Any mention of pregnancy or birthgiving in-game? Are we even sure we are mammals?

[Gegenji]

Garleans invent the laser pointer, the Eorzean Alliance loses a sizeable portion of their fighting force.

 

What, so you don't think the Garleans can invent laser pointers? I am shocked and appalled.

[Arrelaine]

Fine. We can talk about the DRG gut window, the lack of pants and the clavicle window on the NIN outfit (lolwut), and other assorted weird things they stuck on female outfits in FFXIV for 2.X that were not present at all in 1.0 for the sake of sexiness.

 

I'll be perfectly honest, there's also a lot of sexy outfits for men in the game. We have tight bikinis, leather bikini armor that works for men and women, gaping shirts showing off some very muscular pectorals and there are tops that are virtually non-existent. There are armor options for both genders to be sexy or covered, especially with glamours. I'd love to see more level 1 armors that are diverse and, well, pretty (pz I want a ball gown and some overalls *sniff*). Admittedly, there are very few games who pander to 'sexy' for both sexes. I -do- happen to like the eyecandy here.

 

As for the OP, I believe the races are mammalian. As for Garuda, I'd still hit it if I were a guy, even if I might die after. NO PAIN NO GAIN, RITE??? There are a lot of fantasy races who use boobs as a means to lure in victims because women have always been the peak of beauty in old stories, and that beauty have been disarming or enchanting in most. Almost all the female-only races lure men in, use them for babies and then eat them horrifically.

 

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go work on making all the males in my FC dress up and strut for us ladies. We have a date auction coming up and these boys need to work it and bring in that gil.

 

edit: And also, some cats like being vacuumed, thank you very much. Though, hold off on the fish because it can be addicting to us.

[OttoVann]

I know I walk around in slut-glams a lot. Highlander pride world wide.

[Mae]

Or maybe SE decided to not show nipples in their game due to rating concerns.

 

I mean, just tossing that out there.  If you're full-on sure that races in Eorzea aren't mammals, I mean, nothing anyone here could say is gonna convince you otherwise.

The echidna thing was supposed to be a joke (no sarcasm intended here, I honestly do struggle with making jokes/humor). And I'd just like to point out that I have at least once in the course of the discussion agreed that the characters probably are mammal, since SE really hasn't given us anything to think otherwise (however, I do have to acknowledge that until SE sets it in stone, it is something we're taking for granted. I hope they don't set it otherwise, because from an RP standpoint that'll create a nightmare... but if they do, I'm voting for babies being found under cabbage leaves). 

 

My arguments have mostly been against the statement of "if the characters weren't mammals they shouldn't have breasts because breasts exist solely for the production of milk to feed babies". This is true in real-world (as we know it) biology, yes. HOWEVER, real-world cultures world-wide have often used the depictions of female breasts on various forms, not to turn these forms into mammals but to show femininity. The psychological response in the vast majority of our species is not "breasts = mammal", but "breasts (regardless of size) = feminine". Artists/writers/developers/etc tend to use this response because it is readily identifiable and accepted without question by the majority. And the game is, in a broad sense, an artistic endevour.

 

(The live births thing just struck me on a "well, actually..." moment. Navels are often just an artistic thing, I've seen them on things that in legend/folklore hatched from eggs or born from the foam of the sea.)

 

Now. It is ENTIRELY possible to make an attractive female character/whatever that is flat-chested/lacking breasts, it just requires the use of other methods/devices/tropes to convey a feminine aspect. However, this can detract from certain character types. A flat chested, delicate, doe-eyed, and full-lipped girl would be harder to pass off to the majority as a tomboy versus a strong-featured, rough-and-tumble, one-eyelash-short-of-masculine girl that has a hint (like, A-cup) of a chest.

 

As to the pictures Zyrusticae linked, I have not played GW2 (I'm assuming that's GW2?) personally but I did watch over my husband's shoulder often when he played. He was a die-hard Asura fan, and I agree that Asuran females were, through use of other methods/devices/tropes, perfectly feminine and artistically attractive without breasts. Breasts would've actually looked absurd on them, much like they would on Lalafell. He only played Charr long enough to decide that he did not like how the males moved, so with me being lazy after a long day, I only have the linked picture to go on for the females. I find the female in the image to also be artistically attractive and feminine. However, my understanding of the Charr is that they are a warrior race, and the image is quite far from what I personally would want to make for such a race with such a background; I'd want something... meaner. Sharper features, leaner face, perhaps more ragged; something I would seriously hesitate to approach versus something I'd ask after a few moments if I could pet it's ears to see how soft they are. To this end, I would think that small breasts (or even one breast; the other being removed as both an offering to a patron deity and because it would get in the way of fighting like the Amazons of legend were said to do) would not be inappropriate, because what I'm picturing in my head is likely fairly gender ambiguous to others.

 

(Edit was for spelling)

[Ilwe'ran]

Mmh, I'll just end to considerate that the Eorzean are given birth by players creating them.

[Warren Castille]

Tumblr please go.

 

There was a whole thread that got attention during 1.0 that asked for "sexier" clothes for the player characters. Furthermore, it's hard to take anyone who intentionally glamours their character into the smallest metal bikini possible serious as an advocate for anti-objectification in females in gaming.

 

If you want to have this discussion, be prepared to have this discussion.

 

Pre-emptive edit:

 

I know you've cited that putting your character in teensy tiny little clothes is your choice, but have you considered that perhaps making female characters/avatars sexy is a choice the developers took? If you're not talking specifically about Garuda I'm not sure what you're bringing up. Do you want overtly-female Amal'jaa or something? Lizards tend to look like lizards regardless of gender.

 

Are you upset the Ixal don't have overtly-female Ixal? Well, they do, as differentiated by their names, according to officially posted lore. Or did you want special flags calling them out graphically? Hell, we can tell what gender a goblin is via their name.

 

It sounds like you're complaining about sexualization, which is fine! If you think slapping a pair of 44DD tits on something is lazy design, then more power to you.

 

I take umbrage with you attacking a developer's integrity by claiming that's lazy, though. You don't know their reasoning behind the design, and by making it out like you know better, you're effectively calling for the censorship of a style you personally disapprove of because reasons.

 

That's not cool, and we're gonna have problems in especially called out text or whatever the eff THAT means. Mind indulging my curiosity?

[FreelanceWizard]

I think at this point the thread's derailed quite far off its original topic at this point, so I'm just going to go ahead and close it. There's a lot of substantive topics that can be addressed in new threads if those participants would like to do so, but topics about the portrayal of genders in games are pretty inflammatory -- so if anyone does want to start a thread on that topic, please, please stay nice.

 

Thread closed.

 

#magicAdminHat