Do roegadyns ever celebrate a holiday?

[Galaktica]

On the flipside? Where are the 'Priviliged' Miqo'te non hostile npc's? Barring one tiny village in south Than, and the archer questline NPC, they're in taverns, bars, dancing in the middle of the street in nothing but undergarments, and that's pretty much the only representation that miqo'te ever, ever see.

Y'shtola? Undeniably the most popular character outside of the game given her number of guest appearances and easily one of the most prominent characters throughout the entirety of the FFXIV story itself. Off the top of my head, I can't think of anyone other maybe Aplhinaud who gets that much screen time.

Personally, as Promiscuous as SE makes them out to be, being shown in ways that aren't tantalizing or titillating are practically owed to the race at this point.

Then I'm genuinely surprised you aren't more upset at all the promotional art. If they aren't showing copious amounts of cleavage, they've showing off more than enough leg to make up for it. Sometimes they're doing both.

[hallard]

Look guys, I found the femroe convention! Seriously though, I've met more femroe NPCs than players, and even that can be counted on one hand, if you exclude the GC squadron. I understand why they would forget to include us in promo art on account of our tiny population, but I feel like including them in promo art might draw in more potential femroe players. I've spoken to many people who don't want to play it because it looks "too anime", something that is easy to understand -- after all, the promo art's all catgirls, lalas, and prettyboy hyurs. They don't KNOW that roes, highlanders, and giraffes exist, and don't want to waste time looking for something that they would naturally assume wouldn't be there. I'm not saying it should all be huge armored broes and angry Hildies, just that they should try to appeal to the tiny minority of players that want to be different AND draw in outsiders who realize it isn't Panty Quest XIV.

[Schan]

Thank you for creating this and putting into decent words my feelings so far. It's not just the artwork for even but in gear previews as well (granted gear previews are slightly more diverse, although male Roes are mostly used in them). I only remember seeing a Fem roe in gear previews for Syrcus Tower mage gear and the HW relic tank gear. However memory is a finnicky thing.

I got to the point i avoid looking at the event artwork and just look for the dates. Up until then it used to go something like:
*gasp* new event? let me see if there's a Fem Roe in the artwork! ... Aww...
*gasp* new gear?! Let me see how it looks on my Fem Roe! ... Aww... well... at least there's a Male Roe in there... I guess i'll wait for it to be implemented...

At least I have become blatantly racist towards kitty girls and lizard people, so keep shoving it in our faces SE!

[Antonio_Xul]

Well, if FFXIV like to represent Miqotes as promiscuous or whores, well it shows in the population as there are too many damn cat-folks! No condoms or birth control in Eorzea equals a ton of kitties.

A couple of positive Miqotes I can think of other than Yshtola is that one cat-guy from the Crystal Tower quest line and even that other cat-guy from the Black Mage quests. The cat-girl from the Amaljaa quest is another good one. The cat-sisters from one of the Moogle quests. Minfillia's mom. There a few good Miqote reps in this game, I just can't remember any names since I'm not good with made up names, but they are there.

[Vejjiegirl]

I only remember seeing a Fem roe in gear previews for Syrcus Tower mage gear and the HW relic tank gear. However memory is a finnicky thing.

Yep and the devblog is even worse.
They veeery rarely ever show off anything with a FemRoe/Fem Highlander/Male Highlander/Male Au Ra character Model and almost always a Miqo'te, Hyur, Lalafell, Midlander.
And again the Miqo'te is always the main focus to show things off, while other races are thrown in the back.

(And they only add Male Roes as Joke Characters, that's all they are Gag Races)


A few examples below:














(Cat Tidus)



http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/pr/blog/001494.html

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/pr/blog/001724.html

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/pr/blog/001658.html

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/pr/blog/001632.html

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/pr/blog/001598.html

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/pr/blog/001563.html

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/pr/blog/001500.html

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/pr/blog/001411.html

[Kosmos992k]

But there's not really anything wrong with letting Roegadyn or any other race that isn't a cat/horn girl play the leading role, is there? Nothing wrong with a little difference.

No one is saying that there is anything wrong with a little difference or diversity; or that there is anything wrong with having representation of all races and genders in the event art. On balance in this topic, the discussion has turned pretty hostile towards female Miqo'te in particular and to a lesser degree female Au'Ra and lalafel. I'm certainly not against having any of the player races/genders in Eorzea on game art, so long as they fit the event. "So long as they fit the event" doesn't mean that they have to be cute or sexy, they just have to be a fit for the event. Little ladies day is hardly an event that will be led by a male Rogadyn, is it?

