Gender equality for companions?

AScarlato

Yes, I much prefer equal gender options.

I think they should have kept it equal.

But also importantly I'd prefer they start adding more important characters as companions than random nobodies.

Like this expansion - Jakarn would have made a really cool companion who could have then followed us around for the story and have added dialogue for this story. It probably takes more work and effort than just having random people who are isolated from the world around them, but this is the level of quality I'd like to see them strive for. One of the reasons I enjoy FFXIV for example is the ongoing relationships you develop with the game's NPCs, whereas most of this game is very isolated and disjointed in the storytelling.

Other examples of how this could be used is having someone like Quen from the Thieves' Guild as a Companion. Great characters already in game that add variety in personalities and in-game activities. Maybe there are good options from Dark Brotherhood.

I also think the current companions should get new personal quests and expand on their stories also, else it's a bit stagnant for characters we have with us a lot of the time.

TitusF2

Other/mixed (feel free to comment)

Where's my armored troll or other beast-like companion? Lol

BlueRaven

Don’t put so much into it. Flip a coin four times in a row. A perfect split between heads and tails in those 4 tosses happens less then you think it does.

(Unless you are Rosencrantz & Guildenstern of course.)

Mushroomancer

Doesn't matter to me

Who cares. Companions are pointless NPC followers anyways. And even if they weren't, why would their gender matter, rather than their dialogue or backstory?

I am glad that some feel this is the biggest problem for the game right now, but I think we have genuinely more important issues to address.

Gaebriel0410

ADarklore wrote: »

I'm glad I'm not the only person who is not happy with this. I don't know WHY they opted to go with two females instead of a male/female offering... I'm loath to think it has anything to do with any political motivations... but I AM left with the question of WHY? Is it because they see more players using Mirri than Bastian and assumed that it was because of the gender? Instead, the reality of it being most people hate Bastian and his 'white knight' persona.

I must live in a completely different reality then, perhaps my world is flat and carried aloft by four great cosmic elephants, standing atop a flying apex sky whale as it glides across the star-dappled skies. Since well, most people I know absolutely love Bastian for exactly that personality.

And I see a lot of people on similar flying space whales (radiant apex, lucky ***) nodding with me in agreement as they float past, so it's obvious Bastian is the best companion by unequivocal divine decree.

b101uk

it would seam whatever they would do, it would not sit well with some.

for example the more insidious aspect could be, not the fact that it would be 3 females (of which only 2 have human form), but the fact they went for a stupid Khajiit, when they could have have gone for a Redguard, making sure that the "human" form companion is so far not mostly white, or none human.

and at least Redguard have some DC relationship related to the upcoming story too

kratier

Yes, I much prefer equal gender options.

i think men havent been represented fairly in this mmo or video games in general for a long time now, and thats typical. genshin impact has like 80% female characters, and I will be waiting years for lost ark to introduce the male variant of shadowhunter.

i think there's reasons for this, but i think 1 male and 1 female companion each expansion is more fair. we have now 3 female, and 1 male. typical of the ratio in other games, like genshin or lost ark 25% men, 75% women.

spartaxoxo

Doesn't matter to me

kratier wrote: »

i think men havent been represented fairly in this mmo or video games in general for a long time now, and thats typical. genshin impact has like 80% female characters, and I will be waiting years for lost ark to introduce the male variant of shadowhunter.

i think there's reasons for this, but i think 1 male and 1 female companion each expansion is more fair. we have now 3 female, and 1 male. typical of the ratio in other games, like genshin or lost ark 25% men, 75% women.

A gender study of games from 2017 to 2021

The main characters of the Greymoor arc were

Lyris, Fennorian, Rada al Saran, Savana, Jarl Reddharn, Old Mjoll, Verandis, Gwendis, Lady Belain, Ard Caddach, Bradan, and Arana.

Of the 12 main characters, 6 are female and 6 are male.

Edit: I went off Greymoor because I haven't done Deadlands yet

Psiion

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NarutoUzumaki24

Doesn't matter to me

I care not.

