What gender are the Kerbals we see in the game?

[JenBurdoo]

The Kerbal EDU mod has a Rosamund. That's fairly close to official, wouldn't you say?

[NathanKell]

Yes, a couple months back Calisker announced that KSP.Edu would be having female as well as male names for kerbals, even before the female kerbal models were added.

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

I have Jenny Kerman in my Roster right now

[Rainbowtrout]

Interesting theory: Females are extraordinarily rare, we just haven't seen them...?

[benc85]

If you mod, try texture replacer. If you .... up the install (like I did) you end up with a Bill with eyeliner, lipstick and a moustache... Needless to say he only goes solo now, so as not to distract Jeb and Bob

[Sirrobert]

Interesting theory: Females are extraordinarily rare, we just haven't seen them...?

Like ants, lots of workers and only a few queens. Only in this case the workers are make/genderless

[r4pt0r]

Like ants, lots of workers and only a few queens. Only in this case the workers are make/genderless

so more like drones, and an alpha?

it explains kerbals single mindedness towards space exploration, as it is the will of the alpha

[Sirrobert]

Yea, drones and alpha is a better name

[NASAFanboy]

I'd say we have a equal number of males and females. I sometimes get Kerbals with a somewhat female name. However, being a space program, long hair is a liability and risk in space, which is why the space program gives them all their distinctive crew cuts. Kerbals also reproduce and have a social structure similar to humans, although they are less logical, have poorer eyesight, shorter, physically weaker, but are more determined and less cautious.

[SubzeroSpartan7]

Interesting theory: Females are extraordinarily rare, we just haven't seen them...?

I agree with this. I have gotten several Kerbals in vanilla with female names.

[Las-pen]

I'd like to point out that "asexual" is a sexual orientation, not a gender. Correct term would be "agender"

What comes to your question. Obivously kerbals are all male. Only men could achieve space travel and rockets shaped like... rockets.

How they reproduce? By mitosis.

Edited October 18, 2014 by Las-pen

[Red Iron Crown]

I'd like to point out that "asexual" is a sexual orientation, not a gender. Correct term would be "agender"

Asexual has multiple meanings. Asexual reproduction is when an organism reproduces without combining genetic material with another member of its species, which is what is being described here.

[Tery215]

I'd say they're "Other".

Obviously there's a krakennother entity that's creating them, such as the toilet in the Astronaut Complex. You never see them pop up anywhere else.

Edited October 19, 2014 by Tery215

[zxczxczbfg]

I think they are bigender (evolutionarily, that seems to be the way to go) and normally the genders look different, but in the Space Program all kerbonauts are required to keep their hair short for practical reasons (keeping it out of their face and out of the machinery, etc.)

[fairytalefox]

Guys, now I know the truth!

Some of us (not me) see Kerbals as toon characters. Because, you know, they look like toon characters. Toons are mostly symbols rather than realistic depictions, so these people think of Kerbals as a metaphor for humans. Obviously humans are either males or females, so Kerbals are, too.

Others (including me) see Kerbals as realistically depicted beings. Because, you know, in-game rockets, planets, moons and other things look quite real, so Kerbals most probably actually are (fictional but who cares) clumsy green bipedal entities who live far far away and barely can into space. Obviously they can't have attributes dedicated to Earth mammals, such as gender. (They probably also don't have DNA and cellular structure, and thus can't be classified as fungi, but one more time who cares).

Edited October 19, 2014 by fairytalefox

[micha]

I'd much prefer to see Kerbals as being of indeterminate gender (as in, unknowable to us puny humans).

Some people have said they all have 'male' names, but I disagree - there's plenty of Kerbal names which I think sound more female than male, so even here on Earth it depends on what your background (ie, culture) is as to what gender you generally ascribe to a name. Regardless, I find it ridiculous that Kerbals should have a mammalian gender. As such why bother with bringing in 'female' Kerbals. Just leave them the way they are and perhaps only increase the variety of names.

[peadar1987]

I'd much prefer to see Kerbals as being of indeterminate gender (as in, unknowable to us puny humans).

Some people have said they all have 'male' names, but I disagree - there's plenty of Kerbal names which I think sound more female than male, so even here on Earth it depends on what your background (ie, culture) is as to what gender you generally ascribe to a name. Regardless, I find it ridiculous that Kerbals should have a mammalian gender. As such why bother with bringing in 'female' Kerbals. Just leave them the way they are and perhaps only increase the variety of names.

I see your point, but I don't think Squad can have things both ways, creating Kerbals who are supposedly of unknowable gender, and then making them an obvious stylised version of 1960s American astronauts, from the suits, to the square jaws, to their haircuts.

[fairytalefox]

Some people have said they all have 'male' names, but I disagree - there's plenty of Kerbal names which I think sound more female than male,

I don't think names are relevant. I don't think these names are real at all. In my opinion, it's like some Chinese guys who live in China and do business abroad: "Hello sir or madam my name is (a bunch of musical sounds here) but you can call me Mike for your convenience". So we call them Jeb, Bob and Bill for our convenience.

