Gender Based Prizes are Unfair

[Youtherevmk]

I'm barely considered a feminist, so this is not my issue with the sets. What is annoying is that, because there are two different sets (one being more rare than the other bc there are less guys in the game and is a more gender neutral color), it gives them a HUGE advantage in the game. But yes, the values are totally up to the players, not the staff. My suggestion for staff was to make it all the same prize for everyone or an option at least. This happened last year with the pink/red winter sets as well.

That's a good solution, but I honestly kind of prefer having two separate prizes.

It's kind of boring when everyone is able to easily obtain the same items. Idk...I 100% see your point, but on the other hand I think people are freaking out way too much over a game item. There are many times when the tables are turned , I don't really see a problem with it...

 

[Lindsay]

Giving gender based prizes to a game with a lot more girls than boys is giving boys yet another pat on the back for being born with something female's weren't. The prizes colors should have been given at random, both sets should have been given to both genders, or just give out the 1 set to everybody.

 

[Jasmine]

I do just want to point out that there are less males in the game than females meaning there are less teal winter jackets in circulation. It makes sense why teal jackets are more valuable.

Maybe so, but I do have to agree that the item's value has more to do with the color itself rather than the quantity in game. As already mentioned, it was the same way with the red and pink sets. Red is a more gender neutral color and it's always been valued higher than pink.

I would prefer everyone getting the same prize too. It just seems like a better option.

 

[cait]

That's a good solution, but I honestly kind of prefer having two separate prizes.

It's kind of boring when everyone is able to easily obtain the same items. Idk...I 100% see your point, but on the other hand I think people are freaking out way too much over a game item. There are many times when the tables are turned , I don't really see a problem with it...

I agree with mixing it up; a randomizer could've helped that situation or something, you know? I doubt they would've given both so I just forget about that option. I just wish there were more teal sets in the game, or that they were equal in price so girls could easily switch purple for teal if desirable, same for guys. I don't even want teal nor did I compete, I just feel bad for the girls!

 

[Youtherevmk]

I agree with mixing it up; a randomizer could've helped that situation or something, you know? I doubt they would've given both so I just forget about that option. I just wish there were more teal sets in the game, or that they were equal in price so girls could easily switch purple for teal if desirable, same for guys. I don't even want teal nor did I compete, I just feel bad for the girls!

A randomized prize suggestion would be a good thread to make!

I'm pretty sure that they'll release more of these again soon. I think it's just too early for everyone to freak out when they've only been in circulation for a 2 days.

 

[cait]

That I can agree with

 

[CoralHibiscus]

*stares at teal winter sets longingly* I want one @Amy, @Grizzly, @Snow

 

[Cat]

It's not the staff who creates the values of those items, but the players.

I agree to an extent. Boys who own the teal set KNOW they can squeeze the dimes out of the people who want it. So in that instance, yes. The players do decide what is more valuable and place the trade value on it in the game. But, the reason that there is complaint here and issues to begin with is that there are, simply stated, more females than males in the game. In addition to the already unfair inbalance of colored items that works in the male's favor, is that teal (as many of us can agree) is an overall, more desirable color. It's more neutral, not considered 'girly' and most everyone would prefer it over purple. So i'm not going to just blame the players for the dis-proportioned values. The staff should of seen this kind of thing coming from the start.

I don't see any issue with a gender based prize...

It's not like women got bras and guys got boxers, it's two different colors. People saying "It's not fair" how is it not fair? There's literally nothing dramatically different between the two items. Players control the trading values, if you have an issue with an item not being traded for a fair value it's most likely an issue with the player not the staff.

