Non-binary option for characters, please?

[Rymm]

Let me preface this by admitting that this would not apply to me, so I'm totally neutral about it; I probably wouldn't even notice if they added it and I have no reason to be against it.

However, I wouldn't get your hopes up about this happening, ever. It's not even the lack of gender-neutral words in some languages or the work involved in going back over the thousands of lines of dialog to change it. It's the cutscenes that are the biggest hurdle. SE switched voice actors between ARR and HW so it would not be as simple as recording one new word for each of them and editing it in where appropriate. It would mean re-recording every single spoken line in the entirety of ARR content to ensure that the voices matched. There is simply no way in h*ll that SE is going to pay for for that to appease such a small minority of the playerbase.

It has nothing to do with being with LGBT or politically correct or trans/homophobic and everything to do with the almighty dollar.

[Vaelin]

Non-binary makes up <1% of the total population. You're asking a team to spend money and time to put content toward that.

Yes, money and time I also put into this game. Just bringing this conversation to their attention is good enough for me for now, since all minorities are treated with vitriol or ignorance until people speak up enough about it. It’s a big deal for people in my situation so bringing the discussion to their attention is all I can ask for, since as you said, I’m in the minority of players.

[Theskymarble]

I could care less if it was an option but I wouldn't hate if it was. But I don't think it would matter to much in this game. I mean if it was something like a Bioware game with romance subplots or something then sure but its just an mmorpg. You can refer to yourself if you wish and be fine with it right? Besides this is a lot of effort as they would have to go back and include new dialogue in all the cutscenes. That is a lot of cutscenes to put work into something that at most would be a cool nod to your character. Something I rather have going into making the game more fun and fixing issues like someone earlier said in the thread Eureka.
Also I have to agree that you're coming off as a very special snowflake. This is the internet people will only really care about your gender if you bring it up and even then most people are cool with whatever here because we just wanna play the game. Not true for everyone but the majority probably doesn't care what you are unless you're something morally wrong.

[HyoMinPark]

That's because "he" and "she" are both singular that this works so well. "They" is plural and depending on what is being said that can change the meaning of the phrase. The story refers to both groups of people and individuals together in phrasing very frequently, and replacing a singular word with a plural could very easily convey the story in a misleading manner. Simply replacing "he" and "she" with "they" can be done but it would definitely not result in an equally well told story.

This is incorrect. Singular 'they' has been used since the 16th century. Usually 'they' is used in replace of he or she if you don't know the gender of the person in question. There is a reason why there are a lot of people that wish 'they' to be used as a pronoun for them and it isn't because they wish to break the english language.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/word...nonbinary-they

To add to this, language is something that is ever-evolving. Just because someone interprets “they” as a plural form doesn’t mean that it cannot evolve to be used in the gender-neutral singular. Which it has already done so.

[Warghoul570]

However someone chooses to identify themselves as if fine. I don’t care but it’s really getting tiring how people need to try and force their ideals on everyone else. This is a game for god sake. Do something better with your time like community service and try to make a real difference in the world

[Soupa]

Yes, money and time I also put into this game. Just bringing this conversation to their attention is good enough for me for now, since all minorities are treated with vitriol or ignorance until people speak up enough about it. It’s a big deal for people in my situation so bringing the discussion to their attention is all I can ask for, since as you said, I’m in the minority of players.

Bringing something to the table to discuss is not enough to further a cause, sure you'll get people's attention but doing bare minimum stuff like this serves to hurt it. Victimizing your community by saying things like they're treated with vitriol and ignorance makes the cause look weak. Not saying there aren't people out there who are abusive to those in the situation of non-conformity but theres good people out there too who, while it may not be their thing, won't care and accept you as is.

[Eloah]

This is incorrect. Singular 'they' has been used since the 16th century. Usually 'they' is used in replace of he or she if you don't know the gender of the person in question. There is a reason why there are a lot of people that wish 'they' to be used as a pronoun for them and it isn't because they wish to break the english language.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/word...nonbinary-they

Thank God someone said it, I was getting worried. It's the same with "You" which can be both singular and plural. And to add to the ever evolving nature of the English language, "They" can also be used singularly, even if the gender is know. It's a way of the speaker removing themselves from the topic/situation, and is a small way of showing respect in English. Think of it like how one address someone in Japanese if they don't know a person that well.

[OurMom]

I spend an ungodly amount of money on Fantasia due to being pretty fed up of being referred to as male or female constantly in basically every cutscene.

I'm legitmately confused, according to trans people and "SJWs" gender and sex aren't the same thing and that you can "change your gender" but not your sex, so if the game is referring to you as male or female depending on your character, wouldn't it still be correct? Adding a "non gender" option wouldn't fix that because your sex is still there....right?

[Nariel]

I never heard of any scientific study to explain the non-binary feeling so I can't voice any "they should" or "they shouldn't" BUT we talk about a japanese compagny in japan, run by japanese.

As incredible and advanced their culture may seems its one of the less tolerant country in the world, they barely tolerate tourism and consider that kind of feeling as a mental disease so good luck with that.

[TheCount]

I particularly love the smug little part where you note how in a hundred years people will facepalm at how wrong people were for not caring/not siding with you over this "issue" lol

This isn't an easy thing to do, and even if it were it's catering to a minority of a minority at best. Use your imagination if it bothers you that much