Baldurs gate 3 was the first game I've ever been able to be explicitly trans. Or at least "trans-bodied" They have 3 identity categories (m,f,nb/o) Then you have the body types which amounts to "boobs or no boobs" And then you have 4 sets of both "privates" So I have two trans women dwarf characters. One with boobs and one without 🤷 it's been incredible

@hannahdawg6829

11 ай бұрын

It's definitely not perfect, but I definitely like that they gave you plenty of options to make the character you want.

@SuperheroWannabe

11 ай бұрын

Yeah that sums it all up tbh, I've been telling my friends "BG3 isn't the perfect game but it IS a big deal"

@fluffacep

16 күн бұрын

Yeah. I just wish I could dress my characters with the boobs body type using masc clothing, because I have a character who's a trans guy but hadn't medically transitioned in any way, and also wears his hair long because he's a drow, so I need to find some way to make him look masc but the clothing that looks normal on the "male" body types often is modelled very differently on the "female" body types to the point where it doesn't even look like the same clothing pieces sometimes. I want some baggy masculine clothing for my character, but alas....

@SuperheroWannabe

15 күн бұрын

@@fluffacep oof yeah this! That always drove me nuts. Sigh... but I guess I can't beg AND choose. BG3 still big step in a cool direction lo

I recall an anecdote from a game dev about accessibility features. He had asked his higher ups for permission to spend a day or two implementing color blind features. He was told, "No, it's not worth the time to cater to such a small number of players." A lot of the time at bigger companies, features that benefit microminorities are not consider a good ROI. It's not about difficulty to implement, or lack of awareness. It's them looking and the bottom dollar and saying, "No, this demographic isn't profitable to include."

@maidenlessbastard

11 ай бұрын

Understandable tbh

@raviolibirb8009

11 ай бұрын

He's got a point. Why carter to a small number of people who likes to scream representation here and there just for the sake of representation and not the actual game and story? It's not worth the money and time for them, they're there to make games, not be politically correct. If you want a game that lets you be transgender, then find a game dev that's part of that politically correct stuff, like sims 4 for example. Don't force the other game developers in general to carter to the small percentage of minorities

@Idkpleasejustletmechangeit

11 ай бұрын

@@raviolibirb8009 being trans isn't political.

@Idkpleasejustletmechangeit

11 ай бұрын

Funnily enough, one of the games used as an example in this video(Splatoon 3) also has colourblind accessibility features.

@blackcrow4446

11 ай бұрын

​@@raviolibirb8009Bro then what are you doing on a non-binary youtuber's video talking about gender acceptance?? Like, you searchin' for them or smth?

the most in depth gender and sexuality customization i've played in a game is, of all games, south park the fractured but whole. it lets choose like between a dozen different genders and a dozen different sexualities and like half of them i didn't even know existed before i played it. you can change it at any time you want as well. its pretty cool. i don't play many games, i usually find a game and then just keep replaying it for a long time so it surprised me to find something so representative in a game, especially in a 2017 south park game.

I definitely abused the nickname changing feature in Animal Crossing to get my villagers to call me a different gendered name for "roleplaying" reasons, going about my island dressed as male characters 😅

@sexygirlmax2019

11 ай бұрын

i told my mom it was because the girls have dresses, and i never wore dresses as a kid haha. oops mom im a trans guy now!

As a fellow NB gamedev, I felt you here. Surprisingly though, adding pronoun customization on text is surprisingly a lot of headaches and partly because of grammar rules. It's been a while since I've done it so I can't think of some of the issues on the top of my head. And while it may be doable in English, the moment you start adding multiple languages, problems come in droves, especially in JP. Most commercial games put Multilanguage in mind so I think that is definitely one of the issues they are hesitant to make a robust system where you can change pronouns or even set your own.

I heard Dream Daddy lets you give your character surgical marks letting you play as a trans man.

@GALL0WSHUM0R

Жыл бұрын

The Sims 4 added this in an update as well :) Haven't watched the video yet, so apologies if it's mentioned there.

@MDG-mykys

11 ай бұрын

I know that Dream Daddy had a lot of controversy

the visual novel "our life: beginnings and always" allows huge amounts of character customization, including being trans (they/them pronouns are even the default). The upcoming sequel will also have an even better pronoun and gendered terms customization

@shi-chan5779

11 ай бұрын

​@@detective2221based?

@AvEli484

11 ай бұрын

@@detective2221 you’re right, which is precisely why I left my comment under a video that did ask, instead of dming you with this information

@detective2221

11 ай бұрын

@@AvEli484 didn't ask for your response

@AvEli484

11 ай бұрын

@@detective2221 I didn’t ask for yours either, and yet I received it, funny how that works

For me, Our Life Beginnings and Always is the first game that I played that had extremely inclusive character customization. From appearance to pronouns to being allowed to change your gender throughout the game. Its a wonderful game and I'd recommend it to anyone!

@unu9651

11 ай бұрын

Our Life Beginnings and Always. Sounds neat! What kind of game is it? Would you recommend it?

@ghostlyvisions

11 ай бұрын

@unu9651 It's a visual novel/dating sim (although you can choose to not date the love interest). And it has no bad ending, which makes it so much better :)

@ccapnn

11 ай бұрын

our life mentioned!! ty for the reminder to play the sweetest game ever

Its very rare oddly that games even let you change your name after you make a character for some reason. The only game that does let you change your name and gender freely at anytime (after you unlock the option to recreate your character) I can think of is Dragons Dogma. It also allows you to be gay or bisexual without question about it simply by not restricting it.

@ocean2170

11 ай бұрын

Elden Ring and Dark Souls 3 let you change your characters everything and its in lore. Also Dark Souls 2 has a coffin you can climb into that changes your gender!