ADarklore

Yes, I much prefer equal gender options.

Sorced wrote: »

It makes me feel like ZOS is trying to court the straight male gamer community. I realize the female companions are probably more popular, but I would appreciate a close to 50-50 gender balance a lot. It's not a trivial issue for me, personally.

^THIS is why I said in one of my comments that I hoped it wasn't POLITICAL... because it could either be these companions are being designed by straight men or they're pandering to the "METOO" movement by appealing to the 'empowered female' attitude so prevalent today.

Some people say, "Why does gender matter?"... first off, they had already discussed adding a 'romance' option later, so yes, in that respect GENDER DOES MATTER!! Secondly, some people prefer to hang out with males instead of females... how many guys do you know hang out on their days off with female friends? Most hang out with their buddies. Females tend to hang with females... that's how most people choose their friends. I have mixed friends, but being a gay male, I am more inclined to hang with other gay men or straight women. But in-game, I'm much more inclined to want to have a male companion with potential romance options down the road (if they add them in-game). Right now, while Bastian is somewhat nice to look at, his white knight attitude gets in the way of my character who is a shade of grey when it comes to morals and who wants to play all the content with ONE character, but in doing so, currently cannot utilize Companions depending on content being player. Bastian is morally 'white knight' and Mirri has a thing against the Dark Brotherhood and the Blade of Woe.

Many people have said, "Well, I use Bastian on my character that..." that's nice for players that have multiple characters... but for a player that has only ONE character, it'd be nice to have a male Companion who is also a shade of grey morally.

So in this Chapter... once again I won't have the option to have a MALE character who is morally grey because the devs opted, for whatever reason, to bring us two females. Again, I'm not sure WHO made this decision, but IMO they were WRONG and I cannot understand why they wouldn't have expected some backlash for it. You'd think after the outrage over on FFXIV when they said they wouldn't be releasing male Viera... that ZOS would have paid more attention to the whole gender aspect when adding Companion characters to games. MOST people want diversity, they want options, and choosing genders is one of those options that many players want.

Heartrage

Other/mixed (feel free to comment)

It’s only the second set of companion. If they keep adding only females i would see it as a problem especially if they add a more meaningful relationship system. For now, I think it’s fine but i would expect two male for the next chapter.

spartaxoxo

Doesn't matter to me

Heartrage wrote: »

It’s only the second set of companion. If they keep adding only females i would see it as a problem especially if they add a more meaningful relationship system. For now, I think it’s fine but i would expect two male for the next chapter.

I wouldn't expect any particular quotas. I just want it to be the case that say in a couple of years, the genders will be roughly equal (no need for them to be exact).

But when there are so few companions as there is now, it's easy to have things be gender imbalanced. They literally only added one more lady than male than they "should" have to have the system remain gender balanced. And now people are talking about ratios as if they don't fluctuate wildly when the amount of objects are low.

So for example in 2023 they could add 1 lady and 1 man in the next chapter, and a then another male companion in the Q4 DLC. That year we'd have 66% of the companions being men (2/3) but would put us 3 men and 4 women. Then the next year they could do 2 guys only. And that would be us at 5 men and still 4 women.

That's an arbitrary example not an actual suggestion, to show how they can keep an eye towards gender diversity with men and women roughly equal in numbers, without being forced to fit a particular quota of okay now we HAVE to do 2 guys. Gives them more flexibility to tell the stories they need to tell while still keeping in mind that gender diversity is important.

fall0athboy

Yes, I much prefer equal gender options.

Fennwitty wrote: »

I'm hoping there's no ulterior motives like encouraging sales of outfits and costumes to a perceived demographic.

Honestly, that's kind of what I expect. Video games tend to have more males playing them and they want to sell costumes for "the waifus".

I want more male companions because I am a gay man.

FlopsyPrince

Doesn't matter to me

Mirri would be ideal for me except for her fixation on some bugs.

One that didn't mind Dark Brotherhood might be useful, but I am not sure which negatives I would prefer.

