I actually quite like how the knights have no genders and how everything is dictated by armour. Like Mystic said, there's ways to make many armour look girly, and we do have a couple of sets that are more feminine looking. That said, I wouldn't turn down any new armours that are on the girlish side of things either, since I do run around in pigtails or ponytails (plume-fy ALL THE THINGS) more often than not.

I'm not really an expert on gender bias in video games, but there's a sort of stigma surrounding "girl gamers." That is, not just a girl that plays video games, but a girl that takes every opportunity to tell you that she's a girl playing a video game. Not that I particularly care myself -- I've either never met someone as obnoxious as people would have me believe all girl gamers are, or didn't mind when I did.

What I do think is that it shouldn't really be necessary for people to assert their gender at every given opportunity. A lot of games in the mainstream don't even give players the ability to decide between a male or female character; females play these games all the same, and while you can often tell their gender by their name, use of certain emotes, or voice (if applicable), sometimes you simply don't know, and you have realize that it really doesn't matter.

That being said, Spiral Knights does seem to have a larger female audience than most games, and while there are no actual male or female characters, you do have the option to customize your character to express yourself in ways you can't in your typical shooter.

All in all, greater variety of armor styles certainly doesn't hurt anyone, so I guess I support. Just remember that people don't absolutely NEED to know you're a girl, and furthermore that even though some armors are more "girly" than others, nothing in the game is actually gender exclusive; I, as a male, wear a purple Spiral Tail Helm with Seraphic Mail because I like the way it looks, and I know I wouldn't think any less of that party member clothed in full Volcanic Plate if I discovered she was a girl (unless perhaps if she felt she needed to tell me immediately upon joining).

Take your gender and get out.

I think that it's something worth considering, I like it when I know I'm playing with either a girl or a guy. I would agree with the people before me, though, in saying that accessories are kind of like that. However, accessories are expensive, if you don't buy things especially.

Why is non-pony-tailed, non-flowery armour considered male by default?

I guess it wouldn't be a bad thing to have more gear that telegraphs (normative) gender, if that's what people want, but really, there's nothing "male" about e.g. Vog or Plate or whatever.

Robots don't have gender.

Spiral Knights don't have gender.

There, are you happy now?

Well if you go with what some of the devs say , that spiral knight aren't limited to societies traditional categories of gender, then there is gender but we dont what characteristics separates one gender from the other.

However these were things stated a while and due to the recent updated it can be said that gender is being incorporated into the game as there is larger use of pronouns in the game as well as physical characteristic matching those pronouns.

To be honest I think devs didn't want to incorporate gender because they didn't want to force player to choose there knights gender.

#3 and #4 from the left are the old Valkyrie/Fallen, for reference.

I wasn't in the beta, but I was told that that is what Fallen used to look like.

Spiral Knights don't have gender. They are all cloned by Biotechs. Most armour in the game has a gender-neutral appearance, the "gamers are male"-assumption is a cultural problem that can't be fixed with new armours. Is it really such big deal if people get your gender wrong? Then you should have given yourself an ultra-feminine name.

Come to think of it, it's really a problem with the English language that we don't have well-established unisex pronouns. Bet the Japanese don't have this problem.

:( ...i dont like being hit on...
...but pigtails are just too cute to resist...

Spiral Knights transcend gender boundaries. There is no male, no female, no distinction.

...And that, kids, is why you don't hit on people who are anonymous on the internet. Trust me, its awkward for both parties, duck. This is me speaking from experience of being on the receiving end. :/

There really shouldn't be because Spiral Knights are genderless. If they put emphasis on gender, then women would probably be, well, in the kitchen. I like to keep the game as it is. I'm fine with just some feminine armors, but in reality you don't see a lot of women in the battlefield. I think gender equality, and what better what than to have no gender at all!

