Gender Equality in Costumes - A lack thereof
By
Ad Astra,
Posted on: 2011-11-29 06:36 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
You might wanna be cautious about telling a woman what women think and act like in general, especially when one of your cites is an ad designed by men. Just saying.
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So why have a disclaimer saying you're only bringing it up for a sense of parity? You're asking "Well what about the men?" and ... sure okay. What about the men then? How are they getting hard done by in this situation?|
Originally Posted by DerekStorm
As for the argument not existing? I wouldn't have mentioned it if I didn't believe in it myself. I'm not throwing it out there to be a troll or to drum something up. To say that an argument does not exist because it was brought in as more of a discussion point instead of a bold statement is a rush to judgement inside of itself.
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Do you genuinely believe that men getting less sexy options in exchange for thematic or heroic ones is unfair? I can understand the point that men want more casual clothes options, but in a game about superheroes if you're only problem is you don't have enough civilian clothing then that isn't an equality issue. You're getting to look like a hero (Or villain) in a game about heroes! That's good! Women don't have a lot of civilian clothing either.. or at least I've never seen women wearing fetish outfits for casual wear.
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ok, honest question, is paragon supposed to NOT represent the iconic representations in comics? this is a question i keep wondering because people keep throwing around the barbarian set and the steampunk set as punching bags, and im unsure where they wanted them to go with them other than where they went. As barabrian goes, look at the representations of women in so called barbarian stuff, now, are we going with grace jones' conservative attire in the conan movies? the costumes of women in various pictures by frazetta and vallejo's drawings? how about xena's outfits, or the female barbarian in diablo, or maybe the female foresworn in skyrim? because barring xena's samurai costume, none of those representations were more modest than what we got, in fact the mmo based on the more iconic barbarian is the only one that im aware of in the us that allows female avatars to run around topless. either way, if you look at what we actually got its fairly tame relative to most representative works in the subgenre.|
Originally Posted by Fanservice
Well this'll be because men don't have the problem of being constantly offered nothing but impractical 'sexy' options for their heroes. No one is seriously arguing that the men get sexy outfits instead of badass ones to even up the scales and fix everything. They might be arguing men should get sexy costumes and I don't see why not, but the issue here is that the men are getting heroic, appropriately themed costumes in these packs and the women get sexy haloween costumes that are practically a parody of what the pack is about.
You may complain that the men get nothing but T-Shirts and Jeans, but the last four packs have been pretty good for breaking out of this, pre-tinting and random skulls aside. All of their costumes are different, heroic looking and pretty thematic and none of them have T-Shirts and Jeans. While the women's costumes are three different variations of sexy corset wearing ladies and the CoT pack which was a good pack of which I have no complaints. There's some nice accessories in the three offenders and they're of fairly high quality, but that doesn't make it any less irritating. Just because Comics and Film love the stripperific costumes and obsession with sexualising women it doesn't mean it's a good idea to copy them. It'd be nice if Paragon would step up and be better than this. . |
Steampunk is similar, do an image search in either google or yahoo for steampunk clothing. make a note of what you see there. outside of the dresses, which we cant have for aesthetic reasons, bet you see a lot of corsets..and thats with safesearch on. things get a great deal racier but still within the general aesthetic when off. the only thing i didnt see was the split skirt, but i saw that as a comprimise to the games issues with animating wearing long dresses rather than an intentional slight to women. I reiterate, this is just steampunk clothing. steampunk women bolsters my case even mroe about what the representative look is if you feel a need to continue on, and you will notice this is not "steampunk sexy" its just the general prevailing look in the sub-genre. note im not saying every single outfit is corsets and boots, but count em up, see what your numbers are, and tell me what the representative look for a female steampunk costume is.
So i guess my question is this. if there is a continuous theme that you can see in a set, something that comes up over and over again, are you asking the developers to self censor based on how an iconic look may be "sexy". Should they simply ignore those subcultures..or shoudl they purposely make non-representative costumes for fear of upsetting people?
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What I want is for the developers to give me cool costumes and let me handle making them sexy if I choose. I'm wholly uninterested about which movie portrayed what character in what way and whose painting falls into which genre with what expectations. I want cool costumes for both my guys AND my girls. I don't want cool costumes for just the guys and sexy but impractical costumes for just the girls. I can make my own designs just fine. I don't need the art team choosing for me.|
Originally Posted by rian_frostdrake
So i guess my question is this. if there is a continuous theme that you can see in a set, something that comes up over and over again, are you asking the developers to self censor based on how an iconic look may be "sexy". Should they simply ignore those subcultures..or shoudl they purposely make non-representative costumes for fear of upsetting people?
