Valentina enters the fray!

[GusTurbo]

Can't wait to see some other facial expressions, like my favorite: slightly worried.

[helaeon]

The new model is glorious.

It makes the crews more interesting. I'd like if there were a couple different kerbal models & textures (like what texture replacer does), simply to make the crews more interesting rather than clones. Having 2 models rather than 1 is a good start, and male & female is a good first divergence point.

[Steambirds]

I'm not too fond of the model, something about it seems off. I think it's the head shape.

[CptRichardson]

Nice model, epic lady. Actually, I think she and Jeb might split the branches of piloting. Namely, Jeb loves the rockets, she loves the insane planes, and they knock some sense into each other when they look at the vehicles the other thinks is perfectly safe and awesome to fly.

[cpast]

The more I look at her, the less weird the eye spacing is. I think the model is good as-is, and mostly looked odd because it's new.

[I_Killed_Jeb]

Considering the lack of female Kerbals rustled a lot of jimmies, I think that I'm a little drop in the large ocean of offended sensibilities.

maybe you can whine about it a little more.

- - - Updated - - -

Can't wait to see some other facial expressions, like my favorite: slightly worried.

or screaming in fear!

[Captain Vlad]

Nice model, epic lady. Actually, I think she and Jeb might split the branches of piloting. Namely, Jeb loves the rockets, she loves the insane planes, and they knock some sense into each other when they look at the vehicles the other thinks is perfectly safe and awesome to fly.

I like it...like, Jeb's the one who's always trying to talk the engineers into strapping six more boosters onto the already ridiculous rocket...but Val's the one who's insisting they can make the new spaceplane glide way longer if they use a command seat instead of a cockpit...each thinks the other is a little nuts...

[CptRichardson]

I like it...like, Jeb's the one who's always trying to talk the engineers into strapping six more boosters onto the already ridiculous rocket...but Val's the one who's insisting they can make the new spaceplane glide way longer if they use a command seat instead of a cockpit...each thinks the other is a little nuts...

"Jeb. Go get your struts." "But the angle at which the structure flexes under thrust is perfect for controlling the rocket's flight! Why are you flying that thing when the wings are flexing like that!?" "Bec- well, I suppose I could get away with less wing space if I strap an aerospike engine pair to the craft..." "What about a solid rocket booster?" "Do I tell you to strap wings to your rockets?" "Put a plane on a rocket?" "I like the way you think. I'll be right back."

"Dear Kerm, there's two of them now!"

[Hunter3081]

I like the model just the way it is, plus, I am sure she will have just as much fun tumbling down a hill as the guys do.

[Special Agent Sigvan]

So, how about that new female kerbal model? (Hint, hint. The topic is over that way, guys.)

Looks fine. Better look cooler blowing up.

[Whirligig Girl]

I'd guess so, considering:

A: the majority of the mass comes from the spacesuit, probably, the apollo 11 space suit, apparently weighed 200 pounds

B: in any case it's probably too minescule of a difference to matter, considering kerbals are pretty light (I think so, anyways)

C: it'd be added work for the programmers, for minimal gain, besides it'd annoy power-gamers to no end trying to conserve tiny amounts of mass "Well, I only use female kerbals for all my ships.. 0.001 tons lighter"

On average, human women are lighter than human males, however applicants to space programs are all lightweight. I once heard though, of an anime where the space program's launch vehicle could barely stagger off the pad, so they used teenage girls as astronauts. I think it was on the Atomic Rockets Seal of Approval page where I heard of it, but it's gone now.

[lajoswinkler]

I just hope Squad won't, as it happened with some other things in the past, listen to few bickering kids and pull the model.

[Nikolai]

I once heard though, of an anime where the space program's launch vehicle could barely stagger off the pad, so they used teenage girls as astronauts. I think it was on the Atomic Rockets Seal of Approval page where I heard of it, but it's gone now.

Rocket Girls! It's a silly little high school anime in a lot of ways, but I really enjoy it.

[GusTurbo]

I just hope Squad won't, as it happened with some other things in the past, listen to few bickering kids and pull the model.

I can't see that happening. The response has been overwhelmingly positive, though some have small aesthetic concerns with the model. That's fair, but we've only seen one expression from one angle. I'm not worried.

Squad definitely won't respond to the people who don't think female kerbals are necessary, or those making sexist remarks. Their opinions are worthless.

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

I'd like to think that Squad could do a little better than Miss Male Character.

I mean, Valentina Tereshkova was hardly a pinup  she was chosen, in part, for being physically strong.

Honestly, I'd love to have all the Kerbs look the same. It's OK if they're all kinda butch. That's much better than having them all have either obviously male or goofy names.

This is how I see Obby, as portrayed in the Kerbal Space Program movie:

I mean, I want to play with my niece. She's 8. And she knows damn well when a game is for her or isn't. The thing that saves her in Minecraft is that she doesn't know that her name is Steve.

[r4pt0r]

Squad definitely won't respond to the people who don't think female kerbals are necessary, or those making sexist remarks. Their opinions are worthless.