@galacticpotato607

10 ай бұрын

yeah! playing stardew valley as a genderfluid person is kinda frustrating bc i HAVE to befriend the wizard to change my gender if i start a new save (without mods at least) i wish that stuff like this was just available from the start lol, it shouldn't be locked behind progression

I'm trying to be mindful about this as I develop my own video game! The first step of character creation is entering your name, and the second step is entering pronouns - the four options are she/her/her, he/him/his, they/them/theirs, and other (custom inputs). In the menu, you can easily update your name and pronouns. Right now, it's a button-based / still-image version of the game, so visual character creation will likely have to wait until I can create sprites, but it's definitely something I'm trying to be intentional about.

@detective2221

11 ай бұрын

damn leftists ruining everything

@Charles-dg2gk

11 ай бұрын

Consider, aren’t custom inputs plenty? Could anyone ever be mad or dissatisfied if their only choice was whatever they wanted? For example: a male identifying person would be able to simply custom input he/him/his and this freedom would apply to anyone and everyone of any gender identity. You may only need this one unlimited option to achieve the desired effect.

@Charles-dg2gk

11 ай бұрын

Also, can we get a name for your project? I’d love to check it out whenever it’s public.

@vpoquette8887

11 ай бұрын

@@Charles-dg2gk That's a good idea! It would also clearly make uncommon pronouns just as valid as more common ones instead of being a step more complicated as the others

@vpoquette8887

11 ай бұрын

@@Charles-dg2gk Sure! It's called Sanctuaries, and the basic premise is that you're rebuilding villages which have been overrun by monsters

I want femboy armor in games. Im pretty sure im not a femboy but i want them to add it bc its fun

@Baeath

11 ай бұрын

based

It's deeply weird that sex is the basis for character body types in video games when there are essentially no games where that would make a difference. I demand twink - chonk - hunk as the three body types.

@ghost_sparrow

Жыл бұрын

pleeeease im built like a twink id love to just be a little guy

@fiascothe63rd

Жыл бұрын

Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands has two body types. They’re called ‘This One’, which is an absolute slab of Fatemaker, and ‘That One’, which is slimmer and more realistic. These are not tied to your character’s pronouns or voice acting, which is quite nice.

@BasilBeesLair

11 ай бұрын

With a optional adicional of tits for people that would like to have it. Because i'm tired of not begin able to have a "female" body type in a game without tits.

@MikePhantom

11 ай бұрын

because calling it sex was decried as transphobic by people who do not play said games not so long ago ( fail basic english and biology) and thus by management demand it has been changed to be "inclusive" thus changing the category "sex" to "body type".

@PlatinumAltaria

11 ай бұрын

​@@MikePhantom Literally nobody protested that.

It's really nice to see someone else who feels similarly about how superficial the removal of gendered terms can be sometimes. There are a few games I started recently that give you the "type A, type B" option and don't lock clothes, voices or hairstyles, but then the models themselves very strictly adhere to a binary. The first thing you see in Palia's character creation is literally a choice between a triangle and an inverted triangle. (I will acknowledge that it is in beta, so hopefully they add more options in the final release - but still, the triangles feel like a joke. It looks like you're choosing which public bathroom to go in.) If I play with type A, I'm stuck with breasts. If I play with type B, I'm stuck with a buff dorito body. Neither of them feel like me. Why remove the labels if you're still committed to the binary?

I wish there was a website with nothing but instructions on how to change your name and gender in pre-existing videogames' savefiles and highscore lists, including instructions on how to hack your savefile or contact whoever is managing the server the game is played on. I'd do it myself if I had the time and programming skills to do so.

Very interesting video! If I could comment on Cyberpunk, as I played it, you can indeed play as a trans character, but always in the binary, as your voice defines your gender in the game, which is a bit sad. Still, it's better than most games I guess. If I could make a slight criticism of form about your video (because the substance is solid), as someone with ADHD, the music is a bit loud and can get overwhelming when trying to listen to your voice. Good work still (and very cute drawings), keep it up!

One game I found oddly great in its character creation was Calico! There is just one character model and you have sliders for waist, shoulder, hip, and breast sizes, similar to Saint's Row. You can change how your body and clothes look at any time. I don't recall if you can change your name, and if they refer to you at all, it's probably with they/them. Outside of your player character, there is also a decent amount of LGBT+ representation, including a lesbian couple and at least two nonbinary people. The in-game bios about them even list their pronouns!

Pikmin 4 has a pretty good character creator. There are four body types (five if you count the secret unlockable one), each are entirely ungendered. While in the character creator it initially looks like two feminine and two masculine options, there are versatile options for all body types, meaning you can make them looks however you like. But there are set hair and faces for each body type, while none are clearly gendered, it still restricts your choices a little bit. There is no pronoun option, rather than basing it off of the body type you choose, the player is always referred to with they/them. It's not entirely perfect, but it strays from the two body type character creator. It feels reminiscent of the character creators in Splatoon 3 and Animal Crossing, which I guess makes sense since they're all Nintendo.

My favorite approach on gender on customization is with the Elminage series. When you create a character you can choose the typical binary options that affects gameplay, ex; only female characters can equip certain armors and vice versa, the thing is that the 3rd gender option, "unspecified" type, its not affected by this rule, the game literally gives you an advantage for being non binary.

The recent "Story of Seasons" games give you the option to customize your character's look mixing and matching all options of both male and female, and THEN asks for your pronouns after the game has officially begun. They even allow for the romancing of either gender, regardless of which pronouns you pick, and all purchasable clothing options are available no matter what. It's by far the most LGBTQ+ inclusive major franchise out there today, in a way that very much doesn't feel unintentional. Ironically the way they do it looks like it takes way less effort, since they don't have to create two different pools of options, and can just lump them all into one pile instead.

@basketman2517

11 ай бұрын

I second, Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life.

