Lalafell as a percentage of NA population

[ItMe]

Hi all - a few of my friends back on the Japanese servers were wondering about the scarcity of, or rather the lower number, of players who play as Lalafell on most NA servers.

According to the last(?) Lucky Bancho, while NA habe about half the number of male lalafell as JP, we do have more female Lala~

Here's a thread about it:
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...Luckybancho%29

I wonder what the statistics will look like after this player boom.

[MoofiaBossVal]

Hi all - a few of my friends back on the Japanese servers were wondering about the scarcity of, or rather the lower number, of players who play as Lalafell on most NA servers. Whilst I play on NA, I also have many chars on the JPN DC as I'm Japanese myself but live in the US. Many of the JPN servers have a much larger representation of Lalafell, and though I usually don't notice it, my friend (who recently made an alt on Aether) asked me about it right away.

Does anyone have an idea, from an NA viewpoint, why there are so many of other races (esp. cats and lizzies) and so few Lalafell usually? I, myself, find them to be really cute and their chibi nature is great for many glams - but I suppose some have a negative view of them in the non-JPN datacenters? Just wondering if anyone had noticed this, or if maybe myself and my friends are just wrong or mistaken?

My main character is a Lalafell. I'm currently fantasiased as a Hrothgar for the lolz but I'll go back to Lala when Endwalker drops to experience the story as my true character.

I normally prefer to play beast races in MMOs. When I played WoW, I played a Tauren on Horde and a Worgen on Alliance. When I played GW2 I played Charr. I just really love being able to play as an inhuman beastman. When I joined FFXIV, there was no playable beast race, just humans. So I picked the best looking variation of human, which to me is Lalafell. I've tried out the other human races, but Lalafell feels the most natural. The story treats you as a very young man who is a peer to Alphinaud, and who looks up to the adults as authority figures and mentors. Lalafell is really the only male race that feels appropriate. Also, Lalafell have the most expressive facial animations in the game, so my character feels lively in cutscenes, whereas the other races do not. Also, being a Lalafell WoL makes certain scenes in the game feel like a truly herculean struggle.

When Shadowbringers dropped, Hrothgar were introduced, but sadly they do not feel like a true beast race. They feel like humans wearing a rubber mask on their face (whereas the beastmen in other games I played had inhuman faces and anatomy). I can't see myself sticking as a Hrothgar as my main. I think Lalafell will probably forever be my main.

Does anyone have an idea, from an NA viewpoint, why there are so many of other races (esp. cats and lizzies) and so few Lalafell usually?

The Japanese seem to like "cute" or "kawaii". That isn't really a thing in the West. The West tends towards "sexy" and "awesome". Hence why female Viera are much more popular over here because they look like older, sexy women with ass and boobs, and why more masculine men like Au Ra are more popular than "effeminate boys".

Lalafell in FFXIV are somewhat similar to Gnomes from WoW, which were viewed as a joke race. WoW was a PvP game, and it was very popular for PvPers to play pink haired Gnome rogues to PvP. Being killed by one was humiliating. Interestingly, the Gnomes pretty much never got serious representation in the story. Gnomes in WoW never got a character who was treated seriously like Nanamo, Pipin, Loloritto, or Papalymo. All Gnomish characters were jokes in side stuff, which probably reflects the devs and the audience's view of them.

Another thing too is that during the 80s and the 90s, there was a moral panic in the US surrounding "stranger danger". People on TV would tell parents to not let their kids be around strangers. Parents would tell their kids "don't talk to anyone on the way home" and you would have teachers at school verify that someone coming to pick you up was your parent and such. "If someone with a van drives by and offers you candy if you get into his car, don't do it!". There was a strong cultural fear instilled into Americans. We Americans have views on sex that can seem contradictory to outsiders. This still persists today with conversations about Lalafell often times involving jokes being thrown around that those who play them are pedophiles. "Lalafells are the lolicon/shotacon race".

I suppose child heroes are also stigmatized as mary sues in the west, and Lalafell do look like children. You pretty much never see a AAA video game in the West featuring a child or teenage hero. There is an idolization of "growing up and becoming an adult", with being a child seen as being immature. Not sure if Japan is like that but given how there are so many Japanese games featuring teenager or child protagonists, I'm guessing there isn't quite the same stigma over there.

[VictorTheed]

I started back in arr as a roe, hw as auru, sb as highlander then at the end of sb went lala, I go Hrothgar from time to time but I hate that they can't wear most head gear so I go back to lala.

I play lala cause I like being the innocent hero, I have a high respect for innocence, like how people have a high respect for bad asses, I respect innocence and wanna be like that.

