Women's armor in MMO's

I read a post today on MMOSite.com about women's armor trends in MMO's "13 Ridiculous Female Armors ...", something I've always found disturbing, annoying and fascinating. 

We know that the majority of Dev/Designers are men, so obviously all women warriors should be in bikinis as they definitely protect you in battle!  It really seems to be a common trend in MMO's these days, as I remember in EQ2, that all my characters had adequate armor that cover the vital parts, kind of like armor is suppose to!

Now though it seems to be almost ALL MMO's have hired lingerie artists to make the female armor.  It would be better if you could pin point one MMO at fault, but it is across the board in all MMOs sadly.

I know I've had a major bitch about this for years. Why my female characters are in chainmail bikinis and/or high heels, yet the male counterpart looks like something you actually might survive a battle in is beyond me.

The Secret World, I'm glad to say does give you a variety of clothing from the super slutty to completely covered head to toe to business attire to the truly strange.  But at least there are options!  Not well here it is!  I remember one year my Priest in WoW was in shadow form all the time as the hot pants she had to wear were so embarrassing short, but they were the best gear I had at that level.

It's definitely a sore subject for many women that I game with, as yes we want it to be pretty/cute, but functional!  There's a place and a time for sexy, but more specifically it should be a CHOICE to dress that way, not the only option. 

I love this video from College Humor - Female Armor Sucks
(the link isn't working properly)


Here's a few links I found on Repair Her Armor of interesting blogs about this topic.

Repair Her Armor

Escher Girls

Bikini Armor Battle Damage
** Bikini Armor has a long list of related blogs **