I'm sure someone else has already brought this to your attention but there are third party tools that you can use to change your name as well as your appearance on your monster hunter save file for free!

I asked my boss to add the option to change your name to the game we were programming but he said it's too much effort..........

yk i think even with it not quite being finished yet, deltarune and its main character fit into this conversation pretty well since thats kinda what the game is *about* really. kris is litterally designed to be a subversion of the blank slate self insert character, and the fact that they are exclusively referred to *as* they, makes u wonder if thats supposed to be subversion of the idea that players are supposed to project themselves onto the character like that, maybe going by they was *their* choice.

Play as the gender you're feeling you are, it's as simple as that. Trans or not trans the gender you play as is the same at the end of the day.

I somewhat like the choices in Star Wars Squadrons, though they are a bit limited: you can choose from a small variety of heads already including hair regardless of binary body type (called A/B) and a surprising amount of voices, also grouped by A/B. You can change them at any time, and it doesn't gender you. (And it has a nonbinary NPC.)

i think the splatoon and animal crossing new horizons gender things are localisation. in animal crossing, i know for a fact they're actually gendered in japanese, but the gender labels are taken off in english. which is actually quite annoying, because i'd like to know what gender i'm picking if a japanese player comes across me online. also the music is quite loud so it's a bit hard to hear the speaking in the video

Somehow, the first game that I played where I could play as an explicitly (player determined) non-cisgender character was goddamn Call of Duty. I don't know how to feel about that. 😅 It was very wild hearing CoD characters refer to the protagonist as "they." I think more games with character customization should have a third option for those who do not align with the male or female identity, even if I myself am a cis male, I do like exploring different options and experiencing something new.

@WonderWolfie99

2 ай бұрын

Which cod? That’s awesome

If you defeat O'Chunks in Super Paper Mario, he will ask for your name. Since Mario is a silent protagonist, Tippi will answer for him, without even asking Mario if it's okay to reveal this name. Even though Luigi refused to give his name when asked in the intro. Anyway, O'Chunks will then misunderstand the name and call you Maria instead and Tippi's attempts to clear things up don't work. O'Chunks will then tell you to wax your mustache. You can imagine how weird it felt playing this part as a trans girl. Especially because other Mario games explain that the reason why Mario doesn't get rid of his mustache is because it gives him certain in-game advantages that vary from game to game.

@weatherman1504

Ай бұрын

O'Chunks is a daft, burly Scottish man and possibly one of my favorite villains from that game. Good to see other people talking about it.

Silver Wolf yelling at me for not picking a main character quick enough was so annoying 😭😭😭😭 I actually got my friends to choose for me and just had hsr open in the background and i could just hear her snapping at me while i waited for them to respond 😭😭 I ended up picking caelus though

I know it wasn't out when this video was made but Baldur's Gate 3 is absolutely fantastic when it comes to queer character customization. Masculine, feminine and gender neutral identities aren't tied to appearance and neither are voice options or genitalia! (as of making this comment though there is a bug where you can get misgendered when playing as a nonbinary character- it might be on masc and fem identities too but I have yet to see it)

Maybe it's because i'm not trans myself (but am an ally) but i've never really seen a problem with it personally. If you identify as female then choose the girl character, and if you identify as a male choose the boy character. Trans women are real women and trans men are real men after all. That said, if we're talking about pronouns or being non binary or gender fluid then that's where it gets complicated. I personally don't think every game needs pronouns but it does need more customization options so you don't have to look completely male or female. If someone wants look a little like both genders then they should be able to without the text specifically mentioning gender. These are just my thoughts though

@astralphoenix7905

11 ай бұрын

as masc nonbinary person (i lean masculine BUT prefer having a more in between thinner body type) i wish i could pick a more female leaning character body type that still isnt supre feminine (especially in western rpgs cuz the male type is too broad shouldered for me. think Mass Effect where I feel uncomfortable no matter what...) but flatten the chest, pick a neutral voice boyish voice and get to he/him pronouns. in anime games this is easier cuz male anime characters tend to be a bit softer and there are plenty of anime characters who you can't tell if they're male or female. its the hyper gendered either way western games that give me the most trouble...

The audio is really hard to hear!

Another game that I really liked the gender options of is Warframe I can't go too much into detail about it since it would be pretty major spoilers, but you're never referred to by a gender and as far as I'm aware you never give your character a gender in game, leaving it up to you as the player to decide what it should be

Elden ring is one of my favorites when it comes to character creation and clothing because both armor sets for male and female are nearly identical. They also let you change your name any time freely.

imo, the worst offenders are games which gender lock features. missing features? that's complexity that might not be seen as worth it by the devs and may not even think of. makeup and beards not being compatible? maybe they're both stored as the same thing in the code. maybe the computer sees having beard1 and makeup1 at the same time as equivalent to having beard1 and beard2 at the same time. but gender locks? that's added complexity which only reduces how much a player can express themselves. i'm a cis man and stereotypically masculine in most ways, but i've got long hair i haven't had cut since i was a young child, and it has become a very important part of how i express myself, to the point that it can sometimes be a struggle to choose if i should have the hair i identify with or the body i identify with. i can only imagine what this is like for a trans person, especially nonbinary folk

@commenteroftruth9790

11 ай бұрын

why not identify with the entirety of yourself rather than consolidate yourself into little pieces.

@brumm0m3ntum94

10 ай бұрын

@@commenteroftruth9790 what?

isn't it the POINT to transition TO the gender and or sex required to treat gender dysphoria? ? So WHY would a trans person NOT chose the sex and or gender that they aiming for but something that reflects merely on their mid way point or merely a point that medically possible? Why NOT chose the end result in a fantastic setting like video game that is currently medically unobtainable? You transition to go from point A to point B (as far as medicine allows one to go), you do not transition to be stuck in the middle and not moving forward, right? So why is it a problem to chose something that is ultimately the goal of transitioning and not the middle stage? choose the sex you're aiming for. problem solved.