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Furthermore, when it comes to "sexy," I've never seen that as "showing skin," at least not since I was 15. To me, "sexy" is a question of style, and thigh-high high-heel boots just ain't it. You know what I find sexy, personally? Something like this or, at a stretch, this. Definitely this, though. None of these characters show much skin in any place... None of these characters HAVE skin to show, but that's besides the point. None of them are dressed as saloon girls or go-go girls or schoolgirls. Because they don't have to.
Obviously, that's not to say I don't use the more extravagant costume pieces once I own them. Far from it. I still have characters like this, this and even this. My point is that it takes all kinds, and to think that all women will get in the future is the skirt-wearing, high-heeled, big-haired "sexy" version of a cool male design is just disheartening. I have a LOT of female characters. Some of them simply need other types of costumes. Cool costumes. And I'm looking forward to getting that.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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The mods only appear on your computer. They are like the Vidiotmaps map overlays.|
Originally Posted by CapnGeist
Wait, wait wait.
Wait. Wait. Waaaaait. Players can go in and edit the costume files? I mean, sure, it takes work, I don't doubt but... we have the technology for just ANYBODY to tinker with what the costume pieces look like and such? |
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| Why aren't the devs letting us DO that? I mean, maybe just accept submissions, and even if they want to sell them, still. I mean IMVU and Second Life are nothing BUT letting players make costumes and such, and they've got a bajillion options. If the tools exist for people to make costume pieces and files on their own, why are the devs not taking advantage of this? |
Besides, new pieces are a lot more sophisticated with two or more layers of bumpmapping and design... not the simple flat pieces that was like coloring with crayons that the original costumes had.
Also, the modifications above are forcing geometry pieces on the wrong model. I'm sure if you used the scaling sliders, you'd fine very obvious clipping issues... so, porting from one model to another really isn't that easy.
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It may have been a bit better in terms of not setting the wrong expectations, but it still wouldn't have solved the problem of people not having gunslinger bits for their female characters.|
Originally Posted by Dr_MechanoEU
Yeah most of this could have been solved with a name change.
Calling it Gunslinger was...yeah...that was a bad idea. Calling it something like "Wild West Saloon" would have probably been better. Or as mentioned better yet create two Wild West packs a "Gunslinger" one and a "Saloon" one, I'd have bought both. |
The 2 separate packs option would indeed have been the ideal course. Even if they would've been a year or more apart I would be perfectly happy with that.
Now the 'gunslinger' pack has come and gone, and my female idea for a gunslinger I've had for ages will have to be made without parts from that pack, or without a long coat. And because the theme was already addressed the chances of it ever being revisited to bring some gunslinger bits to female characters have become astronomically small. Which is one of the main reasons I'm not all that happy with this pack.
I'll still buy it though. There are some very nice pieces in it, especially in the female costume (oh irony), and buying them separately will bring me close to the 400 point mark anyway. But these aren't the pieces I was hoping for.
@True Metal
Co-leader of Callous Crew SG. Based on Union server.
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Originally Posted by rian_frostdrake
ok, honest question, is paragon supposed to NOT represent the iconic representations in comics? this is a question i keep wondering because people keep throwing around the barbarian set and the steampunk set as punching bags, and im unsure where they wanted them to go with them other than where they went. As barabrian goes, look at the representations of women in so called barbarian stuff, now, are we going with grace jones' conservative attire in the conan movies? the costumes of women in various pictures by frazetta and vallejo's drawings? how about xena's outfits, or the female barbarian in diablo, or maybe the female foresworn in skyrim? because barring xena's samurai costume, none of those representations were more modest than what we got, in fact the mmo based on the more iconic barbarian is the only one that im aware of in the us that allows female avatars to run around topless. either way, if you look at what we actually got its fairly tame relative to most representative works in the subgenre.
