Why have gender in Guild Wars?

[Boysenberry.1869]

Skeletons are different because of biology. More options is a good thing but a request as presented in the OP would need to be considered before the game finishes development. It is far too late for this now.

[Blocki.4931]

> @"Staynair.8073" said:

> > @"Dante.1763" said:

> > > @"Staynair.8073" said:

> > > Good Lord. Programmatically I would think that male and female avatars are the same. So why split the customization of the avatar when you could just let the user decide. There would be more choices (combining the male and female) at each point in the customization steps, but it shouldn't matter to the underlying code.

> >

> > No, they arent. When it comes to 3d modeling male and females at least in the programs ive used have different skeletons entirely, and we know in this game that male and females *do* have different skeletons, therefore they cannot do it, and even if they could i would they didnt.

>

> I wonder why the skeletons are different? I would figure they were the same and the difference would be in size. Are the skeletons (between male and female) different for each race? Since this is a game, what do you gain by having two skeletons. Wouldn't that add complexity and cost to the development?

 

In case you haven't noticed, but in order to reproduce male and female have to come together one way or another. That goes for all complex life forms, with a few exceptions where the roles might be reversed, but still exist (sea horses come to mind). What they gained was realism and the ability for players to immerse themselves better, because it's a direct parallel to real life.

 

The different skeleton exists for different animations and armor being gender specific. You either don't have this from the start or you keep going with it forever, simple as that.

[Dante.1763]

> @"Staynair.8073" said:

> > @"Dante.1763" said:

> > > @"Staynair.8073" said:

> > > Good Lord. Programmatically I would think that male and female avatars are the same. So why split the customization of the avatar when you could just let the user decide. There would be more choices (combining the male and female) at each point in the customization steps, but it shouldn't matter to the underlying code.

> >

> > No, they arent. When it comes to 3d modeling male and females at least in the programs ive used have different skeletons entirely, and we know in this game that male and females *do* have different skeletons, therefore they cannot do it, and even if they could i would they didnt.

>

> I wonder why the skeletons are different? I would figure they were the same and the difference would be in size. Are the skeletons (between male and female) different for each race? Since this is a game, what do you gain by having two skeletons. Wouldn't that add complexity and cost to the development?

 

They are different as stated by the post below yours, because of biology, male and female skeletons irl are different as well. More than likely if some archeologist in the future uncovered my skeleton theyd say i was male. And yes, they are different per race. They gained realism and immersion which i highly enjoy.

[Amaranthe.3578]

What the.....

Huh? I really dont understand the question....you are role playing a character, the gender of a character is an aspect of said character...

[Sithis.3564]

Because there are two genders? I don't understand the point of this topic.

[Maikimaik.1974]

Because Tyrian humans are modeled after real life humans. While I don't believe in a binary gender system, it's a scientific fact that there are 2 sexes: male and female.

Nobody stops you from roleplaying a non-binary character, but not having a biological gender (sex) would be almost impossible to design.

[Scud.5067]

1: The game character can a proxy for the player within the game world. Being able to choose a gender your associate with can help the player project onto the game character and in so doing, better connect with their play experience when operating the game character within the game world.

 

2: Building on Point 1, enabling people to customize characters has been studied and shown to promote emergent narratives. Long story in a nutshell short, how you or I think and connect the events of play experience can build our own personal narratives, ones that the designers did not create.

 

Edit 3: There's also a whole package of tropes that digital games have picked up from their pen and paper cousins/ancestors, which are often included because designers and players associate certain elements with 'a role playing game'. Making a character, including choosing their gender, is part of this legacy.

[sokeenoppa.5384]

There are 2 genders (male and female) coz in gw2 universe there are only 2 genders.. simple as that.

[Sanity Obscure.6054]

Playable characters are based on humanized characteristics.

 

Humankind has two genders at a chromosomal level (and variants of those two genders when mutations occur.)

 

Those two chromosomal genders create their respective unique hormones that design them through puberty to have unique features from the other gender.

 

Everything from there is where you come in and you have your choice, both in this game and in real life.

[Shadowmoon.7986]

Humans, asurans, norn and char are all mammals, so they have two biological sexes that express themself as a given gender with over .9 correlation.

Honestly anet dropped with ball with sylvari. They could be mono gender like most plants. Or even more radical, more than two genders, similar to mushrooms.

 

[Staynair.8073]

I apparently am not good at wording my questions. This has nothing to do with real life or role playing in the game. My question does not remove anyone's ability to customize their character as they wish and to role play as they wish. During character creation why force the user to pick gender and then limit them to certain choices? My limited programming experience would tell me that the underlying programming would be the same for either one. Some have said that the skeleton's are different, but this isn't real life so why should they be different?

