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DragonJetKnight
New Participant
September 12, 2021
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Gender Change

Hey is there anyway to change the gender of your oculus home avatar person as my partner was messing around on my vr before i had a chance to set up my profile and made it a female and now i cannot find a way to change it to male

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      nalex66
      nalex66Answer
      Honored Contributor
      November 11, 2021

      There is no specific gender assigned to Oculus avatars. There are some body types that look more feminine or masculine, and there are some facial features and details that can be considered traditional gender indicators, like eyes with heavier lashes, redder lips, and facial hair.

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      Pixie40
      Pixie40
      Honored Contributor
      February 18, 2022

      "Sufficiently distinguishable male/female selections"... Are we looking at the same avatar creation options as each other? Because the only ones with "distinguishable female traits" are among the overweight body types, and the "breasts" could just as easily be the "man boobs" which you sometimes see on morbidly obese men. I have literally seen men who were so overweight they had to wear a bra to contain their flabby pectorals.

       

      The only skinny avatar body type which could be "sufficiently distinguished" as female could also be taken as "broad shouldered man" since that is the distinguishing feature, broader shoulders.

       

      Remember, gender neutral body types means that you have to use facial features and clothing choices to signify gender. It's like trying to claim that Nintendo's Mii avatars have a gender. Yes, Nintendo does claim they do. But that "gender" is more a case of "looks like a bean wearing a skirt" or "looks like a bean". Yes, the body types will favor masculine more then feminine, but in a rather androgynous way. Male or female, everyone will be using the same avatar body types. And it'll be their clothing choices that have people thinking "that's a male" or "that's a female".

       

      Personally, I'm guessing it's because it was considered too much work to make male and female avatar body types.

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        VintageShoey
        Participant
        February 18, 2022

        Yes "Sufficiently distinguishable male/female selections". If you think the body types/facial features in the Oculus Avatar system are sufficient to accurately represent the difference between male and female than you need to get out more and look and the differences. This is not too much work for anyone. Since custom Avatar creation systems existed in video games, this was easily done. Everyone has been able to do it except Oculus for some reason.




         

          Pixie40
          Pixie40
          Honored Contributor
          February 18, 2022

          I am not saying the body types are sufficient to definitively make a male or female avatar. Neither are the mods when they answered the OP's question. The body types aren't even trying to offer male and female avatars.

           

          CLOTHING CHOICE selection is not the same as body type selection. By choosing more feminine facial features, accessories, and clothing you can make a "female" avatar. It wont actually be a female avatar though. And that's because the devs decided to make gender neutral body types, and rely on cloths and facial feature options to indicate gender. Or you could use them, put "manly" facial hair on the avatar, and have a "male wearing female cloths" avatar.

           

          Do I think the current options are ideal? No, I don't. I think the body types are too limited, and think there should be options that are clearly male or female instead of being gender neutral. But the OP's question was "can I change my avatar's gender". The answer is "No, because avatars don't have a set gender." That may not be the answer you want to hear. It may not be the avatar creation system you wanted. But it's the avatar creation system and answer we got. So, deal with it? It's doubtful Meta/Facebook is going to change their minds on this after all.

          Lo, a quest! I seek the threads of my future in the seeds of the past.
            VintageShoey
            Participant
            February 18, 2022

            I hear what you are saying but who ever thought up this idiocy that is the current avatar system is wrong. You can put a man's shirt on a woman's body and that doesn't make the woman's body a man it makes it a man's shirt on a woman's body same for the other way around. That's the point everyone is trying to make is that there is no such thing as gender neutral bodies. Everyone wants to make an avatar that best represents themselves. As you can see from all the comments this is currently not the case. You are right, there should be clearly male and female body types to choose from and they need to add these to the avatar system. I'm glad we agree on this. 


            Here is an example for the Oculus developers. There is not a single person on this forum who can't distinguish male from female in this image....

            If for someone reason Oculus staff are unable to determine the differences, I'm sure any member on this forum would be happy to assist them in fixing the Avatar system.

              Pixie40
              Pixie40
              Honored Contributor
              February 18, 2022
              Vintage_Shoey wrote:

              I hear what you are saying but who ever thought up this idiocy that is the current avatar system is wrong. You can put a man's shirt on a woman's body and that doesn't make the woman's body a man it makes it a man's shirt on a woman's body same for the other way around. That's the point everyone is trying to make is that there is no such thing as gender neutral bodies. Everyone wants to make an avatar that best represents themselves. As you can see from all the comments this is currently not the case. You are right, there should be clearly male and female body types to choose from and they need to add these to the avatar system. I'm glad we agree on this. 


              Here is an example for the Oculus developers. There is not a single person on this forum who can't distinguish male from female in this image....

              If for someone reason Oculus staff are unable to determine the differences, I'm sure any member on this forum would be happy to assist them in fixing the Avatar system.

              I think I see where you are making the mistake. You are seeing "gender neutral" and thinking picturing a male or female avatar that just has different cloths on. Click the following link, and then try to determine just at a glance what gender the two avatars shown are suppose to be.

               

              Link to an image 

               

              Both avatars are using the exact same body type as their base. They had all the same options available to customize. But one is identifiable as female, while the other is identifiable as male. The swell that on the "female" avatar serves to indicate breasts, on the "male" avatar just looks like a man's chest. But it's the exact same body type, with the exact same swell in the chest area. How you view the swell is entirely determined by other factors such as the facial features, hair, and outfits chosen.

               

              In fact, examining the image closer, it looks like the only differences between the two avatars in the head area is hair style, glasses or no glasses, and facial hair or no facial hair. One might have a slightly more rounded nose, but that's it. Yet that can make you see one as a feminine face and the other as a masculine face.

               

              As for your "silhouette" image given as proof of concept, they all in fact can be taken as either male or female for one reason or another. The only one "definitively" female is the far right image. It's clear to me you really can't stand the concept of the devs intentionally making one set of body types which can equally be used for either gender.

               

              Do I think it was a good idea? No I don't. Do I think it's pointless to whine and complain about it? Yes, I do. For whatever reason, this is the path the devs took. Possibly at the order of Meta/Facebook. But it could also have been due to it being considered too much work to make separate male and female avatar body types. We'll probably never know the reasoning. And it's very doubtful you railing against the decision here is going to make Meta/Facebook  change that design decision. Just as you're very unlikely to convince them to change from cartoon style avatars to realistic looking ones. Nor are they likely to suddenly decide to add legs to the avatars in Horizons. (or many other apps that use your Oculus avatar)

               

              Hell, I feel that we're lucky to get what we did, instead of mii style colored beans with blobs for 'hands'.

              Lo, a quest! I seek the threads of my future in the seeds of the past.
                iMight404
                iMight404
                Honored Contributor
                February 18, 2022

                Thread has been locked for the time being, as it's evolved into a bigger issue than just the OP's initial question. My best recommendation for change is to use the Ideas section, as that's where developers will look to see what's most requested. Feel free to post all of your suggestions in the ideas thread that was created for this, because it seems counter-productive to hijack this thread where the original issue was resolved instead of using the Ideas section to request changes be made.

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