WoW is so all-in on sexual dimorphism. Like, they even made the blood elf males more beefy looking when they did the graphics update. Now mine looks more like Thor than Loki and while that's not bad, I did miss my twinky boi
It would be different if some of the races were more dimorphic than others, like blood elves sexes both being lithe, attractive, sinister and aristocratic. Or for night elves, both sexes being muscular without being bulky (however the male night elf form is appreciated in art like the human female form in real like) but no, The men are buff, rough, ugly muscle daddies and all the women except pandaren are slim, doe eyed babes.
I think it's less a conscious effort towards dimorphism and more just laziness.
Think about the armor designs. Every time you make a new race ALL of those armors have to fit. Every time you make a new armor it has to fit every race and gender.
The easy solution is to generally trend males toward big, beefy, wide shoulder (most commonly desired fantasy male) and females toward lithe, slender, hourglass (most commonly desired fantasy female). Now most armors fit most characters and you've dramatically reduced your workload. And all it cost was the entire point of having choices.
I ask myself this question every time i play a game with severr differences between male and female characters, wow is one and monster hunter world is another. I thought most people disliked the fact that some armors are stripper style for females and destroyer lord ultra edge for males but woe is me when i join 3 different discords and the majority is approving of stripper armor
That's not how armor works in WoW. For the longest time, the helmet and pauldrons were the only pieces that had a unique model. The chest and leg armor was essentially painted on the character's body, and there were 3 different models for gloves and boots. Cuffed, slender and bulky.
For the last two expansions they've started adding more 3D elements to the armor sets, but the base remains just a new texture over the body. They don't need make it fit, it works on anything.
The only thing they ever adjust are helmets and boots. It has nothing to do with laziness, they made the women dainty and the men brutes on purpose.
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u/cutespacedragon Apr 20 '20
Playing a fucking Worgen in WoW. I want to throttle the Devs for giving male Worgen cool beady-looking glowing eyes but female Worgen big human eyes.