[Kenshi 2] Gender Differences (Please read before judging)

[FWAltarBoy]

Alright, I know I'm getting into some pretty hot territory right now, especially with the current political climate, but I am proposing more gender differences. This is to make you put more thought into who you want to recruit and what you need. Trust me I'm not being sexist, just trying to suggest possible implementations. So, everyone knows that on average a male is physically stronger and faster than a female, so the females would get a small debuff on gaining strength or athletics, stuff of that nature. A female can have more dialogue with other characters or would be more susceptible to sexism making the game harder for female only squads. Overall playing an only female group would make the game more difficult, and trust me other games like M&B Warband have done this as well.

I get if you don't want to do something like this, again, its a possible mechanic that I suggested to provide more differences between the two genders, and please don't think I'm sexist, this is just based on the setting of the game.

[Shidan]

Personally, the only way I'd be alright with it is if females got positive traits to go alongside it. For example, women have a naturally higher pain tolerance level, translating to an increased toughness. That sort of thing. Making one of the genders undeniably worse at gameplay isn't a great option.

A better option imo is to make it simply thematic differences. Dialog and situation in the world can differ based on it, because that helps with immersion. Which is what mount and blade does, and what Kenshi 1 does. Rather than physical penalties and bonuses. This allows a player more freedom in how they play, with whatever character they identify more with. A game is about having fun, and limiting that fun with arbitrary stat changes is poor game design imo.

[FWAltarBoy]

Personally, the only way I'd be alright with it is if females got positive traits to go alongside it. For example, women have a naturally higher pain tolerance level, translating to an increased toughness. That sort of thing. Making one of the genders undeniably worse at gameplay isn't a great option.

A better option imo is to make it simply thematic differences. Dialog and situation in the world can differ based on it, because that helps with immersion. Which is what mount and blade does, and what Kenshi 1 does. Rather than physical penalties and bonuses. This allows a player more freedom in how they play, with whatever character they identify more with. A game is about having fun, and limiting that fun with arbitrary stat changes is poor game design imo.

I was trying to think of a way to balance it out but couldn't think of any, and I also like the idea of different dialog options cause it makes sense. I could also see that the wording was not the best as well so I apologize.

[Skowron]

No judging here. Gender differences are one of the most fascinating topics in psychology and sociology! But there are already so many races out there and they are so fascinating and varied! How about we stick with bonuses and skip the gender differences? I mean after all, it is a fantasy world. Additional dialogue options may be too bothersome to implement when we take into consideration the scale of the game, but bonus stats seem quite easy to implement. If the gender differences were to be implemented I woudl to so in just a positive manner, so I agree with Shidan. Additionally, there would be no need to balance the gender differences if they would be minor. It may be fine if males would get +5%to physical labour and str/athletics gain, but instead females would get + statistics revolving around perception and management. I do not know what the developers have in store for us when it comes to statistics, but a good idea would be physical and mental strength, management, social skills etc. There is a plethora of research showing the dominance of women in these areas, but we should also remember about the fact, that this is a postapocaliptic world with fantasy elements, so maybe we should not stick to our grounded views on gender differences.
In my opinion, if the gender differences were to be implemented, they should be done in an elegant, thoughtful way. A minor boost to a stat.
Another idea that I've just had would be a personal bonus. There is always a person out there, no matter the gender or race, that could to something better than you. Maybe we could add those personal bonuses to a given stat, no matter the gender? That would spice up the game and add depth to characters without much effort. Imagine encountering a weathered Shek in a dessert who happens to have a inclination towards reasearching? Or an upbeat greenlander, who has an additional bonus to cooking? Even among greenlanders, this one is truly a genius when it comes to fixing up food! In Kenshi we, the players were able to create stories revolving around our characters. With theese personal, randomized bonuses, things might end up even more interesting. If we would just have fixed differences, that would be quite boring

[FWAltarBoy]

No judging here. Gender differences are one of the most fascinating topics in psychology and sociology! But there are already so many races out there and they are so fascinating and varied! How about we stick with bonuses and skip the gender differences? I mean after all, it is a fantasy world. Additional dialogue options may be too bothersome to implement when we take into consideration the scale of the game, but bonus stats seem quite easy to implement. If the gender differences were to be implemented I woudl to so in just a positive manner, so I agree with Shidan. Additionally, there would be no need to balance the gender differences if they would be minor. It may be fine if males would get +5%to physical labour and str/athletics gain, but instead females would get + statistics revolving around perception and management. I do not know what the developers have in store for us when it comes to statistics, but a good idea would be physical and mental strength, management, social skills etc. There is a plethora of research showing the dominance of women in these areas, but we should also remember about the fact, that this is a postapocaliptic world with fantasy elements, so maybe we should not stick to our grounded views on gender differences.
In my opinion, if the gender differences were to be implemented, they should be done in an elegant, thoughtful way. A minor boost to a stat.
Another idea that I've just had would be a personal bonus. There is always a person out there, no matter the gender or race, that could to something better than you. Maybe we could add those personal bonuses to a given stat, no matter the gender? That would spice up the game and add depth to characters without much effort. Imagine encountering a weathered Shek in a dessert who happens to have a inclination towards reasearching? Or an upbeat greenlander, who has an additional bonus to cooking? Even among greenlanders, this one is truly a genius when it comes to fixing up food! In Kenshi we, the players were able to create stories revolving around our characters. With theese personal, randomized bonuses, things might end up even more interesting. If we would just have fixed differences, that would be quite boring

I suppose it is would be a bit of an unneeded hassle, I'm just trying to make suggestions for possible implementation.