Steampunk is similar, do an image search in either google or yahoo for steampunk clothing. make a note of what you see there. outside of the dresses, which we cant have for aesthetic reasons, bet you see a lot of corsets..and thats with safesearch on. things get a great deal racier but still within the general aesthetic when off. the only thing i didnt see was the split skirt, but i saw that as a comprimise to the games issues with animating wearing long dresses rather than an intentional slight to women. I reiterate, this is just steampunk clothing. steampunk women bolsters my case even mroe about what the representative look is if you feel a need to continue on, and you will notice this is not "steampunk sexy" its just the general prevailing look in the sub-genre. note im not saying every single outfit is corsets and boots, but count em up, see what your numbers are, and tell me what the representative look for a female steampunk costume is. So i guess my question is this. if there is a continuous theme that you can see in a set, something that comes up over and over again, are you asking the developers to self censor based on how an iconic look may be "sexy". Should they simply ignore those subcultures..or shoudl they purposely make non-representative costumes for fear of upsetting people? |
Thing is, it's NOT about stuff being...well, we'll leave it at 'sexy' as that's the word that's been used most in the thread, but even then it's still not accurate. It's not about 'showing too much skin' or anything.
It's the fact we have;
-Steampunk: Corsets
-Barbarian: More Corsets
-Gunslinger: MOAR Corsets
Now, out of those three, only one really makes heavy use of them in-genre. Barbarian, to me, evokes clothes made of bone, dead animal and bits of rough iron bolted on. It invokes spikes and skulls and people using someone else's head as a weapon.
It does NOT invoke what we got for women, which was...more corsets. And thigh high boots. And fur trim and stuff that looks like some daft 'Halloween sexy barbarian!' costume or something.
Now, Steampunk fully fitted that theme. Corsetry and long, kickass boots are very much a part of that genre. But so are waistcoats and cool jackets, and the female model lost out there.
Gunslinger? That evokes duster jackets, cowboy hats, leather chaps and bullet bandoliers, holsters and spurs. And we got...a dance-girl. Uhm....yeah.
Seeing the disconnect there? It's nothing to do with 'Omg too sexy THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!' It's 'This is not what the word you used means. I am disappoint.'
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.
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Originally Posted by Captain_Photon
NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.
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What you and other people see is "the devs are clearing a show interest in women not wearing clothes and just want to give us skimpy corsets all the time!" Or, "the devs are clearly missing the mark and giving us things we don't want or are completely out of theme."|
Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha
Thing is, it's NOT about stuff being...well, we'll leave it at 'sexy' as that's the word that's been used most in the thread, but even then it's still not accurate. It's not about 'showing too much skin' or anything.
It's the fact we have; -Steampunk: Corsets -Barbarian: More Corsets -Gunslinger: MOAR Corsets |
What I see is the devs filling in a barren section of costume options and giving people something they've been asking for for a long time. Three packs gave us corsets, yes. Which puts our selection of corsets up to... what, three? It wouldn't make sense to do all the corsets in one release. They have different styles and themes.
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Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha
It does NOT invoke what we got for women, which was...more corsets. And thigh high boots. And fur trim and stuff that looks like some daft 'Halloween sexy barbarian!' costume or something.
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And it works great for a hunter-themed character I've been thinking about.
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Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha
Gunslinger? That evokes duster jackets, cowboy hats, leather chaps and bullet bandoliers, holsters and spurs. And we got...a dance-girl. Uhm....yeah.
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Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU
Dispari has more than enough credability, and certainly doesn't need to borrow any from you.
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Why not? Corset pack, 8 different styles of corset, 150 points. |
Originally Posted by Dispari
What I see is the devs filling in a barren section of costume options and giving people something they've been asking for for a long time. Three packs gave us corsets, yes. Which puts our selection of corsets up to... what, three? It wouldn't make sense to do all the corsets in one release.
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People have been asking for them, so they would sell.
Thats under $2, so is in the micro transaction category, meaning you'd pick up more impulse buys.
Plus, thats selling them at about 19 points per piece instead of about 13 points per piece in the 400 point costume sets, so it has to sell less to make the same profit.
Always remember, we were Heroes.
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I wouldn't be opposed to this but you'd have to ask marketing and the art department about the feasibility of redrafting how they sell costume parts.
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Originally Posted by Dr_Darkspeed
Why not? Corset pack, 8 different styles of corset, 150 points.
People have been asking for them, so they would sell. Thats under $2, so is in the micro transaction category, meaning you'd pick up more impulse buys. Plus, thats selling them at about 19 points per piece instead of about 13 points per piece in the 400 point costume sets, so it has to sell less to make the same profit. |
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Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU
Dispari has more than enough credability, and certainly doesn't need to borrow any from you.
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Ok, I'll post it in Noble Savage's thread and ask him! |
Originally Posted by Dispari
I wouldn't be opposed to this but you'd have to ask marketing and the art department about the feasibility of redrafting how they sell costume parts.
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Always remember, we were Heroes.