@enoyna1001

11 ай бұрын

That would be too easy and they couldn't blame it on transphobia

@brumm0m3ntum94

11 ай бұрын

well, for one, if you paid a modicum of attention to the video instead of just clicking on a video you already decided to disagree with and comment on, you'd know that OP is nonbinary, so there's that.

@espurrseyes42

10 ай бұрын

@@brumm0m3ntum94 Then maybe OP should title the video correctly.

@brumm0m3ntum94

10 ай бұрын

@@espurrseyes42 what about the title is i correct?

@espurrseyes42

10 ай бұрын

@@brumm0m3ntum94 The part where it says TRANS instead of NONBINARY. If the argument is about NBs, the title should say NB and not trans.

(Falls to the sky like that one attack from FUCKING RADAGON) (Gets up like a shambling mass of flesh, metal, and ytps) *{Ť Ř Ą Ñ Ş . . . Ř Ï Ģ H Ţ Š . . .}*

@weatherman1504

Ай бұрын

I love the idea of YTPs being an eldritch concept.

@RainbowGod666

29 күн бұрын

@@weatherman1504 comes with the italian citizenship and the autism (for me at least) ;P

As an Enby, choosing whether to be a boy or a girl in a video game is torture…

@gkotta_kedamono

11 ай бұрын

Yeah.

@user-ky2rk8tp5g

11 ай бұрын

Sry for you pal .❤

@blackcrow4446

11 ай бұрын

I know, right?? Like, is it that hard to put a third option? You put two already!

@espurrseyes42

10 ай бұрын

@@blackcrow4446 Putting that 2nd option already requires retooling the dialogue to take into account female pronouns, which could be a LOT of text depending on the game. And simply using the player's name or some catchall phrase to address them isn't going to sound as fitting for every sentence. Normal conversion doesn't go out of the way to not use pronouns. Now imagine having to do this again for NB pronouns, which are bound to cause confusion since they/them are plural pronouns meant to refer to groups of people, not a singular person. That's an added headache on top of retooling the dialogue again. And at that point, it just isn't worth it given how little people this specific change will actually affect. Too much work for like 2% of the Earth's population.

12:28 Monster Prom is such a good game series for representation. No gender-locked choices, easy non-binary representation. Your gender is never even brought up, it’s so perfect

I hate how even the game that often get praised for how progressive they are rarely let you choose multiple sets of pronouns. Just let me be able to have people refer to me using he/him *and* they/them pronouns. Is that really so much to ask?

it'd be neat to explore how early videogames shaped players. in my early gamer years female characters werent even an option and usually gave the player the easy route. so for a long time I got taught that if I played a guy I'll get an easier game that wont make me suffer. looking at harvest moon a wonderfull life. the girl version doesnt even give you grass to keep your animals alive. the only game thus far thats come close is aside from splatoon is harvestella, you can choose a body type and a voice but the voice determines if the character is called he or she, thus far i havn't tested all the voices to see if there are any others.

I wish the music wasn't so loud so I can hear better. There's some parts I missed

Hmm... if I had to throw actual answer to the video's premise... it'd probably be the fact of trans community, while undeniably vocal, not being a particularly big percent of potential customers. Leave it or take it, that's more or less the actual reason, rather than a boogeyman in form of a transphobe. Heck, even myself, while working on a VN project with my team of friends, have wondered how many people would even care or how would they respond if I wrote dialogues that'd refer to the main character as male, female or even neither. Well, in the end we ended up dubbing the main character "Cross", where they are pretty much a stand-in for the player (as the story unfolds from the first person perspective), which we felt to be the most optimal choice (and probably the easiest way to do it, as writing all the variants of the script for he, she and they accordingly would be a chore and I'm already busy as it stands).

You know, I could agree on the most part and I thought I could finally see a neutral discussion about that topic by a transgender, but ey... 12:44. Why did you have to jump the gun right there? A possible answer is localisation. 'They' as a pronoun just doesn't really exist in most languages. It's a foreign concept and would be hardly possible to implement for a lot of languages. Maybe try being a translator yourself for other languages and see how you do before throwing buzzwords around.

Avelog's Mouse Simulator, but weather or not the character is trans is random. It's random IRL, so why should you get the option to choose in a game? /s

The way I always saw it (and this is coming from someone who always plays as a female toon, even before I knew what egg behavior it was) was that when you are able to make your own character and you can choose whether they look fem or masc or anything between I thought that was enough. I never needed to have my genitalia accurate on a character. It was cool in Cyberpunk 2077 when I was able to make a pre-op trans person. That was a nice touch.

Best to lower the music, it's hard to hear your voice sometimes.

As a cis person I do wonder why trans individuals don't just pick the gender they identify as instead of wanting a specifically trans option (I mean some obviously do but you get what I mean), though I understand with more detailed games and character creation it can feel disingenuous to play as an ostensibly cis character but at least for simpler games like Animal Crossing, Pokémon or Splatoon where customization is limited to clothes and hair I feel like having such an option would be pointless, I also get the perspective of someone realizing they are trans after making their character and feeling a disconnect but even then I feel like just giving players the option to redesign their character whenever fixes that. A big part of some videogames is playing as an idealized self and I assumed for trans people an "idealised self" would just be the gender they identify as, the notion does get more technical with non-binary people where they would need a non-binary option, at least for things like pronouns.

223 subscribers and 3.1k views? Good job getting this message out there I really enjoy your style with this

really interesting video, a topic i havent really thought about but i would love the more self-insert style of characters to have these options

@detective2221

11 ай бұрын

crazy how i dont care

what musics do you use in this?

You're out here making 10k+ subscriber-quality content with only 415 (now 416) subs! Truely amazing stuff, keep it up!

