Dancer Archive
Thread: Should Be able to Dance on the Tables in the cantina's
Hi everyone :-) as an ex-dancer (Stripper) I enjoy playing SWG as a dancer, I left the stripper stage one year ago, I started at 19 and stoped at 24. Now I'm going to college full time, and playing SWG as a dancer lets me keep a part of the life I left, the people that design the cantina need to go to a real strip club and see how it's done. Lets be real people, the individuals that make characters and go hunt and kill for enjoyment don't want to go to a dance hall and watch the waltz, they want beautiful half naked women dancing very sexy telling them how good looking they are and we the dancer's get excited at the thought of them taking down the enemy, and there's nothing wrong with that. The cantina's need to be designed better, and just to say.... Strippers that give lap dances are not whores.... I look at the thoughs dancers as individuals using all their skills to make a living.
Hope I did not offend anyone :-)
Mind you, I don't object to strippers, but most of the dancers I know are definately not strippers and try to avoid being considered one. I tend to wear things other than fleshwraps most of the time, and am there to entertain and heal the mind wounds and battle fatigue of my customers.
I agree about the cantina design, beside the Fallen Star in Antha and the the one in Eisley ( if I'm right ) they all look the same but I disagreeon the strip club part, like the above poster said, the cantinas are not strip club. I see them rather an a place to take a break, relaxe and chat in peace than a place where you go to "buy" herotism and see half naked dancers.
the individuals that make characters and go hunt and kill for enjoyment don't want to go to a dance hall and watch the waltz, they want beautiful half naked women dancing very sexy
I really hope that is not the case for the majority of the cantina's customers or I would be disappointed.
Hope I did not offend anyone :-)
When a point of view is expressed nicely, there's not offence taken even if both sides don't share the same thoughts.
I understand you're coming from a particular viewpoint, and noone will begrudge you for playing the game any way you see fit, but the cantinas are designed a certain way to fit in with the Star Wars universe.
Also, your statement that anyone who makes a male character and goes out and hunts wants to relax in a strip club and get a lap dance is a huge generalization. There are plenty of people who walk by all the fleshwraps to find that dignified dancer wearing a beautiful evening gown, or that famous musician who has a way with lyrics.
- J
As much as I disagree with most of MatLee's points, she does raise an important topic for the Dancer profession -- i.e., what impact doesthe full-time cybering lapdancer have on the rest of the dancer profession?
I've gone on and on about our image here because I think it's possibly our most precious commodity. We are a visual profession, all our skills are visually oriented, and that visual emphasismorphs intothe image that other players have of us. It's why I've always detested the dirty underwear twits who publicly spam for sexual favors in cantinas, and I grit my teeth when a fellow dancer is going overboard with the /lick and /flirt stuff with every single patron who walks in the door. I'm a dancer too, and I've NEVER been forced to go to those lengths to make good tips. When I flirt, it's with players I already know and who I can trust. It's in good fun, not for the purposes of seducing them out of 2000 credits for a few pixellated moans and groans.
As Pickles noted, there are quite a few "gentlemen's clubs" springing up on the servers. I know of at least 3 on Chilastra. The main problem these clubs have facing them, IMO, is the age question. If they hire a dancer who is under 18 ... or allow a customer in for their special services who turns out to be under 18, they are laying themselves (and SOE) open for the Mother of all Lawsuits. All it will take is one shocked parent who happens to catch their teenaged kid in an online "strip club". Or, worst case, a masquerading FBI agent.
Legal questions aside, I'm notjudgemental about dancers who wish to pursue that line of work in private clubs. It's a personal choice. But I'm wondering out loud if it doesn't send an unspoken message to some players that ALL dancers are available for cybersex, even the ones in public cantinas or PG-rated private establishments? Some of us can handle that aspect of the image better than others, but does it make your job less enjoyable? I'm curious.
But I'm wondering out loud if it doesn't send an unspoken message to some players that ALL dancers are available for cybersex
Sinda, I think you're underestimate players common sense.
The people who can assume such thing based on the behaviour of a small part of the dancer community must think that SWG univers is real, that all imperials are evil persons, rebels honorable and so on. By my side I can only feel sorry for them.
I have found that the people complaining the most in the cantinas about lack of tips are the /lickers and underwear dancers (and the known Long Term AFK Macroers). Those are the people who have MSE droids named "Tip the Entertainers" doing it's little point runs around the front of the cantina. These are the people who I've also seen heading off for other professions so they can make money. Doing the nasty on the dance floor and always being broke doesn't really seem to click for them. I have never done a lap dance, and the one time that someone sat under me while I was dancing and started being crass, I slapped him and moved.
To be honest, this makes me feel a bit better about the quality of customers in the cantina. I certainly don't want to discourage anyone from wearing a fleshwrap or hot pants, but the nights I wear more clothing are my best nights for tips. I don't look like every other dancer in the place, and maintain my standard of not being crude or too flirty. I have some regular customers who travel to see me, and have done relatively well for tips.
I had access to master level garments at a good price since my Novice Dancer days, but felt that if I wore those outfits while constantly falling on my butt, it would make them less special than if I waited for some of the exotic dances that could really show them off.
Maybe all this makes me a snob... but I wouldn't change a thing.
Kyree Shvar- Master Entertainer, Master Dancer, Master Image Designer -- Sunrunner
Sinda, I think you're underestimate players common sense.
