Non-binary option for characters, please?

[Dualgunner]

Now I'm offended because you're clearly the Lalafell here

AETHEROCHEMICAL COMPOUND #666 IS CONFIDENTIAL HOW'D YOU FIND ABOUT IT

[LeoLupinos]

Well, I could never figure out any Lalafel gender, it's a pretty non-binary race.

[Shyngo]

No thanks. just keep it as is.

[Theodric]

I sat here at my keyboard thinking how best to word a response to what is admittedly a complicated and very delicate issue. I literally spent thirty minutes rewriting this post over and over. Yet, ultimately, I feel like only one thing needs to be said. The smug wording of the original post makes it crystal clear that the intention here isn't to have an in-depth discussion in good faith.

[DracotheDragon]

you know i saw this thread and after reading this, i have to say i feel kind of bad for the Forum Mods who watch these threads, if one of you guys are here, do you guys just blank it out or get popcorn and read the comments,

to go slightly back on topic,

if this isn't a bait topic: the language used is for quick and easy contextual referencing to your character based on the sex chosen, which is translated from japanese and into two other languages, while 'they' could be used in a singular sense, ironically if you wanted a gender neutral term based on the time era of the words chosen (since they use alarum, goal and larboard which are archaic wordings ), you would be called "He" the "generic He" is a older gender neutral team, since He refers to the proper connotation of the word "man" which means "human" so if you wanted a gender neutral term ironically play as a male character then "he" would be gender neutral for the time period o3o
other examples of "generic he" can also be seen in referring to humanity as 'Mankind' or saying something is a massive step for the age of 'man' neither are masculine and are neutral to refer to the whole of humanity.

if this is a bait topic: why?

[Fredco191]

Eh.
4567890

[Zetsumei_Tsunarashi]

I am also offended that there is no Apache attack helicopter option at the character select screen.

[Shurrikhan]

I can argue that in a world where we ride and fight alongside dragons, are the champions of the God Mothercrystals, where we summon and fight gods, adhering to the gender binary also does not make a very well told story. You yourself play a catgirl.

To clarify, I don't have numbers here how many people want this, and I'm rather certain that unless there's a huge outcry, the devs won't place this high on their priority list even if they do implement this. But we know that not everyone on the dev team works on the same things and they have pulled rabbits out of their hat as far as small yet meaningful QoLs go. I just disgree with the use of 'they' being so groundbreaking in storytelling. Did you know 'you' used to be plural-only as well? And look at where we are now.

While it's true that the court T-V blend (use of the plural for figures of authority, just as a monarch would be more likely to answer with "we" rather than "I" in explaining his or her verdict in the same era) has occurred twice in English, it's worth noting that that clear-cut situational use never caused any wide-spread ambiguity. In transition, it modeled perfectly use of "sie" in German. And after the transition, our indexes lost only the equivalent of "du", "vous", or "tú" forms, not any distinct plural.

I also don't see what any of those fantasy elements would have to do with adhering to or exiting social binaries. Until such a binary is an actual story conflict, such that a wizard cannot embrace magic until having blended the apparently female and male halves of its source, or realizing that they're actually the same thing, the two are absolutely irrelevant to each other. No matter how real or fantastic the setting is, unless social binaries are a part, one is not relevant to the other.

And while I certainly wouldn't mind the addition of a third gender option for our simple class flags, unless such a conflict organically fits the story... I don't want it. I have enough issues just with "It's Allagans. It's always Allagans," and "Sinister figures behind literally everything. People can't be 'evil' for normal reasons. Old Gods/Zodiark." I certainly don't need a "Cus n+2 genders" plot-twist forced in there.

On the other hand, give me a race in the Sharlayan Mystlands were believes literally bend reality, changing beastmen between various forms and abilities and, naturally, genders, and I'd probably love the hell of it just because that actually would be consistent: the point there would be how pervasive, how deep, how unlimited, that concept goes. But that wouldn't have anything to do with aiding gender or genderless immersion; it'd have to do with the story of those people in particular.

[Freyt]

Oh.... no....


You see, when it comes to things like cross dressing or gay marriage, those things are choices, and I would go on record saying that most gamer's and even just people who actively play XIV and not many other games, would respect others choices about their own lives.

When you decide to put in something such as a non-binary gender, what you're providing isn't a choice, but a statement. It's a statement that says "my version of reality is correct and yours is not".

It's one thing to have in a fictional universe as a matter of creative effort, and another thing entirely to have as a matter of political recognition or real world acknowledgement. I can think of one story in particular in which humanoid beings are capable of fluctuating between male and female as they wish with scientific principal to back it up, and that was acceptable as it had no reliance on the real world to make it such a plot point.

I play as myself in XIV. I named my character after myself and modeled it after myself. I can understand the desire to do so, while I doubt you've actually put effort into doing the same I recognize the lack of satisfaction in never being able to do such a thing. I play many games, and in most of those games I am unable to model or name my character, and at those times I take the perspective of the character that I'm playing rather than myself. I would suggest that you do the same in this regard. Playing as yourself is not the ultimate goal of video games, experiencing what you can't experience in the real world is much closer to the ultimate goal.

I share the same sentiment as some others here as well. Frankly put I'm sick of politics as a whole. I spent way too much of my time on it within the last couple of years, that at this moment in my life I want to escape from it, and FFXIV is a good way for me to do that. I'd really rather FFXIV not be infected with politics like that. The "option" you present for us is the exact opposite of an option for players such as myself, which I assume constitutes many more people than what would accommodate for the "choice" that you provide.

[xaventh]

No. This thread is garbage.