Saw this over on Kotaku... how very relevant.
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You're missing the point. There's nothing wrong with corsets. There's something wrong with corsets IN THESE SETS. There's a time and a place for frilly dresses, string corsets and spike stilettos. A "gunslinger" set ain't it. You got the corsets that you wanted. That's fine. I wanted gunslinger stuff for my girls, which is in the name of the set, yet I didn't get that. Maybe it's arrogant of me to say this, but I feel I had more right to expect coats and hats from a gunslinger set than you did to expect corsets.|
Originally Posted by Dispari
What I see is the devs filling in a barren section of costume options and giving people something they've been asking for for a long time. Three packs gave us corsets, yes. Which puts our selection of corsets up to... what, three? It wouldn't make sense to do all the corsets in one release. They have different styles and themes.
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Again, make a corset pack. Make a "fashion" pack. Make a period dress pack throughout history. I wouldn't mind. I may or may not buy it, but what's in it will make sense. But Saloon Girls are NOT gunslingers, and as such have no place in a gunslinger set.
And again, this set has the unfortunate implications that boys can be action heroes and wear cool clothes while girls are helpless victims and have to wear cute clothes. And that's the more positive interpretation.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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I didn't expect corsets. I try not to have many expectations. It leads to threads like this one where people came up with ideas and are upset the devs didn't meet them.|
Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
You're missing the point. There's nothing wrong with corsets. There's something wrong with corsets IN THESE SETS. There's a time and a place for frilly dresses, string corsets and spike stilettos. A "gunslinger" set ain't it. You got the corsets that you wanted. That's fine. I wanted gunslinger stuff for my girls, which is in the name of the set, yet I didn't get that. Maybe it's arrogant of me to say this, but I feel I had more right to expect coats and hats from a gunslinger set than you did to expect corsets.
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I don't think there's anything wrong with corsets in the pack either. Ideally I would've loved it if girls got all the guy stuff and still got corsets.
And as I said, just a renaming of the pack would've helped. That is, if the name is what leads people to have expectations that aren't met.
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Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU
Dispari has more than enough credability, and certainly doesn't need to borrow any from you.
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One of the nice things about doing your own stuff is the ability to not feel forced to conform to other people's ideas about how that stuff should look.|
Originally Posted by rian_frostdrake
So i guess my question is this. if there is a continuous theme that you can see in a set, something that comes up over and over again, are you asking the developers to self censor based on how an iconic look may be "sexy". Should they simply ignore those subcultures..or shoudl they purposely make non-representative costumes for fear of upsetting people?
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Very very few costume options throughtout the history of the game up to this point have been gender-specific. The vast majority are available to all bodytypes. There has been an increasing trend in the costume creator towards gender-specific costume pieces. Has comic culture showed a similar increase in gender-specific outfits during that time period?
If it hasn't, one can't say that the latter is driving the former.
Most of the objections I have seen are not "Don't give us lingerie," statements, but "Don't give us lingerie in place of the more reasonable clothes given other character models."
The current costume pack indicates that the Devs believe that female 'Gunslingers' (or 'Wild West' themed characters) should be dressed in underwear (however modest). The pack indicates that, as far as the Devs are (apparently) concerned, women in western-style jackets are not viable costume options.
This doesn't follow either the reality or the fiction of the genere.
Would you argue that samurai-style armor not be available to female models?
There were historical example of female samurai* - very few. Not that many more in fiction. I wouldn't mind an off-the-shoulder geisha-style kimono outfit, but not in place of the haramaki-do my namesake character wears.
That's the equivalent of what we got with Steampunk, Barbarian, and now Gunslinger packs as well.
(*pedant: By this I mean the fighting occupation, not the social class.)
"Strength of numbers is the delight of the timid. The valiant in spirit glory in fighting alone."
- Mahatma Gandhi
Still CoHzy after all these years...
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I don't think it would have helped by much. David was on the right track when he said they'll aim for narrower themes. I'd much rather to they focus on doing one thing for all character and then another thing for all characters than bits and pieces from one theme and bits and pieces from another theme sharing a set that's only tangentially about either.|
Originally Posted by Dispari
And as I said, just a renaming of the pack would've helped. That is, if the name is what leads people to have expectations that aren't met.
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We can get broader variety with more sets, as opposed to wider sets.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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I'd rather see the judge it by the set, than a strict gender neutral that's being spouted off.|
Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
I don't think it would have helped by much. David was on the right track when he said they'll aim for narrower themes. I'd much rather to they focus on doing one thing for all character and then another thing for all characters than bits and pieces from one theme and bits and pieces from another theme sharing a set that's only tangentially about either.
