Things need to explain: Bunny Ears

[Serilda]

snip

I care because the gap never used to exist, and since it started it's been steadily growing in one direction (data). Nobody would make such a fuss if there wasn't an established trend; that's why it's been blowing up more recently as the bias becomes harder and harder to ignore. When are we allowed to start getting upset about it? When there are 20 additional items for female characters? 30? 50? 500? What's the arbitrary point where it's suddenly an actual problem instead of a storm in a teacup led by a bunch of guys with nothing better to do than whine?

Then we've been given strange feedback from S-E like comments about it being harder to make clothing for male characters (which inherently makes no sense, especially with things like hats), and comments which imply all gear is designed on female characters first then adapted for males if they feel like it (a separate issue which some players finds upsetting for different reasons). The fact is, complaining works. Since we started banding together and complaining we've received feedback from the community team that they understand our concerns, whereas we heard nothing at all in the months since that first response acknowledging that there was an issue. S-E aren't snubbing us out of spite, they just don't (didn't?) understand how upset people felt. From that I have taken the message that we should keep campaigning, and keep speaking up when people try to tell us we're being silly.

The campaigning will also help make players with female characters aware of the problem, so if (when?) steps are taken to make more glamour available for male characters we'll have plenty of background information to point to when people start complaining from the other side. I personally like the idea of making the existing female-locked items unisex until the balance is restored, as nobody has to lose anything for that to happen, but I'm also happy with a solution of giving us a new male-only items to even things up. Bunny ears in particular should be something anyone can have as they are useful for all kinds of fun glamours, including festive ones during the springtime. However, if S-E insist on keeping them female-only I would be more than happy with an equivalent male-only 'fun' item - perhaps something like fluffy bear ears.

I'm personally campaigning because I do like to dress my male character up nicely and having fewer items means I have fewer mix-and-match options when constructing glamour sets. Other people are campaigning because they specifically want certain items. It doesn't really matter what our motivations are though, does it? It's a hard fact that there's a gender bias in this game, and it's something that's currently easily rectified. It's also true that the longer they let this situation persist, the harder it will be to undo the damage. Why not just get it fixed now, without having to deal with people questioning our motives at every step?

(Thank you so much to Laerune and Reinha for making those fantastic understanding posts, even though you're not personally affected by the imbalance on the characters you're using on the forums.)

There's one other thing I want to address because it personally bothers me.

Want some cheese with your whine, guys? Though honestly the more of these whiny threads I see the more it seems to be less about glamour and more about men having just as much or more than women even in fiction and the opposite is just outrageous (apparently).

Forgive me if I have misinterpreted but the 'even in fiction' implies that you are annoyed that men are dominant in the real world and trying to have equality (or dominance?) here too. Please reread your own signature and reconsider your stance; as we have said, repeatedly, many of the people demanding this are not male in real life. This is not a gender superiority debate, it's simply an issue where players are limited based on aesthetic decisions made during character creation with no in-game warning in advance. If anything, producing extra sexy outfits for female characters is an imbalance favouring a subset of straight real-life guys who want to enjoy scantily-clad female characters in a videogame. Equality benefits everyone; anything else sets a bad precedent for the way this game is being designed.

[Pomelo]

The campaigning will also help make players with female characters aware of the problem, so if (when?) steps are taken to make more glamour available for male characters we'll have plenty of background information to point to when people start complaining from the other side. I personally like the idea of making the existing female-locked items unisex until the balance is restored, as nobody has to lose anything for that to happen, but I'm also happy with a solution of giving us a new male-only items to even things up. Bunny ears in particular should be something anyone can have as they are useful for all kinds of fun glamours, including festive ones during the springtime. However, if S-E insist on keeping them female-only I would be more than happy with an equivalent male-only 'fun' item - perhaps something like fluffy bear ears.

I'm personally campaigning because I do like to dress my male character up nicely and having fewer items means I have fewer mix-and-match options when constructing glamour sets.

Despite my forum avatar I predominantly play as a female character myself.
I agree with everything you said, and it is in a much more coherent way than I would have phrased it >.<