Jeez I wish you had more subs this is a proper video essay

"Why Don't Video Games Let You Be Trans?" Because the modern understanding of trans has only existed for about five years, and some video games have been in development longer than that. Also, some video games are made in places that see this as a mostly western, mostly American, mostly white and mostly liberal phenomenon, so they don't bother with it.

@GWalsh-on5xj

10 ай бұрын

"Because the modern understanding of trans has only existed for about five years" Source needed.

@AlexReynard

10 ай бұрын

@@GWalsh-on5xj "Source needed." No. You do not need a source for something so incredibly obvious. No one was calling themselves nonbinary in the 2010s. Asking for a source on this is like asking for a source if I'd said BLM wasn't a thing in the 90s.

@Domwyn

10 ай бұрын

@@GWalsh-on5xj its not literally 5 years, it was a figure of speech :p the grand topic of the west "trans ideology" is something very new and he is right. I do not live in the us or uk and I have some eastern members of my family, they don´t get the topic. It´s weird for them and in almost all eastern countries its looked down uppon (the whole LGBT topic). Im not even talking about arabia or china, it starts with poland or romania. Since game devs want profit, they don´t add a lot of features like that and if they do, it´s mostly in the west

@RichConnerGMN

10 ай бұрын

​@@AlexReynard bro WHAT???? disregarding everything else, nobody saying they were nonbinary in the 2010s?????? what??????????????????????????????????? how do you even come to that conclusion

@espurrseyes42

10 ай бұрын

@@AlexReynard No, they don't need a source because they should just believe what you're telling them. You shouldn't be expected to deliver facts to a group of people whose ideology is based on feelings.

There is a game that i have a deep love and obsession for that does have queer representation, The game is called 2064 Read Only memories. It's a point and click adventure game that is similar to Hideo kojima's Snatcher which takes place in a futuristic San francisco. I do agree as a straight male there isn't allot of queer representation when it comes to videogames , its super limited.

Earned a sub can't belive you have less than 150

What are you talking about? All modern videogames that have character customization have "body types" or "forms" rather than a "sex" option, as well as options to customize your genitalia and pronouns. Old games didnt do this as much, because old games werent made in a time when this sort of stuff was as common as it is nowadays. Now that being trans is a lot more common, modern games are obviously jumping ship. Hell, we even have old rpg games where a sex change option exists, so i dont really understand what this video is trying to talk about. Like, what do you mean videogames dont let you be trans? You can be trans in games, just because there's not an option to say so in ALL games it doesnt mean that you cant do it. Not to mention that you are also criticising games that are about playing as an specific character and not a custom made one, meaning that you're asking for something that simply doesnt make sense in the context of most games. If there is no character customization why would there even be an option to become trans in a game? So this basically cuts your clickbaity title down to all games that have character customization. If we focus on those games only, we still have tons upon tons worth of games throughout history where you're allowed to become trans. As much as i think this is a feature that is not necessary and should not exist, it does, in fact, exist. The most modern examples that can come to mind are cyberpunk, baldur's gate, the sims, in WoW they changed from binary sex options to "body form" options, Monster hunter does the body type thing as well, and literally any RPG where you can select sex, you can choose to, you know, play as any of either sexes (male and female), which even if textually they dont acknowledge any sort of trans representation, you are free to play however you want and select the body type that you wish to use. So uh... if anything, videogames are basically the haven for trans people if you ask me. Just look at VR chat. Tons of trans folk there. Do you really need the game to textually say something for you to feel comfortable playing with the character that you enjoy? Or, even better, do you really need to customize your genitalia that much that the main point of the gameplay becomes secondary to you when playing any game?

ah, i recommend the game "our life, beginnings as always". the game is an lgbt visual novel where you can customize your character as they grow! You can even choose your gender choice as a child and change it when the character grows up(in other words, you can be trans!), including the pronouns and name! it's a really good game, and the main love interest is also demiromantic and pansexual, and you can choose to romance him or remain platonic, he is also a very lovable character! seriously, this game is good and it's free, i highly recommend it!

personally, i spend every waking moment of my life trying to forget that im trans. so even if more games had these options i dont think id even use them XD though it's still nice when games have those options in case people do want them

(Legit question, i'm curious) For TransFem and TransMale, isn't just choosing the gender you identify as enough? Or is there something else? Please educate me on the subject 🙏

@enoyna1001

11 ай бұрын

I need answers, too

@espurrseyes42

10 ай бұрын

It's been 3 weeks according to YT, and you still have no answer. Because they/them don't have an answer. You'd think that the people that want to be seen as the opposite gender they were born as would just pick the corresponding gendered character and call it a day since that's supposedly what they want. But that's not enough for them. Attention is what they want. And they're not going to get it by using a feature that's at least as old as Pokemon Crystal. They SPECIFICALLY want to be able to flag themselves as trans so they can feel special about themselves.

@davidperte62

10 ай бұрын

@espurrseyes42 not to be rude, but I don't think the question was directed to you. I'm asking a specific group's opinion. If I wasn't, i wouldn't have specified.

@espurrseyes42

10 ай бұрын

@@davidperte62 I'm aware. But those people haven't bothered to answer in the 3 weeks this comment has been up. Because they don't have an answer for the reasons I stated.

@davidperte62

10 ай бұрын

@espurrseyes42 or maybe is cause this comment is buried under the rest, and since it has 1 like it won't show up?