[Ayakaru.6583]

I dont get the question? You want the option removed and have some class/race combinations forced to be male or female?

 

Or is this about identifying as an asuran Golem or a Charr siege engine?

[Catchyfx.5768]

That's how it arrived here. wuf. Common sense, hold on.

[Laila Lightness.8742]

> @"Staynair.8073" said:

> I apparently am not good at wording my questions. This has nothing to do with real life or role playing in the game. My question does not remove anyone's ability to customize their character as they wish and to role play as they wish. During character creation why force the user to pick gender and then limit them to certain choices? My limited programming experience would tell me that the underlying programming would be the same for either one. Some have said that the skeleton's are different, but this isn't real life so why should they be different?

 

For diffrent animation nodes due to shapes

[MithranArkanere.8957]

Because the game setting is a world similar to ours, but that has developed in a different way because of magic.

Humans and other sentient creatures have genders in the game because the only creatures we know with that level of sentience, humans, also have them.

We understand all aspects of our lives through that lens.

 

> @"Staynair.8073" said:

> I apparently am not good at wording my questions. This has nothing to do with real life or role playing in the game. My question does not remove anyone's ability to customize their character as they wish and to role play as they wish. During character creation why force the user to pick gender and then limit them to certain choices? My limited programming experience would tell me that the underlying programming would be the same for either one. Some have said that the skeleton's are different, but this isn't real life so why should they be different?

 

Oh. Its likely because it's easy on the system. When switching skins and the like it's easier to stick to a small set. If they allowed to freely change race and gender from the wardrobe there would be more to load while switching. Different models use different rigs too.

 

And it's also a source of income since one has to use a Total Makeover Kit to change the character's apparent gender.

[Dawdler.8521]

> @"Staynair.8073" said:

> I apparently am not good at wording my questions. This has nothing to do with real life or role playing in the game. My question does not remove anyone's ability to customize their character as they wish and to role play as they wish. During character creation why force the user to pick gender and then limit them to certain choices? My limited programming experience would tell me that the underlying programming would be the same for either one. Some have said that the skeleton's are different, but this isn't real life so why should they be different?

It has everything to do with real life and roleplaying. You can roleplay whatever you want but you're still gonna have to create your character as one of the basic genders.

 

End of story. I find this thread pointless.

[aspirine.6852]

It's for the clothes and costumes. Dresses for women and the rest for men :/

[dusanyu.4057]

esthetics unless your asura than it is pick your voice actor and your pool of Faces /Hair

[Zychuu.7294]

> @"Just a flesh wound.3589" said:

> No doubt the OP thinks the chars should be floating points of light, with weapons. After all, why have different species or genders when you can be a point of light.

 

Now I want playable Exalted characters.

[Zaraki.5784]

> @"Staynair.8073" said:

> lol, you can still allow the user to pick all the choices they have now without picking gender. Maybe you want a more "feminine voice" with a more "Male body".

 

If I want my character to have boobs, how am I supposed to do that without choosing a gender?

[Balsa.3951]

nice troll post :P

[sostronk.8167]

Here come the Cultural Marxists with their garbage. I can't wait until we start giving out free helicopter rides.

[Agrotera.1254]

> @"Staynair.8073" said:

> So this may seem stupid, but I was thinking "What is the purpose of gender in a computer game?" There is no difference in what the avatar can do based on its gender so why have it? You can still personalize the way the avatar looks without having to choose a gender.

 

Actually, I am not sure about this game because I have never really looked into it. In another game that I used to play gender did make a difference. I had a friend that had a male character. He was a guy so he made a guy. After about 3 years of playing it his new Guild talked him into switching genders. Imagine his surprise when he realized that some of his skill animations were faster with his new female then they were with his male.

[Aktium.9506]

because females have two xx chromosomes and males have one x chromosome and one y chromosome in the real world

[Orimidu.9604]

Because when the game was designed in 2011-2012 the huge gender spectrum wasn't a prevailing topic in society. The fact that it's only recently become a phenomenon should be telling. In fact, game development in general still isn't tuned to the idea of gender being a spectrum because not only would it be more difficult and financially costly to program in some cases, it's a philosophy that hasn't been accepted by the majority of society.

 

Compare it to Galileo asserting that the solar system is heliocentric--the Earth revolves around the Sun, not the reverse. His ideas weren't widely accepted until science backed it up. In the gender spectrum debate, science has done the opposite, and so you begin to see the term "gender" being differentiated from "sex" unnecessarily so that those who do wish to support the idea of a spectrum can do so while ignoring scientific reasoning. As an observer to the debate (while personally siding with science), it's quite interesting.