Just make POE 2 not gender locked, simple.

I wanna play a Ranger who identifies as a Marauder. Hard /s

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BaumisMagicalWorld wrote:

Right. And why would cosmetics matter this much to us, then? They are literally the driving force keeping this game alive. That does make it seem like visual identity is pretty important, doesn't it.

If its like Poe 1 you want actually see any difference in gender with most armor MTX. Only move-sets. So your visual importance is mostly a move-set and not the body type you prefer. And well maybe those sweet voices: "I don't have mana/space/motivation for that". Also thank you for acknowledging that your baldurs gate reference doesn't make much sense.

And gender locked games with more then 1 mil players? they exist, because contrary to your beliefs, gender inklusivity is not that big of a deal.

And if GGG decides to sell alternative genders for the classes, thats fine too. But this will take work and time, so lets wait and see.

Not a priority for any serious developer.

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BaumisMagicalWorld wrote:

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tsunamikun wrote:

because contrary to your beliefs, gender inklusivity is not that big of a deal.

Except I already covered that. We have proof of the opposite, so please stop making up narratives and fake facts. You can easily verify what I said and at the same time dispute your very own claims, but you are not going to do that, are you.

Your proof of the opposite is 'literally dozens upon dozens' of posts. A drop in the ocean in the grand scheme of things.

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BaumisMagicalWorld wrote:

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tsunamikun wrote:

because contrary to your beliefs, gender inklusivity is not that big of a deal.

Except I already covered that. We have proof of the opposite, so please stop making up narratives and fake facts. You can easily verify what I said and at the same time dispute your very own claims, but you are not going to do that, are you.

No you assumed that. There are no actually number to be found anywhere to support your narrative. There is no proof. Most things you find are some advertisements with some sociology papers with negligible data. So nope outside of some EU/US based publishers nobody really cares. Just looking at the top games per players on steam, first person shooters and third person mobas(with locked in gender per avatar).

But maybe my google Fu is bad, so please provide the links to those sweets statistics, scientific papers and what else you belief will provide "proof".
And no, your inclusivity in games mainly produces advertisements like this:

https://usv.edu/blog/the-importance-of-diversity-and-inclusion-in-gaming/ (no data just some blog entry) or actually inclusivity of people with disabilities (which has a lot more to do with HMIs and nothing to do with gender) like https://ablegamers.org/why-inclusive-gaming-matters/

So nope, i tried to verify "what you said" but couldn't. Did you mean facts like this? https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/1fywyst/over_95_of_players_dont_consider_inclusivity/ lol

And before you willfully misinterpret that, that not really data, same as your "proof"

I agree that (gender) inclusivity is a thing and, within a broader societal context, it certainly is important. I don't think, however, that a game that already offers characters for both genders should be considered "non-inlcusive".
There are lots of reasons why fictional characters, both in video games and other media, might be male or female (or non-binary, trans...) - the most important reason is: artistic freedom.
I personally do not feel the need to change the gender of any fictional character - not when I play that character, or read a book with a *insert-gender protagonist, or when I watch a movie/show with a *insert-gender lead actor/actress. And, in all honesty, I don't think most people would want to. Do you know anyone who didn't watch Voyager because Janeway is a female Captain? Anyone who didn't play Tomb Raider/Horizon Zero Dawn/Life is Strange because of female protagonists? If the answer to one of these is "yes", I'd suggest making some new friends XD

I'd rather they don't waste time and resources on this unless they have absolutely nothing else to do on the game as a whole. Full game, features and gameplay first, always. Ultimately, it doesn't matter if you're playing a sorceress or a wizard - GGG made a design decision and tells us that characters story, there's no need to tick boxes just because other games are doing it.

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BaumisMagicalWorld wrote:

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Thraesh wrote:

What gender a pixelated character is has no weight or bearing on whether a game is good or not.

No, but they do impact how your game is perceived. Inclusivity is a thing, seriously. Google "inclusivity in video games" and see for yourself. This is why a lot of these pro gender-lock comments make zero sense. We have proof of the opposite.

GGG wants to break the 1M player mark. They are not gonna do that if they don't try and appeal to a broader audience. Part of that is more inclusivity in games.

Look at Baldur's Gate 3 and what a smashing success it was. Inclusivity played a big part in that, too, because everyone could identify with their characters. There are literally dozens upon dozens of posts on various forums that specifically talk about this and how it affected them IRL.

The thing about inclusivity is great and I do agree that some games do well with it but in the same vein,, some games do just fine without it as well. The thing it boils down to is that some people want and some people don't.

Google search will just provide the answer to what you want to find because you are searching for that specific context. I'm sure a survey directly to, as an example, this forum would generate very different results to what a google search can produce.

What people tend to forget is that everyone has an opinion and one should not try to change the narrative to suit their own view points so that they sway people to see things how they do, it ends in conflict every time. A video game does not need to chase the narrative to be successful at all as has been showcased in a million other games

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BaumisMagicalWorld wrote:

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Waitubold wrote:

Path of Exile is just about killing lots and lots of monsters. You're comparing pumpkins to oranges, here, and it's not a convincing argument.

Right. And why would cosmetics matter this much to us, then? They are literally the driving force keeping this game alive. That does make it seem like visual identity is pretty important, doesn't it.

Aren't all the cosmetics in POE gender/class neutral already?

What are you expecting exactly? Cosmetics that are only wearable by a specific type gender? While claiming it's to appeal to a "broader audience"?

I think you lost your train of thought trying to justify an argument that's a non-issue in POE.

It's also cute you mention BG3, but what about Dragon Age Veilguard or even new IPs centered around inclusivity like Condord, to mention the most recent and notables. The last thing I want is the DEI scam gang meddling with the POE lore.

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BaumisMagicalWorld wrote:

Look at Baldur's Gate 3 and what a smashing success it was. Inclusivity played a big part in that, too, because everyone could identify with their characters. There are literally dozens upon dozens of posts on various forums that specifically talk about this and how it affected them IRL.

Baldurs Gate 3 is a smashing success because it is a genuinely good game. That's it. Naturally, the game being literally based on D&D 5th edition, it comes with a lot of options that translate to inclusivity. No doubt it would have been just as successful with just its cast of origin characters.

On the contrary there are a ton of "inclusive" games that failed hard because guess what, they were just shit and no amount of inclusivity could carry them.

A few examples:
• Forspoken
• Suicide Squad
• Dustborn
• Flintlock
• Concord (lol)
• and the most recent addition, Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Wukong was another massive success and you're literally playing as a monkey. No diverse cast, no forced inclusivity, just a good to honest amazing game.

PoE 2 will do just fine if they chose to not release additional, opposite gender classes. Period.