Gender-locking, Race Design, and Why We Want More Diverse Options.

[organicbees]

I made a forum profile just so I could write this post, because this is a prevailing, repeating issue that I did not foresee FFXIV falling victim to, and yet here we are.

So. The new races. They're pretty cool! And while I do enjoy, and I'm happy that the team has been working hard to implement more options for us, the players, I can't help but feel...disappointed. I'll admit, I knew not to get my hopes up too high because then I would just be bound to get let down, but this isn't something I expected simply because it is an issue that has been under debate and has been at the forefront of the gaming community for years now-decades even! I'm not against gender-locking at all, and it can be very effective, lore-friendly, engaging, and interesting when done correctly.

A good example of "gender-locking" are the Gerudo from the Legend of Zelda (though they are not a playable race, gender still comes into play in BOTW, where you are not allowed entry into their town unless you are female-presenting). They have a lore similar to Miqo'te and Viera, where one gender is secluded, and the other is more prevalent. So far, so good, right? Well, here's where things get sticky and SE starts to go a little wrong.




Gerudo women vs. Viera women. Notice any differences?

Gerudo women are muscular. They have big noses, they have large muscles, and they're extremely tall. While they are still pretty typically feminine, there's still more to them than that. They're strong women. They have features that some (mostly men) may find "unattractive". Viera women are, on the other hand, quite literally Playboy Bunnies.

I am not against gender-locking in the slightest, but it is when you make two separate races that are to be gender-locked (one of which, the Hrothgar, still have females prevalent in their society), and you make the women the same copy-paste image straight off of America's Next Top Model. And yet, you look at the male races, and they're all diverse. They have robust body sizes, facial features, and hell, now they're going to be going full-on beast! But then you look at the female versions of those exact same races, and the they're all petite, and pretty, and dainty, the only exception being female Roegadyn. The males are given diversity. They are given robust options that allow them to truly divide themselves from other players. When you look at the females, they have the same perfect eyelashes, mascara, and pouty lips. They have the same small, rail-thin, not at all muscular body (again, with the exception of Roe women and Highlander women as well). It is almost like you are not allowing women to be diverse, even though that is exactly what women are in the real world.

[organicbees]

And on another note, while I am very disappointed in the lack of diverse female character design in the gaming industry, I am also very upset at the lack of Viera men. I am tired of male character design being a bunch of muscular beef boys. We have plenty of options in video games to be big, beefy, bara men. I'm sick of it! Let us have more lithe options, more frail options, more feminine options! Men are not all big powerhouses in real life, just like not all women are porcelain dolls.

TLDR; Let women be ugly! Let men be petite! Stop repeating the same goddamn mistake that has been plaguing the gaming community since it's creation and give us more diverse character options.

I wasn't playing this game around the time, but I am quite aware that 1.0 did not have male Miqo'te or female Roegadyn.

This situation is exactly the same as 1.0. Why should we have to go through this again, when we have already had to patch up the problem the first time?

[organicbees]

Some more examples of how diverse Gerudo women are.

Let. Women. Look. Different.

[FFgame]

Overwhelming majority of people don't play ugly races/combinations, otherwise Malboro master race would be a thing. As an example I do not find Gerudo appealing at all.

This situation is exactly the same as 1.0. Why should we have to go through this again, when we have already had to patch up the problem the first time?
The combos that they unlocked? They are the least played in the game.

[Fyce]

the only exception being female Roegadyn.

And female Hyurgoth to a certain degree. Which makes me raise a question: if so much people want strong looking women, why are these races/genders literally the least played ones?

[Nominous]

Considering Highlanders are a thing for Hyur that represent more muscular customization options, and considering they talked about 2 clans, and considering they also talked about a wide breadth of customization options, why do you think they won't have some reasonable variety?

Especially when a "Muscularity" slider exists.

It's weird that people also aren't considering all the gear options we have right now. Like... are we going to conveniently forget all of the wild cosplay people have come up with in the game, regardless of gender? I mean, almost all hairs are non gender-locked, and now the minority of gear is gender-locked, so the base race gender is fine and all, but it hardly matters as much as it seems when we're just looking at starter gear.

[Kirsten_Rev]

And on another note, while I am very disappointed in the lack of diverse female character design in the gaming industry, I am also very upset at the lack of Viera men. I am tired of male character design being a bunch of muscular beef boys. We have plenty of options in video games to be big, beefy, bara men. I'm sick of it! Let us have more lithe options, more frail options, more feminine options! Men are not all big powerhouses in real life, just like not all women are porcelain dolls.

I'll readily agree on the lack of diversity with female races, but male character design is hardly a bunch of muscular beef boys. Hyurs and Miqo'te males are both very lithe and feminine looking (with the exception of a few facial options for male Hyurs). Lalafells are their own thing. Au'ra and Elezen are a mix of muscular and lithe, with Roegadyn being the closest to 'beef boys' that are featured more prominently in other games. If anything, the beefy appearance is underrepresented in XIV, so I think it was wise to introduce more muscular models with the Hrothgar.

That said, it's kind of surprising to see XIV attacked over this fact now. I don't think I've ever seen a Final Fantasy game wherein females weren't styled to be smaller, more frail, less muscular - effeminate, in other words. Males tend to follow this as well, with some exceptions like Barrett from VII. XIV itself, and XI before it (which really contained the same core races, Au'ra excepted) have followed this model up until now. While I can understand disliking this, it nevertheless seems wildly unrealistic to expect it to change just because the calendar rolled over into 2019.

[Xothic]

I'm being dead serious when I say, that aside from some funnay memerz, no one wants to play a legitimately ugly character.

The devs should not waste time on pointless shit like "intentionally ugly character choices" when we get so frequently starved for content as it is.

With that said, the option already exists. If you want, you can make an ugly character, just be a roe and press randomize!

[KittenMittens]

Overwhelming majority of people don't play ugly races/combinations, otherwise Malboro master race would be a thing. As an example I do not find Gerudo appealing at all.

This situation is exactly the same as 1.0. Why should we have to go through this again, when we have already had to patch up the problem the first time?
The combos that they unlocked? They are the least played in the game.

No, they're not the least played in the game. You need to stop spreading false information. Male Miqo'te and female Highlanders are very popular while not being present during 1.0.

[Allegor]

To be fair though, "ugly" characters exist because the attention they get for not being conventionally beautiful is detrimental, not because they're deliberately made to be as such. Sure, people who want non conventionally attractive characters are still in the minority, but when you don't even try to please said minority, then it might have as well been wasted time and resources.