Thread: Sashay/non-shashay setting for female characters

Please... can we please have an option to turn off the sashaying of our female characters? I'm a woman and it frankly makes my hips hurt watching my elf and human females run. My hobbit and dwarf are a relief after playing the others.

I only suggest it as a toggle as I know some guys play the girls and like the sashay.

Thank you for considering this.

Even females in the game are there to be warriors, not models! If you think about it, athletes don't generally sashay, though I'm sure they could! And the thought of my female hobbits sashaying just boggles the mind!

Originally Posted by Jeb682

Even females in the game are there to be warriors, not models! If you think about it, athletes don't generally sashay, though I'm sure they could! And the thought of my female hobbits sashaying just boggles the mind!

Good point--adding to my suggestion: please don't _add_ sashaying to the non-sashaying races.

Mind you, it would amuse me greatly to make a male character and toggle sashaying on...

Hi, I'm a member of the female population, too and uhh... I've been trying to watch for this "sashaying" but either I'm blind or just stupid... I really don't see it. xD All toons, regardless of their gender, seem to run funny or weird in some way, so maybe I've just accepted it as something natural to the people of Middle-earth? xD

Nevertheless, I fully support a "toggle" to alter the females' running, or if that's not possible and they simply choose to change the animation, please please not something even more horrid than the current one. xD

Originally Posted by Lainar

Good point--adding to my suggestion: please don't _add_ sashaying to the non-sashaying races.

Mind you, it would amuse me greatly to make a male character and toggle sashaying on...

I whole heartedly agree with this whole statement....It would be funny. Male characters can already wear female cosmetics :P.

Originally Posted by Lainar

I only suggest it as a toggle as I know some guys play the girls and like the sashay.

Not me. I nearly deleted my first female character because the motion looked so unnatural. It didn't give me motion sickness, but it was just disturbing to watch. I did manage to solve it with heavy robes that not only hide the worst of it, but also fit the characters theme and look like something she'd actually go into combat in. The same way picking long bangs on a female Elf hides the Vulcan eyebrows.

I'm not seeing this. Basically, you are asking Turbine to re-design the female running animation, then add a toggle switch so you can go back and forth between two different running animations? I don't expect that'll happen, but good luck with it.

Originally Posted by Lainar

)I only suggest it as a toggle as I know some guys play the girls and like the sashay.

No, no, no... You've got it all wrong! We guys play all those female characters just to see what's under the elves' skirts! (Now that I think of that more closely, maybe the truth should have been left untold... :P)

Back to the actual suggestion... *cough* ...I haven't really paid much attention to details of how exactly characters move. Wildly swinging virtual butt of a woman, an elf or, for god's sake, a hobbit doesn't really interest me, as they can never beat the real thing. And I don't even dare to mention all those hairy and beardy dwarves - that'd be way too perverted!

More options is always a good thing; however, I doubt this would be added as it would require new animations. They're never quite the simplest thing to do. You can always dream about it of course.




Yes, I'm a male person in real life, and I have female characters of all races - except dwarves.
I refuse to wear dresses on them, and I haven't found any ribbons to put on their axes either...

I always thought the way a female hobbit runs was a little to girly, hands all out to the side all dainty-like. I think their arms should pump vigorously like someone actually trying to run, maybe even more so than an actual person does because hobbits have to run faster to keep up a normal pace with those short little legs.

Originally Posted by Dworin

I'm not seeing this. Basically, you are asking Turbine to re-design the female running animation, then add a toggle switch so you can go back and forth between two different running animations? I don't expect that'll happen, but good luck with it.

I think the point is that when we females walk, we look neither strong nor graceful but...well...

There are probably some who would probably prefer for the shimmying hips animation to go away altogether, but in the interest of peace and harmony with those who get something from looking at the wiggling behinds of cartoons on their computer screens, the OP has suggested a possible compromise. Doesn't really bother me one way or another, but on general principle I'd probably prefer females and males to have similar run/walk animations. Agreed that they will probably never invest dollars in fixing this, but I support the idea anyway.

I'll be honest, even though I'm a guy, my 5 year old main is a female toon and I cannot recall her walking in a strange manner. I'm downloading the game as we speak(some relatives bought me a dedicated gaming rig *WOOHOO! ) so I won't be checking it out for a while.

But going from memory, I cannot recall her walking in an inappropriate way. Are you offended or is it just bad animation you are talking about?

Delete your female character and roll a male elf. There, problem solved. She'll even have a prettier face with makeup.

I don't have any issue with sashaying, but I don't really like how they stand. It's with one hip all out to the side. It's not even. I have an OCD and don't like that she only stands to the one side.

I spend so much time on a horse, I barely run anywhere so I don't recall much sashaying. The only female character I have that I recall runs strangely is my hobbit. Completely wrong for someone wearing a ton of heavy armour...

