The tawdry female bosses are tiresome, and we could do with more male fanservice.

[Krotoan]

i said "marketed towards" not that no one else is allowe to like it. it's not explicitely marketed towards lesbians or bisexual women. it's marketed specifically towards straight makes, like it's been done for decades.
no one is against sexualization in general, it's when it's done only towards one sideor demographic that it starts looking wrong. FFXIV isn't the worst at this. in fact it's one of the few MMOs where you can have your male character in actual skimpy clothes, and it's got a lot of praise for that. But for bosses, it's usually just sexy girls for some reason.

The market then is people who appreciate conventionally attractive female bodies which again.. isn't always straight males. I will agree it is weighted towards the typical gamer demographic, but do you blame them? That is where the money is. While being pioneering is right and admirable.. it doesn't make a whole lot of money if it offends the people out there who usually buy the stuff.

[Doozer]

While being pioneering is right and admirable.. it doesn't make a whole lot of money if it offends the people out there who usually buy the stuff.

Ah, so as soon as something offends the fragile straight men, then it's an issue.

[Krotoan]

Ah, so as soon as something offends the fragile straight men, then it's an issue.

If you're an investor who doesn't like an uncertainly profitable product.. Yeah?
Social progress isn't something they care about.

I'm not convinced that a lot of straight men are even bothered by such things these days - I'd wager many would be happy to see more tasteful and conventionally attractive fan service aimed at male characters.

honestly wouldn't know.. the current new gen of gamers aren't a demographic I interact with on that level a lot. .. Ya'll watching the tiktoks and doing the streamies.. get off my lawn.

[Theodric]

If you're an investor who doesn't like an uncertainly profitable product.. Yeah?
Social progress isn't something they care about.

Japan doesn't have a track record of shying away from fan service. It's extremely popular over there, as evidenced by many JRPG's having a whole bunch of fan service for both male and female characters. FFXIV is a strange exception, which suggests that any issues are due to the development team itself - because other titles in the franchise do not suffer from the same limitations and do not shy away from, say, displaying a bare chested male character with his nipples intact.

[Krotoan]

Japan doesn't have a track record of shying away from fan service. It's extremely popular over there, as evidenced by many JRPG's having a whole bunch of fan service for both male and female characters. FFXIV is a strange exception, which suggests that any issues are due to the development team itself - because other titles in the franchise do not suffer from the same limitations and do not shy away from, say, displaying a bare chested male character with his nipples intact.

Could be the market it's trying to get into in western countries? Honestly there are many decisions that don't particularly make sense unless there's some sort of strange frame of mind making decisions at the top. I'm just saying a lot of times things gotta make it past someone who knows where the money is to be grabbed and who they'd like to make sure wants the product.

[linayar]

Honestly there are many decisions that don't particularly make sense unless there's some sort of strange frame of mind making decisions at the top.

Maybe, but lack of male nipples aside, the choice in boss clothing is not necessarily one of those decisions.

[linayar]

But for bosses, it's usually just sexy girls for some reason.

It could just be as simple a reason as developer preference. As you've said, male characters can wear skimpy clothes if the players want to represent them that way. Bosses, on the other hand, are not player characters and are up to the developers.

Ah, so as soon as something offends the fragile straight men, then it's an issue.

Offense is the wrong word to use as it's not an issue. The developers made a stylistic choice according to their own preference (and perhaps others' as well) and it's not an issue for them and are not meant as an offense other than for people who can't help but take offense at partial nudity.