Miles

Already answered: Or do you also wonder why some men supported equal rights for women, or why some white people supported equal right for black people, even though it wasn't in their own personal interest? It's called being a decent human being. There's a problem being offended by douchebags? When you're in a room, and somebody tells a black person they're not welcome here, would you be low enough to keep silent? Yes, many times actually. Just listen closely when female gamers talk to other female gamers, because they certainly won't tell it to a guy that shows such disregard to them feeling welcome. There's even posts from female KS about that, it's not like it's rocket science either if you follow gaming and the gaming community. Have a look at what women say about Skyrim and being able for once not only to play as a woman (already offered by about everyone), but to face different female body types and ages in Skyrim's NPC, and not the omnipresent body physics defying hot chicxoor. You wouldn't even need that if you learned to put yourself in the shoes of somebody different from you. Considering the Xenonauts have disclosed the costs of a portrait, the rest is only a matter of not failing basic maths. Welcoming people certainly isn't political correctness, unless you consider not being a douche is.

Thanks for the clarification. I'm happy to have at least smoke grenades, since that will at least make one way to flank the enemy without getting shot (and to my understanding the only way on open terrain maps). While I'm quite sure the KS can easily reach and topple the $200K mark, you've got to see how badly it shows your interest for making female gamers feel welcome. Basically, you're saying "We don't mind not having female soldiers if the KS doesn't reach that goal (a 400% over the initial goal)". At the same time, there's enough interest for more male portraits. And for the record I know you're not saying or even thinking that, but that's the consequence if the pledges don't reach $200K. Most game dev teams have long understood the importance of welcoming diversity (for the male/female aspect that's been a practice for years, even though it trailed racial diversity by a long stretch) and wouldn't think about leaving that out, even if they had to cut corners elsewhere to achieve it (which you're telling us the KS women soldiers proposal isn't, considering you were happy asking for even more portraits from your artist with the 200$ pledges). Basically you're asking people's pledge to fix your oversight. I understand it's mostly oversight and bad communication, and I'd also want you to use almost everything if it can bring more money to the development. All I'm trying to achieve is let you understand those mishaps made it a loaded issue (for good reason, but you can disagree on that), and by offering it in the strech goals you run the risk of having people put it in last place, which would leave you a freaking nightmare were the KS not to reach that goal. I'm a Linux user, I won't play the game if it's Windows only, and KS users do favor Linux/Mac compatibility, yet I still believe having women soldiers in the game it a more important issue (especially considering how much it's going cost). Even though having female portraits won't add much for me. EDIT: Just to convey the message better: would you imagine a KS having as a stretch goal "if we reach $200K, we'll add black soldiers in the game"? Oh, and by this time I'm sure you must have wanted to kill yourself hundreds of times for not having gone with a 3D engine

I've been following that issue for quite a while actually. The fact is, even though that ship has sailed, and the KS proposed stretch goals in the first updates clearly said it would just be adding a few portraits, you still have people on the forums (or on KS) shutting down the idea - just a while ago for example.

Sounds nice, especially "Hire a Level Designer", which would solve some of the replayability problems without costing near as much as a new tileset (would love to have new tilesets though, and hopefuly the Kickstarter gets overfunded to allow everything). What about combat mechanics though, walking crouched/crawling/sprinting + smoke grenades? They'd allow for far more varied tactics, and would be even easier to add if the level designer stretch goal is also achieved. Basically, anything that allow for a more complex/varied gameplay, for the player but also for the AI (mission design). And I do feel women soldiers and Linux/Mac are important, even for backers who only care about the gameplay. They're crucial to make all players feel accepted by Xenonauts' community, especially after reading some of the offputing comments from the existing playerbase (I've been following the forums since the beginning, and only with the Kickstarter did I feel at ease enough to subscribe to the forums). 20-30 new portraits + one (one!) basic armor artwork can hardly be considered as endangering the budget when you're offering 50 backers (90 if you include higher tiers) their own portrait for the 50$ difference from the lower 150$ tier. I must be dense and misunderstanding a lot, because it makes it seem like all this fuss about the high cost of adding female soldiers was because nobody at GHI valued making female players feeling welcome worth 20x50=$1000 cost (plus what, 200$ tops for a basic armor modification, and there's no money to fund another tier or armor tweaking?), which is atrocious seen from the userbase point of view. That's probably part of what upset gamers - the Kickstarter and your explanations make people realise that drawing a new portrait is dirt cheap (IIRC you said it would be $30-$40 to outsource each one), but everybody at GHI or among the forum oldtimers seemed to agree it would be a waste to spend even such a low amount when the face being drawn would be that of a woman (because women, unlike men, aren't worth even 40$ to Xenonauts players)? You're a man, but ask yourself this question: if you had a daugther, would you be confortable letting her play a game reinforcing the idea that only men are valuable, especially when it comes to important jobs like saving the human species? How can she identify to positive models if the only positive ones are of men (because "they" can do the ultimate sacrifice, unlile her)? I'm not saying it reflects reality, but it reflects the perception potential supporters have been given. And that external point of view would also want to support your game.