I only wish I were 
I had access to master level garments at a good price since my Novice Dancer days, but felt that if I wore those outfits while constantly falling on my butt, it would make them less special than if I waited for some of the exotic dances that could really show them off.
I'm glad you said that Kyree, this is "Exactly" how I've felt about the clothes too. Some novice entertainer or even a novice dancer doing rhythmic or formal or even popular in a leotard or fleshwrap or bikini doesn't make sense to me. The clothing itself doesn't add to the dance and I cannot justify in my mind that all starting dancers now have a rich patron behind them buying them top of the line dancer outfits before they can dance and know how to use them. Its defintely more of a self-opinion thing or aesthetics than anything making real sense but I myself haven't danced in those since I've never made master dancer and don't feel I can really show them off myself.
That being said a truly experienced dancer dancing the lower level dances as they fit the outfits does make sense to me. So I suppose its just a switch in my own mind but I'll stick to other costumes. The Glitter Pit has been using costumes for its dancers, we had a few weeks of undeclared costumes but typically something new each week when we can get our act together. We started before we had easy access to master stuff these are what we've used:
We used a light bustier with skirt each in differnt colors, band members got conservative black and blue outfits, servers got things like pullovers or a white (colorless) equivalent
next week we did tight jeans with colored sripe down side, sandals, gloves and low cut tops to match the the stripe. Great for poplock and popular.
We did one with trim lined shorts colored and black revealing tops
We did one with patterened slip dresses and colored bangles, gloves and shoes
We did one with infiltrator leggings, sports bustier and dusters
We did a formal show with elegant gowns and the men in the dress shirts and pants
We do the Grind in wraps with small bustiers and sandals for the tiki beach theme
They won't tell me yet what the costumes THIS weekend are going to look like.
Might do an "urban soldier look" with camoflage, tops and vests in black and combat boots and cartridge belts
Might do something with the bikin pants and vests and warm hats and swords and big jewelry for an Arabian Nights look
Dressing male dancers is the most difficult to keep true to a theme AND keep them looking good and feeling comfortable.
But I'm sorry to stray off topic. I think that most probably dont want or see entertainers as cybersex workers and it IS limited to a minority. I didn't say it was a miniscule minority but a minority. And those people that DO, probably see ALL women that way, no matter what profession they are in.
Wow lots of responses, :-) I'm glad to read that other people feel that the cantina's need some work. Everyone here has valid points and I like hearing all sides. I guess with my back ground I can understand a strip club better then other types of night clubs, and just to say with the times I worked in strip clubs they are not as sleezy as people think, I've seen famous people come in and enjoy the parties, women as wel as men come to them also and I'm not talking about lesbians, these girls would come in with boyfriends everyone is well mannered, well dressed and happy to enjoy the night. I've seen more problems in regualer clubs then in strip clubs I think because when people come to a strip club they know they can't be a problem because they would be thrown out in a second, There's no sex going on in these clubs as for lap dances there's no sex involved in that either, also for the five years I've danced I never saw a person do drugs in them this is another way to be thrown out in a heart beat, I can go on with more info but I think you know what I'm saying. So I hope you understand when I said to make it more of a strip club, I have good memories of them and not a sex den of evil.
Thank You all for putting your two cents in on this thread.
:-)
"Strippers that give lap dances are not whores"
Amen.
This is the biggest misconception I've seen...that stripping equals cybersex...and it's not from the patrons, it's from the other dancers. It's certainly true in RL that strippers aren't usually hookers (although some cities have alot more girls working the clubs than the streets), and, from what I've seen...because I don't play my character this way, normally...thew few girls I've encountered playing that part on Eclipse have actually enforced the "I can touch you, but you can't touch me" rule. In other words, it's a dance, and nothing else.
As I've said before, I'm personally impressed with anyone who can mage to make it look like they're giving a lapdance in the first place...my control of my own avatar isn't that good.
Likewise, from a practicality point, I have trouble seeing how a fleshwrap can be considered stripping. It's one long strip (no pun intended) of material that would take quite a while to be put on...and not easy to take off. When worn by someone who's not a Barbie doll and in a colour that compliments them, they can actually look quite good on a character. (It should be noted that I originally didn't want one because I thought it was too revealing, until a tailor had be try a lapis one on and was proved otherwise.) Exotic Leotard? Yeah, that's abit flaunty, but I think maybe the fact that the wrap is called a FLESHwrap may be contributing to part of the hormonal problem associated with it. Regardless, if a woman is wearing a fleshwrap, it doesn't mean she's a lady of negotiable affections...although I hear that suggestion from alot more dancers than I do patrons. If I'm wearing mine...and yes, I often wear outfits that cover everything except wrists and face, my favourite one is a trimlined shirt with leggings and boots, very russian...I very rarely get harrased by patrons, and have yet to have anyone try to drag me off for a little hokey-pokey.
Back on subject...I think we need all kinds of cantinas, the holes in the walls, the nicer ones, the elegent ones and the sex clubs. It's kinda hard to hold up the "We didn't see that in the movies" arguement, here....this game has much more scope than the movies, and this kind of entertainment will naturally pop up in a large society (UNT had a whole anthropology course on Taboos in America, where part of it was mapping a city by various "sin" trades). My first reaction, in beta, when I found out about the dancing profession was "I wonder how long it'll be before someone opens a strip club."
Hmmm. I wonder...for the private clubs poping up...if they charge a 5 cr fee for entering, can a note be added that says "By paying this fee, you signify that you, as a player, are over 18 and that your state does not find...*whatever the state legalities are*"