Puhlease, I hit on everyone anonymous on the internet. It's not like guys hitting on each other is a rare thing, it's easy to pass off as a joke. When I said awkward, I meant funny. ;D I met one of my best (online) friends on SK thinking he was a girl and hitting on him. To this day I think he thought I was just being friendly. :3

Pretty sure they mean the player characters, which is true. In fact, there are no real implied genders in the characters, considering they look ambiguious in most costumes, so if someone wants me to see 'em as a dude or as a lady, they tell me, and I call them as such. Easy to be misled if someone lies, but it's not like it'll affect anyone, really.

But for safety, I automatically assume everyone's a dude unless stated otherwise. Safety protocols.

Because, Wiki-Dale Not-Jim-Dale Jim-Dale Tim-Bale and Not-Falcon said so.

well thats Unity for ya....

"The girly knights get "hit on"? That doesn't even makes sense. Why would anyone flirt with someone who's probably on the other side of the earth when both parties are roleplaying as armour-clad aliens?"

People want to connect with each other, even if the connection is superficial. Makes no less sense than hiring an escort or prostitute.

"I think it would be weird if knights had a true biological gender, because that would mean that I don't know the gender of my own characters. If they have true gender it should be explicit, I don't want all my knights to have a "Schrödinger's gender". Easier to just have them be genderless and reproduce by meiosis or cloning."

It's whatever you want to be. Why complicate the character creation process with an extra option that has no effect on gameplay whatsoever?

By the way, it's worthy of note that having a defined gender is not required for sexual reproduction. A lot of animals have both male and female parts, and couples will usually fertilize each other at the same time. You should watch slugs mating -- it's pretty disgusting, but also kinda beautiful.

Why is the topic of gender and gamer girls so important in SK?
Are you going to hit on them if they were girls? Are you? Well?

Human beings are extremely social beings.
We can't stay sane without having some social relation to another.
Why do you dissuade someone when they hit on a "girl" in an mmo?
Does it bother you? Does it make you uncomfortable? Are you disgusted by the breaking of norms?

Whatever it may be, I know a lot of people are distasteful when someone hits on another person in an mmo.
Most people don't even have a "real'" reason for doing so. They show immediate disapproval and make up their reasons after they have committed the act of outlandishly laying out their disapproval.

Also, topic-wise.
Since gender is based on appearance in mmos, don't you think getting our knights with gender typing would be pointless? I agree with expanding the variety of armor designs though.

"It's whatever you want to be."

Argh, no. I hate that of kind make-believe interpretation nonsense. I might as well pretend that my knight has a favourite food or that he's good at baseball, it'd just be silly. If anything isn't explicitly stated within the game (or perhaps by the creators of the game), I refuse to pretend it's true at all.

"Why complicate the character creation process with an extra option that has no effect on gameplay whatsoever?"

Exactly. Why indeed?

"By the way, it's worthy of note that having a defined gender is not required for sexual reproduction."

Sure, that works too.

"Does it bother you? Does it make you uncomfortable? Are you disgusted by the breaking of norms?"

Nope, not at all. People can do whatever they want. I was just surprised, is all.

Well, really, there is an equal amount of masculine accessories and feminine accessories. I get how some of the knights on this post are saying that "anything can be made girly with a touch of accessory" but in reality, accessories are quite expensive and difficult to find - and it would be rude to assume a knight is a girl simply because their color is pink or purple. It all depends on the amount of femininity/masculinity the player has. Valkyrie/Fallen armor is magnificent, but the design is the same for every single one, and pigtails I find look kind of stupid. All of the other armors (by this I mean armors without a feminine aspect to them) can be made feminine, but I wouldn't wear any of the other armors because in my opinion, they are not girly enough for me to wear it. I wouldn't mind some more feminine armor, maybe some armor with the hair down instead of up? Like, some strands of hair on the side, or maybe just a different helmet design. And plus I'm sure there are some boys out there who are more feminine then they are masculine and would like more girlish armor/accessories.

@Jimbo-Jambo : A post like that makes me wish I had a like button!

I... have to admit I kinda think most if not all the armour sets I've seen so far have been rather feminine, so maybe it depends on what you are used to?
Aside from the fact that more (different armour sets) is always better, I also feel no need to share my gender by what my knight wears.