Eh, I wouldn't call C77's character creator that Trans inclusive, since you can really only be a manly buff dude or a woman built like a stripper with the options being a change of voice and junk, not even a gender neutral option for pronouns. It's low effort

They don't change this thing mostly because people don't care about what gender they are playing as(i have male friend that some times pick female character, while i sometimes pick the male character). We only pick the one that looks cooler or cuter. For the programmers make a different gender is difficult because they have to rewrite all the dialogue, and it's a lot of work (imagine doing this for all the pronouns and neopronouns (i don't believe in different geneder identity other than man and woman but thats my opinion)). I think that it's stupid to complain about gender in a video games. (English isn't my first language so sorry if i made some typos)

great video, very based, made a lot of children mad in these comments

Isn't this like... Kinda pointless? It's extra work to the devs which grant little to no reward at all, why not just go over the game normally without the need of those options, it doesn't really matter at all...

I mean Cyberpunk 2077 has chanced a lot since it first came out, you can choose body, genitalia, and voice. It doesn't really have anything to do with the game itself, but it's still one if not my favourite game

I keep resetting Animal Crossing because I'm still choosing my name. I really wish you could change that.

Just wanted to say while you can’t change your name in animal crossing, you can change your gender in the character creator as often as you would like ^^

I don't think I quite understand. I have the some level of wishing I was the a different gender but In games I can just choose the gender I want. Maybr it's just because Ive yet to have someone explane non binary to me in in way I could understand, but I think the choose a body type option is a perfect compromise for those that don't wish to be labeled.

So, kind of separate from the discussion of customization, but something I always wanted to see a game do was have a character that transitions over the course of a playthrough. Sorta of like the old Fable games, where leveling up strength made the character more muscular, leveling up skill made the character taller, and leveling up magic gave the character glowing tattoos. Now to be clear, I'm not saying "transness" should be tied to specific RPG stats, I'm just saying I'd like to see a game where the player starts the game as one gender and ends the game as the other. I know there have been a few games that offer mid-game options for gender swapping, but what I'd like to see is game where it happens gradually and automatically.

Terraria is gonna add a better system for selecting gender and im soooo excited!!!

For character creation and pronoun options, I think the best I've seen have been I Was a Teenage Exocolonist which doesn't really let you create your character but you do get the choice for your character's appearence to be more feminine leaning, masculine leaning or angrogynous in your later teen years and the game doesn't tie this to your pronouns (and its pronoun system is...not exactly robust but it is customisable and you can change how your character is referred to and what their name is on the fly with no problems) The best from a game that's still in development though has to be Our Life: Now & Forever (sequel to Our Life: Beginnings & Always which has been brought up in the comment section multiple times). That game has a very extensive character creator which completely seperates gender, sex, pronouns, honorifics and even just how you're referred to by people around you. It's also maybe the only game I can name off the top of my head that allows you to pick multiple pronouns (including custom pronouns that you input yourself). That's huge. Hell, this game's system is so large that it actually lead me to learning some stuff about my gender (namely that I prefer the honorific Myst. as opposed to another non-binary honourific like Mx.). The naming system is a bit more restrictive that IWATEC, you can't change names on the fly but you can change it between the game's different chapters, referred to as 'Steps' (you can also change, like, 90% of the rest of your character, the only things that are locked off are your last name, your skin tone and your eye colour. Hell, you can even customise your MC's mom to a certain extent so that you look more or less like her)

I do a little bit of game development, and in one specific game I had to make a gender selection screen (as the player is referred to quite a lot). Despite being part of the LGBTQ community, I just put the two options as male and female. I didn't even realize that "hey maybe I should make at least a neutral option". I'd say part of it was my brain acting up, but... I'm not saying we were indoctrinated, buuut

I never thought about a game giving you the possibility of changing name/pronouns/appearance in the middle of a playthrough, but it makes so much sense and it shouldn't even be hard to do at all! I wanna make games and when I do, I'll add that choice 100%. I love this video.

If being a trans man or woman is = to being a cis man or woman, then aren't games already inclusive?

Funnily enough, Lunacid made by Akuma Kira has pronoun character options that dont ever get used in the actual game but upset a lot of people who didnt want representation in their game.

I dont get it. If you're trans woman, you could in game just choose to be woman. And same for trans men?

@chaoticrat7658

10 ай бұрын

They're non binary. They don't fall upon the gender binary.

@espurrseyes42

10 ай бұрын

@@chaoticrat7658 Read the title of the video again.

good video. quite sad that the music overpowered your voice. i have bad hearing and the loud music did not help. the automatic youtube caps did a bit of a good job.

Aww, what an adorable character ! It basically boils down to essentialism and cognitive walls. The Pokémon exemple with the portraits deciding what gender you are stems from the belief that gender is just a "natural" thing one should "assume" rather than query about. Locking re-customization options behind paywalls though is quite enbyphobic. It used to be kind of weird when game devs still put character names as unique IDs in their databases in MMORPGs, but right now any dev worth their salt could allow re-customization by just bothering to add one more UI window. Genshin Impact's approach is also quite enbyphobic and essentialist too, with the game _urging you_ to choose between Stella or Caelus _quickly_ (basically berating the player if they don't have a go-to default binary gender), but given its aspects as a "waifu collection" game and therefore the targeted demographic, it doesn't surprise me in the slightest ("are you here for the waifus or boyfus, and will _you_ be one or the other?"). The male and female genders becoming Type A and Type B is interesting because it kinds of underlines the problem of design: to make nonbinary appearances is to wonder what nonbinary fashion could be like, sometimes in universes where nonbinariness is either non-existent, anomalous or even frowned upon (like in a lot of medieval/low fantasy settings), where finding these pieces of equipment outside of crafting would feel uncanny. But it'd still feel uncanny _now in the real world._ As a... broad-shouldered male-to-enby trans person, I have to find outlandish bra sizes that basically don't exist because my waist is too large by at least 30cm: I'm a "Type A" body type who needs "Type B" customization options, and whoever's making those options has _no idea_ of such a need existing, sizes are totally binary especially as there is two different cuts to accomodate for breasts or lack thereof. Sexual Dimorphism is a bi..h as past and current sexism, gender roles and patriarchy caused darwinian selection favoring the differentiation between both sexes, causing this massive difference in expected body types.

