Is the armor your character is wearing stylish enough to make you feel like an epic warrior? or is it just a bunch of rags?

In real life we all dressed appropriately for certain occasions, we wear the formal for the weddings, the casual for the picnic, and the shorts for the basketball game. Wearing some type of clothes make us feel in the mood for certain things, well you might feel inclined to play some soccer while wearing a suit, but your girlfriend is not going to like it.

Armor design can say a lot about your virtual character, if you are wearing a heavy bulky looking armor we are safe to assume that you are a diehard tank ready to take on the next mob eye to eye and face to face. On the other hand, if you are wearing a long blue robe you possibly be a priest or a support character with a low defense.

Moreover, some "designer" armor has been appearing here and there on MMORPGs, which as really made me wonder. Games such as Sword of The New World or Second Life have designer armor models. I am not sure if we can call "armor" the outfits in SNW, I think they are more like elegant dresses and such. I think they should be no restrictions in art, but does "deliberately portraying women as a sex object" exist in the virtual worlds?

When browsing for new MMOs to play I have ran across several games with a interesting armor feature. The female armor looks very sexy and stylish, but the characters faces look very child-like. I always have a mixed reaction when I see those kinds of screenshots, the character has a 9 year old face, with a body of a 13 year old, and the armor might as well be from a Victoria's Secret outlet.

I wouldn’t want to emulate grandma here, but someone has to ask, who is the target market of this games? The problem with online games with respect to this, is that there is no rating that can clearly distinguish between a Teen or a 12- adequate game. I think younger audiences shouldn't have to be tied to hello kitty online or Club Penguin, but lets not get too graphical yet don’t you think?.. I won't give examples for this one, I would leave it up to your own judgment.

There are two extremes to this, some games offer a very overdone colorful armor that make you look more like a peacock than a guild master, and the ones that are just pale old looking colors. Color sometimes is strongly related to the theme of the game, you won't find many bright yellow attires in Darkfall for example. In other games like The Agency you will usually wear something more discrete to blend in with the environment. In MMORPGs no one can take you down with a headshot, but it is becoming more important to maintain your presence secret as new features in games require you to be more strategic.

In some games getting your armor complete for your current level can be a nightmare, specially if the amor has very strict requirements. I have played games where to wear the entire armor you have to be certain level, but you can wear parts of the armor. For example, I can put on the boots and the helmet, but not the rest of the armor. It is really frustrating that when you finally collect all your armor pieces and start upgrading it, then, you need the next set of armor already. I don't enjoy walking around with my character looking like an enchilada. It is like going to a formal dinner in a smoking and tennis shoes. Something is missing!!!

In some games you bust your behind trying to get some armor and when you finally equip it, it doesn't show at all. You know you have it, the armor helps you defend yourself well, but you can't see it. Usually its the helmets that don't show in the games, Why would you have a virtual item that is not visible?, I mean maybe it has graphical glitches and all, but you can make something more loose to avoid that. We know virtual items don't exist in our tangible reality, but if you are going to give us virtual items at least let us show 'em off!!

WarHammer

Epic Fashion by Versace?

A wild idea occurred to me while writing this, we have in-game advertising talk constantly. And as the statistics are pointing out, each month more and more millions of people joining MMORPGs. Will the designer armor for your virtual character be a possible market? No exotic animals will be sacrificed to made fur, no people in poor countries will have worked in sweatshops to put them together, and we wouldn't have to go to Paris to buy it. Not to mention that the designer can neglect gravity in the design.

So, are you wearing the jeans to work? or are you Dressed to Kill ?