Poll, Do/Should Kerbal Genders exist?

[Canopus]

Thank you _Aramchek_

[Tw1]

you want it simply because you want it.

No -snip- Sherlock.

I think her point was more that games are full of sexism already, with a male=default bias.

The thing is, the existing kerbals do look male. Look at the blocky shape of the face. They aren't androgynous looking things, they have an identifiable gender.

I really don't get why you are so opposed to the idea of a girl looking one being added one day.

Having them all guys is boring, and makes it seem like there is something missing.

Edit: Oo, my post count is up to the Moon landing now!

Edited September 27, 2013 by KasperVld

[_Aramchek_]

No -snip- Sherlock.

The thing is, the existing kerbals do look male. Look at the blocky shape of the face.

And why does that hurt your feelings so much that you resort to such language, etc?

Why does everyone in the world feel entitled to a personal representation of the things they themselves want?

Personally I have never thought "there's something missing", as I said I have never cared nor focused on "gender" and nor HAS THE game.

Demanding that gender must be a part of the game, trying to make an "equality" based argument for it, such arguments do two things.

Firstly, caving in to demands compromises artistic vision, secondly making everything about feminism when really it ISN'T waters feminism down.

I have yet to see a reason why gender even has a place in a game that is about using your imagination and building rockets.

Someone should just do a mod, and be done with it so we don't have to read about how people want to head down the bioware road with KSP.

Edited September 27, 2013 by KasperVld

[Comrade Jenkens]

Aramchek: I don't get why you are so opposed to having another gender in KSP. Pretty much all of the female gamers on this thread have said that they would want female kerbals at some point in the future and this wouldn't negatively impact the game in any way.

Man, I wish I could be a fly on the wall watching and listening to Harvester as he reads this thread.

The devs wouldn't touch this thread with a ten foot pole. :L

[Hayoo]

There is absolutely no representation of sexuality or gender in KSP

[Guest]

I would like female kerbals in game, but not for equality. I would like female gender kerbals for a bit of variety and so Jeb can show off to the ladies .

That aside i wouldn't mind that being implemented much later if at all really there are a whole list of features that top this in my mind. So i guess taking I'm the "Meh that's cool but not required" stance.

Edit: The "not for equality:" part wasn't me downplaying the issue. maybe it's because I'm male that it doesn't seem serious but I'm not going to lie to sound like I that's why i want the feature.

Edited September 27, 2013 by Guest

[Zeroignite]

I feel a whole lot of people here are saying "not having female kerbs doesn't hurt me, so I don't think anyone else should care. Those people are akaik almost all men.

Listen, you're accustomed to having representations of yourselves pretty much everywhere. There is basically no significant space in gaming that's a "girl's club" where men feel excluded. So, try to listen to the women here when we say "this is problematic for us", ok?

And here's a metaphor which makes my point more eloquently than I can: A Parable of Privilege

[suzin.felipe]

Nah Hayoo, clearly if you call any of those characters Betty they would be perceived as female.

Aramchek, it's a personal preference of mine indeed. I think the game will be much more enjoyable, fun and complete with female Kerbals. Also I never made an equality argument, you are the one pulling this card, which actually is reason enough to lock this tread.

All I and the other players are asking is for a feature to make the game better. I'm pretty sure you have a list of your own of features that you would like to see implemented, and not sure why it offend you so much that females get to be represented as well in the game.

[Kasuha]

Personally I think Kerbals' gender is completely irrelevant for the game. Perhaps they have seven genders in fact, just we can't recognize them. Reminds me of dwarves in Pratchett's Discworld where they were male and female but you couldn't recognize them because they all had beards and used the same clothes.

Listen, you're accustomed to having representations of yourselves pretty much everywhere. There is basically no significant space in gaming that's a "girl's club" where men feel excluded. So, try to listen to the women here when we say "this is problematic for us", ok?

Some recent studies have shown that majority of online players are women. Of course you just have to not restrict yourself to pure technical (like KSP) or shooting games. One of the most popular games in the world is The Sims and it is practically ruled by girl and woman players. When I approach my daughter and ask her what she's doing in the game, she says "dad, you don't have to care about that". I do feel pretty excluded.

I used to play a manga-themed MMO a few years ago. Of course there were male and female characters and female characters were all "fanservice-y" by default. There were some clothing options "revealing everything" and some clothing options which I would call "decent", the latter available for cash.

To my great surprise, as I became more familiar with people in the game, I found that most of high-leveled female characters using "decent" clothing were played by men. And almost all of high-leveled female characters using revealing sets were played by women. When I asked them why is that, I got these answers:

Men: I want my character to look nice

Women: I like it this way

There I found asking myself, who's the one actually troubled?

[KasperVld]

Looking at this thread I can't help but feel it has started to go in circles with one part wanting the female Kerbals, another being indifferent and a third part that doesn't want it for various reasons.

To the best of my knowledge the devs to plan to add female Kerbals eventually, 'when they have time'. Don't forget the game is still in alpha and we're still adding many features such a career mode, research and development and a lot more. For me personally the Kerbals do play a factor in this game. Every update Dan produces an amazing animated video which shows you the Kerbals' personality and every time a lot of people will get a good laugh out of it. So, female Kerbals? Most likely yes, in the future. The fact that Kerbals do play a role for many gamers can be seen even more clearly when you think of the legendary 'daredevil' Jeb and 'I need new underpants' Bob. We'll have to wait until the devs have the time to tackle the issue of female Kerbals.

Thread locked.

Edited September 27, 2013 by KasperVld