domanz Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 This is a rather philosophical question I'm asking and has not much to do with modding itself. I've noticed that no matter which moddable game I'm looking at (Oblivion, Fallout 3, DA:O to name specifics), a great deal of attention is paid on making the actors look like beatiful people, up to the extreme. Baby faces, skin as pink as pink it would get and as soft as... well, I don't know, a softcake? Doesn't matter, I just wonder why. Dont get me wrong, I feel you in a certain way, but there are places in the internet to get your kicks elsewhere. I was rather amazed that one of the first mods to be released made the teeth white. There I was thinking, yay, finally they got it that people living in the medieval had no teethbrushes, and there you go, teeth are white again. I'm asking myself if beauty is not overrated and even greatly misunderstood. Sure, it's something everyone has a different view of, and every view is to be respected. So, to be able to respect you, I ask you now what makes you do that. Personally, to me, all "beautificated" actors already available for DA:O look far worse than the original ones, because I learned to like their specialties. The strange lips from morrigan or these little wrinkles leliana has at her eyes. All beautification projects eventually end up removing all specialties from the original faces and turn them into standard faces which all look the same, big eyes, no wrinkles, kiss-me-lips, you know what I'm talking about. Have I lost you all or are there some who followed? I admit having some sort of uneasy feeling when talking about this, but I hope I managed to enable you to answer in a civil way. No harm done, I hope. Just something interesting to talk about, I think. Considering how many mods with just that topic there are... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlienSlof Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 I agree wholeheartedly. I rarely use such mods, preferring ones that add eyes and hair, but leave faces alone. Each to their own and all that, some people like a world of pretty girls, but for the most part, I like the original faces in games. I like ugly people. The only one in Dragon age that I've changed is Zevran, and it was the one mod that made only minimal changes without changing his whole character. Same applies with Oblivion and Fallout - I like the original faces and have grown to know them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XunAmarox Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 Fantasy games, some people fantasize about certain things, and many have certain fantasies in common, as it pertains. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
domanz Posted November 24, 2009 Author Share Posted November 24, 2009 I agree wholeheartedly. I rarely use such mods, preferring ones that add eyes and hair, but leave faces alone. Each to their own and all that, some people like a world of pretty girls, but for the most part, I like the original faces in games. I like ugly people. The only one in Dragon age that I've changed is Zevran, and it was the one mod that made only minimal changes without changing his whole character. Same applies with Oblivion and Fallout - I like the original faces and have grown to know them. I distinguish between model-changing mods as well. I never say no to more polygons, smoother animations or sharper textures, (as long as my rig keeps up ;)) but I don't like the characters to be robbed of their uniqueness. I'm just glad there are others with similar thoughts, now I can sit back and let everyone be, knowing I am not alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archon3D Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 I follow. I get what you mean, and no, I've never used mods like that either. The characters were made as they should be. I know I wouldn't like someone changing the face of any of my characters (in my drawings, for example), so I don't do it to other people's characters.Unless we're talking about a graphical glitch of some sorts, like clipping problems with hair and ears. But that's a different story. ...but there are places in the internet to get your kicks elsewhere.True. But I guess that that kind of people just want to get all their kicks at the same time. Or just most of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimboUK Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 This is what is so great about PC gaming, people with very different tastes all able to enjoy the same game. I installed the white teeth because I tend to equate dirty ones with stinking breath, others may have other reasons, not that it matters anyway. The white teeth are no more out of place in a medieval setting than the clean clothes, clean faces/hair and people walking around in heavy armour. I always play through once without touching the game so I can see it as the devs intended and then go to town adding all sorts of things. I add the type of mods your talking about because I prefer to look at pretty things, I wouldn't go as far as having characters naked in a game. Anyway if someone wants to run around Lothering wearing a cocktail dress with a traffic cone on their head who are we to criticise? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leapinglizard Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Its mainly due to society/media telling us that beauty = success. So if you have a powerful mage or warrior its natural that they need to look beautiful. because beauty = success. don't fight it..... you cant beat the mass media...too powerful. just be happy you were born attractive or wear a paper bag over your head. :banana: :banana: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimboUK Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Its mainly due to society/media telling us that beauty = success. So if you have a powerful mage or warrior its natural that they need to look beautiful. because beauty = success. don't fight it..... you cant beat the mass media...too powerful. just be happy you were born attractive or wear a paper bag over your head. :banana: :banana: I wonder if some in the media have issues with their eyesight, some of those stick insect catwalk models look terrible and the less said about the photoshopped freaks in magazines the better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
domanz Posted November 25, 2009 Author Share Posted November 25, 2009 Nice replies. Yes, I feared my weakness of the medieval argument will eventually attract attention :D BUT: Everyone can fight the media, it's just a question of how many people join in. For one person, it's really easy to say that the media is full of bullshit. And look at paris hilton or britney spears or tom cruise, beauty is not always success. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nogford Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 At least in the case of Bethesda, I use the beautification mods so that the characters don't look so completely alien. I don't have a problem with ugly or plain looks, I have a a problem with NPC women looking like Donna Versace, and men looking like David Gest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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