Other Kerbals have names which not always are English, but they always try to sound like English ones. You say some of them are definitely female. Because of my poor English I can't understand which names you're talking about, so I suppose Kerbals themselves (!) can't understand it either.

Edited October 19, 2014 by fairytalefox

[GoSlash27]

I'd like to point out that "asexual" is a sexual orientation, not a gender. Correct term would be "agender"

This is not true. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/asexual

Best,

-Slashy

[GoSlash27]

Did you just pull the check your privilege card? Never seen that one in the wild before.

This is why we can't have nice things

Kerbals do not have "genders". They do not reproduce and they are not even alive. They're just characters in a video game. Any discussion beyond that is entertaining speculation at best and a pointless argument at worst.

Best,

-Slashy

[LethalDose]

I see your point, but I don't think Squad can have things both ways, creating Kerbals who are supposedly of unknowable gender, and then making them an obvious stylised version of 1960s American astronauts, from the suits, to the square jaws, to their haircuts.

This.10chars

[juanml82]

This is why we can't have nice things

Kerbals do not have "genders". They do not reproduce and they are not even alive. They're just characters in a video game. Any discussion beyond that is entertaining speculation at best and a pointless argument at worst.

Best,

-Slashy

The (very) small part of my brain which still remembers some basics of semiology will be rolling over in its grave once I drown it with enough boze.

Bill, Jeb, Bob, the kerbals from the admin center and the guy who gives the contracts all have male names, so they represent male aliens.

But we're all missing the greater question: where do they live? I think they used to live in sealed caves underground with all the rest of Kerbin's wildlife. Their major scientific and historic breakthrough was the invention of explosives (obviously) which allowed them to break open the tunnels and rise to the surface. And, upon seen the marvels in the sky, they couldn't help but to attempt to reach the stars, just as they've struggled to reach the surface years (or maybe months or days) before the start of the game.

[peadar1987]

Kerbals do not have "genders". They do not reproduce and they are not even alive. They're just characters in a video game. Any discussion beyond that is entertaining speculation at best and a pointless argument at worst.

Best,

-Slashy

Only in the same way as the mainsail doesn't use "liquid fuel". It doesn't actually react fuel and oxidiser and doesn't even produce any thrust. It's just a 3d model and some associated code in a video game.

If squad really didn't want the Kerbals to have genders, they could have made them completely unrecognisable non-humanoids. Heck, they could have just given them mirrored visors to their space suits and some nice gender-neutral names.

[Geschosskopf]

Explanation 1:

Kerbals are the manipulatory appendages, sensory palps, and reproductive organs of the vast fungal mat that covers most of Kerbin. The fungal mat is the brains of the outfit and the only thing with any self-awareness. Whenever the fungal mat needs something done, it buds off a Kerbal which then performs the physical tasks required, like building and flying a rocket. This is why there are no cities on Kerbin, only KSC. There is no need for any of that because the fungal mat only grows Kerbals when and as needed, and only in the specific place it needs them.

The fungal mat also can perceive through its Kerbals, so by sending Kerbals out in space, the fungal mat learns about the universe and other planets. Plus, when Kerbals die, they release a cloud of spores, which seeds the fungal mat on other planets, either directly or via eventual panspermia by spores drifting in space. The Kerbals themselves, however, have no more sense of self than does any organ of our own bodies.

As to names, the fungal mat is the one and only Kerman--that's what it calls itself. It gives Kerbals individual names depending on their function in relation to its body. Being a fungal mat, Kerman's anatomy is totally different from our own, so you have to use analogies. Such as, "Oblorf Kerman" actually means something like "The Left Big Toe of the Kerman". Most Kerbals of course have totally alien names but there are naturally going to be some that coincidentally sound like proper English names. However, this is along the same lines of how every race of beings in the universe has a drink whose name sounds very much like "gin and tonic", even if the ingredients and purpose of the drink are totally different .

Explanation 2:

Kerbals are synthetic lifeforms made by a race of pan-dimensional, hyper-intelligent beings for totally unknown purposes of their own. Are Kerbals part of some grand experiment? Is watching them struggle and die simply a sick form of entertainment? Who can say? All that is known for sure is that the hyper-intelligent, plan-dimensional beings are the folks who created and placed all the monoliths and these monoliths are what make Kerbals. The one at KSC is the output end of the Kerbal factory, from which all Kerbals are spawned. The others scattered about the system gather the raw materials from their surroundings. There being so many monoliths on Mun, the Kerbals are more Mun-dust than anything else, which is why the explode in a cloud of gray dust when they die.

The Kerbals are all self-aware and vary in personality, bravery, and stupidity. However, they are completely without reproductive systems. They are created when and as needed by the KSc monolith, which also assigns a random name to each one. "Kerman" just means "synthetic life-form, small, green" in the language of the hyper-intelligent, pan-dimensional beings, but their 1st names are chosen randomly from a databank of names used by all other races in all other universes and dimensions. Thus, occasionally a Kerbal has a name familiar to any given other lifeform. But there are no cities or anything else on Kerbin because the only Kerbals in existence are those spawned by the KSC monolith.

[tater]

Green. Their gender is green.