[Caurcas]

Setting aside the potential creep and meme reasons. Another one is taking into account how they look visually when it come to capacity for violence. Lalafell look the least able to inflict violence physically and therefore look weak, and not as popular in the west.

[BaconBits]

I do find it funny that people's suspension of disbelief is broken by Lalafells being so small when the vast majority of monsters in-game drastically tower over even max height Roegadyns. Even the lore itself paints them as crafty, cunning, and surprisingly dangerous.

- A few spoilers inside -

The Dunesfolk for example are descended from the mages of Mhachi and founded the city of Belah'dia, which eventually split into Sil'dih and Ul'dah. Ul'dah decided that the best way to take care of the opposing city-state was to turn Sil'dih's dead into mindless zombies by launching zombie powder over their walls, then used that as justification to go to war with them, killing all but a few escapees, and nearly wiping Sil'dih's name from history. Their Mhachi predecessors were no slouches either, what with summoning voidsent to do their bidding, warring with both the White Mages of Amdapor and the Nymeian Marines, eventually culminating in summoning Diabolos in a last ditch effort to destroy the White Mages and infecting the Nymeians (who also had Lalafells in their ranks, go figure) with the Green Death, turning them into the vicious Tonberries we know of today. In fact, the most powerful Black Mage Mhachi had was a Lalafell. So powerful in fact that she was known as the mother of Black Magic and (if I'm reading the quest notes correctly) invented black magic partly to drive a stray comet away from her home. She then predicted that it wouldn't be the last time Eorzea would encounter that comet, and sealed her memory away inside a tome in hopes that a worthy Black Mage would unseal her in the future and fix the problem for good.

But because Lalafells are shaped like actual doritos, waddle like ducks, and generally look harmless, all of that lore is just kind of wasted on the NA crowd.

[Breakbeat]

I don't have any negative view of them. =)

IMHO, Lalafell come across as children. I know, the lore and the "facts" of their race and such and such and Bob Loblaw. But, to me, they really do have quite a strong 'child' presence to them.

Playing a child in a game doesn't really appeal to me. Sorry. I can and have played male and female characters of other races, but playing as a little kid really doesn't do it for me. There's just something deep in my brain that makes me, a 46-year old man, feel weird about roleplaying (even just surface, un-involved RP) as a seven-year-old boy, when there are other choices to be had. I dunno what else to say; it's a subjective thing.

I don't like coffee at all (gross!), or superhero/comic book movies, so go figure. My personal preferences are unique, as they are for each individual. For the "average" younger American male (who most likely makes up the majority of the NA player base), it's hard to admit they like something cute, squishy, or something that makes them feel cute and happy inside.

It's a silly generalization, but I think the aforementioned young, American male wants to be something strong and courageous and heroic - if you'll pardon the comparison, more "Metallica" than "Pinkfong" (Baby shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo.) Other countries youths don't necessarily have the same needs and desires as American youth.

Of course, to our detriment, we raise our children with the mantra of: "Be HARD, be STRONG, be a HERO, don't take CRAP from anyone else! Murica!"

Eh, to each their own... to those that like/love Lalafells, well, more power to ya! I think they can be cute, but they'd be my last choice for a character to play.

[TristanX]

I'm planning to play one. They are adorable.

[Lily_Skye]

they look and act like toddlers... kinda disgusting tbh

[BaconBits]

they look and act like toddlers... kinda disgusting tbh

Come on man...

Lalafells are pretty ugly tbh I wish they replaced it with loli'qotes like Khloe Aliapoh and T'kebbe Morh

[Gyson]

Lalafell are a meme race because they're small, and meme races get dunked on. I don't agree with it, but that's just the way it is in NA.

Many people in NA do like lalafells and other people play them knowing they will be meme'd on.

I haven't seen this with the folks I've been around, but maybe I'm in a bubble. If anything I usually assume anyone playing a Lalafell has a playful streak to them and any interactions will generally be positive.

In FFXI my friends and I played Tarutaru characters. At first I started off as a Hume, but they seemed dull. Instead, the idea of being this tiny Tarutaru tank keeping my allies safe made everything more entertaining. Movement seemed faster and more enjoyable as the camera was closer to the ground. Normal enemies were often larger than my character, making standard fights seem more epic than they otherwise would have been. And as a Tarutaru I found I could always run up to people and be jovial without it seeming out of place. It just made the entire experience feel fun and better.

I suspect many people play Lalafells for the same reason. The only reason I didn't choose a Lalafell in FFXIV is because I was really disappointed in the aesthetic shift from a chibi-style Tarutaru character to pear-shaped children. The latter just didn't draw me in the same way; to me Lalafells just look too bottom heavy and for that reason I have a hard time imagining them as effective adventurers.