The issue here IS that it's two different colors and one is more sought after than the other. If it were boxers and bras, then obviously each gender would feel inclined to stick with their assigned prize??? That's an odd example to use, but I see what you're getting at. It's not fair because nobody got to choose what they got, what color they won in this prize was decided 10-30 years ago when they were born male or female. I'm not trying to turn this into a feminist war or make any sort of those kinds of implications, or even turn this into a boys vs girls war, I just think that gender prizes are unfair. If one jacket was inherently more girly than the other, (say, for lack of a better example here, had the awkward bumps on the chest), then there wouldn't really be a problem here. But I just don't get why it was decided girls have to have purple and boys have to have teal. It's such a minute difference and the color preference would be up to the individual, it has absolutely no bearing on what gender you are. This is why it's unfair. It's a personal preference, and obviously, more people would want teal than purple.

I am NOT trying to cause a war or be contemplative, I'm just calling out what I see as unfair as I've been trying all evening to make a reasonable trade for a teal set. This issue obviously hit true for many people. I only made suggestions for this to be fixed or changed in the future to avoid conflict.

I do just want to point out that there are less males in the game than females meaning there are less teal winter jackets in circulation. It makes sense why teal jackets are more valuable.

Exactly. It makes sense right off the bat. Therefor, it could of easily been avoided in the first place.
I suggested either letting the player choose what color they got. Others suggested giving both colors. Another would be to just make it one, basic, item that everyone would want just in general. Honestly, people would still be trading for the teal set even if it was the only consolation prize. At least I, and other people who were unable to receive a consolation prize would.

 

[Youtherevmk]

I agree to an extent. Boys who own the teal set KNOW they can squeeze the dimes out of the people who want it. So in that instance, yes. The players do decide what is more valuable and place the trade value on it in the game. But, the reason that there is complaint here and issues to begin with is that there are, simply stated, more females than males in the game. In addition to the already unfair inbalance of colored items that works in the male's favor, is that teal (as many of us can agree) is an overall, more desirable color. It's more neutral, not considered 'girly' and most everyone would prefer it over purple. So i'm not going to just blame the players for the dis-proportioned values. The staff should of seen this kind of thing coming from the start.


The issue here IS that it's two different colors and one is more sought after than the other. If it were boxers and bras, then obviously each gender would feel inclined to stick with their assigned prize??? That's an odd example to use, but I see what you're getting at. It's not fair because nobody got to choose what they got, what color they won in this prize was decided 10-30 years ago when they were born male or female. I'm not trying to turn this into a feminist war or make any sort of those kinds of implications, or even turn this into a boys vs girls war, I just think that gender prizes are unfair. If one jacket was inherently more girly than the other, (say, for lack of a better example here, had the awkward bumps on the chest), then there wouldn't really be a problem here. But I just don't get why it was decided girls have to have purple and boys have to have teal. It's such a minute difference and the color preference would be up to the individual, it has absolutely no bearing on what gender you are. This is why it's unfair. It's a personal preference, and obviously, more people would want teal than purple.

I am NOT trying to cause a war or be contemplative, I'm just calling out what I see as unfair as I've been trying all evening to make a reasonable trade for a teal set. This issue obviously hit true for many people. I only made suggestions for this to be fixed or changed in the future to avoid conflict.

I used the example of boxers and bras because THOSE would be gender based prizes. I don't see two separate colors necessarily being gender based, I myself rather enjoy the color purple and would have gladly traded if I had bothered entering. I mean they were given out by gender, but I was merely referring to the people complaining that the prizes were being discriminative towards genders. There may be fewer boys that entered, but that doesn't mean that the prizes won't be re-released, or even sold in the shops later on.

I just feel like this whole thread came off right out the gate as an attack on staff. It could have simply just been a drama free post of "Can we have randomly generated prize colors for contests?"

 

[Cat]

I used the example of boxers and bras because THOSE would be gender based prizes. I don't see two separate colors necessarily being gender based, I myself rather enjoy the color purple and would have gladly traded if I had bothered entering. I mean they were given out by gender, but I was merely referring to the people complaining that the prizes were being discriminative towards genders. There may be fewer boys that entered, but that doesn't mean that the prizes won't be re-released, or even sold in the shops later on.

