Healer/Ranged DPS Magic Contest Entries

[Serilda]

Before I get on to my point, I would like to emphasise that I think the entrants did a great job and every one of them has more imagination, enthusiasm and passion for design than me, no matter how comfortable they feel about their art skills. I also think that the ones which weren't shortlisted were just as good and much of it is down to the personal taste of the judges. I'm going to try to avoid singling out individual entries with my comments as I don't think that's fair, and as people have said there may well be additional details that Square-Enix has chosen not to share for each design. If it's true that all of the shortlisted entries with heavily female-only designs had male-only counterparts which were systemically removed from the gallery, the fault for that clearly lies with the biases of those running the competition and not with the entrants themselves. It's unfair to give only one half of the players a preview of what the outfit is going to look like which is exactly what they have done in cases like http://www.finalfantasyxiv.com/range...hSrgMGk/18.jpg (which I like, and would like to see properly adapted for a guy before having a firm opinion).

"When the gear is implemented, we are planning to make it equip-able for all races and genders. IF NO INFORMATION IS INCLUDED ABOUT HOW THE GEAR SHOULD LOOK WHEN EQUIPPED BY MALE OR FEMALE CHARACTERS FOR EXAMPLE, THE DEVELOP TEAM MAY MAKE ADJUSTMENTS."

I think this is very open to interpretation. I wouldn't expect every designer to spend hours accommodating all of the different ears and tails, for example, and the modellers should obviously pick the slack up there. But if they have specifically designed a cute miniskirt combo which will blatantly never be permitted on male characters and are expecting Square-Enix to effectively come up with a brand new design from scratch for guys, it's likely that those of us with male characters will be disappointed with the results which aren't going to resemble the design we've been shown in any practical way. I'm not saying anyone has done that; however, the way the gallery is presented makes it appear that way and it concerns me given Square-Enix's track record with female-only/unisex glamour issues.

This is a game where the design team have taken two years (at least one year actively working on it) to make something as genderless and simple as bunny ears suitable for guys - and they've still only done it for two of six races with no release date in sight. I want my character to be able to get full enjoyment out of the winning designs just like anyone else, so I think raising the concern is important while the judging is still taking place.

Then there are a few designs which do include both male and female variants, but the female one is full of gorgeous unique pieces while the guy version looks like a bunch of existing equipment with a matched colour theme to complement the girl. In those cases I'd rather just wear the girls' version and get some unique pieces for other combinations.

This issue goes both ways; in the case of the 'WAR AF'-style caster design, someone has already raised the concern that they like the male design but want the same fierce trousers on their female character rather than yet another miniskirt. I have a friend who feels very similarly; she hates 'girly' stuff and wants her glamours to look the same as mine when we use the same item. Using a design which already looks good on both genders avoids these problems entirely.

For all these reasons, I am hopeful that the winning design is either so successfully unisex that all kinds of characters will look equally great wearing it (and this applies to both manly and womanly girls and boys; burly highlanders and dainty miqo'te alike). Or for costumes with major differences between the gendered versions, both versions look equally good. To use a practical in-game example and avoid treading on any toes, several of the GARO collaboration outfits (not the main Makai Knight versions) clearly had a lot more time spent on the female versions compared to the male ones and incorporated lots of cute pieces that can be mixed and matched with other glamours. Guys got Generic Trousers #400 and Generic Ankle Boots #70, girls got unique fascinators, sexy dresses and versatile hotpants. Then you have situations like the Mog Station description for one of the old Halloween costumes "Guys and Gals Have Different Designs for Their Bottoms: While guys are only sporting a standard pair of spiderweb stockings, the ladies can also enjoy a stylish short skirt." which seems to openly emphasise how much of a boring afterthought designs for male characters really are.

So here, I'm strongly rooting for one of the designs where there's no gender difference, or if there is both sides have clearly been given equal consideration by the designer. Relying on the game's existing design team to rectify a bias which is already systemic in their in-house design team isn't enough.