But the discussion seems to have boiled down to people saying that of course everyone should be in the art at sometime or another, and that they are in fact in the art at sometime or another, and the frequency of representation largely reflects the demographic trends among the player character population. On the flip side, people are railing against Miqo'te and players of Miqo'te as if they have some sort of inherent anti-Rogadyn/Elezen/Highlander/male Au'Ra bias. I don't remember anyone expressing such a bias, although one poster absolutely confirmed race and gender prejudice against Miqo'te.

Maybe the discussion would be a little more productive if people were looking for ways to include more diversity in these events rather than whining and moaning about past event art.

For example, the Starlight obviously parallels Christmas. Who better than a Roegadyn to pose as an Eorzean version of Santa Claus?

In the end though, no one should be surprised that in a game which has a far greater population of female Miqo'te and Au'Ra than Roegadyn or Highlander of either gender, the female Miqo'te and Au'ra are more likely to be used to represent characters in event art than others. That is not saying that it should be that way, nor is it saying that others should not be in the art, it's merely recognizing a reality.

This discussion didn't have to devolve into some kind of us vs them struggle to somehow free the oppressed Roegadyn - as if anyone can oppress Roegadyn - but it did.

[Schan]

snip

I would say that other than my previous statement this topic is more hostile towards the lack of diversity in the race representation than towards cat/lizard people but hey if you want to victimize yourself go on ahead.

I've always felt like some races / genders were more prominent but I've always thought it was in my head. Now that I get to see them back to back... it wasn't.

From a company that just caters to the majority and only plays safe this hardly comes as a surprise. I'm surprised it took us that long to actually point at the elephant in the room.

[Kosmos992k]

At least I have become blatantly racist towards kitty girls and lizard people, so keep shoving it in our faces SE!

Oh come on, you can be better than that.

I would say that other than my previous statement this topic is more hostile towards the lack of diversity in the race representation than towards cat/lizard people but hey if you want to victimize yourself go on ahead.

I've always felt like some races / genders were more prominent but I've always thought it was in my head. Now that I get to see them back to back... it wasn't.

From a company that just caters to the majority and only plays safe this hardly comes as a surprise. I'm surprised it took us that long to actually point at the elephant in the room.

Well now, I wasn't pulling a victim card at all, but that's your opinion, so whatever.

I don't think this is about playing it safe, it's about knowing your audience, if that's a problem for you, then I doubt you'll ever find satisfaction because entertainment companies that do not follow the rule of knowing your audience end up failing.

As I mentioned to another poster much earlier in the topic I didn't have the time or inclination yesterday to trawl back through the various in-game events such as the Starlight festival, Hatching Tide, Moonfire Faire, etc... But, you know what, I spent the last couple of hours doing just that and counting the faces I could identify, and counting the ones that were clearly prominent to the event (if they stood out starkly from the others).

The results are exactly as I would have expected. First of all, the overall spread of appearances of the various races and genders is broadly in line with the race/gender demographics that has been posted earlier in this topic, there is a little variation, but they are in broad agreement.

TL;DR - A few things stand out in the numbers; Roegadyn appear to be least used, Hyur most used, and Miqote (female) are most prominent.

My method was to look at the event artwork on the LodeStone, I included all the annual festival events as well as Breaking Bricks, Burgeoning Dead, Lightning, Yo Kai, Gold Saucer launch, Make it Rain, etc. I also counted the artwork for the Countdown to Heavensward and Welcome to Ishgard. For each event I also checked the images for the reward items for which character race(s) was/were used.

Those who are overall least likely to be included or featured are Female Roegadyn - bar none. Overall, I counted only 4 appearances that I could specifically see were Female Roegadyn, and except for the heavensward countdown, none were prominent.

The most featured race is Hyur, followed by Miqo'te, Lalafel, Elezen, Roegadyn and Au'Ra, although Au'Ra are at a disadvantage having come along 2 years later. If you count only since their appearance in the game there are more Hyur than any other race, Hyur are followed by Miqo'te, Lalafel, Elezen and Au'Ra and last Roegadyn.

Overall Roegadyn are the least likely to be included in the images with a total of only (24 appearances)- this has never been in dispute. Female roe are almost invisible though with only 4 appearances that I could find - if anyone else wishes to do this, and can identify more female Roegadyn than this, I will be glad, but even moving an appearance or two around, Roegadyn still come last in the numbers.

If you look since Au'Ra appeared, Roegadyn are still last with just 8 appearances in the time that the Au'Ra have gathered 16.