Games: Because there are only boys and girls, no in between! >=(

Goatlings is made by an autistic person, and they let you make your goats be male, female, neutral, and other. and you can change it at any time for free, you can also change your gender icon to male, female, neutral, or nothing/undisplayed. it is a pet based economy game like neopets except theyre all goats with adorable themes that people are so crazy for that the most expensive couple of goats are worth over $1000 of in-game currency. its free to play and 100% ad free, and AD (equivalent to a neopets paintbrush) and item designs are nearly always user submitted, sometimes special things are released by site artists and mods as goodies but they are ALWAYS hosting contests and events for new designs of items and sets for people to enter. your pets have profiles that you can code and put "treasure"/items in

I don’t know why this has been recommended to me. The games I play don’t apply for this or they already have representation

Thank you KZread algorithm

Don't disrespect Backyard Baseball my brother. They've had non-gender-specific character creation since 1998.

great video, audio balancing could use some work hard to hear you over the music

Among the games with robust customization there are quite a few visual novels. Like "i was a teenage exocolonist" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

because pronounces and body types is cringe for most players

@chaoticrat7658

10 ай бұрын

"Cringe" lol. I honestly do not care if people find it "cringe" they just gotta learn to deal with it or just don't play the game.

@MrConredsX

10 ай бұрын

@@chaoticrat7658 people dying from cringe would be a problem

@chaoticrat7658

10 ай бұрын

@@MrConredsX the only people who would cringe at trans people existing deserve to die. So, not much of a problem.

I'm a queer person myself and don't understand this. If I was a trans person, why wouldn't I just pick the gender I transitioned to, or maybe just pick what character I want to be? Most character customisers in games nowadays let you pick any option, whether your character is male or female, so yes, you can make a girl look more like a man if you want to make them trans. The thing is that game companies don't have a reason to let you specify if a character is trans, because trans people make up very little of the population and a lot of trans people wouldn't want to fantasise about being trans. I'm a male and when given the choice between playing as a male or female character, a lot of the time I will pick the female character even when it doesn't effect gameplay. Trans people probably wouldn't always want to play a trans character in the same vein.

"let" - there's your problem right there. If the game was FOSS, the player wouldn't be in the shameful position of begging devs for features but would instead be free to make their own mods to do as they pleased. The gamer community normalizes the use of closed-source distribution models and then complains about the predictable results. I would have had some sympathy had the problem not been entirely self-inflicted

Any game that has a character editor is trans Friendly

Really good explanation! Was a bit surprised though, i expected south park: the fractured but whole to be mentioned because of the games option to identify as transgender.

I don't understand how you can just not play your "desired" gender instead. The nonbinary argument I can understand, but for Transgender I don't understand

@drowningmerman4256

11 ай бұрын

Because it's not about "representation" and other such bullshit, it's about feeling they have the power to strong-arm creators into cattering to them.

@MDG-mykys

11 ай бұрын

​@@drowningmerman4256yikes

There is no reason for your video to be getting the hate that it is \gen. FWIW, negative nancies like in this comment section are thankfully not the majority of humans. I hope you are living your best life and that you can find some peace away from these negative commenters.

I'm just here wondering how many of the "male" folk picking female characters in RPGs are eggs/closet-trans like I was for years or would just quote Werster's old pokemon speedrun FAQ at me about not wanting to "look at a male's arse for 5 hours". The game's where I really struggle with the gender selection is one of my (not anymore I guess) favorites: Fire Emblem Awakening. I don't think that game even has a single sapphic S Support for the female main character, so if I want to be with my usual choice of bride, I am forced to pick a male character. The speedrun picks a female character but is forced to marry a guy for gameplay reasons... There's just no right decision for me...

i mean terraria lets you do that.

You're the outlier, not the average person. You think these things are easily implemented, but they are not and you have NO clue how difficult it is to do the things you ask for.

@chaoticrat7658

10 ай бұрын

It's really not that hard to add the ability to change players' names and pronouns. Tons of games have this already built in with the character customisation. Just let people access the character customisation screen whenever they want, instead of only the start of a new game. Character customisation is harder, but big productions can afford to make hundreds of different outfits. So, They can afford to make different body types. And yeah, we're a minority so what? Minorities should be represented in media.

@Domwyn

10 ай бұрын

@@chaoticrat7658 the question is, do these changes make money? It´s getting harder and harder to make a good game nowadays and catering to "trans ideology" is risky for a lot of firms. Don´t forget that money is everything to firms and videogames are sold world wide. Let´s look at india, china, russia and most of south america for example. They are open homophobic, which could leed to "sanctions"

@theravenousrabbit3671

10 ай бұрын

@@chaoticrat7658 Alright so, first of all... You're asking 50% more workload for the voiceline department, very likely. She/He tends to be common in voicelines, and even when the developers are smart enough to use a generic term like "Hero" or "Dragonborn", etc... You guys still kind of complain. So you're essentially demanding that the voiceline department take on a 50% cost in order to cater to 0.01% of the player base. Anyone who has a business understands that is not feasible. The same goes for anything essentially. Giving that third option does make everything more difficult and very often is not good for business.

@RichConnerGMN

10 ай бұрын

​@@theravenousrabbit3671 you don't seem to understand percentages. allow me to explain: a percentage is just one hundredth of something. that hundrendth is represented with this symbol: % so, for example, if you had 100 apples and you took 20, you would have 20% of the total apples. if you had 500 and took 20, you would only have 4%. and if there are 300 million people in the united states and 3 million trans people, then 1% of them are trans percentages are an actual mathematical thing that you get by simply dividing a portion of something by the total, and not something that you can just pull out of your ass. anyway, trans rights

@chaoticrat7658

10 ай бұрын

@@Domwyn I honestly don't give a shit if it makes money or not.

