Corset for us women

[Selova]

snip.

At the risk of fanning the flames of the glamour equality topic, male races will always be behind the females in regards to glamour. It's just the way it is, glamour for females will always bring more money in because it will always be more appealing to the majority. I'm all for more male specific glamour and I support it even though I never play make races in mmos, but expecting male glamour to eventually approach female glamour in terms of appeal, designs and popularity, glamour and cosmetics for females will always be in the majority.

[Skivvy]

At the risk of fanning the flames of the glamour equality topic, male races will always be behind the females in regards to glamour. It's just the way it is, glamour for females will always bring more money in because it will always be more appealing to the majority. I'm all for more male specific glamour and I support it even though I never play make races in mmos, but expecting male glamour to eventually approach female glamour in terms of appeal, designs and popularity, glamour and cosmetics for females will always be in the majority.

Female glamours may appeal to more people and have a larger draw (this is of course subjective), but there is no reason why they should not create a male version at the same time. I'm struggling to think of any other MMOs I've played where they released an item for females only - with no option for the guys. Plenty will have a fairly drastic styling difference between male and female versions, but they have both.

[Serilda]

At the risk of fanning the flames of the glamour equality topic, male races will always be behind the females in regards to glamour. It's just the way it is, glamour for females will always bring more money in because it will always be more appealing to the majority. I'm all for more male specific glamour and I support it even though I never play make races in mmos, but expecting male glamour to eventually approach female glamour in terms of appeal, designs and popularity, glamour and cosmetics for females will always be in the majority.

But... why?

I completely understand why games aimed heavily at straight guys would favour appealing gear for female bodies. But this is Final Fantasy. It started out with a perfect balance between male and female attire. We have races like the Lalafell with no physical differences which matter between the genders. Many people (myself included!) likely turned to this game because it was so respectful towards both the 'male' and 'female' gazes, so to hear that we're suddenly lesser for picking male characters is strange and unusual. While some didn't notice the (former) fairness, because they prefer female characters anyway, some of us most certainly did notice. "Always" wasn't always so, in FFXIV. If female gear is more lucrative now when it wasn't before, the effect of squeezing the people who prefer looking at men to switching to female characters likely plays a part. I'll quit before I switch gender, so I wish they wouldn't be so short-sighted.

Females benefit from losing the gender lock obsession too. I know there are male-only items coveted by many players of female characters; it's just worse in the other direction. Asking for stuff only for one gender when there's no reason to have the limitation is just asking for disappointment for yourself further down the line when you end up on the side which loses out in some way.

[Gemina]

But... why?...

It's because the emphasis towards fashion for males and females in a FFXIV is nearly a mirror reflection of real life. To answer your question would be to answer why female fashion is FAR more popular and given a much greater level of importance over male fashion. Male attire always has been, and always will be seen as more utilitarian than fashionable. I am not saying it is the right way to look at things, but it is the status quo. There are enough males that care about fashion to warrant the tide to be a little more even, that is for sure. But females will continue to get more treatment when it comes to fashion.

As an example, some of my male buddies at work will show me, and each other their new armor and weapons on their mobiles. Usually just one set of something heavy/spikey/gloomy/brawny with a weapon bigger than their character. And then here I am, "Hey! Look at my SCH and WHM! and it's just flip, flip, flip, flip with literally a dozen or so different looks, most of which are feminine. They'll respond with something like, "Oh, she's cute." But then I show them my DRK glams, and then it's, "Oooh, yeah! I like that! Wicked sword dude!"

If that doesn't explain it, I don't think anything does

[Serilda]

As an example, some of my male buddies at work will show me, and each other their new armor and weapons on their mobiles. Usually just one set of something heavy/spikey/gloomy/brawny with a weapon bigger than their character.

Let's say that you're right. Female gamers value fashion and interesting visuals, male gamers value utility and bulk. It's a generalisation but one the gaming industry is certainly guilty of making in the real world. You have an anecdote about how you value glamour far more than your male coworkers. That's valid.