Overall Hyur are the race most likely to be in event images, but if we split by gender, Female Miqo'te (36 appearances) just pass female Hyur (34) and male Hyur (34).

In terms of what would be considered prominently featured, as in standing out starkly from the other characters, you will not be surprised to find that female Miqo'te are far and away the most often featured. But, it's not as lopsided as you think. If we only look at the time since Au'Ra arrived in the game(By race);

• the most featured is Hyur with 27 apperances, 4 of which were prominent,
• then Miqo'te with 19 appearances, 6 of which were prominent,
• Elezen have had 17 appearances with 5 prominent ones,
• Lalafel had 17 with 5 prominent,
• Roegadyn have only had 8 with 1 prominent.
• Au'Ra had 16 appearances with 4 prominent ones.

The Au'Ra might have expected to do better, since they were the featured new race in the expansion, but apparently not.

The most popular race/gender combinations in the time since Au'Ra joined us are;

• Female Miqo'te with 16 appearances, 6 of which were prominent,
• female Lalafel with 11 appearances, 4 prominent
• female Au'Ra had 11 appearances with 3 prominent ones
• male Hyur had 12 appearances, 2 of which were prominent
• and surprisingly male elezen with 10 appearances, 3 of which were prominent

I have the numbers in a worksheet, but I am not sure if I can post it here. It doesn't really matter though, the broad trends are clear, Female Roegadyn are almost invisible, Female Miqo'te are used a lot, but then, so are female Au'Ra, female Lalafel, male Hyur and surprisingly male Elezen.

Although the spread of the of appearances I could count is broadly in line with the population demographics by race in Eorzea, when you break it down by gender it's undeniable that Roegadyn females are really neglected, and Female Miqo'te are frequently selected over others for the artwork especially (reward images are more even handed), but it's not as stark as you think when female Lalafel, female Aura and Male Hyur are all almost as frequently featured, and often prominently featured.

If you break down Hyur into Highlander and Midlander, Highlanders are clearly less favored for images than Midlanders, and it's not even close.

Since Au'Ra joined us, in order of least likely to appear we have female Roegadyn, male Highlanders, male Miqo'te and female Highlanders. If you just look at races, Roegadyn do appear less frequently than any other race. Hyur have the most appearances overall, and Miqo'te (mostly due to females) are the most prominently featured overall.

If you read this far, thank you. This is essentially confirming what we already knew and was never in doubt that Rogadyn appear less often, and female Miqo'te appear more often, and are more often prominently featured. This has never been in doubt.

Where the discussion started for me was in regards to the breakdown of player race/gender. there are obvious winners and losers in that and event art and images are bound to follow the same trends. A such, Roegadyn are one of the least popular races and will be less frequently featured.

Why are female Roegadyn, male Highlanders, female Highlanders and male Miqo'te less popular player choices? I don't know, that's player personal choice. Why are those same groups least featured (disproportionately so) by the various artists involved? I don't know, perhaps they like drawing catgirls more?

P.S. if you look at it all since ARR started female Miqo'te have the most appearances overall and clearly the most prominent appearances, with the next best being female Lalafel and female Hyur. To keep things fair, I baselined when the Au'Ra joined the game instead.

[Nestama]

"I don't think this is about playing it safe, it's about knowing your audience, if that's a problem for you, then I doubt you'll ever find satisfaction because entertainment companies that do not follow the rule of knowing your audience end up failing."

But it's just seasonal event posters. Changing things up by putting a female Roe and male Miqo'te on a poster isn't going to suddenly make FFXIV fail. Now before you throw my use of "it's just..." back at me, I want to see something that isn't a female Miqo'te again.

[Kosmos992k]

"I don't think this is about playing it safe, it's about knowing your audience, if that's a problem for you, then I doubt you'll ever find satisfaction because entertainment companies that do not follow the rule of knowing your audience end up failing."

But it's just seasonal event posters. Changing things up by putting a female Roe and male Miqo'te on a poster isn't going to suddenly make FFXIV fail. Now before you throw my use of "it's just..." back at me, I want to see something that isn't a female Miqo'te again.

Indeed. I doubt the in-game event artwork would cause a problem, I was more meaning the fact that female Miqo'te are almost the mascot of FFXIV, so they will likely feature in a lot of artwork and other images about the game used by SE. In that regard, knowing their audience is important as is catering to it. But I agree with what you're saing about event art.

When I started the count I knew I would find many fewer Roegadyn, but I did not know I would find almost no Female Roegadyn. One of my best friends in ARR (no longer plays unfortunately) played a Female Roegadyn, and she was awesome. I didn't expect them to be as rare as they are.