Maybe instead of making completely new animations, just give the female characters the option to use the male run animations

Originally Posted by KeleeMaree

I don't have any issue with sashaying, but I don't really like how they stand. It's with one hip all out to the side. It's not even. I have an OCD and don't like that she only stands to the one side.

Actually that's how I stand in real life. Seems quite natural to me.

Originally Posted by Okokdir

Delete your female character and roll a male elf. There, problem solved. She'll even have a prettier face with makeup.

And prettier hair too!

As a female, I think the running animations need to be revamped for each race/gender. The way they run now is just... unnatural.

Originally Posted by Flyulf

IMaybe instead of making completely new animations, just give the female characters the option to use the male run animations

Male animations? Pfft, give us the option to travel the landscape using the Tom Bombadil animation! Picture rugged Human Guardians skipping across the landscape, arms swaying to and fro. Oddly enough, it would still make Elves look manlier than they currently do.

Sorry, but females walk different from males ... do my elf/(wo)man females have a wiggle ... yep ... can you see it with a cloak on ... barely ... does it look like real life females do in pants when they walk on the street ... yep ... do I want it changed ... nope ... it has been the topic of way too much fun conversation at various points in raids ...

... don't want it ... roll a male, wear a cloak, or stop staring at your toons butt and pay attention to the world around you instead

... females toons walk differently, sit differently, sound differently, and dance differently in LOTRO ... just like in real life ... and regardless of the idiot nonsense of recent times that males and females are interchangeable ... oh, equal/same ... they aren't

I have one female character, a human level 3 mule who plays hobbit games and does festivals on Landroval, and I do find her running annoyingly wiggly. Really, is a captain going to be swivel-hipped just because she's female? Well, maybe. It certainly has something to do with why she's still level 3 after five years! (The rest of it is that I'm uncomfortable with cross-dressing.)

The gait that's annoyed me since the beginning is female NPCs. Most of them, like the Watcher in charge of the area around the Prancing Pony, walk like they're wearing Depends with a full load. Stiff-legged and a wide stance like former U.S. Senator Larry Craig. Distracting. More so even than sashaying PCs, IMHO.

Originally Posted by CharlesRollinsWare

does it look like real life females do in pants when they walk on the street

As a real life female I can say I do not wiggle my backside 'on the street' as my female toons do when they walk in LOTRO.

The running animation is not a big deal as far as I can tell, but equip the clingy anniversary dress and toggle on the slow walk, and perhaps you may see the OP's point (my sweetie would be a big fan of keeping the status quo lol). I don't really see it as offensive, but if others do, then I'm all for options to toggle off the animation. Choices are always a good thing.

I only suggest it as a toggle as I know some guys play the girls and like the sashay.

That cracked me up! I have this mental picture now of some guy sitting in his basement in front of the computer in his boxers, staring at his elf chick's butt swaying back and forth as he runs with a glassy eyed smile on his face.


I'm a guy, my main character is a female elf woman, I can honestly say I've never really payed much attention to what her hips are doing when she runs. I do think when you break your leg in a fall, you look like you lost a battle with diarrhea, but when running normally I never noticed anything beyond the normal video game awkward running motion every game has.


Just to clarify, the reason I have a female main is because I really enjoy roll playing and the easiest way to force me to roll play is to have a female. Really makes you think about it when you are involved in a RP session.

Originally Posted by Elaida

More options is always a good thing; however, I doubt this would be added as it would require new animations. They're never quite the simplest thing to do. You can always dream about it of course.

Actually, I'm now hoping that should there ever be a revamp of character animation, the sashay will go.

Originally Posted by Ameranth

Male animations? Pfft, give us the option to travel the landscape using the Tom Bombadil animation! Picture rugged Human Guardians skipping across the landscape, arms swaying to and fro. Oddly enough, it would still make Elves look manlier than they currently do.

THIS.

I think this would be a vast improvement.

You know, I never noticed excessive sashaying until this post, and most of my characters are female

Try watching the animation while reading a scroll/learning a new recipe.. hips wiggle like crazy there! It's like I have a really uncomfortable itch that can't be scratched or something. lol

Originally Posted by Lainar

I only suggest it as a toggle as I know some guys play the girls and like the sashay.

Which leads back to this post from a thread where it was previously discussed.

And when I typed the above sentence, I accidentally transposed two letters to make it 'perviously discussed'. I think my subconcious was trying to tell me something.

Originally Posted by Lainar

Please... can we please have an option to turn off the sashaying of our female characters? I'm a woman and it frankly makes my hips hurt watching my elf and human females run. My hobbit and dwarf are a relief after playing the others.

I only suggest it as a toggle as I know some guys play the girls and like the sashay.

Thank you for considering this.

Don't turn auto-run off while playing a hobbit lass.