I just feel like this whole thread came off right out the gate as an attack on staff. It could have simply just been a drama free post of "Can we have randomly generated prize colors for contests?"

Well, again, I was not attacking anyone. I apologize if my post seems attacking, but again, I was merely stating my grievances and making suggestions as to how it could be fixed. And without the background and supporting reasoning, "Can we have randomly generated prize colors for contests?" would of gotten us nowhere.
And as of yet, nothing has really been re-released besides a select handful of items. I highly doubt they will release these winter sets in any other way, as they have never re-released any other competition prize with the exception of inferno magic.
To cover my tail here, I really do appreciate all the staff have done. Although I was not able to participate in the competition (and made a fuss about that too), I do appreciate that they put forth the time and effort to put this contest together. And give full credit to Tink obviously making the winter outfits way too cute it caused a huge uproar of people wanting them.

Though, I must say that I really hate when a player attempts to give constructive criticism to make the game better and gets attacked for it or gets accused of being a 'staff-hater' or un-appreciative. This is not the case. I simply care very much about this game, and don't want to see it fail. So when grief like this can be avoided, of course someone who has the mind set of wanting to fix and improve the game will provide feedback. And honestly, @Youtherevmk, if the staff feel attacked by this, they can close it. But it takes a good leader to be able to take criticism and use it in a constructive manner.

 

[Youtherevmk]

Well, again, I was not attacking anyone. I apologize if my post seems attacking, but again, I was merely stating my grievances and making suggestions as to how it could be fixed. And without the background and supporting reasoning, "Can we have randomly generated prize colors for contests?" would of gotten us nowhere.
And as of yet, nothing has really been re-released besides a select handful of items. I highly doubt they will release these winter sets in any other way, as they have never re-released any other competition prize with the exception of inferno magic.
To cover my tail here, I really do appreciate all the staff have done. Although I was not able to participate in the competition (and made a fuss about that too), I do appreciate that they put forth the time and effort to put this contest together. And give full credit to Tink obviously making the winter outfits way too cute it caused a huge uproar of people wanting them.

Though, I must say that I really hate when a player attempts to give constructive criticism to make the game better and gets attacked for it or gets accused of being a 'staff-hater' or un-appreciative. This is not the case. I simply care very much about this game, and don't want to see it fail. So when grief like this can be avoided, of course someone who has the mind set of wanting to fix and improve the game will provide feedback. And honestly, @Youtherevmk, if the staff feel attacked by this, they can close it. But it takes a good leader to be able to take criticism and use it in a constructive manner.

Well I guess we'll just have to agree that we disagree.

Would also like to point out that this is in fact volunteer work. The "leaders" should be given much better treatment, in my opinion, in regards to game ideas. This is a game...not a country. It's one thing to offer a constructive critique, it's another to whine about it "not being fair" and have others join in.

 

[Cat]

Well I guess we'll just have to agree that we disagree.

Would also like to point out that this is in fact volunteer work. The "leaders" should be given much better treatment, in my opinion, in regards to game ideas. This is a game...not a country. It's one thing to offer a constructive critique, it's another to whine about it "not being fair" and have others join in.

Really? Are you suggesting that I don't treat the staff well? I am fully aware it is a volunteer based job. I thought I resolved this in my last post. In my opinion, it's not whining, and the only reason other people joined in is not because I 'got' them to, but because it actually struck a chord. Have you ever heard that quote "Be the change you wish to see in the world?" I'm applying it at a virtual scale here. Forums are also for suggestions. Back in the day when myvmk first opened, critques and polls on what the future of the game should look like were openly encouraged. I wasn't aware that this had changed. Even the biggest online virtual games have a section on their forums for feedback. I found something unfair, and I DID provide constructive critiques and suggestions and encouraged others to do the same. And I'm fully aware that this is not a country.

I would suggest leaving it at this.

