Gender locked race?

[linay]

The gender lock is exactly why they could do two races in the first place. It's not so much "one race" or "two races" as adding a new male character and a new female character, which may or may not be designed as the same race.

From a practical standpoint, creating a male-locked race and a female-locked race would be the same amount of work as a single race with both genders represented. The same number of characters need to be designed, modeled and animated.

I don't think that's true because there are plenty of unisex gears and having two races mean they have to do the work for both races to make sure they fit the gears. And even in gears that are different for each sex, once you have an idea on how to make one sex fits a particular type of gear, it's not all that different to make the other sex (which would be more similar than a separate race) fit a different type of gear.

[Tabbs]

...

Would female Viera attempting to abandon the woods and the Green Word not also be subject to the same punishment from the male Wood-Warders? A leaver is still a leaver... females are still breaking the code by leaving. Yet they still make it out somehow. I don't think the Viera have spidey senses to alert them to when other Viera are trying to leave, and even if they did (maybe the Green Word informs them somehow): There are clearly still Viera who make it out regardless.

As for male Viera being at the start of ARR, you could have a bunch of reasons as to why they'd leave. For example: They abandoned their home for adventure, much like the other races. Desire to find a better life, just like the Dramaturge says many female Viera do. It could be that the Green Word they hear has told them to leave for reasons unknown. Hell, maybe the Green Word is retconned into being connected to Hydaelyn, somehow, in this world. You also assume the male Viera has years of brutal training, maybe they don't? My own male Viera wouldn't want to be a Wood-Warder, so he'd leave at a fairly young age. He can't raise himself with training, and he can't return to the village, or he'd die/be shipped out with a Wood-Warder again, so I thought it'd be neat if he was raised by Nu Mou, who seem to be in the same forests as Viera. Some of the Viera jacks were stated to die during training; I think it's fair to assume that at some point or another, at least one of them would hold some disdain for their own kind of forcing this life on them.

It's really not impossible that some male Viera leave. It's just that combined with there being few of them already and probably even less wanting to leave/actually leaving, it makes sense that most people wouldn't have seen the very few that actually do leave.

[InkstainedGwyn]

I don't think that's true because there are plenty of unisex gears and having two races mean they have to do the work for both races to make sure they fit the gears. And even in gears that are different for each sex, once you have an idea on how to make one sex fits a particular type of gear, it's not all that different to make the other sex (which would be more similar than a separate race) fit a different type of gear.

Unisex gear still has to be modeled per gender. Even in pieces that don't change to panties and thigh highs on girls, the busts, waists, and other proportions are still vastly different.

[Iscah]

Collection of Wandering Dramaturge Viera lore

For the record, that is actually only half of what he has to say about the Viera.

[linay]

Unisex gear still has to be modeled per gender. Even in pieces that don't change to panties and thigh highs on girls, the busts, waists, and other proportions are still vastly different.

You say vastly different, but in comparison to a separate race, I think there would still be less work with the same race option.

[Iscah]

Gear is more likely to be transferred over from other races of the same gender than to have the same model made for both male and female characters - with the obvious exception of Lalafell.

[BillyKaplan]

You say vastly different, but in comparison to a separate race, I think there would still be less work with the same race option.

Female Au Ra have more in common with female Miqo'te than they do with male Au Ra

[linay]

Gear is more likely to be transferred over from other races of the same gender than to have the same model made for both male and female characters - with the obvious exception of Lalafell.

Female Au Ra have more in common with female Miqo'te than they do with male Au Ra

Well, that depends on the degree of dimorphism. That still doesn't make having two races more likely based on gender locking alone.

[Tabbs]

Well, that depends on the degree of dimorphism. That still doesn't make having two races more likely based on gender locking alone.

I very much agree. Work still has to be done on two different genders of one race (unique faces to each gender, etc), but it's going to be significantly less work than designing two completely different races, even with just one gender each, just because that means designing and modelling two sets of racial assets with no/minimal recycling. For one race with two genders, most assets from one gender can just be grabbed from the other gender and tweaked to fit, which is probably the case for Auri assets like the tails and horns or the Miqo'te tails and ears. The only way it would be less work is if the male-locked race was very plain, thus requiring little work. But who would be happy with that?

Imagine having to redo all the gear for feet for the sake of Viera having unique feet, and then having to do the same thing for a male-equivalent race. If we have male Viera, then most of the work for their unique feet is already done; it would just require some touch ups to look as good on the men as it did the women.

[hynaku]

Don't see me changing race's to be one. With those weird alien looking ears.