With the most recent release of information for the upcoming expansion of Final Fantasy XIV, the two newest races of playable characters have been announced to be gender-locked, meaning: the Viera are female only, and the Hrothgar are male only. This is not the first time the developers of FFXIV have attempted this, though it was previously stated by the team that gender-locking was something they would not attempt again. Fans are outraged, for good reason. Gender-locking is not inclusive at all whatsoever, and it is also doubly apparent that more time and detail was spent on making the Viera ( female only ) as potentially sexually / visually appealing as possible, while making the Hrothgar ( male only ) as ' dominant ' appearing as possible. There is so much wrong with this decision, and the obvious fan-service aspect of Viera, coupled with the gender-lock, is concerning to say the least.

The fans have been outwardly and very publicly excited for months at the possibility of male Viera being announced and to receive this instead, after Square Enix and Naoki Yoshida have previously said gender-locks would not happen again, is disappointing and hugely concerning, for a multitude of reasons.