Where is FFXIV headed in terms of sexism?

[Elexia]

Oh dear god people it's pixels and polygons. There's more objectification of women in the real world you should be worry about. As a woman I don't feel insulted or whatever because I know it's a video game. It's not sexist it's not sexism it's just doing something that will clearly appeal to the eyes of some of the players.

If they did it to males, women who talk about this would have no problem, usually those who cry "sexist!" or "sexism!" or "you're objectifying us!" are usually the ones who are the least comfortable with their own self-image or overly sensitive to even virtual imagery of what is defined as "sexy."

It's a non-issue. If you want to talk about this issue, direct your attention to Korean MMORPGs or realize the fact that yes..BREAST BOUNCE. If you have a large A cup+ yes your breast will bounce even slightly. If you're sitting in about a C or D you have unnatural breasts if they do not bounce lol. Maybe it's because I'm not overly sensitive to stuff like this, but the Mithra/Miqote for example..yes they're flirty because let's be real, the majority who played a mithra or miqote are usually the ones that go flirting around with almost everything that moves and they generally the "playful" race. So while XIV is more realistic than XI was in terms of society, it's a non-issue..it's a video game.

It's like the outcry over Tomb Raider all over again. While women do play, there are also lesbians who play MMORPGs and may be attracted to female characters even in a video game..however, gaming is largely a male market and developers know this. The problem is, people have become way too sensitive over the years and way too uptight about things. Like I said, worry a lot more about the real world, especially the western world than a video game in terms of this.

[nokinator]

I would like to know what the stats on my thong will be..

[Shougun]

bouncing breasts

I'm sorry did you say something? :P (even better joke in this particular thread.. XD)

Speaking of the jiggles, in the live letter Yoshi said that they are working on the "bones" in the chest. So that in ARR we can expect them to jiggle, wobble, and puff puff. :P

[Abriael]

As others have pointed out, males are stereotyped just as much -- being forced to wear the big, thick muscles and wide, powerful shoulders.

Funny you'd say this, as we have both midlanders and highlanders, and midlanders are very mild in their phisique compared to most games.

At least in Final Fantasy XIV i don't have to play as an ape with his hands bigger than his head and his chest larger than his height like I do in Tera.

I'll agree on this point, but I'm not touching what you said after that with a ten foot pole.

When I was considering doing video game art design, I went for an open house. I was literally the only female there. THE ONLY FEMALE THERE. Granted, this was seven years ago when I was first applying to colleges. Trends could be steadily changing.

That's not unlikely. Females are much rarer than males in the game industry, but that's not normally because they're not accepted, just because that's a line of work in which they're (normally) less interested in.

But I would say that if you were to look for data on the percentage of females that try for the game industry and manage, and compare it with the percentage of males, you'd be surprised.

the "girl in the shop!!!" effect is still quite powerful, even now that ladies are becoming a much normal sight in development teams and as gaming journos.

[Solace]

I should of known someone would cry about boobs.. Ugh, they are just boobs, grow up and get over it..

[Zantetsuken]

One interesting thing I've noticed: people talk about sexual equality as though they should be both treated exactly the same.

Equality ≠ Sameness

Water and Sunlight are both equally necessary for the life of a tree, but they aren't the same thing by a long-shot and should not be treated as so.

Case in point:

If forcible sexual assault was decriminalized only as long as a woman was the aggressor, your average person would not notice the implications.

If forcible sexual assault was decriminalized for everyone... well, civilization as we know it would degenerate into tribal warfare pretty damn fast.



My point in regards to this thread:

Putting equally skimpy clothing on male characters doesn't justify objectifying women. Its not remotely the same thing.

[Kibo]

Funny you'd say this, as we have both midlanders and highlanders, and midlanders are very mild in their phisique compared to most games.

At least in Final Fantasy XIV i don't have to play as an ape with his hands bigger than his head and his chest larger than his height like I do in Tera.

We could easily flip that around and say female physique in XIV is pretty mild too compared to any other game, especially TERA.

Like I'll accept the situation just because it could've been worse.

[Abriael]

We could easily flip that around and say female physique in XIV is pretty mild too compared to any other game, especially TERA.

Like I'll accept the situation just because it could've been worse.

Sure, but the situation is definitely well balanced in FFXIV. It's not just a matter of being better or worse.

I'm not exactly sure about what kind of physique you'd want for males in the game, as midlanders are pretty much the minimum you'd realistically see from people used to drag weapons around.

[Fleur]

So far I am not worried, because:

1. There is a ton of nice looking, non-skimpy, non-sexy gear.

2. Any sexy gear we get is more or less equally sexy/skimpy on BOTH genders. None of this "only females can or should dress in a manner that is designed to appeal to the opposite sex" or "we are catering to the men here, not you ladies, obviously!" nonsense. I recently took a look at TERA, but then I saw the female-only bunny suits (sexy) released with the male-only full body bright yellow jumpsuits (silly) and needless to say that was the last look I'll be taking.

3. It looks like we will be able to make strong, tall female characters, females with reasonably sized busts, and male characters that are of a shorter, slimmer build without a lot of muscles.

As someone who likes to make my characters of both genders visually appealing -- sometimes cute/pretty, and sometimes sexy -- I am quite happy with FFXIV's approach so far. From what I have seen I do think there is a bit much disparity in, ahem, coverage, between the genders for some RSE (esp. Miqo'te), but I'm not ready to pull out the ol' pitchfork just yet.

[Laiferr]

For something that's not a huge deal, you sure wrote a huge post Don't get me wrong. Sexism in the gaming industry (or in every industry) IS a problem. But it's not here.
...
But I digress...

I enjoy taking part in discussions, and I also type incredibly fast OP did end up longer than I wanted but I felt it all needed to be said to get across what I was getting at. Being a woman can often help at entry level for most careers, but you'll also notice in most careers, barely any females make it to the 'top-tier' positions. It's something that's discussed a lot in the news, here at least. Anyway, it's an interesting point but I don't want to throw this off on a tangent. I know that comment was nothing in the grand scheme of things, but it did niggle me.

I'm going off to do other things though now, and I think I've got the answers I was seeking, so thank you everyone for responding. It sounds like maybe I'm being a little too pre-emptive in thinking this trend from the dev team will go further, so we'll just have to wait and see! It's also encouraging to hear other female avatars have not had the same experiences/seen the same things as me. It is also, however, reassuring to see I'm not the only one who has noticed this and is a little concerned by it. I hope to play with, in the future, some of these kind and well mannered people who have replied.

I'm looking forward to vanity slots, a lot