Curious about player-character Elezen representation

[Mebahiah]

More specifically, why are Elezen so under-represented, according to the census site? One of my contacts thinks it's one part "too dissimilar to typical elves", two parts "we barely know anything about the Duskwights". (My Duskwight, for the record, wants to resuscitate Gelmorra--and has no qualms about asking Ul'dah to invest in a potential new trading partner. She's...also a lot less vengeful towards Gridanians, thinking Gelmorra's abandonment was less a betrayal and far more a tragedy seeded before it was even founded.) I am curious if there might be other factors involved, though.

[Nethereal]

Because they're the ugliest race of them all and no matter what you do you instantly know what race a person is if they choose elezen even if you don't look at their ears because they're that ugly.

I have yet to see any decent looking elezen.

[Seraph522]

...While I don't necessarily agree with Nethereal re: Elezen attractiveness, it is important to note that most players aren't choosing their race based on lore or RP purposes, but on aesthetics, as she is implying. Catgirls tend to be considered attractive by a lot of people (personally and culturally), and for players who really don't care about immersion or just want to look good, they'll pick female Miqo'te. Same tends to go for female Au Ra characters (I say this fully acknowledging my main is one of them). A lot of people also prefer to play as the nearest equivalent to humans in fantasy or sci-fi games, for whatever reason, so they're more widely chosen (not to mention all the gil-farming bots that just pick the default options during character creation...). Elezen, by proxy, tend to be chosen less as a result, though I think they're still generally more popular than Roegadyn.

[Cled-cat]

I find their animations and emotes incredibly stiff and awkward. They just feel so... unnatural and almost a bit creepy with their proportions and movements. If I saw a Female Elezen run at me the same way they do in game I’d run in the opposite direction in terror. It’s just really jarring and doesn’t look that good at all imo. It’s only going to be even more obvious when people inevitably draw comparisons to the Viera, which a lot of people tote as being similar to Elezen in frame.

[Jaywalker]

Because they're the ugliest race of them all and no matter what you do you instantly know what race a person is if they choose elezen even if you don't look at their ears because they're that ugly.

I have yet to see any decent looking elezen.

That's just like, your opinion man. Not to mention a controversial one that plenty of Aymeric/Estinien/Haurchefant/Ysayle/etc. fans would certainly fight you on.

Honestly I think Elezen can be totally gorgeous... but I also think that their proportions are unusual and sometimes that can take a bit of balancing. I've noticed that more popular races tend to be the ones with more conventional proportions or else unconventional proportions that play into cute aesthetics and make no effort to pass for conventional. Sort of Uncanny Valley principles at work.

Also, some of the animations are commonly seen as awkward lol.

I normally would be maining Elezen, but went Hyur Midlander specifically because I wanted to challenge ideas that it's the most vanilla option you could take visually. When it comes to Elezen I think it's a matter of avoiding making the head look small relative to shoulders and legs. Hairstyle achieves part of that but you also need to work with spacing of features within the face so things remain cohesive.

[ShinShimon]

I agree. The world needs more elezen women.

[Arrhin]

Ugly? Lookit here...my Elv-wife is utterly gorgeous, doesn matter she's a freakin amazon compared to my feline petitness! Yes, she's stuck up, arrogant and moody like all Elv...but she's all mine and one of apparently few Elv willin to put up with my cattiness. WE ARE NOT PESTS! Wait, right...erm...Elezen...yay?

[Karthannar]

I currently main a fem elezen- partially because they are underrepresented and partially I've always had a bit of a thing for tall, leggy women. I do agree with most of the points here though. The animations do seem stiff at times, and I wish SE would make a pass over more of the frequently used animations to make them seem a little more fluid.

[silverlunarfox]

That's just like, your opinion man. Not to mention a controversial one that plenty of Aymeric/Estinien/Haurchefant/Ysayle/etc. fans would certainly fight you on.

Honestly I think Elezen can be totally gorgeous... but I also think that their proportions are unusual and sometimes that can take a bit of balancing. I've noticed that more popular races tend to be the ones with more conventional proportions or else unconventional proportions that play into cute aesthetics and make no effort to pass for conventional. Sort of Uncanny Valley principles at work.

Also, some of the animations are commonly seen as awkward lol.

I normally would be maining Elezen, but went Hyur Midlander specifically because I wanted to challenge ideas that it's the most vanilla option you could take visually. When it comes to Elezen I think it's a matter of avoiding making the head look small relative to shoulders and legs. Hairstyle achieves part of that but you also need to work with spacing of features within the face so things remain cohesive.

It's honestly this. Elezen need a bit more work both in creation and glamour to look just right. But when you get it...it's the best thing ever.

One day I'd like to think theyd redo the animations, but still I wait...

[Haxaan]

Because they're the ugliest race of them all and no matter what you do you instantly know what race a person is if they choose elezen even if you don't look at their ears because they're that ugly.

I have yet to see any decent looking elezen.

Either you aren't looking hard enough or the player base on your server are just very bad at character creation. As an Elezen Male, I will 100% admit that it is hard to make a really attractive Elezen, on both sides. A lot of the options we have for faces and facial features are weird, but with enough patience and dedication you can really make some Beautiful looking characters. The Elezen body is also hard to work with, especially the Male body. They have such a shapeless form, so making glams takes a bit of work, but once you know which pieces work well on the body shape it is quite easy. I've also noticed that most glam that "looks best" on Elezen does not look the same on other races (not to say they look bad). The biggest struggle for Elezen players is trying to make sure that their heads don't look to small on the body. This can be easily done by being conscious of how big and bulky your glam is compared to your headpiece/hair.

Now on the part of emotes and voices... don't even get me started. The Elezen emotes are... not great, I'd say they are hands down some of the worst options, especially when you stand them next to any other race. I definitely feel like Elezen have a handful of interesting emotes, but when going toe to toe against other races they are mostly dull and offputting. The Femzen voices are decent, but the Manzen voices seriously need to be rerecorded lol. The only decent sounding ones are the ones they share with Miqote and Hyur, the rest are weird.

That being said, Elezen are a very interesting character choice and if you main one you know how much of a struggle it can be, but the payoff is fantastic because you are like a unicorn. I absolutely LOVE when I get in another party and I see another Elezen, or I'm walking around the city and see one or two of them. We are a rare breed, but I kind of like it that way. There aren't 100 clones of my character with different hair/eye colors every time I turn around.