Gender ratio

[Kakiko]

Female here and this thread made me realize I can't think of any other friends in FF I have who are females in real life (that I know of). Almost all of the guys I know play female characters, too.

[raela]

I'm female IRL, and definitely have met way more guys in game, going by FC / raiding / PUGs that join voice chat. I've only met around 5 in the ~4 years I've been playing, but I don't really socialize all that often, outside of static. The topic doesn't really come up in DF/PF. I've rarely gotten along well with the other girls I have met though, which makes me wonder if I'm a difficult person, or the groups I'm a part of attract more quirky personalities (or both). >:| I've had some female friends in other MMOs without issues..

As for gender based harassment, I have experienced it, including in FFXIV. Luckily it hasn't been a common problem here - just one really awkward situation a couple of years ago. I also don't socialize as much as I used to, so, that might help. I don't blame anyone for wanting to hide their gender.

[Taika]

In an academic conference paper based on survey data collected from XIV players, 574 out of 905 (63.4 %) survey respondents were male (with average age 27.2). This may or may not reflect the gender ratio of XIV players. Source here.

[Laerune]

Majority of the female characters that I know are played by males.

[MoroMurasaki]

In an academic conference paper based on survey data collected from XIV players, 574 out of 905 (63.4 %) survey respondents were male (with average age 27.2). This may or may not reflect the gender ratio of XIV players. Source here.

Super interesting, thanks!

I will say in most groups I join in PF that happen to use discord there is usually about one other girl... so like 2/8? It's also quite often that that other girl is my cohealer. Oh stereotypes being accurate xD

On the topic of harassment I just wanted to clarify a bit - I don't actively hide my irl gender when playing, I have no issue going into a voice chat with people from FFXIV because in this community I don't feel like I've ever recieved any harassment/disrespect for being a girl. In fact I'd say it's really quite the opposite - I've literally had a few people tell me they probably wouldn't have been as patient with a guy wiping them in Shin EX. So like... female privilege at work there I suppose?

In games that are both voice based and appeal to a younger demographic (so ESO in my case, sounds like Overwatch may also fall into this category) I have had some things said that I'd have rather avoided/questions asked that I felt were inappropriate once people heard my voice in chat. I wouldn't call it harassment really, more just childish behavior from teenage boys, but I get how someone more sensitive to those things might have similar experiences and get put off letting anyone know their irl gender to avoid it happening in the future.

Overall I think FFXIV is a great community for female gamers. Whether it's the slightly older average male players or the lack of integrated voice chat so you aren't exactly broadcasting "Girl here! Ask me about my boobs!" (someone actually did this in ESO, I think he was drunk though) we don't generally have much to worry about.

[Clover_Blake]

Now that I think about it, I'm the only female among the people I play FFXIV with (yet most of my male friends play female characters, that's true). In my case, I find other games quite aggressive and unwelcoming for females, merely from taking a look at the characters designs. But FFXIV looks mostly equal, designed to attract the attention from both males and females, and that's something I appreciate a lot. I guess that's a huge part of why the Korean version is full of girls (I also noticed them in the Korean fanfest videos and was endlessly amused).

(PS: I play mostly female characters in this game and I don't think I've ever been harassed. If I've made some male characters it's merely because they look super good, which I suspect it's the same reason why many other girls play males).

[AphraelAmarantha]

Only maybe four people in game know that I'm female and out of those four only one of them is also female. I generally don't talk about my gender and I actually try to hide it. I usually get from randoms are pets or the occasional nice character comments.

On a side note, in a different game a few years ago someone tried to uhm get me to erp with them in whispers, it was quite gross. I had to immediately blacklist them. I don't take that kind of thing very well x_x. Some other random wanted to do weird things with me regarding feet in this game so I just told them I don't know anything about that and logged out on them. I don't trust people so now if people even give a hint of being weird around me I just run away in game or just log out.

[Antonio_Xul]

I'm a male who always plays male characters, but I've met many female players in game and that's that I don't socialize a lot and play a lone wolf type of way. That being said when I do meet a female player, I won't change my way of behavior because of that. I'll treat them with respect and will still throw a crude joke here and there just because that's who I am. I'm married, so I'm not looking for a girlfriend. I treat them like normal and not hit on them. What I do notice is that the female player tends to be married most of the time.

Every female I have met does play a female character. Only 1 had tried out a male catboy, but returned to female shortly.

As far as harassment goes, I do feel that that happens. I remember that when my wife 1st started in this game, she was immediately swamped with tells from joining their FCs to other stuff like they would gladly help her around in detail. She has a very female name and her PSN name that shows up when her character screen comes up is very feminine as well, so it is easy to tell that my wife was a real life female. When I create character, they are all male and I never get this reaction of bombardment of tells. Also, harassment isn't only a female only thing as when I was playing one of my male Highlander alts, I was being sexually harassed by a male Lalafell. It got uncomfortable quickly. I just logged off.

[Amariel34]

This is very off-topic, but I have to know where that gif came from in your sig, OP. I don't remember it from Advent Children. Is it from a game or something? Or was it completely fan-made? It just looks hilarious. xD

[Astrapls]

Female here and this thread made me realize I can't think of any other friends in FF I have who are females in real life (that I know of). Almost all of the guys I know play female characters, too.

This is a crazy thought to me considering how many women I know who play this game. Thinking of my circle of friends/acquaintances of which there are about 18 people, 10 of them are women. On top of that, I also know plenty of women who play outside of my friends.

I assume people encounter women in this game frequently, but don't really know since nobody really advertises their gender.