Playable kids in FFXIV

[LittleImp]

Im not aware of who was asking for this, because hte primary topic I am aware of where that was even brought up potentially was in the male viera support thread. Again, this isnt something I was seeing a widespread of call to action on when determining age ranges. Im not saying it didnt happen, but that I dont see this as being as prevalent as being pushed.

And my point with Khloe was that teh argument of Children Vs Teen is kinda strange cause characters like Khloe exist, where she appears to be younger than she actually is but would fall into the teen category. How the game treats age and appearance is inconsistent, so what matters more? According to Yoshi P, it's appearance that matters most. Which is the problem cause inconsistent design choices in the game contradict that position. By that extention and the argument that Lalafells are children by appearance, lalafells need a hard redesign to be consistent (not that I would mind that to some extent. Certain aspects of the lala design to urk me from a aesthetic design standpoint. Why are their limbs tubes G.D. it or their body has literally 0 structural definition. Not even basic bone land marks or muscle definition in any capacity)



Two things: What does the full text say - because I cant tell if the context s the character or their outfit. The Second is, Originally designed =/= is as is. Chocobos are probably originally modeled off of a chicken, but that doesn't mean chocobos are chickens. Or a more famous example : Goofy is modeled after a dog technically, but he certainly doesnt look like any dog Ive seen. I mean if female lalas were 'stacked' up top, the argument that theyre designed after kindergarden kids kind of falls apart (as well as them being children.) Which, ironically, might be the solution to the whole issue. Giving them differentiated proportions would pretty much put to rest that argument. So for males, more masculine V in the torso, and females the hourglass build. But I hazard if that did happen, people would immediately say "Now here's proof theyre sexualizing children!" even though the design changes would be moving them away from the characteristics theyre having trouble with.

If they made them appear developed, it would indeed alleviate the issue and make them more in line with traditional fantasy depictions of Halflings or Dwarves. But they haven't, And they won't.

There's a reason that external entities like Discord and Reddit have opted to just delete/ban people for posting Lalafell related... uh.. 'Content'. Heck, it was even a large part of why the FFXIV Reddit Discord server had its partnership status terminated. At the end of the day, it requires a significant amount of disingenuousness or mental gymnastics to attempt to argue that they aren't obviously intended to resemble children.

[Melichoir]

If they made them appear developed, it would indeed alleviate the issue and make them more in line with traditional fantasy depictions of Halflings or Dwarves. But they haven't, And they won't.

There's a reason that external entities like Discord and Reddit have opted to just delete/ban people for posting Lalafell related... uh.. 'Content'. Heck, it was even a large part of why the FFXIV Reddit Discord server had its partnership status terminated. At the end of the day, it requires a significant amount of disingenuousness or mental gymnastics to attempt to argue that they aren't obviously intended to resemble children.

If this becomes the case of the argument, then you are also arguing that the Devs created something that indirectly cuts close to CP with some of the glamours available (not to mention direct child violence). So if that is the argument, then why hasnt the base overall pushed back and said a design change is necessary. Especially if YoshiPs position on child PCs is specifically denied on the grounds of possible depictions of abuse of children. This gets even more muddy as an argument because it also implies that any player who plays a lalafell and does not dress them conservatively is immediately complicit in this problem, as well as playing one would be complicit with depictions of violence against children.

So why hasnt that been a factor? I do not honestly believe that we are going to argue that SE would protect an extreme minority against a large public backlash to a game design aspect, nor that it was the intentions of the Devs to create this aspect purposefully for that reason. Or it's the intentions of the player base who play lalafells that this is the case.

You can argue that they are legit depictions of children but a large swath of players share the same collective delusion or are broadly disturbed by the concept of the abuse of children, see lalafell as children, but then dont do anything or petition against it. That or the player base (at large) does not share the view lalafells are analogous to children.

Something isnt adding up here by the way things are playing out.

[LittleImp]

<snip>

Because most people really don't care about children and/or child-like characters in violent situations? It's been a common sight in video games and media forever in the west. Sexual situations, on the other hand, are not and are HEAVILY frowned upon. Hence why there's a great deal of scrutiny and disgust in the community towards Lalafell players who opt to dress their characters in the aforementioned outfits. Really, I'm pretty sure most western people who play this game think it's gross and there are plenty of threads and discussions to that effect here and elsewhere you can view at your leisure. I can't really speak for the JP community but it's fairly common knowledge that japan has a bit of a uh.. different take on that particular issue, and the game is generally more closely catered to them.

I can agree the devs have definitely been weirdly inconsistent on this stuff. A few of the more risque items in the game have unique, intentionally conservative appearances when equipped to lalafells; examples being the black summer tanga, Coliseum Loincloth, and steel subligar. There's also plenty of outfits that are extremely similar that aren't subject to similar alterations, so who knows lol. I think part of what drove Yoshi-P's recent statement is that the game is coming under increasing scrutiny as it gets bigger, particularly from review boards as he said. The game has become a bit of a poster-child for both SE and Sony, so it makes sense that they're at least trying to project that they're being more careful.

[Skivvy]

Two things: What does the full text say - because I cant tell if the context s the character or their outfit. The Second is, Originally designed =/= is as is. Chocobos are probably originally modeled off of a chicken, but that doesn't mean chocobos are chickens. Or a more famous example : Goofy is modeled after a dog technically, but he certainly doesnt look like any dog Ive seen. I mean if female lalas were 'stacked' up top, the argument that theyre designed after kindergarden kids kind of falls apart (as well as them being children.) Which, ironically, might be the solution to the whole issue. Giving them differentiated proportions would pretty much put to rest that argument. So for males, more masculine V in the torso, and females the hourglass build. But I hazard if that did happen, people would immediately say "Now here's proof theyre sexualizing children!" even though the design changes would be moving them away from the characteristics theyre having trouble with.

Here is a full picture I was able to find, and while it's tricky to make out every word, it appears they are talking about the clothing.


https://www.soartbooks.com/wp-conten...57544611-6.jpg

"Originally modeled on a spirited kindergarten-aged boy. The smock and satchel were adapted for adventuring." Then it gets a bit tricky after that part, but appears to go on about that "It occurred to me afterwards that if Lalafell were taller, it might resemble a <something> in Dragon Quest"?

Perhaps somone with the book can add some clarification.