Healers Deserve a Male Mascot

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DamianFatale

MMOs need to let go of this idea that men are tanks/dps, and women are healers. Thankfully this game doesn't do it with the dps, but the heal sl00t stereotype for women still remains, and more mmos need better diversity in this regard.

---

Just a question: You point out the stereotype of men being tanks/DPS and women being healers, but only ask for healer mascots to be men. Do you also want tank/DPS mascots to be women too, or do you think men are just underrepresented? :confused:

I'd certainly like healers to be less overly feminine which i suspect is the point the OP was intending to make.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Aldora

https://i.imgur.com/RFS24aO.jpg

---

Oh wow.. I love that picture.
You might have made me get that expansion after all......

I think what the OP is trying to get at is that there appears to be a disconnect between the stereotyping of a role and its implementation in the game.

The official artwork is "supposed" to represent the next WoL added to the team, but more often then not, the artwork seems to stereotype that role. A good example is that most of the melee jobs depict male, and most of the ranged/caster jobs depict females. The artwork for all tanks, DRG, and NIN, are all male; only Monk is female. SAM is androgynous but is thought to be male. Likewise, all healers, RDM, BLM, BLU, DNC and BRD are all females; only SMN and MCH are males. (Also for those not aware, we know the BLM art is female cause of previous comments)

Now the game as a whole is very good at diversifying the jobs and making everyone feel "included" so to speak. For the most part each quest chain does a decent job of not making the job feel too much like a boys or girls club. But, official artwork tells us a different story. Why is only the Monk artwork the only female melee? Why is MCH and SMN the only male ranged/caster. Especially, since we've heard commentary that certain jobs were going to be represented differently. The artist initially said that he wanted to depict DNC as male, but since GNB was male, or something about the outfit showing, something to that effect, made him decide to make a female DNC. I can guarantee you that the new melee job will be a Hrothgar, since they aren't represented in the official art yet. And if they are, it's just feeding more into the stereotyping.

Why is the official work so important, or the only thing that matters? Official work might feature a random female, but the official reveal trailer features a random male, and the NPCs using some of those roles ingame are also male (note that the Scions NPCs are way more iconic, important and recognizable than a random, nameless character from an artwork).

I feel that someone is trying to point out any sort of injustice, but I can't see it anywhere.

Your post doesn't make any sense. They've shown a Miqo'te in the trailer, which happens to be male.

If you're male and want to play a healer, go for it. If you're female and like to play a tank or DPS, there's plenty that already do so go for it.

Uhh.. What about the gameplay trailer for Sage? Was it not a MALE Miqo'te?

Men are never allowed to heal. When I see a male character playing a healer, I stalk and harass them until they fantasia to a female.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Aldora

It was the same with Astrologian when the Shadowbringers trailer was released. Urianger filled that spot.

https://i.imgur.com/z6Sm0Gh.png

Damian was specifically referring to the artwork they released for Sage.

https://i.imgur.com/RFS24aO.jpg

While it might be true that the artwork for healers usually show females characters, they also show in-game renders of the job which in this case was a male Lalafell. The Job trailer itself was a male Miqo'te. So, we can't say that there is no "male representation" for healers. Personally, i don't really care. The artwork always looks cool.

---

I think it may have been the artist's choice on what they drew, not Square Enix.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DamianFatale

Men heal too. Healing is not just a job for women.

Square Enix should make the official art for the next healer a man. Yeah, I know that they are using that Viera girl for sage, but it would be really nice if they didn't.

MMOs need to let go of this idea that men are tanks/dps, and women are healers. Thankfully this game doesn't do it with the dps, but the heal sl00t stereotype for women still remains, and more mmos need better diversity in this regard.

---

Who said it's a job just for women? I find that it is less mmos, and more of the general public that assigns females to the healer role. It's actually one of the few comforts I find in a world turned upside down. But nothing about FFXIV, or Final Fantasy restricts males from playing healers, using them to represent healers, which they have done; or grants advantages in the form of stats to those who choose a female when playing a healer.

Traditionally speaking, roles of nurture, caregiving, and providing nourishment at the cost of their own well-being has always been highly associated with females, so it is only natural that some of that finds its way into mmo CC. This is not an issue unless any particular individual makes one out of it. A much more substantial issue I see is that mmos don't use healers to represent anything. It doesn't matter if you choose male or a female. If you choose healer, you are effectively out of the spotlight. We all will be throwing snowballs in the underworld the day derplander chooses a healer.