It undermines what it means to be male or female. The implication that I must use a pronoun to identify my character's gender suggests that his gender alone isn't enough to identify him. The pronoun is self-evident based on gender. I can't immerse myself in a game where my gender isn't specific, biological gender is a fundamental part of anyone's identity.

Yes, I'm sure they're hoping that the average player doesn't notice what they're doing by forcing people to play characters with ambiguous genders. People are more intelligent than they're assuming though, a lot of people are seeing through it.

Well, then there ought to be "male protagonist" tag, if its use is completely benign, shouldn't there? Not to mention that the tag itself appeared around the time of the whole gamergate dustup.

Also, do go into any RPG game's forum that does not have that tag, or *gasp* dares to have a male protagonist instead, and read some of the "arguments."

From where I am standing, it's absolutely a weaponized thing.

Good grief.

So you've stopped rainforest destruction and established a sustainable economy that's able to adequately provide for all of the people of Brazil? Well that's amazing! Please tell us how you did it so we can replicate these incredible successes around the globe!

You're the left wing equivalent of an anti-abortion crusader. Bile, vitriol and "righteous" indignation. And spittle. But nothing in the way of practical solutions to reduce the human misery index. o.O

That's why I felt like this is a very personal issue, because I think many people don't really have that problem. For one, you don't necessarily have to identify with your character, and then again, you can always use your imagination to fill out the blanks. In this case, all you'd have to do is to confirm in your head that yes, this very "male" looking dude who's referred to by the pronoun "he" is definitely a "male" like you would like to imagine, no doubt and no insecurities about it. Why wouldn't he be a "male" if "he" looks like one and you decide he definitely is? It's your character!

I find it hard to believe that you're not *able* to do that, although I guess such cases exists. But frankly, the vibe that I'm getting here is more that you just don't want to, because you're fundamentally opposed to the idea that others might see their "male" looking dude referred to by the pronoun "he" as a woman or something. Or you just don't want to because you find it more important to challenge the devs' supposed political views than to try playing the game.

If it's all about immersion, I'm curious: Assuming you would be able to choose between "male" or "female" sex but no portraits, would you find it easier to immerse yourself into the game?

The problem is that we live in a world where our differences define us, rather than our commonality, and that makes conflict almost inescapable.

Perhaps I can help. Do you agree that it's basic human nature to want to see ourselves in stories, that it's easier to relate to that way? Would you agree that we like to see people like ourselves triumph and succeed in stories, to see "us" be the good guys?

We like seeing "us" in stories, and we feel good when "we" save the day. So imagine what it's like for demographics that rarely or never encounter such stories. This doesn't apply just on gender lines, but any line. Race/ gender/ sex/ religion/ age/ politics/ orientation/ whatever.... people for whom there's a dearth of positive stories for their group will feel starved for them, and call for them to be made and shared.

But to add insult to injury, people opposed to certain demographics may fight to suppress or block such stories, creating friction. For example, there are still countless millions that oppose gays being shown in stories at all, and certainly never in a positive light, let alone saving the day. What do you suppose it's like living a life without EVER seeing positive role models for your demographic?? To constantly be shown in negative lights and disparaged as villains, but rarely shown in positive lights as heroes?

If you've never once gone hungry, it may be hard to understand why some people can get SO emotional over a single meal. But there is a reason.

What's a ping pong match of toxicity without "tu quoque" eh?

No, that's not how it works.

A person is a woman if she identifies as such; it doesn't actually matter about her biological characteristics. Plus, biological characteristics can change; a woman who starts injecting testosterone in appropriate amounts will start developing male characteristics like facial hair and strong muscles, and her voice will drop into the range and timbre normally associated with adult men, but if she still identifies as a woman, she is still a woman. (It is likely that someone who decides to take testosterone in this manner will actually identify as a man, and will just be changing his body to match who he really is.)

when it is systematic. it is not exactly a lack of games with white male characters...
your argument: game x is racist because it does not have y ethnic characters
mine argument: in that case all games are racist, as no game contain all ethnic representations. why is game x racist, and not all others such as game a, b and c
your counterargument: shut up

Not only would this not ruin the game for the average player, but for those players who are transgender or gender non-conforming, it is really a nice touch, and will really increase one's enjoyment of the game.

