Should Gender play a bigger role?

[Cyborger]

I've thought of a couple ways that gender could play a bigger role in the games. I had a third but it was a stretch. Please read and comment. And if you guys don't like the second option I'll just delete it.

Gender affecting strength, speed and potency - Let's say if a male version of a Pokemon (according to Dex) has sharper claws or talons, he could have a higher ATK than a female or a greater chance at a critical hit. Or let's say a female version of a Pokemon has a more potent poison, she could have a greater chance of poisoning another Pokemon than a male does. The same goes for how fast they run, how hard their shell/body is, etc. It'll all depend on what the Pokedex says about them and won't refer to every single Pokemon but certain ones where the males and females differ greatly.

Gender affecting Natures - This may come off as sexist but males could have a greater chance at being Adamant or Hasty while females could have a greater chance at being Calm or Sassy. Nothing will be written in stone. All of the Natures will still be available to each gender but the gender will make boost the chances of a certain Nature being assigned to a Pokemon.

 

[John Understands]

Hmm. How interesting. I really don't care, but that'll be cool. Well, kind of.

 

[Falconwing]

As I understand it, through Gen II gender affected IV's, and male pokemon where always stronger.

I don't know if I want it so much that gender on the pokemon matters, though I admit it opens up a lot of possibilities for unique ability combinations. I think that the player's gender should affect the game somewhat. Make it feel a bit more RPGish.

 

[cityvillain]

I like it.
But first of all, the new pokedex should stop yabbing about the myths about the pokemon and give us something more about their anatomy & physiology.

 

[Oswin]

Haha, I really used to think this was true anyway

 

[chimera]

No. It could lead to sexist issues.

 

[Falconwing]

How exactly is it sexist? In many species there are distinct biological differences between genders. There are also distinct behavioral differences. It's nature. I don't think you can call nature sexist. With pokemon, how is it any different?

 

[chimera]

I suppose that's true. If the differences weren't too significant, it would be fine.

 

[TFSpock]

I think it's a good idea. I can't even begin to imagine how this will affect competitive battling, though.

 

[BlackwaterPark]

I don't think gender should play any more of a role in game mechanics than it already does, but I definitely think the whole thing needs to be looked into more. The gender differences in Generation IV were nice, but with most of them it was barely possible to tell that they existed! Generation V fixed that to an extent, or at least it would have if there were more than three new Pokemon with gender differences.

 

[Pyradox]

As I understand it, through Gen II gender affected IV's, and male pokemon where always stronger.

I don't know if I want it so much that gender on the pokemon matters, though I admit it opens up a lot of possibilities for unique ability combinations. I think that the player's gender should affect the game somewhat. Make it feel a bit more RPGish.

Yeah, that would be cool. The game would feel more personal and unique. Not to mention the obvious load-off-the-shoulders when it comes to shipping.

 

[Purim]

This kind of sounds like a really bad idea. I mean, yeah, differences could be introduced that make it more complex, but it would be really easy for there to be unfortunate implications. Every role in competitive battling would have a game-favored gender, which leads to both Men Are Better Than Women and Closer to Earth at the same time.

I know, lots of links, but this is a phenomenally bad idea because it would be impossible to balance. Tiers exist because there are differences, and even if the differences are 'equal', some will be more equal than others. Pokémon already had the problem back in Generation II as noted by Ryuutakeshi (The attack IV was how gender was determined, and in a specific species, a female would always have lower attack than a male of the same species). It doesn't need to go back to that.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

I like it. It also brings back memories of when I was about 7 years old and this (boys being stronger than girls) was such a HUGE issue, like abortion is to adults. Ah, the memories.

But anyway, I like the idea. Males could have more brute force (on average), while females could have more intellectual strength, such as Special Attack/Defense (on average). Because as we all know, women have more common sense, and men solve all their problems by beating the snot out of each other. And all your ideas about individuality among Pokemon species are good, too.

I also like the idea for natures and personalities, too.

... So yeah. I like it.

 

[Steelrush]

I think gender should play a larger role (more than just breeding, I mean).

 

[Composer]

Only in terms of sprites. But I would prefer different sprites for each nature.

 

[Travalgar]

That would be useless. We don't need Pokemon games to get more realistic in that path. I don't see why being a male would mean that the Pokemon is stronger and faster. Pokemon battles are complicated enough without gender affecting stats (and devs implementing the Rivalry ability means they don't intend to include gender in battles any further IMHO). And don't forget that we had several gender-exclusive evolutions, too.

And with that, the idea of gender affecting natures became useless, too.

What I would like to see is a more graphical difference between Pokemon with different genders. I'm talking about the sprites, of course.

 

[GuyWood]

It doesn't sound like a really bad idea. When I make Pokemon, I like them to be complex, and I give them wierd specialties and such. Pokemon could make it more like each Pokemon is individual, and less like they are all exactly the same.

 

[Faye Scarlet]

I don't want gender to affect Pokemon stats. OTL Too confusing as it is. D8; I do wish gender would work into the story a little, for the player character. BW was a step towards that direction, with the Ferris Wheel dates.

 

[Likeitornot.]

Gender differences playing a bigger role? Eh, in battling, no, it would make it more complex, and I think the simplicity of the battling styles is very pleasant, and Pokemon games appeal to younger kids- you don't want the fundamentals being difficult.
However, I'd like to see more of a difference in appearance. I mean, some Pokemon with gender differences- the difference is hardly noticeable.

 

[Space Opera]

I like the idea a lot, but, surely, some people would complain that it's "sexist", even though that's just ridiculous.