This issue applies to mostly MMOs and maybe a few other games out there. Nowdays, it's becoming more common to see classes that are gender locked. Some games for example would be C9, Vindictus, Dragon's Nest, and other games out there. Honestly, I don't have a big fit when it comes to gender of a class in an MMO, but some people find this not their taste and I can see why they would see this as an issue. In my opinion and a chunk of others, I don't see why a gender locked character is a bad thing. In fact, I think gender locking adds to a character's personality, even if it's small. Another thing is that it's probably better for that character to be what it is. For example, Vindictus has a character named Karok. He's a hella ripped dude who can punch the s*** out of things and just demolish enemies with a giant pillar. The picture would look awkward if a female did that. I'm not trying to be sexist and say that girls can't punch crap and throw giant pillars at enemies and look like they take steroids for breakfast (I hope there aren't any out there ._.), but it just looks unappealing. The last thing is equipment in game. Some games have female and male armor sets. In most cases, girls don't play MMOs (or there are guys who do play female characters and stuff, but still) and this causes a lack of female armors out in the market. Cmon, females don't play vid-*Gunshot* In this case, gender locking system can eliminate that can just put out one armor set for both sexes or that specific class. On the other hand, I do see hwy people dislike gender locking. Maybe they don't see a gender that should fulfill that role. I mean a female dual swordsman? Females can't use-*Gunshot again* Thus, some classes should be unisex and be available for both genders. Other than this reason, I'm not too certain what other good explanation is out there for a non-gender locked game :/ This is my opinion on the argument of gender locking. Feel free to agree/disagree/add more and whatnot on this. I'd like to hear your opinions on this.
I don't care for gender locking personally because I like the variety of options. I'd rather have classes to pick from rather than characters. Though if there are specific characters that are relevant to the story plot, I could see them being gender locked. But in general, I prefer to be able to make my own choice. It just feels to constrained when something like that is already picked out for you. EDIT: It would have to be a "Nay" from me.
I keep seeing this as well and it is always male as warrior classes and females as mage classes. Sure it can be cool for personality like you said but it feels so biased it just gets annoying and in the end turns me away from the game. I don't see anything wrong with having a strong female character being able to do those things either, ripped or not. And it's kinda sad it's becoming so common, though I suppose it really isn't anything new. I was just hopeful of moving away from this. For armour and stuff I suppose it can make more sense but in most cases female armour just ends up being revealing which is stupid and unrealistic, though realism is hardly a game's concern I know but gender neutral armour worked just fine in tons of games so it's practically pointless. Just what people want to see though I guess, which is a shame. In any case it is a pain when someone wants to play a class, ie a mage as a male but can only play it as a female or vice versa. It should be for both genders I think so everyone can be comfortable with what they are offered.
I think gender locking is silly. What sense does it make for a class to be restricted to a certain gender, especially in a role playing game? Those games are all about customization and letting you play the way you want, yet they take away one of the biggest choices when creating a character. It seems like pure laziness to me.
I say "Nay" to gender locking. A game is more fun when you can customize, and that's even before you start playing. You can work a bunch on just one character to make him/her look the way you want, and if it's locked to just one gender, you kinda take the fun out of things. One thing I do is I always choose a Female character when playing games, especially MMO, and choose a class that some people wouldn't think would work, just to say "Hey, you have no idea what you're talking about, because look at what I'm doing. It's a game, and if something as simple as gender is keeping you from playing this, then GTFO."
I met a girl in a nambudo club (a kind of karate) when I was a teenager. At 17 she was a world champion black belt. She was average-built, not particularly muscular, yet I saw her demolish a door in two kicks. I' m pretty sure if you had said this to her face you' d look just like that door right now. ^^ Cloud' s ridiculous Buster Sword would just be a useless piece of junk in a real fight, regardless of its wielder gender. Especially considering his enemies have guns, rocket launchers and whatnot. I don' t think realism is what those games are looking for. Besides, if you ask me what is much more insidious than gender role compartmentalization is to make sure that female characters, whether they are physically powerful or not, always rely on a male authority figure : http://www.themarysue.com/reconsidering-the-feminism-of-joss-whedon/ Personally I don' t play MMOs, the only gender-locked classes I encountered were in T-RPGs. I didn' t mind them one bit, ultimately all I care about is whether the game is good or not. I get that allowing appearance customization is a nice plus, but it has zero impact on the gameplay. Sure, Vaan and Penelo were insufferable, didn' t make hunting eidolons any less fun though.
I toat's agree with you. I mean there's nothing wrong with girls that can kick ass and break stuffz. There's a lot of posts about this, but many companies nowdays make characters that need to be appealing to the normal person out here. Also I wouldn't DARE say that to her face D:
I think it depends mostly on the game. If there's a story, with a specific gender needed, then gender locking would be ok for me. Otherwise, I'd say nay. There's nothing wrong with having an extremely powerful female character that can kick butt with any weapon. Also, gender locking classes can sometimes be sexist, and give the guy characters the jobs which require more muscle, and girl characters jobs that require more brains, and that is wrong.
I say no for certain reasons. I play a lot of MMO's where I wish to play as a mage and medic. The stereo type goes that most females are of these roles. I end up having to use them, which isn't all bad being that you get to play as a cute asian girl running around with a staff blasting things with magic, but I would love to be a male some times. Now that is only for the MMO world. Some titles I believe are good with the gender lock. Could you imagine playing as a female master chief? Or a female Link? Or a male Samus? No, because we know what they are already and it would just be unfitting to fiddle with there gender.
