Non-binary option for characters, please?

[Vidu]

To go right back to the original post, and what Vaelin actually asked for (with the defensive comments stripped out) is:



ONE option. Maybe a tickbox hidden in a menu that would make the game insert "they" rather than "he/she" into dialogue referring to their character. That's what I pictured they were asking for when I first read the post.

Not demanding huge changes and alternate character models.

Perhaps the issue lies with them not clarifying exactly what they meant by a "gender-neutral option", leaving people to imagine something else entirely.

ONE option that would require them to alter an ungodly amount of text and wouldnt be viable in every available language to begin with - I dont know about french or japanese (or chinese and korean, if we wanna count those too), but I can tell you that its not possible in german.

Of course they could choose only to stick to altering the english version, but even then it would still be a massive amount of text that would have to be checked and altered accordingly to serve a very, very small minority.

The whole wether or not non-binary or more than two genders is real-discussion is actually pretty irrelevant to this.
I dare to say that its a waste of ressource to put them towards something that only a tiny part of the community is ever going to use.
Introducing ONE option can easly mean a lot of work for the devs that could be better spend on something else that actually benefits the whole community.
...I'm mentioning this before someone brings up stuff like Savage and Ultimate again, because even if a large amount of people dont complete O12S or maybe never even try it, they still benefit from content like that being in the game, in the sense of the devs thinking about new mechanics etc. making the overall game more intresting.

The overall gain from having this ONE option seems very minimal at least to me - on top of not even being possible in at least one of the supported languages.
So besides people not wanting rl-plotics and the like in their game to begin with, it also just seems like a waste of ressources to me.

You know what I'd like to have? ONE option to turn of all flashy lights, including enemy-abilities. And you know why? Because it actually hurts my head, as in physical pain. While I would like to see this option, I also realise that this only affects a rather small amount of people and that ressources spend on that could probably be better spend elsewhere - which is why I never asked for it. Obviously that was my choice and asking usually cant hurt, but before you do, you should think about what asking for your ONE option actually means in terms of workload and overall gain for the community, the game and yourself.

[kikix12]

You know what I'd like to have? ONE option to turn of all flashy lights, including enemy-abilities. And you know why? Because it actually hurts my head, as in physical pain. While I would like to see this option, I also realise that this only affects a rather small amount of people and that ressources spend on that could probably be better spend elsewhere (...)

It would actually affect a lot of people. It would reduce the system demand meaning that weaker computers could run the game.

I would also use that option because, frankly, all the "bang" looks nice, but it makes it nigh impossible for me to understand what the heck is happening if stuff compounds, like several mechanics at once. I literally have no idea what I'm looking at when I watch people doing bosses on YouTube or the like because all of the pointless effects distract me when I am not actually playing.

So yes. That one option would have a lot more purpose in the game than you think. There's not even any comparison to whatever is suggested here.

[LastFireAce]

I rather they call my character Male/Female. But whatever float you're boat.

[Chalbee]

28 painful pages. Notes: 1) some of you need to develop a little resilience, life tends to be relatively unkind, and the majority of people will hurt your feelings out of carelessness and ignorance, but seldom malice. 2) Sometimes there is malice, and usually it doesn't matter what you say at that point. People without souls aren't going to suddenly find one. In other words, there is a sympathetic minority, a hostile minority, and a vast majority who could not care less about niche social issues. I'm not trans, but I am gay and Jewish which makes much of "the internet" (e.g. Reddit, twitter, gaming forums) a relatively hostile place. I've scrapped my fair share, but at the end of the day it's pretty pointless. If I got worked up every time someone accused me of eating Christian babies or plotting the downfall of the white race, I'd probably have an aneurysm. Good thoughts, good words, good deeds are what matters.

[Emdub]

Greetings, Adventurers!

Although we appreciate all of the feedback received within this thread, I'm afraid we need to close it at this time.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and wish you many more enjoyable adventures in Eorzea.

-=Senior Game Master Emdub=-

[Arg0n]

There are only 2 genders: male and female.

the system is fine.

[ErryK]

.

Wew lad, trying a bit too hard there.

[kikix12]

And yes, with some languages the rampant gendering of everything is done to a ridiculous and inappropriate degree.

What is "inappriopriate" in it?! Go on, explain. Just don't bother with the "it doesn't account for other genders" and all that. Humanity existed for tens, hundredths of thousands of years without "other genders" having any issues with any of it or even without being defined. The only problems they had were related to their interests being potentially seen as disease and could lead to public execution...but those are two entirely different problems.

There is. You need look no farther than gender roles and stereotypes to know this.

Those have nothing to do with the language. A car can be masculine in one language, feminine in another. But it's going to be considered a "boys" toy in most of the world. Why?! Because boys DO tend to be interested in cars more often than not while girls DO tend to not be interested in cars more often than not. The problem arises from people thinking that "tend to be" must mean that everyone that is not is a problem. There is no problem with girls being interested in cars and boys being interested in dolls (that are not "action figures"). But that does not change anything language-wise. A doll is a doll, a car is a car, regardless of whether they are considered "male" or "female". I'm a guy that is eating using a spoon (in my language feminine) and a fork (in my language masculine) from a plate (masculine) placed on a table (masculine) while sitting on a chair (neutral) under the light of the lamp (feminine), drinking after the meal from a glass (feminine).

Where is the problem you speak of? Am I supposed to never use spoons, chairs, lamps or glasses because I'm a guy? Huh?! Seriously, creating such artificial problems is the real problem of the society nowadays.

No, you can't, as they are not the same.

Go to just about any dictionary or encyclopedia. Online or on paper. Usually the first definition of gender clearly defines it as a differentiation between male or female. Nowadays the "often withing social/mental aspects" or something of that notion. OFTEN. You seriously need to study more if you think that gender cannot be used in any case that sex can be used.

I'll even jump-start it for you.
Oxford.
Wikipedia.
Collins (the third definition).
Merriam.
Cambridge.
Urban.

Seriously. Denying that fact is equivalent to denying that you are a human and that trees are made from wood. Seriously, there should be a limit to ignorance.

But no matter what language/culture you're dealing with, trans people exist somewhere, and if a language cannot account for these people it kind of speaks toward the language's primitiveness and its refusal to evolve and get with the times.

Our languages can account for these people. Our languages just don't compound tons upon tons of irrelevant stuff into a single word to confuse people. You can use "płeć społeczna" or "płeć biologiczna" (social sex and biological sex respectively), so that we are free from such issues.

Again, languages primary purpose is communication. If you fail to communicate your message because of muddled up meaning of the words then the language fails. Compounding tons of meanings (especially if they are similar but not the same) into a single word is a horrible thing that absolutely RUINS language.

[Lastelli]

I don't think you realize how much effort goes into actually balancing a fight's difficulty properly, taking assets aside. If it was this easy for them to pull fights out of their asses for us, I don't think we would be as starved for casual content as we often are lately.

And I don't think you realize how important end game raiding is for this game. Should I remind you what happened during 3.1? It only took one misstep with gordias savage.

If we're going to discuss about what kind of content can be removed based on the number of players that take part in it, we should say goodbye to the gold saucer and pvp first. Hardcore raiding content is what keeps this game alive for players at level cap. Just think about what would happen without all those hc raiders that create guides for other players and stream on twitch/youtube. The game would instantly die.