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(12-23-2014, 12:36 AM)Ashren Snow Wrote:(12-22-2014, 11:40 PM)Flickering Ember Wrote: The Western idea of beauty can often times be much more rugged, even for females.
People tend to be far less critical of what Male characters look like in video games because it's incredibly difficult to go wrong with them. If male characters almost all look the same, or fit into certain stereotypes or follow certain societal standards nobody really gives a shit. If the same thing happens with Female character models people lose their freaking minds over it.
Off topic, but I wanted to throw this in here:
![[Image: video-game-protagonists-kids-love-brown-...00x377.jpg]](http://www.twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/video-game-protagonists-kids-love-brown-haired-30-something-white-males-500x377.jpg)
As for the rest of your post, while I know SE is trying to be conscious about what each region likes gameplay wise, I don't know if we can say the same visual wise. I have no evidence either way. That is something I will have to find out with time. I figure it is easy to not change the aesthetics much though. As Berrod pointed out, fans of the game know the art style and the Au Ra conform to the art style. I'm not expecting them to act on feedback in this area.
I am not good at wording this so I'm only going to try so much. There is a big difference in how female characters are represented in not only Japanese art but also the story. I attribute these to cultural differences. A good chunk of the folks that play Final Fantasy XIV are likely to be anime fans, and thus, more attuned to the cultural differences. Because Final Fantasy XIV attracts a niche of people already into Japanese media, I think it is more likely for those people to get behind the Au Ra concept.
(12-23-2014, 01:19 AM)hauntmedoitagain Wrote:(12-23-2014, 12:51 AM)Zyrusticae Wrote: This is because there is a ubiquitous trend to make the male characters capable and "badass" while the females are made to be doted on and fawned over.
Quite frankly, it's condescending and super-irritating to be relegated to that kind of role again and again and again and again, so yeah, people (women mostly) WILL lose their shit over it, because it's blatantly and unequivocally sexist.
Who's forcing you into that role other than yourself? It's about how a character acts, not how they appear that defines them in that way. Looks can be incredibly deceiving, or so the cliche goes.
Oh come on, you can't really think that this:
![[Image: PHN1JnF.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/PHN1JnF.jpg)
...gives you the same perception of the character as...
![[Image: dragon_age_inquisition_e3_trailer_0008.png]](http://www.gamezone.de/screenshots/667x375/2013/06/dragon_age_inquisition_e3_trailer_0008.png)
...this. Same character, modeled differently. You can have a waifu girl who can slay bad guys in one hit or defeat men 10 times her size in an arm wrestling match. But it's not nearly as convincing as watching a muscled woman do those things.Who do you think looks more battle hardened? It's not just personality, appearance says a whole lot about a person and how that person is perceived. For example, like it or not, historically role-play characters from small races, such as a lalafell, are not taken as seriously as the taller characters.
You can have a perfectly pretty female character kick a lot of ass (Asami from Legend of Korra) but how they do their ass kicking and how convincing or intimidating that person is comes down to appearance. We can tell, by appearance alone, that Korra from the same franchise fights and behaves a lot differently from Asami.
Differences in art style change how we perceive the character. Like so:
Â
![[Image: elfen-lied-8.jpg]](http://www.mangagate.com/ressources/images/galerie/anime/elfen-lied-8.jpg)
In this comparison, we can tell that the first depiction is harsh and intimidating while the second depiction is cute and peaceful. Can you really fault someone for wanting their characters to look as badass as they portray them?
Your character's appearance: It does affect your roleplay, what other characters think of your character, and what other players think of your character.