 

[Kelsey]

i 1000000000000000% support this thread bc i posted about gender equality a couple days ago lol

 

[Pirateboi]

Here is a thought! If you want the boy prize enter a boy player. Don't enter more than 1 player and it isn't considered a clone. Reguardless when it comes down to it for collecting purposes most of us want both colors. If this is becoming a stronger issue then maybe like mentioned earlier give us 2 crates and 1 key and we pick the color we want to open.

 

[Kelsey]

Here is a thought! If you want the boy prize enter a boy player. Don't enter more than 1 player and it isn't considered a clone. Reguardless when it comes down to it for collecting purposes most of us want both colors. If this is becoming a stronger issue then maybe like mentioned earlier give us 2 crates and 1 key and we pick the color we want to open.

no one knew the prize until the winners were announced.. plus if you enter two gingerbread rooms, it's against the rules.

 

[Pirateboi]

no one knew the prize until the winners were announced.. plus if you enter two gingerbread rooms, it's against the rules.

reguardless look at the past history repeats itself.
Nor did i say enter 2 rooms i said enter 1 player.

 

[Amy]

What makes it worse is that it was so easy to get. A boy literally could of only put one piece of gingerbread and would of still gotten the teal set.

No, that would have been disqualified... just like all of the ones that had no effort put into them were. Personally I would have liked it to be a choice, but there's no mechanism in the game right now to allow for people to choose (something with a preview and stuff would take a lot of time to add because of how windows in VMK work). It could have been randomised, or there could have been just one prize, but if we did that then someone else would be complaining about it because they wanted the other one and they don't want to have to trade for it, so it's kind of impossible to win here.

 

[Cat]

Again, this thread isn't really about gender equality to me, it never was. It's simply about there being a fair prize for both girls and boys. It would be equally as unfair if the situation was reversed and the girls got the more rare, desirable prize. I just want to make sure these comments don't get out of control again, and gender equality can be a touchy subject.

 

[Pirateboi]

No, that would have been disqualified... just like all of the ones that had no effort put into them were. Personally I would have liked it to be a choice, but there's no mechanism in the game right now to allow for people to choose (something with a preview and stuff would take a lot of time to add because of how windows in VMK work). It could have been randomised, or there could have been just one prize, but if we did that then someone else would be complaining about it because they wanted the other one and they don't want to have to trade for it, so it's kind of impossible to win here.

2 Crates (1 key) would that be a solution for future winnings @Amy? Possibly?[DOUBLEPOST=1421626299][/DOUBLEPOST]

Again, this thread isn't really about gender equality to me, it never was. It's simply about there being a fair prize for both girls and boys. It would be equally as unfair if the situation was reversed and the girls got the more rare, desirable prize. I just want to make sure these comments don't get out of control again, and gender equality can be a touchy subject.

I disagree. The only reason girls are less is bc more girls play which means more in the kingdom.... Boys dont have near the options women have in this game as far as customizing their players. I dont think its bc of the prize being more desireable as it is girls want to have both sets as well.

 

[Cat]

2 Crates (1 key) would that be a solution for future winnings @Amy? Possibly?[DOUBLEPOST=1421626299][/DOUBLEPOST]
I disagree. The only reason girls are less is bc more girls play which means more in the kingdom.... Boys dont have near the options women have in this game as far as customizing their players. I dont think its bc of the prize being more desireable as it is girls want to have both sets as well.

Good idea on the crate thing.
And I'm just saying that (as thread owner) I didn't want this thread to become all about gender equality. It was specifically about the prizes and how I thought it was unfair one gender should receive an automatically more rare prize than the other gender. This is in no way a thread about "boys have fewer options" or place-another-gender-inequality-issue here, as that is a whole other thing in general and should be addressed separately. Though, I don't think I really see what you mean. Is "Boys have less options" an argument in defense of giving boys a rarer consolation prize? I'm just confused as to why you're disagreeing with me. This is an argument against gender based prizes, not gender-inequality.