Zerael, I agree wholeheartedly that there are more significant and damaging instances of sexism in game development; however, cover art is generally indicative of a studio's overall goals and feelings about the types of characters they are going to be portraying. When there is no practical benefit* for armor design decisions, those decisions are being made on the basis of their appeal to male gamers (and/or animators). My point was simply that the decision to alter her armor to something more practical seems indicative of an overall design philosophy that I am happy to support.

I also agree with you about what does matter in game development. The single most important thing developers can do regarding gender issues is to portray men and women as equals. (Note that I am referring to the overall portrayal and treatment of gender in a game - this is not to say that every female npc must be as strong or heroic as the strongest and most heroic male npc. A woman can be weak, just a man can; the problems arises when a gender is overall treated as less capable and less self-sufficient.) The problem is that equality of ability does not remove the potential for all other inequalities. Even if female characters have the same stats and abilities as male characters, defaulting to that type of armor sends a clear message. Women are there to look desirable under all circumstances; scarred, unattractive, and heavily armored men can be found in most fantasy games as protagonists or at least a type of "good guy," whereas women are not only animated to be attractive in almost all circumstances, but dressed provocatively.



*Armor that maximizes exposed skin is impractical and unreasonable; if there were legitimate benefits to it in terms of agility and protection, you would find male characters of smaller builds with similar options. Instead, agility-based armor for male thieves and rogues is almost exclusively dark leather and cloth that covers most of the skin. I don't necessarily have any objection to the inclusion of outfits that are designed to have an impact on social interactions, particularly in a game like D:OS, but that does not seem to be the purpose of the armor shown in the banner. They both seem prepared for battle, not manipulation or haggling.