By the way, Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope has a nice feature called "body swap", which allows you to change the sprites and pronouns of each major character, separately, and the dialog will change appropriately if you change pronouns. For example, you can make it so that the game says "save him" instead of "save her" during the scenes involving Shield Knight, and you can choose to storm Queen Knight's castle. Or, of course, you could have a King Knight who wears a dress (or at least I assume you could) by swapping his body but not his pronouns. I especially enjoyed, in the Battletoads cameo scene, being called a blue lady (IIRC, but it was definitely a feminine term) instead of being called a blue dude.

Actually, I would say it's the other way around; gender is (typically) self-evident based on pronouns. Gender is a part of many people's identity, but one's gender identity can differ from one's sex assigned at birth.

Also, there is no simple definition of "biological gender" that is suitable here. Whatever definition you can think of, I can find counter-examples that cause the definition to fail (either by mis-classifying someone, or by failing to classify someone).

Well, conflict is the core of any decent story. That's pretty much the first thing you learn.

That hardly equates to introducing conflict for its own sake as a good means of storytelling. A story is elements interweaving to produce a coherent narrative. If you put things just "because," it breaks the coherency.

Perhaps I severely misunderstand what you mean, though. My apologies, I've been dealing with somewhat severe poisoning for a few days, and it muddles my thoughts.

Not entirely. We do like to find a reflection of self in stories, but that does not necessarily mean we have to find them in the protagonist of the story, or somebody similar to us in every other way.

I immensely enjoyed The Longest Journey, for instance. The character was hardly comparable to who I am, in both physical and mental presentation. I can enjoy Telltale's Game of Thrones, despite the progression of characters in it (and limited choices) making it hardly possible to identify with most of the protagonists.

Most of the RPGs I play, I pick female characters. If the game has voice-over, I have always found the female voice-over artists much more pleasant (and, for that matter, skilled - looking at you specifically here, male Commander Derpard). I find the female models much more aesthetically pleasing. If the game is set in a world that includes strict division of gender roles (or "racism/speciesism for that matter), I get a kick from my character tweaking their nose and proving it idiotic by personal example.

I am about as similar to those characters as I am to, say, Geralt of Rivia. It does not prevent me from enjoying the games in any way.

I enjoy good stories. I don't care if they are written about a man, a woman, a kitten, or a transitsexual dragon/apache helicopter hybrid, as long as the I find the storytelling itself enjoyable.

My problem is not with finding something that appeals to somebody specifically for whatever reason.

My problem is attacking stories that do not conform to such preferences just because of that. And the "Female protagonist" tag, according to my observation and experience, specifically serves that purpose.

Well, segregating stories based on such divisive terms hardly helps the situation.

Here's my question - why should sexuality of the protagonist matter if it is not part of the overall story? Unless it's specifically stated (which a lot of games do not do), you are welcome to imagine that character however you want.

Yet you do not see an issue with exactly this type of demonization going on right now in both directions?

People are quite literally demanding that games be made in certain way, regardless of the scope and intent of original design, simply to address some often imaginary wrongs.

Games in fictional settings have long been quite open, at least in racial terms. We're getting there in terms of sexuality, but demanding "representation quotas" is about the most idiotic way to go about it that I can think of. On the other hand, demanding modern mixed race representation in places like medieval Bohemia is just idiotic, yet Vavra took a lot of flak for daring to defend such absence in his pseudo-historical game.

Not a good example. I don't need to be run through with a sword, for instance, to have an empathic response to presentation of such action in fiction (even if mostly it's ignored - Dragon Age: Origin had a nice scene with the Human Noble origin that played on it).

The problem is that, as far as my personal perception is concerned, there is a divisive agenda being pushed on creators under the excuse of "equal rights." And if the demand does not come from the desire to truly achieve egalitarian approach to such things, then it makes such demands all the more damned in my eyes.

This. I don't usually quote a post just to say I agree with it, but this post is spot on. (Also, +1.)

Oh, bullshit.

We are affected by our physicality far more than most realize. As far as current technology level is concerned, somebody having gone through the most extensive transgender procedures would still retain heavy dose of their original biological characteristics. Which would absolutely make them differentiable from a person born into the desired gender (the reproductive capacity completely aside).

Until we can "reformat" the entire body, AND make appropriate changes to the brain itself to simulate years of growth under the "wrong" gender, self-identification is a social construct, not a biological one. With appropriate limitations to its applicability.

I can empathise with people born with the "wrong" body, but it hardly changes the reality of things. Gender is a biological definition.