We can get broader variety with more sets, as opposed to wider sets. |
Truth is, there are some gender specific pieces they don't have available, that I'd still like to see made available
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This along with Samuel_Tow's posts much more eloquently express what I'm trying and seemingly failing to say.
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Originally Posted by Tetsuko_NA
Most of the objections I have seen are not "Don't give us lingerie," statements, but "Don't give us lingerie in place of the more reasonable clothes given other character models." |
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dis hit it before i had a chance to, but when asked which costume pieces we wanted brought from npcs, do you remember which costume set was a clear winner? the carnie parts, specifically the corsets and thigh high boots. prior to stempunk there was a grand total of zero real corsets in game. there was the one leather top that looked corset like, but since it was "skin" option, it didnt fit a lot of my female characters who used reptile or mutant skin. so corsets were a repeatedly asked for option that we finally got, not directly in a carnie pack but in 3 packs where they thematically fit the looks.|
Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha
Thing is, it's NOT about stuff being...well, we'll leave it at 'sexy' as that's the word that's been used most in the thread, but even then it's still not accurate. It's not about 'showing too much skin' or anything.
It's the fact we have; -Steampunk: Corsets -Barbarian: More Corsets -Gunslinger: MOAR Corsets Now, out of those three, only one really makes heavy use of them in-genre. Barbarian, to me, evokes clothes made of bone, dead animal and bits of rough iron bolted on. It invokes spikes and skulls and people using someone else's head as a weapon. It does NOT invoke what we got for women, which was...more corsets. And thigh high boots. And fur trim and stuff that looks like some daft 'Halloween sexy barbarian!' costume or something. Now, Steampunk fully fitted that theme. Corsetry and long, kickass boots are very much a part of that genre. But so are waistcoats and cool jackets, and the female model lost out there. Gunslinger? That evokes duster jackets, cowboy hats, leather chaps and bullet bandoliers, holsters and spurs. And we got...a dance-girl. Uhm....yeah. Seeing the disconnect there? It's nothing to do with 'Omg too sexy THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!' It's 'This is not what the word you used means. I am disappoint.' |
now to refute you comment about barbarian, the outfit was leather armor with a fur trim, it was pretty much xena's armor with a bit less metal,or red sojnia's armor from the 80's movie, or the studded armor in skyrim. I reiterate that if we went with a general concensus of what "barbarians" wear, based on what readily comes up on an image search, then yes, it should have been a chainmail bikini with some facepaint. kinda glad they didnt go there, since the oblivion modding community has made me so sick of chainmail bikinis i cant stand to look at them. so yeah i disageee with your point here vehemently, what we got was justified by the genre and i found the complaints here to be disingenuous. another point is the corsets in the barb pack had a nice trick, since they actually made 3 of them with 3 types of bustier top, they gave the freedom to customize the look ANd it was when we finally got the muscular/defined female skin sam and i had been asking for for so long, so really,
lets go on to your point about steampunk, because it was subjective that women "lost" out there, they got a set that was specifically evocative oft the theme, they didnt get an additional costume set in addition to that, but givenhe average size of the costume packs, the steampunk set did have a comparable number of costume sets for women as men, and the pack was about average size for the cost.
and finally the gunslinger corset. As with many, i wish they had just called it the wild west pack and been done with it, because the saloon girl Is an iconic look for old west settings, one with a fairly defined look that resonates with a lot of people, and not just because of the possible link with prostitution. they could have given women jackets and chaps too, but i dont think the inculsion of an iconic look implies any kind of weak or submissive role for female characters. in a game where you can freely mix and match costume pieces, how you use the sets available and what image they evoke is entirely up to you.
so i disagree overall that the corsets are any part of the problem or were particularly out of place in the costume creator, they were something we asked for to fill a specific gap in costume options that the competition had us beat on for a long time(my beta character there had a corset in her costume) , and reasonably looking at the options they were iconic enough in their respective genres to warrant inclusion. so i have to disagree entirely with you on this topic. do the image searches, see what im talking about.
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Lets start the female customer respect train by not assuming all women have the same opinion on the gunslinger pack. Clearly they don't, just based on postings in this thread. And the fact a woman made them, and probably wasn't specifically thinking they were the spearpoint of a war against women at the time.|
Originally Posted by Wavicle
Devs: You need to step up.