I wouldnt say that those opinions are worthless, that used to be harv's view after all.

According to the forum stats, there is one female to every 58.3 males here.

That means with the current member count of 13097, there should statistically be 224.6 females. =P

Not exactly a girl\'s game, is it?

Cheers

Thats from 3 years ago, but for a majority of KSP's development, kerbals were viewed as genderless by the devs.

Thing is, Femkerbals are here now, so people gotta "deal with it"

Edited February 22, 2015 by r4pt0r

[Guest]

I'd like to think that Squad could do a little better than Miss Male Character.

Holy crap someone linked a Sarkeesian video...

I get where you're coming from but I also think that Valentina was "done right", especially in light of stuff like this which is apparently an extremely popular meme and ties in with KSP's LEGO-like theme. Also, in a game with literally no plot or dialogue between characters other than what you make it's going to be a little tough avoiding such tropes when creating a female character. Not to mention that, had Squad created Val along with Jeb et al, we wouldn't be facing this trope in the first place. Furthermore, they aped the most popular fan imagery of Kerbal dimorphism, so we're all a little guilty.

I mean, I'd find it more suspect in regards to that trope if Squad put in an option where you can only play a male or female space program, thus creating exactly that situation. As it stands, I can see her as an example of a female of the species, and all females will look like her, just like all males look like Jeb.

E: I should also point out that Kerbal males have some typical human-male signifiers, which is why we now have Val, so it only makes sense to use recognizable human-female signifiers to denote Val as female.

Edited February 22, 2015 by regex

[Bloody_looser]

Showed Valentina to my gf and she liked her.

Also, she won't be able to make allusions between KSP and redacted by moderator any more, which is nice

Edited February 23, 2015 by DuoDex

[tater]

E: I should also point out that Kerbal males have some typical human-male signifiers, which is why we now have Val, so it only makes sense to use recognizable human-female signifiers to denote Val as female.

Yeah, the male pattern baldness hairline, the NASA names (Gene, Werner, etc) on some. All names that are recognizable being male, human names… My daughter likes Val, and that's good enough for me.

Regarding lego, my daughter HATES the 'Lego Friends" crap. She saw them and said, "I don't want a bunch of pink crap, all I want are the regular sets to have some girl minifigs." Luckily her brother picks out his sets partially based upon them having a girl she'd like to play with (so he'll spend his own money to buy a set that contains Batgirl, for example).

Having some female characters is a great addition, I have trouble imagining having a problem with it, frankly.

[Melfice]

That entirely ends the debate doesn't it? Why should we add something that will turn a lot of people off due to the recent... controversy surrounding female characters leading many gamers suspicious when one gets added to a game, in exchange for a few young children who probably were in the minority

Oh, .... off.

Do it especially BECAUSE people don't want it.

If people don't want female Kerbals because they're afraid of female characters sharing the limelight, then I'll gladly see them off. I'll even give them a little pocket money to make it easier for them to leave. (Assuming I only have to give them a penny. And I don't have to spend more than 10 pennies.)

And your example doesn't end the debate, at all. In fact, you've just provided more arguments FOR female models.

You have a female name popping up? Cool! Why are all the models distinctly male? We have a male character with a female name? That's awkward!

[tater]

Special Agent Sigvan's point is silly. Randomly generated names are random. As anyone who actually lives in a country like the US or Canada (can't speak for the UK) knows, many popular girls names in North America are in fact male. Madison became popular, for example. They made up a new definition, but it really means "Matthew's son." Not a girl name.

How do you tell it's a girl? By looking at the owner of the name most likely (a tiny percentage of outliers notwithstanding).

[sedativechunk]

Ugh, this thread almost looks like it's turning into a flame war between a few people... here is my take that should be an end all to the arguments on here.

1) There is nothing wrong with adding female kerbals to the game.

2) It makes perfect sense to have female kerbals in the same, in fact it's kind of weird that there isn't.

3) Some of you are bringing up the topic of females playing KSP. Yes, women play KSP, I've started a thread about it and it went into oblivion. The bottom line, they do play, and whether they play or not there still is nothing wrong with female kerbals.

[Red Iron Crown]

I don't have hard numbers, but looking at a couple of recent forum polls and the list of people who like/follow the official Squad social media it would seem that KSP's player base is extremely male-dominated.

Adding female kerbals makes the game more appealing to female players, players who very likely have not bought the game yet. It is a huge untapped market for Squad, and it makes sense to go after it from a business perspective. That's not even considering the PR win for being more inclusive and promoting girls' and women's interest in STEM.

This is one of those rare occasions where doing the right thing and doing the profitable thing happily coincide. I am baffled that anyone is resistant to to the idea of adding female kerbals.

[Yakuzi]

I really like the new female Kerbal, well done SQUAD!

Could we now have some female leaders in the KSC buildings (maybe replace Gene) or add a new position in the tracking station (she could calculate the delta v requirements to visit other bodies, for example... perchance after research; e.g. atmospheric tests to calculate delta v to LKO, gravioli tests for delta v to celestial bodies).

[ultrasquid]

Just for fun, the Valentina Twist