder guard wouldnt

[Cipher158]

Mine is more along the lines of being a sadist, a dominatrix of sorts, one that gets off on the action of battle. Dosent have sex that frequently, (unless defeated, rare occourance) more enjoys the thrill of it all. Looking as she does, remaining hidden in the shadows (mostly), and then making the kill. Works very well with dark brotherhood quest line.

[Carida]

 

Real-world history doesn't really mean much in the fantasy context.

 

Go figure why any kind of functional body armor was abandonded in medieval europe - already several centuries before the first semi-automatic firearm was invented.

Yet bethesda says that a full set of daedric plate armor is the top choice for a warrior when fighting dragons or fire wizards, then be it so.

 

Games are what they are, because they have (mostly) arbitrary rules. And as long as the rules make sense on their own, the players will accept them.

Which leads us back to the topic, wether and how you can justify to yourself that a woman is wearing an "armorkini" rather than a plate hauberk.

 

---------

 

Also maybe i should add, that i practically never play female characters. ESPECIALLY not with mods like SexLab installed.

I'm a dominant heterosexual male IRL, so i simply can not identify with the role of a female character even if i wanted to.

 

I just have to decide wether my vanilla replacers are appropriate for my followers and NPCs, should i ever get to actually PLAY the game again

Your mentions of female characters in skimpy clothing exclusively just draws further attention to the fact that no one ever seems to ask these questions about male characters who were wearing skimpy clothing not only long before written language was devised but long after males in meat space started wearing increasingly defensive armored carapaces.

Has anyone ever asked why '80s action movie heroes entered gunfights almost completely nude?

 

I have the female characters wearing minimal gear for the same reason as I do the male characters,but it might be nice to have more entries in this thread on what justification others have for dressing their male characters in skimpy clothing or armors(well,beyond the skimpy clothing that Bethesda Softworks already included in the Fur,Leather and Studded crafting categories).

Does anyone even feel the need to justify it at all?

 

 

My male characters are in just as skimpy attire. I'm still waiting for the rest of the armors from Sam.. gotta have my eyecandy  

 

In the end, I think my character is just as bad ass chopping off someone's head in a thong as she is in full plate armor lol. Its not that serious. 

 

-C

[BoozeJunky]

 

People in the West tend to prefer keeping female sexuality (and 'sexualization') entirely compartmentalized in a distant sphere from their everyday conduct and attire whereas it is just considered another element in a complete,well rounded male character's on-screen/in-series depiction even to the extent that explicit male sexuality can be played for humor.

No justification is ever required for male character costuming no matter how impractical besides it fitting their personality type or vocation(a tough guy or berserker,for example,don't need to give a schpiel on why they think marching off into battle in only their small clothes...unarmored small clothes,at that, is a good idea).

 

Perhaps you are unusual as a niche audience within a niche audience who would use this site who prefer female modesty?

 

 

As a point of fact, I find the "barbarian" male costumes equally absurd and refuse to use those in combat as well. It's not about "compartmentalizing" female sexuality, and more about competence on the battlefield. If you were going to dig a bit deeper, you're barking up the wrong tree here. I'm more of a submissive personality type, which is a big part of why I find confidence and competence to be attractive features in a woman. To subvert their own survivability and effectiveness for the sake of showing off more skin and getting the attention of others with the low hanging fruit of sensuality is an indicator to me of a weak personality type, and a cardinal sin against one's own self interest. If I were gay, the skimpy armors on "barbarian" type male characters would likely be just as big a turn-off.

 

There, may also be a bit of overlap with my techno-fetishism. I like cyborgs and gynoids and whatnot, and full plate mail (even above other competent armor types) on a woman is especially exciting because it hits some of the same man/machine integration notes.

[morriscat]

Well, Tsun wears topless armor so no reason a woman can't. My only justification has to do with warmth and I have two if you need them: 

A. I'm the dragonborn. I stand in the blast of dragons' breath and survive. 

B. In a world where there are protective spells against spells and breath attacks so cold they can kill outright there is nothing saying a single protection from frost item can't keep you toasty in the cold. 

[PsychoMachina]

I never take these discussions too seriously because it's all subjective.  Skyrim is a fantasy world, but that does not stop people from injecting reality into it to justify their perception of that fantasy.

 

Reality:  Wearing skimpy clothes in the harsh, arctic, Skyrim environment provides no protection from the cold and elements.

Fantasy:  The Nords do not fully cover themselves like their cousins the Skaals because they are 50% resistant to frost.

 

Has anyone ever wondered why when upgrading armor, it does not get heavier?  Upgrading the armor is not the same as repairing it so when upgrading with metal, you are reinforcing it, but the weight stays the same.  No one questions that, but wearing skimpy armor in battle, well, just makes no sense in a fantasy world.

 

 

 

[Niobia]

In my game, the human (and mer) body are nothing to be ashamed of so they wear what's comfortable and it's the culture for females to want to show their figure. Guys wear skimpy clothes in my game too.

 

In my current play through, my character is a futanari, so she wears super skimpy clothes to show off as much of figure as possible. She also puts her cock on display because she's proud of it. The same goes for other futanari in Skyrim (I select certain NPCs to be futas in my game as I meet them).

 

I don't care about Lore in the slightest, but I still like immersion. Basically, everyone in my game doesn't have a stick up their butt about nudity and don't have any stupid American sensibilities about nudity being evil. So guys with their cocks flopping out or girls in their underwear or no underwear is no big deal. Having Summer in Skyrim helps, but you can also just say everyone is used to the cold because they have an extra layer of fat or magic or something.

[Cynical Misanthrope]

I justify my choices depending on what character I wanna play.

 

For female:

 

If I play a Warrior/Paladin/Tank-style class using sword/shield or 2hander sword, I will wear a full plate armor, covering the whole body.

Since she is gonna be in middle of it all, and need protection.

 

But sometimes I wanna play Barbarian/Amazon-stylish class, and will use armor that somewhat resemble that.

Thats when I use Forbidden, Sovngarde and that Sexy Ebony Armor.

 

If I play Archer/Assassin/Scout/Thief, I will wear light armor and/or skimpy/sexy outfits, to have the mobility to move fast and be nibble.

I do not really use "Slutty" outfits, but yeah, skimpy or sexy for sure. But what is sexy then?

It's very subjective ofc, but to me, Lustmord, NorthGirl, Black Sacrament, Hunting Grounds, Black Talon etc etc (You get the point) is very sexy to me.

[Oh I Don't Know]

I don't consider my character a whore but definitely promiscuous with a high libido   She likes to show off her beautiful body because it's fun and exciting to show some skin while leaving a teeny bit to the imagination   so I don't really have an excuse but it's part of her personality and it's not right to conceal the beauty!