Kesstryl

Yes, I much prefer equal gender options.

fall0athboy wrote: »

Fennwitty wrote: »

I'm hoping there's no ulterior motives like encouraging sales of outfits and costumes to a perceived demographic.

Honestly, that's kind of what I expect. Video games tend to have more males playing them and they want to sell costumes for "the waifus".

I want more male companions because I am a gay man.

Exactly, I'm a female player and I know plenty of other female players, and many of us do get sick of straight male players being marketed toward because we want shiny things too. I also have a gay guildmate who is not happy about this. Diversity is good for everyone. Companions are still new, and to have an oversight like this so early in the companion system when you have such a huge diversity of players with different tastes is why threads like this appear. We are not being political, we just see what's going on and are not happy about being brushed aside for the perceived player demographic being marketed towards.

SeaGtGruff

Doesn't matter to me

I currently prefer Bastian over Mirri, at least on the only character I've acquired them on so far. But I don't really care strongly enough to have a companion gender preference overall, and I wouldn't particularly be looking forward to leveling a new male (or female) companion to replace Bastian with.

Celephantsylvius_Bornasfinmo

I don't use companions, I just came here for (insert reason)

There's more important issues with the game

SilverBride

Eh, would be nice to have it equal

Youyouz06 wrote: »

There's more important issues with the game

There are always more important issues with the game. That doesn't mean the other issues aren't issues.

Companions have been a major feature of 2 chapters now so this is significant for a lot of players.

Drammanoth

Doesn't matter to me

Or maybe keep politics away from gaming, eh?

Want strong women? Here:
-Naryu,
-Khamira,
-Lyris,
-Lyranth,
-Cpt. Kaleen,
-Eveli,
-Gabrielle,
-Svana

to name but a few.

Non-heterosexual marriages / couples have been seamlessly integrated into Tamriel -

[snip]

[edited for baiting]

Lady_Galadhiel

Yes, I much prefer equal gender options.

Kesstryl wrote: »

fall0athboy wrote: »

Fennwitty wrote: »

I'm hoping there's no ulterior motives like encouraging sales of outfits and costumes to a perceived demographic.

Honestly, that's kind of what I expect. Video games tend to have more males playing them and they want to sell costumes for "the waifus".

I want more male companions because I am a gay man.

Exactly, I'm a female player and I know plenty of other female players, and many of us do get sick of straight male players being marketed toward because we want shiny things too. I also have a gay guildmate who is not happy about this. Diversity is good for everyone. Companions are still new, and to have an oversight like this so early in the companion system when you have such a huge diversity of players with different tastes is why threads like this appear. We are not being political, we just see what's going on and are not happy about being brushed aside for the perceived player demographic being marketed towards.

Same,I am a female and I much prefer male slaves....errr I mean companions.
I dont think the 2 female companions would be a issue of we would already got at least 2 more companions with the Deadlands.However having to wait an entire year for new ones just to find out it will be 2 females was let down.
I will most likely unlock the Khajiit but I wont bother with the Breton as I use Bastian as tank.

Mushroomancer

Doesn't matter to me

SilverBride wrote: »

Youyouz06 wrote: »

There's more important issues with the game

There are always more important issues with the game. That doesn't mean the other issues aren't issues.

Companions have been a major feature of 2 chapters now so this is significant for a lot of players.

This is just the second time companions have been added, nothing is stopping ZOS from adding two male companions next year. I still wouldn't care, but I would understand if this was, like, the sixth year of companions and there was a clear majority of female companions. With how slowly the roster will build up (if they keep this pace up), I think we all need to chill out a bit, and just understand that at some point in that process, there might be times when there's not a perfect balance in the gender of the companions.

SilverBride

Eh, would be nice to have it equal

I don't see how wanting another male companion option is unreasonable or trivial. We invest a lot of ourselves into our characters and a companion is basically an extension of that. We spend a lot of time with them and should have equal options to choose from. It was like a slap in the face being denied that and I have 0 interest in these new companions now.

spartaxoxo

Doesn't matter to me

Kesstryl wrote: »

fall0athboy wrote: »

Fennwitty wrote: »

I'm hoping there's no ulterior motives like encouraging sales of outfits and costumes to a perceived demographic.