Idk, maybe because that's literally THE WORST IDEA THAT SOMEONE COULD COME UP WITH!!

@Duskbound

11 ай бұрын

What's so terrible about it? Games are meant to be inclusive fun for everyone, so why not cater to audiences even if they're not a majority?

@BlackbeltHitoshi

11 ай бұрын

@@Duskboundokay that just sounds like your digging for an extreme amount of money.

@Duskbound

11 ай бұрын

@@BlackbeltHitoshi a) that's what companies do. b) that's what video games do. Include people. Let people play their way. This has been done ever since we started making customizable characters in RPGs and such.

@BlackbeltHitoshi

11 ай бұрын

@@Duskboundyeah I would also include people but I'd do it in a disingenuous way that either makes fun of you or admires you depending on what you do.

@Duskbound

11 ай бұрын

@@BlackbeltHitoshi Yeah see that's a little thing called discrimination. What are you making fun of people for? What are you praising them for?

You won't find much nonbinary options or representation in Japanese games. Bigger, more internationally recognized (and therefore more internationally pressured) games like Splatoon may differ. And even then, it took 2 sequels. Among the several reasons is that the Japanese words for sex and gender are the same; thus, there's no distinction between sex and gender. To provide a nonbinary option would be to create a new sexual morphism entirely. Either that or an "unknown" or "??" designation along with dialogue that boils down to "don't ask/worry about it", which people may find insulting. In fact, Japanese law dictates that legal pronoun reassignment occurs only after sex change surgery. At that point, transgender Japanese people would just pick one of the generic male or female options mentioned in the video. Japanese culture prioritizes societal conformity or individual liberty. Being trans is "fine" so long as you confirm to the other sex/gender, which is why that law exists the way it does.

isn't the whole point of playing video games to play somebody different to who you are in reality? confused about the point of this video not every single game has to have a full character creator with no restrictions, in some games you will have to choose between pre-set characters and there's nothing wrong with that, sure it would be nice if the female ones weren't objectified but this video is so complain-y

@isabellegoegebuer2777

11 ай бұрын

I'm a woman and back in the day when I was younger, most games were focused on a male gamer audience. So what was the logical consequence? I often played male characters/protagonists in games. Fortunately soon after games also started offering a female point of view or character you could play as. But even then, I honestly don't really see the point wanting to have an incredibly complex character creator just to suit all of your nitpicky needs. I'm from the era where you played games to get away from reality, where games were still created with lots of passion, where you still used your own imagination to fill up possible gaps and blanks in the intriguing stories being told. Nowadays gamers have become so overly demanding, sometimes to such a ridiculous extend even. They want each game to absolutely cater to their every need and whim. It's taken away a lot of the magic, to be honest. For example, in Dragon Age Origins, you meet characters, and each character has their own unique romantic interest, meaning you playing a male or female character means you can't just romance anyone in your party. Whereas in Dragon Age 2 everyone is magically pansexual and waiting to just get into your pants. It's so immersion-breaking.

@brumm0m3ntum94

11 ай бұрын

one of the main examples in this video of a good implementation of this was the new splatoon having four body options, none of which were particularly gendered

@weatherman1504

Ай бұрын

I think it's silly to think like there is a "whole point of playing video games". People play video games for their own purposes and reasons. In many video games I create a character based on me to act as my avatar in game. It adds some degree of immersion and investment in plot decisions. If you don't see the appeal, that's fine (I also often make characters based off of other characters), but don't look down on people who do see the appeal.

I need this person's pronouns, someone please help me out

Don't have much to say except nice video

Outsider looking in to be brutally honest. The reason they don't care is because it's not worth it. The trans-movement, whether you'll admit it or not, is an innately political movement - taking a side will alienate the opposition. Brands _typically_ don't want to tell a third of their playerbase to jump off a cliff in standard political signaling. But the trans and queer community is somewhere between 2% and 0.1% depending on whether you count gays. And with most queer communities (which we called "gaymers" back in the day) they usually don't even play the game, they either queer-hunt (looking for games that have openly gay voice actors or scenes), or complain on social media while not being a gamer. So nothing short of making a highly niche and unappealing romance simulator with trans characters would appease them. So why bother? If they don't plan to play the games anyway, if even adding a "they/them" option will drop sales 35%, and adding pride flags drop sales 17%, why get involved at all? You're too finnicky and niche a group to bother appealing to in a broad sense. Games either have to be perfectly catered to you, or they might as well not bother.

@Ultrox007

11 ай бұрын

"the best queer game is cyberpunk number whatever, I don't know because I never played it. But it has a lot of genital customization making it great for queer groups. But considering it released to mixed reviews, you should pass on it." This is exactly what I'm talking about. You don't play games, they're not your hobby. So they shouldn't cater to you.

@Ihavecereal

11 ай бұрын

Dude, what the fuck are you talking about? The main point of the whole video is that character customization should include everyone. Every video game is a niche.

@drowningmerman4256

11 ай бұрын

@@Ihavecereal " character customization should include everyone" It does already: male and female.

@espurrseyes42

10 ай бұрын

@@Ihavecereal Including everyone is nowhere near as simple as you think. Every dialogue option that mentions a pronouns referring to the PC has to have an alternate version of the line for both genders. I GUESS they could made that particular word a variable that provides the appropriate pronoun where needed, but given the raw amount of times that'd be used in the game, it's still a lot of work. And this is just assuming male and female. God forbid they start trying to implement "they/them" without making things confusing since those are meant to be plural pronouns. It's a pain in the ass that just isn't worth it to appease 1% of the Earth's population. Nevermind that the LGBT will still find a way to complain about their inclusivity as they always do. TLDR "You're too finnicky and niche a group to bother appealing to in a broad sense. Games either have to be perfectly catered to you, or they might as well not bother."