From Ideas thread:
Ernomouse wrote
Gender -based ideas from the shoutbox and my magnificent mind:
- If we don't want misogyny in IVAN
* We might have to review the existing female characters as well (priestess of Silva, angels (?), mistresses, Sherarax...)
* Distinguishing sex when wearing armor becomes difficult -> long hair for woman PC should be visible under helmets
- Spells, god effects etc. to change sex during the game
* 3rd genderless gender, eunuch. Cannot be cured, severely limiting, hard to obtain, needed for just one thing to make it worthwhile. Maybe a special victory
- I'm thinking sex should change the game in more ways than appearance
* Female characters might train different stats better than male, for example.
* NPC's could react differently to male and female characters
* A female only dungeon of misogyny
EDIT: Added an important word, 'if'...
Somagu wrote
No. No no no. If we all decide that the females are "in poor taste" and need give them more modest clothes, or god forbid spare the women and children from dismemberment, then I'm leaving the community forever. IVAN doesn't need the only thing it takes seriously to be that.
For the record.
Pent wrote
Wouldn't distinguishing sex below full body armor only serve to walk the line of misogyny anyways? Female PCs are fine, but it should consist solely of separate player sprites, with no other major changes (only pronouns used by NPCs and such, maybe some alternate dialog).
In any case I'm completely with Somagu.
Somagu wrote
To clarify a bit, I'm not saying the female armors should be skimpy or fantasy-like, as it were. (Not that I would mind, but that's completely besides the point) I wouldn't have said anything to begin with, but most of the NPCs you mentioned were the ones with skimpy clothes.
IVAN is already full of inappropriate humor, but the even more pressing thing to me here is that it all makes sense in context. "Fixing" the problem by giving them more modest clothes seems poorly thought through, and more like being sensible for the sake of making the game more sensible, rather than addressing a serious issue. The game is obviously tongue firmly in cheek, and I think changing the mistresses makes for an odd and out-of-place moment of mixed intentions. The next thing we know, the banana grower encourager does not whip people anymore because somebody thinks it sends a racist message.
Hopefully, I've simply read too much into that little statement, but this is the way I feel about it, anyway.