Then what about the mind-blowing possibility that perhaps, some of the people who picked male characters are not male in real life? Many of the 'more glamour for male characters!' crowd have said that's exactly where they're coming from with their requests, and invested considerable effort in showing redesigns of the locked items they want which fit nicely on a male frame with minimal adjustments (often none). A lot of male players of female characters just stick their Miqo'te (sorry for the generalisation, but...) in a skimpy bikini and never think about it any harder than that, whereas the FF series has historically featured a stunning variety of male characters in beautiful clothing and never seemed to suffer for it. I think the dev team are wrong to make this assumption after attracting a bunch of people to the game for their comparatively progressive attitudes in the past.

[Gemina]

Let's say that you're right. Female gamers value fashion and interesting visuals, male gamers value utility and bulk. It's a generalisation but one the gaming industry is certainly guilty of making in the real world. You have an anecdote about how you value glamour far more than your male coworkers. That's valid.

Then what about the mind-blowing possibility that perhaps, some of the people who picked male characters are not male in real life? Many of the 'more glamour for male characters!' crowd have said that's exactly where they're coming from with their requests, and invested considerable effort in showing redesigns of the locked items they want which fit nicely on a male frame with minimal adjustments (often none). A lot of male players of female characters just stick their Miqo'te (sorry for the generalisation, but...) in a skimpy bikini and never think about it any harder than that, whereas the FF series has historically featured a stunning variety of male characters in beautiful clothing and never seemed to suffer for it. I think the dev team are wrong to make this assumption after attracting a bunch of people to the game for their comparatively progressive attitudes in the past.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I am not so naïve that I am not aware of females controlling male avatars. But it seems it's the gender of the avatar, not the one who's controlling it where the decisions are made. You would think that they would factor in who's controlling the WoL when creating new attire for both males and females, and maybe they do. Perhaps they have all these graphs and pie charts, and ultimately decide to keep it simple for males, and hire an entire model design team for the females. But my own opinion has SE as seeing these societal standards as an easy out to spend less time on male attire. We really do neglect to see how stretched out their resources are. So I see both sides to this.

If speaking historically, it is true that males received a lot of treatment when it comes to their attire, but we're also talking mainly console games that don't expand over time. Historically, devs could spend a lot of time designing attire for their male heroes and villains because it would be the only one they would design for the entire game. That said, males do have some really awesome attire in this game. There have been several options I wanted that I could not wear because my character is female. They may not get the same treatment as females, but I also wouldn't go as far to say, or make it seem like they are neglected.

[Emstidor]

Yes yet over all female gender seems to be more popular than male. I'm sure it works vise a versa as well just seem to see more females than males in game regardless. Unless their is some server that is well known for it. By all means I understand we all pay subscriptions , I rather have my money go to expansions, housing, rather than past glamour or glamour that can take a lot of time to adjust.

At the risk of fanning the flames of the glamour equality topic, male races will always be behind the females in regards to glamour. It's just the way it is, glamour for females will always bring more money in because it will always be more appealing to the majority. I'm all for more male specific glamour and I support it even though I never play make races in mmos, but expecting male glamour to eventually approach female glamour in terms of appeal, designs and popularity, glamour and cosmetics for females will always be in the majority.

Just because you guys say something like it's a fact doesn't actually mean it's true. The last official Eorzean census shows that the gender distribution is actually pretty even, if slightly favoring male characters. So no, it isn't "logical" to exclude half of your playerbase for no reason.

[Alacran]

Just because you guys say something like it's a fact doesn't actually mean it's true. The last official Eorzean census shows that the gender distribution is actually pretty even, if slightly favoring male characters. So no, it isn't "logical" to exclude half of your playerbase for no reason.

Ah summer child... Don't you know those are bot users just choosing the default male midlander hyur?

[Serilda]

Ah summer child... Don't you know those are bot users just choosing the default male midlander hyur?

That's your assumption. But it's what S-E actually thinks is the real gender split (otherwise, why publish it so proudly?) so the fact that they openly ignore half of their paying playerbase is bizarre, under the circumstances. It's weird how deep the assumption that all gamers are stereotypical straight gamer guys who want to look at cute girls in bunny suits runs. I have money. Take my money, S-E.

[Alacran]

That's your assumption. But it's what S-E actually thinks is the real gender split (otherwise, why publish it so proudly?) so the fact that they openly ignore half of their paying playerbase is bizarre, under the circumstances. It's weird how deep the assumption that all gamers are stereotypical straight gamer guys who want to look at cute girls in bunny suits runs. I have money. Take my money, S-E.

My assumption is backed by the rmt spamming in the major cities and Quarrymill.