Honestly, that's kind of what I expect. Video games tend to have more males playing them and they want to sell costumes for "the waifus".

I want more male companions because I am a gay man.

Exactly, I'm a female player and I know plenty of other female players, and many of us do get sick of straight male players being marketed toward because we want shiny things too. I also have a gay guildmate who is not happy about this. Diversity is good for everyone. Companions are still new, and to have an oversight like this so early in the companion system when you have such a huge diversity of players with different tastes is why threads like this appear. We are not being political, we just see what's going on and are not happy about being brushed aside for the perceived player demographic being marketed towards.

You know it's kind of a bummer to see non-sexualized female characters automatically being dismissed as Waifus for straight males on sight, when so many women have wanted more female characters in gaming for years and fought to have them.

Many straight women have wanted these kinds of characters for years. Many lesbians too.

I don't think they should get the waifu label so quickly when we don't even know how they are implemented, what their stories are and neither are sexualized in the promo material or even conventionally attractive.

I do think we need some more male companions too, especially when they finally give us romance options for the game. Although current I'd prefer that option went towards existing characters like Fennorian, Darien, and Jakarn. Yes, I listed all dudes because I'm a straight woman so I wouldn't use those options with female characters.

But the system literally just launched. We don't know enough about these characters to dismiss as for the straight dudes. Diversity is important but it doesn't need and shouldn't be a quota. I am sure ZOS will give us more dudes in the future, hopefully they'll give us some charmers too.

They have actually been quite excellent at representing gender equally and at creating LGBT characters as well. And they have done it without coming off as overly stereotypical, blending it in largely seamlessly. And with only a tiny amount of fanfare, which they earned imo.

If any game company has earned trust that they will do right about gender equality in the future as the companion system expands to a bigger number than merely 4, I think it's this one.

I am sure we will get more dudes over time, and they'll have a good range of personalities. If we're at like 10 companions and it's still just Bastian or really lopsided then I'll be concerned. But I think this early on, it's not really a reason to be. We only have a single extra lady, and we have no idea of the story they are trying to tell with either of them.

WiseSky

I rather have more females

Only Until We get :

Then It does not matter :"D

This_0ne

Eh, would be nice to have it equal

Kesstryl wrote: »

This whole thing could be alleviated if they just offered more companions period. We got two in an entire year last year. Why couldn't they give us two more with Fargrave/Deadlands? Looks like two per year will be the new normal. So two years from now maybe the genders will equal out. Just make more than two companions a year and broaden the pool so everyone is happy.

Zos needed to make it look like the companions mechanics were tied to the Blackwood chapter. Now we have every chance to receive more companions, including from zones and even dungeon DLC, I hope.

Sealish

I rather have more females

My personal preference is to have more females since I prefer to use them in games... but I understand that I am not everyone and by all rights, the next couple SHOULD be men (or maybe non-binary? That would be cool).

luen79rwb17_ESO

Totally, I was expecting one male goblin necromancer and one female nereid warden. Ugh! Gonna have to wait until next year I guess...

karekiz

I don't use companions, I just came here for (insert reason)

Too many options.

Also yes.

merpins

Doesn't matter to me

Uh I mean they've released 4 guys so far. 4! And only in DLC zones.

Here's the thing. They are releasing these characters, companions, slowly. Because they need to develop storylines for these characters to some extent. But because it's slow, it's going to be uneven with genders. 1 in 2 people is male generally speaking. Statistics say that even if they chose from a grab bag at random for the characters, the likelihood of it being 1 man and 3 women isn't super low.

Imo, this is an over-dramatization, and I would much rather see the devs developing companions for OG content, like, a companion or two and a questline for each in every zone (other than the tutorial zones like stros), possibly with characters we've seen before, complaining about that makes more sense. This is a videogame, and with very few options released so far when it comes to companions, of course your selection will be small.