This is the moment for you to step forward and show your commitment to treating your female customers with respect. |
There's no question calling the pack a "gunslinger" pack was an error. There are *some* players that believe having a costume pack whatever it was called contain a male gunfighter outfit and a more frilly female outfit was also an error, but if it was an error, and not everyone agrees, that was an error in judgment, not a case of misogyny.
Not all women feel disrespected. Some men do. Lets try to keep some perspective.
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So while I don't plan on closing this thread down, I would like to warmly encourage everyone to please participate in the constructive discussion Noble Savage is currently holding in this thread.
Thanks!
Andy Belford
Community Manager
Paragon Studios
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Yep, the issue really has nothing to do with the gender of the players, its more to do with limiting the options for characters we create based on their gender.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Lets start the female customer respect train by not assuming all women have the same opinion on the gunslinger pack. Clearly they don't, just based on postings in this thread. And the fact a woman made them, and probably wasn't specifically thinking they were the spearpoint of a war against women at the time.
There's no question calling the pack a "gunslinger" pack was an error. There are *some* players that believe having a costume pack whatever it was called contain a male gunfighter outfit and a more frilly female outfit was also an error, but if it was an error, and not everyone agrees, that was an error in judgment, not a case of misogyny. Not all women feel disrespected. Some men do. Lets try to keep some perspective. |
Always remember, we were Heroes.
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Perspective? In an online discussion?|
Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Not all women feel disrespected. Some men do. Lets try to keep some perspective.
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And here I thought you were normally reasonable!
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Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle
it has gone from unconscionable to downright appalling that we have no way of measuring our characters' wetness.
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Originally Posted by Brillig
It's hard to beat the entertainment value of Whackjob Wednesdays.
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Lots of online discussions have perspective. Its just that most of them have this perspective:|
Originally Posted by Siolfir
Perspective? In an online discussion?
And here I thought you were normally reasonable! |
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Saying that skin is the issue there is like saying that full-body spray-on latex should be appropriate for everyday wear, because it covers all the important bits.
I see what you're saying, but the point is not actually how much skin is being shown, it is the style and purpose thereof.
When male characters are designed showing a lot of skin, it is almost always to make them look rugged, wild, manly, powerful etc. Artists like Boris Vallejo illustrate plenty of nearly-naked men, but they're not designed to be sexy to women; they are an uber-macho ideal that men expect women "should" be attracted to (despite the fact that in general, women prefer guys who are fit but don't look like condoms stuffed with walnuts). In other words, skin exposure on male characters is (generally) aimed at guys who wish they were hyper-macho badasses.
OTOH, when female characters are designed showing a lot of skin, it is almost always because they are supposed to titillate viewers. It is extremely rare that a scantily-clad woman is dressed that way to make her seem cooler, tougher, or more powerful - she might still be a badass, but that's amost never the point of the design*. In other words, skin exposure on female characters is (generally) aimed at guys who wish they got to look at more boobies.
Now, typically both men and women actively like to see sexy female characters in popular media. However, while women also like sexy men, male viewers don't - there's even a trend of feeling a bit threatened or disdainful toward attractive male characters, and a preference for more primitive, ugly-but-manly macho ideals. Outside of anime/manga (which shouldn't be overlooked, since unlike western comics it has a significant female market segment), attractive female characters are highly desired, but attractive male characters are only somewhat desired, and otherwise merely tolerated.
Ergo, due to the inherent difference in how male and female nudity is treated, and the inherent similarity in whose benefit they are for, "showing skin" is not equivalent between male and female characters. Showing skin on either gender fundamentally suggests traditional gender roles - it is typically done to make the men seem more powerful, and the women more sexualised - and therefore they both actually cater to the same preference, not to opposites.
Besides which, males can always show more skin "real estate" without it being sexual, because a bare male chest is not viewed as an inherently sexual thing. The bare female chest, except in some older cultures that are certainly not the audience of this game, absolutely is. It's perhaps unfortunate that this is so, but it's undeniably a fact of how western society views the male and female forms.
So yeah. The barbarian pack may offer less actualy clothing for both genders, but that's certainly not equalising the gender roles - if anything, it's reinforcing them.
(*At best you get interesting quirks like the version of Power Girl who was charmingly shameless; at worst you get blatant hypocrisy like the version of Power Girl who ******* about chavinism when any guy dared to look at her giant cleavage window. Either way, the costume came about purely for sex appeal.)
Overall I think I just might be bitter because no one reply that they read my responses in this thread, which i find annoying.
The Resistance has boobs too, and better hair!