Four things for pro KGV*

[Whirligig Girl]

At the end of KerbalKon, I believe HarvestR said there might not be Female Kerbals because he was afraid that what Squad came up with would not be what people wanted. My response: It's your JOB to make things up for the game.

When I showed my teacher at school Kerbal Space Program, she immediately noticed that there were no females.

Females wouldn't require a whole lot to implement, DanRosas might make up a new head and HarvestR or C7 might make that head appear on a Kerbal with some chance, and maybe adding a few more suffixes to the name generator that only apply to females.

It would stop these threads from happening.

Edit: On the subject of what heads would look like: No lipstick, no long hair, just a less masculine jaw and forehead.

*Kerbal Gender Variety

All the talk of trying to "story away" the lack of genders is just silly - what matters is people's first impression glancing at the characters, which is overwhelmingly that they all appear male, with male names. Kerbals may be aliens, but humans are still humans, and WE are the ones playing the game.

Edited December 19, 2013 by GregroxMun

[gompasta]

Or people could just get it in their heads that kerbals don't have gender. Just because they dont appear female, does not mean that they are male.

[Highlad]

Or people could just get it in their heads that kerbals don't have gender. Just because they dont appear female, does not mean that they are male.

Indeed. Kerbals are not human! In fact, many people believe them to be plants... Who knows, maybe they vomit their kids out through their mouth or something.... o.O

Ok, Now I have an image of Jebidiah vomiting up a small baby kerbal...

[Whirligig Girl]

Except they are human. They are meant to be a relatable analog of humans, just like Duna is Mars, Kerbin is Earth, and Mun is the Moon.

[gompasta]

Except they are human. They are meant to be a relatable analog of humans, just like Duna is Mars, Kerbin is Earth, and Mun is the Moon.

If they were supposed to be human, then why are they not? The point of the planets being similar to our system is just to make it easier for people to navigate.

[SkyHook]

Except they are human. They are meant to be a relatable analog of humans, just like Duna is Mars, Kerbin is Earth, and Mun is the Moon.

They are HumanOID. There is a very, very large difference. Sonic the hedgehog is humanoid, however he is NOT human. I get the whole gender equality thing but I think that gameplay improvements should come before any aesthetic changes are made to the game.

[richiespeed13]

They are HumanOID. There is a very, very large difference. Sonic the hedgehog is humanoid, however he is NOT human. I get the whole gender equality thing but I think that gameplay improvements should come before any aesthetic changes are made to the game.

This.

I have no issue at all with female Kerbals being in the game, but why people get so wound up about I don't know. The dev's will add it when they feel it is time. If they think it doesn't fit in, they don't have to add it.

It's just a game, I really don't understand why people always have to bring equality into it, ease up a little!

[Material Defender]

Don't make this about gender equality. This is about stereotyping. What do you expect these "females" to look like? Maybe long pretty hair? Makeup? How about a dress and I put them in your kitchen? It's a little sad to me that the superficial appearance of an individual must fit into your preconceived gender role. How about you instead take a step back and reconsider what it means to be "male" or "female," because it shouldn't be primarily based on what you see from the outside.

Personally, I like to think that the Kerbals are fungal. That would explain their ability to survive for extended periods of time with very limited life support.

[PeteMcCartney]

Question: How do you intend to make them appear female?

Your only option within this game is to give them long hair and lipstick which, no doubt, some would consider sexist...

[um3k]

Just add some female names to the name generator.

[Sirrobert]

Question: How do you intend to make them appear female?

Your only option within this game is to give them long hair and lipstick which, no doubt, some would consider sexist...

Or maybe boobs through the spacesuit. Which would be even worse.

There will always be someone complaining about gender crap in games. Not having any genders is the best possible sollution

[PeteMcCartney]

I'd say a lot of the names generated are pretty gender neutral, aside from Jeb, Bill & Bob of course.

[Deadpangod3]

Why don't we just make it a fifty/fifty chance of being female, and if the Kerbal lands on female, then they're given longer hair like human females?

[Bobbydylan]

Why don't we just make it a fifty/fifty chance of being female, and if the Kerbal lands on female, then they're given longer hair like human females?

I must be a female then. I have long hair.

[Geschosskopf]

Personally, I like to think that the Kerbals are fungal. That would explain their ability to survive for extended periods of time with very limited life support.

'

This.

There are in fact very, very few things we can even guess about the totally alien Kerbal biology. As far as I can tell, the best guesses are:

1. Kerbals are not native to Kerbin or anywhere else in the Kerbol system because they have to wear spacesuits when they go outside on all planets and moons, including Kerbin. Therefore, we have no idea at all about their native habitat, so can make no assumptions regarding their metabolisms and life support needs, and gender is part of this.

2. Kerbals obviously have very little life support needs, because they've routinely been in space for decades of game time in 1-man pods and yet come out just fine. This raises the possibility that they go dormant/hibernate/whatever.

