There is a poll taking place about the gender locked characters. http://85.17.159.77/~dragonso/Forums/showthread.php?56-Genderlock

 Go here to vote.

Originally posted by Leviticus

Originally posted by Yamumacha

Originally posted by Palebane

 It's been done a lot in the past. It's going to be done a lot in the future. You can think it's just lazy development, and I will continue to argue it's irrelevance to most sane people.

It's irrelevant to you, and you're more than welcome to that opinion. But it's relevant to us. It doesn't make us any less "sane"

Exactly. Wanting free choice does not mean we're insane.

 Hehe, you are right. I apologize. It just surprises me that gender-locked classes can be such an issue when it's been proven (by ratings at least) that an RPG game can have gender-locked classes and still be fun. It surprises me that a person would refuse to play a game on such basis. I suppose I'll never understand. Good luck on your crusade.

I realize that gender-locked classes don't make the game worse, but it's the RP aspect of the game. I'm not really a fan of Role-Playing, but I really like having the freedom to choose my own gender (I am female). It certainly bothers me when I have to pick a male character.

Aside from the rest of the game, it's hard to call it an RPG when you're not able to create who you want.

People play diffrent genders for diffrent reasons.  Some guys like looking at female characters, for instance.  Others like to get immersed into the game, and choose to create a character that they can relate to.  Others just want to look cool.

Gender locking usually restricts players options, your picking the class because you want to play it, rather than choosing the class you want to play AND the character you want to play.

Its nothing more than cutting corners to save development time and effort.  Its a sign of a game whos developers will cut corners and are possibly lazy.

Look some people just dont care, and thats fine.  Plenty of players do care however, and cutting this corner might save some development time, but costs them in players who wont touch the game because of it.

Also, i should add, that once a game is gender locked, it never ever gets removed.  You think a developer who cut that corner is going to come back around and re develop the game....

Ill put it this way...no one ever said "i wish this game had gender locked classes"...no one ever...

More than anything its a sign of a developer whos cheap,lazy, and willing to cut corners.  Something that will probably show it face again in the game in other aspects.

For me, i wont touch a game with gender locks. For the above mentioned reasons of the game suffering from corners cut, but also i like to play as a male character.  I dont enjoy playing games where the characters are cute, cuddly, or gender locked.  Personal preference.  If the developers wont bother programming a second set of characters per each class, or at least be creative (usually lazy developers are not creative unfortunatly) and make some kind of sexless race per each class, then im not going to bother playing their game.

Its a good way to reduce your market exposure off the bat, regardless if some posters/players think its silly to do so.

Just like how point and click movement use to be the standard for these types of games, untill they realized they were instantly reducing the % of players who would play..

I can't speak on behalf of the known playerbase, but if the class I want to play is gender-locked to a female, I will not play.

I do believe it is laziness and shows a small mindset fo the game. Why restrict such a fundamental aspect of choice? The development team just needs to be smart on its character models and armor meshing. Creating extensive class-specific looking armor throughout the game complicates this, but is also only needed when visual recognition of specific classes is needed.

Female gamer here... and yeaaahhh... Kinda hate having to play as a dude.  But if the game is really amazing, I will suck it up lol.

Originally posted by Talin

I can't speak on behalf of the known playerbase, but if the class I want to play is gender-locked to a female, I will not play.

I do believe it is laziness and shows a small mindset fo the game. Why restrict such a fundamental aspect of choice? The development team just needs to be smart on its character models and armor meshing. Creating extensive class-specific looking armor throughout the game complicates this, but is also only needed when visual recognition of specific classes is needed.

You speak for me too.

I simply won't play a female toon. Ever. I see it as my representative in a virtual world.

This kind of idiotic decision on behalf of game developers has caused me to miss out on a fair few MMO's over the year, but I can always find others to spend my money on.

Originally posted by Palebane

Diablo 2 did the same thing and it turned out just fine. What is the problem? Unless you are that sexually insecure you can't play a character that is not the same sex as you.

While I agree with your sentiment .. people's acceptance of this is just pushing the genre further and further away from an immersive sandbox. Now don't jump down my throat about sandbox. I have no problem with themepark elements ... my only real problem is the complete lack of anything resembling sanbox mechanics for 5-6 years now. Less choices can't be good (imo).