July Newsletter for KerbalEdu (some interesting point)

[Guest]

What about multiracial Kerbals?

It actually would be pretty neat to have the Kerbal texture vary in saturation/contrast, would give them more personality and distinction.

[KasperVld]

Race is much less an issue with Kerbals. I mean, they're green!

[I_Killed_Jeb]

It is kind of funny how we keep applying human physicson a fictional alien race. How can we be sure that eventual alien race would really have physics like ours? Perhaps they would be not subject to normal physics just like quite a few imagined alienspecies are. Or they could have seven different kinds of rocket equationswith strict rules which ... can launchwith which two other equations...?

Of course devs can only blame themselves as they made Kerbals so human-like that people can apply these stereotypes on them. I don't think it would make the game all that much less fun if they looked kind of like [this] (or cuter, this is best I found in a quick search) and I believe few people would be asking for a version of opposite or different gender.

Of course I'm sure we'll be getting female Kerbals in the current state of things. Not because Kerbals need females. It is because we need them to feel being politically correct.

Just to prove a point

[I_Killed_Jeb]

What about multiracial Kerbals? If you go down the road of political correctness... (Or Kerbals as Human analogs.)

Except kerbals aren't obviously any race whereas they are clearly male.

[impwarhamer]

Of course I'm sure we'll be getting female Kerbals in the current state of things. Not because Kerbals need females. It is because we need them to feel being politically correct.

Basically all games nowadays. A dev shouldn't be pressured into doing something just because it's politically correct, they should be able to do what they want. It's their game after all.

[I_Killed_Jeb]

Basically all games nowadays. A dev shouldn't be pressured into doing something just because it's politically correct, they should be able to do what they want. It's their game after all.

but they should be pressured into doing something because it's correct

[juanml82]

While I tend to be against the whole "OMG! A videogame doesn't have a female protagonist! It enforces the Patriarchy! Bring on the pitchforks and torches", in this particular case in which the game is sold as a way to entice young students into sciences, adding feminine looking kerbonauts is a good idea.

Of course, we could also discuss it as a matter of misandry instead. You know, only men are dumb enough to strap themselves around Kerbal rocketry and all that.

[FleshJeb]

Let's keep in mind that kerbals aren't intended to be plausible aliens. They're not even rubber-forehead aliens. They're stylized human beings. Their world is a stylized version of ours, their solar system is a stylized version of ours, and even their space program looks very similar to the human ones. They're not an "eventual alien race". They're human surrogates, and therefore the gender issue is pertinent.

Came here to say this, although less eloquently.

Also, some of you are very conscientious parents, and I applaud you.

[Rowsdower]

We've stated our intention to put female Kerbals into the game at a point in the future. There was no pressure behind it. Remember that while we take the advice and opinions of a vast group of people very seriously, we are the ones making the call on what and why something makes it into the game. With that, I'm closing this thread as it has once again veered into hotter personal topics.