Trans Representation in Final Fantasy XIV: The Importance of Inclusivity in Gaming

[george357]

and your troll is showing also

[Anonemoose]

Thank you for the honest inquiry.

I'm 28. And I'm African American. I grew up in the south and in a poor neighborhood. I also grew up watching certain programs due to only having access to basic channels. I do recall a fair amount of BET and basic cartoons.

But I was genuinely ignorant of the heights that I could reach because I just really didn't know. I thought I'd always be in that setting growing up.

Thank you for sharing this. It's an entirely different upbringing than I had and I wanted to understand your perspective.

I think a bit of diversity is nice.

But only because growing up I had no idea people from my ethnic group could be anything more than enslaved, impoverished and constantly struggling due to the fictional and non-fictional media I grew up with. I even recall - in middle school - telling another girl that looked like me that she couldn't play a certain role because of her skin tone.

It took me till I was thirteen to realize we could actually ride horses. I genuinely thought we just didn't do that.

I'm a big believer in "learning and understanding through shared experience". We're all human beings going through our own human experience. I will admit I was skeptical about what you wrote at first, but given your further explanation it seems more than reasonable.

If diversity is implemented it should be done tastefully and based off of the author's comfort level and respective culture.

It shouldn't be forced in otherwise you risk making yourself appear ignorant.

In a game originating from the East we shouldn't really expect any huge diversity points. Leave that to games originating from the West where we're actually a proper melting pot and are more open to sexualities, gender identities, etc. Baldurs Gate 3, GW2 - ya know?

I completely agree with these ideals and this sentiment. Perpetuating the victim industry and imposing particular viewpoints, expression and speech and forbidding other viewpoints, expression and speech as it relates to any particular demographic causes division and resentment, not acceptance.

Genuine, meaningful human interactions between people - especially with opposing viewpoints - is how you solve complex societal issues of racial and gender divides. Any one particular side getting into authority so as to impose its will on others and crush dissent is not.

For what it's worth, it's a testament to your character to believe this despite your experiences. More broadly it demonstrates that nobody has to be defined simply by the immutable characteristics of birth such as race or gender. It's a choice we make. You are proof enough of that given the heights you've been able to achieve. I sincerely hope you continue to succeed in life and genuinely wish you all the best.

[xxmiamorecadenza]

For what it's worth, it's a testament to your character to believe this despite your experiences. More broadly it demonstrates that nobody has to be defined simply by the immutable characteristics of birth such as race or gender. It's a choice we make. You are proof enough of that given the heights you've been able to achieve. I sincerely hope you continue to succeed in life and genuinely wish you all the best.

Thank you for saying that. That touched me - genuinely.

But overall my stance remains that creatives shouldn't be forced to insert anything into their creations.

Write what you're most comfortable with. Tokenism isn't the answer to anything and makes for shallow, offensive and forgettable characters.

[Soge01]

LGBTQIA2S+

That thing is starting to look more like a cheat code, lmao!

[LinaAkayomi]

I'm trans, I've been on HRT for a couple years now, and I love FFXIV
Why?
Because as the game stands right now, you DO have ways to make your character "visibly trans" whatever that means, I'm gonna go with "mismatching gender/sex and voice" which is... kinda sus way to put it, but it's what's implied, isn't it? As if there's a way to be visibly/invisibly trans. But I digress.

What you're proposing is gonna cause backlash against the community for no reason, with not much to really gain from it. There's already enough as is.

[Akira]

no just no thats all ill say to avoid any other reprocussion as to what i really want to say.

[-Magnai-]

There already is, silly~! *nods towards the Dotharl tribe of the Azim Steppe* I believe you'd enjoy reading the lore on them. I also recommend doing their sidequests ^-^

[Asari5]

the dotharl fill your head with their believes while growing up with nobody ever saying something different.... doesnt sound like 'you can be what you want to be / what you are.'
so while our society pushes girls and boys into specific gender archetypes the dotharl community pushes them into whatever gender they think you were before... how is that a good representation?

[kaynide]

Just to note, in universe (supposedly), there are Fantasia potions.

It is not entirely out of the realm of possibilities that an NPC could have taken one and changed their gender.

In fact, it would be so “perfect” of a transition that everyone who had ever known the NPC would only ever remember them as being their new race and/or gender (yay magic!).

So, assuming access to Fantasia is actually a thing, there really wouldn’t be many trans people known, unless they purposefully went out of their way to tell you they fantasia’d. There probably wouldn’t be many people “in transition” either, as Fantasia is so simple/fast acting.

Now, trans in the sense of “man in a woman’s body” or vice versa could be a thing and might even already BE a thing in game…but I can’t really remember any examples. It’s a very common trope in Japanese media, after all.