Topic: Nintendo balancing the gender bias

@Mickey, (I know you said your done in this thread, but I want to respond) it debatably wouldn't be Link anymore if they made him female, he's pretty faceless, but that part of him is one of the few things that define him. I don't think I would want him to be a redhead either, because being blond helps define him. Making Link a girl would probably be forced and politically correct for the sake of it. And as I said before, if they make it an option, they would sacrifice parts of the game to do so. It would be female for sake of female. Not a female as a female, and if we want to talk about trend setting. Is that a good examples. Is sacrificing creativity, quality, and a creator's desire for being politically correct a good example? No, it's not. You're also way over estimating what it would do. It would not revolutionize the game industry, to also act like female protagonist hasn't happened in the last 5 years, or ever really. And making a female for the sake of it runs a higher risk of inspiring more Dead or Alive type girls, when is a bad thing. You're pushing for quantity, not quality, which makes things worse, not better. And my options aren't dumb.

I remember bringing up the idea of a female-incarnated Link and being shot down about it years ago. It's nice to see the same argument come up again, and interesting to see how the responses have mellowed somewhat. I've never seen the huge fuss about whether Link is male or female. His character is always so bland he could easily be completely gender-neutral, and it's not like he and Zelda ever wind up in any kind of torrid romance with one another — nothing beyond 'you must save the princess' and then eyes meeting shyly in a garden, anyway — so why is giving the player an option such a big deal? If it helps some of us to identify with the main character a little easier, who cares?

i gotta say, coming from Halo: Reach on this one, where the main character pretty much says and does the exact same stuff whether male or female and the only differences in gameplay are cosmetic... it was still quite nice to be able to choose my gender, to not have to be locked in a male form for the duration of my game, and to actually have the in-game grunts and groans sound like a female. yeah, i'm in front of the TV cursing a blue streak at having to drive a stupid Warthog around while an NPC sits back and doesn't bother gunning anything down, but it helps me to identify with the main character, helps me to believe that it's me who just sniped an Elite, it's me who just got gunned down by a freakin' Hunter i hadn't seen coming. Given that every Link is apparently a reincarnation of the same spirit, having each and every one of them be male seems shortsighted and boring. It would be more natural I think, since we're technically the 'spirit' guiding each and every Hero of Time to their ultimate victory (or defeat, if the 'timeline' is to be believed lol~), if we were given the option to choose the gender of our Links.

I never saw anyone complain how Metroid or Tomb Raider can't have male protagonists so th oposite could also be true. >.>
I personally don't care if the game is good enough I'll play it even if the main character was a giant pink Tingle with boobs(ok maybe not so much, there are limits for everything)

I know you're being obtuse for a reason, but what I'm trying to say is that Link's gender is completely unimportant as far as the story is concerned, so why would it matter so much if suddenly the Hero of Time was female for some people and male for others? Choice in this situation would help to include the female audience, fully insert them into the uber-bland player character Nintendo has historically been so keen to keep as plain as possible in order for the audience to identify with them. Why not take that extra step to insert us into his or her psyche even further? Especially given that 'Link' as we know him (or her, or it even) is a being incarnated whenever Hyrule is in dire need of saving. Most of the 'Links' we've ever played as have been different people, it's not like Snake or Master Chief or Mario or Sonic or any other major character who either never dies or hasn't died yet.

The thing is, there was a big increase in Skyward Sword Link being a male, how he was treated, him and Zelda, some it leaned on Link as a male, and some of it directly required him to be a male. I want to see more of that type of thing in Skyword Sword, mostly in the order of what requires Link to be a male. So he's not as bland and easily switchable as the series improves. And on the spirit thing, it's also debatable that's it's a male spirit, and therefore must be born as a male.

And I'd rather Link stayed bland, allowing for user customization and choices and the fullest amount of self-insertion possible in terms of me being the Hero of Time. I think the series can be just as great and provide awesome storytelling without hinging on him being only male (or only female as the case may be).

Link isn't really a character though. I thought Nintendo have said time and time again that apart from specific sequels, 'Link' is always a different person, chosen when the world needs a hero. So it would be a girl being chosen as a Link, rather than an established character that's been around for 25 years suddenly switching gender. I don't think, for example, they should be offering as a girl version of Mario or Kid Icarus. It's just they have a neat way to go about doing something like this because of how they've handled the series. I'm certainly not saying they have to do it to provide some sort of equality either, I just think it would be neat, and make the game a bit more unique.

I actually think the fuss over the Assassins Creed thing is silly. They have a character, and it's male. It would be really awesome if they made an AC game where the main character was female (I know there was the Vita game), but I don't think they need to give a choice.

I just prefer the idea of Zelda and Link having their roles reverse personally. And honestly if it works like most later Zeldas, Link would still get to do something anyway.

this is also an awesome idea that I could totes get behind.

@TechnoTaylor: It's a new 'Link', though — i'm not talking about rewriting an existing Link to be female, I'm talking about going on with the series, it's a new Hero of Time and a new person named Link, it could easily be male or female depending on how you want to play it through — you make him male in your game, I'll make her female in mine. and heck, maybe the Hero of Time will someday have a brand new name of their own anyway to break up the 'Link' monotony, haha. Or maybe in a future game, 'Link' will turn out to be merely a ceremonial title bestowed unto one who proves themselves to be the Hero of Time, and they're not actually called that during their lifetime?
_{possibilities are coooooooool~}

So do you hope you could make the protagonist male or female from the start? I personally would love that.