I appreciate the gay, nonbinary and trans inclusion in gaming, but never forget: just because it was added to the game, doesn’t mean the people who worked on it were in for it. I’ve been working in video games for about 3 years in Quality. A friend from past job shared their office had to fire an employee, because he stopped a trans person in bathroom doors, demanded to see their genitals before letting them in and would complain about pride flags in the office on employer’s desks.

Also, Cyberpunk 2077 lacking a fleshed out bisexual romance option comes off as bit biphobic to me. The weirdest thing is, the gay male option character literally has a daughter. I’m not saying gay men never pretended to be straight and had children, but afaik Kerry had a daughter with a woman and homophobia isn’t a thing in 2077.

I also personally find adding pronouns a less-than half measure. You’re still only allowed to choose between either a very masculine male body or a very feminine female body. Not to mention, unless I’ve missed something, you cannot even opt-out of the voice selection (again, either a feminine female or a masculine male voice). I played games with body sliders as a child and could make my character to my liking. I don’t understand why character body customization feels less and less like a thing. The armors absolutely do not look and behave better to warrant this as an excuse.

I wish they’d add the option to choose between a feminine and masculine body, but then make body hair and breasts a separate option, and then also allow to have no voice selection so your character makes no noises (Dragon Age Origin allowed that, if I recall correctly, and I remember other RPGs where I was able to opt out of noises, I think even Larian’s games). I feel like these would be rather low effort, while having a high amount of inclusion towards nonbinary, intersex and possibly other people. I personally don’t care about my pronouns at all, but really wish I was able to represent myself body-wise.

  • Elise@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    It even still applies to representing women in games, which is just a sad state.

    I worked on a game not long ago where we had lots of different characters. The men had three body types, but the women all had the same one. During a feedback round I mentioned it - all the women were totally behind me and vocal about it, but I’ll never forget the ‘rest of the studio’ just blankly staring at me. Of course it was totally ignored. I could’ve just as well have made a terrible joke.

    I mean take characters like Brienna of Tarth or Bobbie Draper, they’re awesome!

    These games are meant to be played by millions to be able to see any ROI, so I think it’s important to realize our responsibility in shaping culture.