Scott Rothman said:
My point is in this scenario, it doesn't matter what you think it an important gesture or what would excite you. It's what would appease the thousands of women asking for a female Link. They say it's important, then it's important. Your academic breakdown or derived opinion doesn't matter. If women say it's important than it's important.
You don't seem to understand the possibilities here.
Nintendo could make a female Link, which would basically be Link with almost no changes.
The outcome could be that the game is praised for it. This could show developers that we don't care about getting a good well written female character. Any empty shell will do if they label it as a female. No need to make an effort for a female character. That would be bad for the future of female characters.
Nobody cares. Developers could get the impression that if they do make a female character nobody will pay any attention, so why make the effort at all? This would be bad for the future of female characters.
Annoying Zelda fanboys that hate change would protest, whine and cry (they did do that when they made Link right handed in Twilight Princess so this isn't an unlikely scenario) and it might show other developers that people will not take kindly to a female protagonist. This would also be bad for the future of female protagonists.
So excuse me if I don't think "Some people on the internet wants it" is a good reason to make Link female. Also STOP saying that women want it. There are several men in this thread, several men have stated they would play the game with a female Link, several men have said they were disappointed to hear Link would be male.
I also want your reasoning for why this isn't an empty gesture. People would appreciate it, but does that really mean it's not an empty gesture? If I offer my condolences to someone if they have just lost a relative that's an empty gesture. People still appreciate it. It doesn't make the gesture any less empty. Making Link female would be just like that. It wouldn't be a female character. It would be a palette change. Changing the colour of the leaves in Lost Woods in Ocarina of Time wouldn't be making a new area. It would be a palette change.
I demand an actual attempt rather than something that demands 10 minutes attention from the art director. So yeah, I care about things with actual meaning rather than superficial change. If they did decide to make Link female I wouldn't complain about it. Sure, it would seem like a victory for feminism, but it literally is the least they could do.
Edit: Also "Women think it's important thus it is important" is an argument now? Some JRPG fans think that Japanese voices are important, does it make it so? Some Zelda fans think it's important that Link is left handed, does that make it so? Some people think it's important that there is no electromagnetic radiation present, does that make THAT important? There is lots of things that people want that's completely unimportant. Do you have any actual arguments to why a female Link is important or are you just grasping at straws.