3. Kerbals have no noses and (when not screaming) generally keep their mouths shut all the time. So either they don't breathe at all (and thus their spacesuits are merely to maintain the desired pressure using any available gas) or they breathe through their skin or some other organ we're not aware of. In any case, it's certain they don't breath oxygen because they have to wear spacesuits on Kerbin and Laythe.

4. Kerbals survive falls, G forces, and exposure to rocket exhaust and explosions that would annihilate all known human-like lifeforms. This definitely suggests that Kerbals are made of entirely different materials than humans and so require entirely different inputs.

5. When Kerbals do somehow die, they appear to release a cloud of spores like when you stomp on a puffball. This definitely lends support to them being some type of fungi. Given that there has never been an official sighting of anything resembling gender amongst Kerbals, this could indeed be how they reproduce. And note that Kerbals all have the same last name, which could be their own recognition that they're all scions from the spores of the 1st Kerbal.

All in all, I think it's simply our own humanocentric conceit that causes us to use gender-specific pronouns for Kerbals. We really should call them "it" instead of "he". That would solve the problem some people have with seeing a need for genders. And while we're at it, abolish all biology-related things like ever putting life support in KSP .

[Palleas]

What if we say that Kerbals are neither women nor men? No gender, just kerbals.

Did your teacher notice that they, also, have no houses where to live? That they have probably no worker protection system? No social insurance? No STATE?

[Benjpalmer]

What if we say that Kerbals are neither women nor men? No gender, just kerbals.

Did your teacher notice that they, also, have no houses where to live? That they have probably no worker protection system? No social insurance? No STATE?

Of course they have houses. They're called rockets.

[Deadpangod3]

Of course they have houses. They're called rockets.

And SPAAAAAACE!!!

[Levelord]

I personally think your teacher is an annoying radical feminist that gets offended that there are no females in a game about SPACE where the characters have no gender.

[Palleas]

Of course they have houses. They're called rockets.

And SPAAAAAACE!!!

+1 and +1 for you

I personally think your teacher is an annoying radical feminist that gets offended that there are no females in a game about SPACE where the characters have no gender.

I won't be that radical but... let's say +1 also !

[richiespeed13]

I personally think your teacher is an annoying radical feminist that gets offended that there are no females in a game about SPACE where the characters have no gender.

Sounds accurate to me.

I understand feminism from the point of view that there needs to be equality between men and woman, where relevant. Men should not be classed as "better" than women, and vice versa. We should live in a fair world where men and women have the same quality of life as each other. But 100% equality that radical feminists strive for does not work.

(Example of why it does not work: If equality was 100%, why should men hold the door for women? And why should pregnant women get any time off work? That's not fair on men, we can't get pregnant so it's not our fault we don't get time off work! UNFAIR!!! See my point? Big difference between equality and just being stupid. Men and women ARE different, and therefor things will never be truly equal, you need to make exceptions for both sides.)

[spectrhz]

This whole thread is a bad idea. And being an equal rights activist, I can see people's point, but for gods sake its just a video game, I think there are more important equality issues in the real world before we start this again. Like people have said, making the kerbals female would inevitable include long hair or lipstick or even breasts, however does every girl you know have long hair wear makeup or are identified by their breasts? I certainly hope not. Wouldn't it make sense to shave your head or at least make it shorter if you were going to space anyway? Why do they need gender anyway, we don't even know what they are supposed to be other than humanoid. I have a kerbal named Annie Kerman on my space station anyway.. Seriously, this is absolutely trollbait second to mechjeb threads.

[WafflesToo]

Three pages old and the trolls are rolling out already.

I had a few ideas and suggestions but I'm not going to bother. How old are most of you? 12? 15? 17? What do any of you know about discrimination? Something you saw on tv? Read about in school? Ever been judged by your race? Or your gender? Forced to the sidelines not because you're slow but because you're a white guy in a black school?

Just stop regurgitation what you've heard other people say on the radio and consider what it would be like to be excluded not because of ability but because of something superficial.

[richiespeed13]

I agree, this thread should have been locked on page 1 to be honest...

But I haven't seen any posts so far which are that bad. When this topic cropped up on the Arma forums... 300 pages of insanity...

We are doing OK here in terms of overall maturity on these topics.

[Luckless]

I really don't see any valid excuse to not include female kerbals.

All characters have a masculine facial structure set. "But they're Aliens!!!" doesn't fly. They're male. Give a 3D printed copy of Jeb to any 5 year old, and they'll say it is a dude.

Google "masculine vs feminine facial features", make notes, apply concepts to the base model. Revamp the random kerbal generator to include a gender, then make the name pool generator acknowledge masculine, feminine, and neutral names. Apply suitable names to the kerbals as needed.

Why is this important? If a grade school girl wants to play and have girl pilots, then she should be able to get girl pilots. We have a hard enough time getting women interested in the sciences at a young age because they're 'obviously' suppose to play with barbies, and not rockets or microscopes.