Catamite

It settles a setting's internal logic, which is entirely realistic. Only if that setting explicitly redefines men and women and their abilities. Just like you assume that the sun rises in the east, you assume that men are stronger than women, unless told otherwise. Fallout: New Vegas was a video game designed by... wait for it... Obsidian Entertainment. In this game there are no stat penalties for playing as a women nor as a man. While not realistic this was most likely done to not limit a player's options and allow to play whatever role as whatever gender. Project Eternity is an upcoming video game designed by.... the exact same people. Why would they suddenly decide to limit the player's options in such a way when it is so rarely done? The only game I can think of with stat penalities is Arcanum which gives a +1 to strength for male characters and a +1 to Endurance for female characters. Oh I absolutely agree. It doesn't make any sense to include any stat bonuses or penalties in a game. Let people play however they want. But don't say that you shouldn't have skimpily clad women in the game because it's UNREALISTIC. Sexist, childish, "I DON'T LIKE IT", etc, are all perfectly valid reasons. Once you mention REALISM however, the only logical conclusion is that women shouldn't be there to begin with. How they're dressed doesn't really matter. Dan- you have admitted now multiple times that there are valid reasons for women not being scantily clad, yet your reason for still posting is a tangential argument on realism... you have also referenced your own fitness, I can't help but feel it's your own ego is bruised at the thought of a woman could beat you in a fight.... Well somewhere out there there is one, deal with it. Women will fight as warriors in Eternity, regardless of how that compares to reality, and they deserve the same armour as the men, not whore outfits.

"The links you've provided reference women LEADERS, not warriors. Typically generals and emperors/empresses do not fight hand to hand on the front lines. And if they do, they are surrounded by some of the best bodyguards in the world. Indeed it is about representation in a fantasy game. Therefore, the notion that women fighting in chainmail bikinis is unrealistic does not hold much water. Like I've said twice already, women fighting men in hand to hand combat is unrealistic to begin with. What they're wearing doesn't really matter." Alot of those women were active fighters not just leaders, and that is a small list from the first result in Google, there are many different historical examples, but this is a tangent. NOW we hit the nail on the head- representation means more than you suppose, women shouldn't wear chainmail bikini's for MORE reasons than just realism. So many games at the moment cater almost exclusively to teenage heterosexual male viewpoints. There are plenty of women and gay gamers who feel that these fantasy worlds exclude them. That is why all women featured in a game wearing skimpy whorey clothing is not right.

It happened in real life though. It just wasn't the norm, and varied with culture. A woman can murder a man. The average man is stronger than the average woman, yes, but an average woman is still lethal, and a very above average woman vs. an average man could end very badly for the male. Of course a woman can murder a man. She can murder a man by poisoning him, stabbing him in the back, or strangling him in his sleep. But show me any historical precendent where women were able to defeat trained men with any kind of consistency in hand to hand combat. Google is your friend: http://listverse.com/2008/03/17/top-10-badass-female-warriors/ Just because female fighters don't feature greatly in your education, doesn't mean they haven't existed. And even if no woman has ever beaten a man in combat (a laughable premise) this thread is about representation within a fantasy game. No elfs or dwarves have beaten a man in combat either.

I agree with delterius, magic is the pathway to godhood, though if everyone has some sort of soulpower then maybe it will be different in Eternity. Now I've always had a niggling annoyance with spell systems in D&D games- no matter how powerful and intelligent my Mage becomes, he is constricted to using his magic via predefined templates created by others? wtf? (I know this system would be hard to implement and even harder to balance BUT) An option for mages as they grow in power, to have the ability to break down the spells they know into component parts, and either adapt or create new spells from those parts. With a mana/fatigue system each component part would have a mana cost / multiplier. Casting Method: Vocal and Somatic would have negative % multipliers, so possible to remove them at cost. Total casting time Vector of the spell: missle (different sizes, magic missle, fireball etc), beam, glyph, cloud, instantaneous Duration: Target type: single, # within area, AOE. Magic type: elemental, toxic, acid, negative, disruption, sonic, etc Added effects: sleep, mind control, petrify, etc This is just a rough sketch, but creating and using ones own spells would add great depth to those who would want to use it. I want an acid missile spell that causes sleep dammmit!

I think a stretch goal could be tablet support- windows 8 is going to be fairly mainstream by the time the game comes out. The problem with DLC packs- how do we know what is an added pack, if we don't know what they are going to put in the game originally? Unless it's perhaps a token for every kickstarter pledger, for a free version of whatever DLC they do release post launch of the game. EDIT# just realized that this may have been what NateOwns was suggesting

I've always thought that would be a cool optional add on to a game, another optional add on would be signing on the screen, ala black & white, this would be particularly cool if the game is released with tablet support. Such add-ons would promote skills other than clicking on a mouse to become better in the game, and they could add bonuses too- ie making spells faster to cast etc.

Tropes that can be put to rest: The effeminate male Mage (particularly if he is evil) The catty female thief The bearded druid Clerics being good (plenty of evil comes out of religion) All the women have to be attractive Older women don't adventure

Spot on Tychoxi, having casual sex in the game gets that cheesyness out of the way, then hopefully deeper and more interesting relationships could develop. Hopefully this game is as narratively deep as Planescape, developers- please don't overlook the power of betrayal, tragedy, redemption etc- The NPC's shouldn't always give us what we want or what we expect.

4 preferably, or maybe 6... hopefully there are mixed classes so one doesn't have to have a cleric, mage, warier and thief in every party

I liked the Arcanum system of fatigue instead of mana- so it was used by both warriors and mages, and if you used too much you collapsed into unconsciousness... JUST killing an enemy with a last ditch spell and collapsing, but still safe was incredibly rewarding! My ultimate would be a mixture of vancian memorising for which spells can be cast, allowing the spellbook to be very complex, but the fatigue system for how often they can be cast. Regarding scaling- I think the power of certain spells should increase with level, as that suggests greater skill, but the fatigue use shouldn't increase (as what's the point of increasing levels of fatigue/mana if the spells scale also?)

There should be sexuality as well as gender balance- the game should have as many options open as possible, and not fall into heterosexual male teenage fantasies. Though I'm not against bikini armour options for women, as long there are bikini armours for men. Sexuality should include heterosexual, homosexual and asexual options within relationships. I agree that the end point should not be a simple cut scene (yay I scored!) but should ultimately develop into the player caring about their partner, (maybe even to the point where you get bonuses to attack if their health is low? just an idea). I also agree with Noneks list- for gods sake no ridiculously giant weapons or armour, it's not the size that matters!