Trans Inclusiveness in 2018 Video Games
Video games have been used for escapism by many people since the beginning of gaming. Today, the video games industry is a multibillion dollar industry that dominates the pop culture. A positive effect of the industry’s growth has been the diversification of the ideas and characters presented in games. Of course, this has not been without its tensions, and the industry is still largely dominated by cis straight white males, but it’s certainly better than it once was.
For trans gamers, however, the representation is so minimal as to be nonexistent. Many major games still use transphobia as a punchline even if the tone of the series overall is that of a welcoming one, such as the Yakuza series. Yet two games released this year have proven how easy it is to provide trans gamers a seat at the table. In fact, the two games are better games for having done so. Those games are Monster Prom and Battletech.
Monster Prom is a multiplayer visual novel by Beautiful Glitch Games in which players try to seduce a monster within three weeks so they can accompany them to the prom. At the start of any game, players choose from between four player characters. Two of those characters are feminine presenting, and the other two are masculine presenting. However, after selecting your character, you then have the option to change their pronouns. Any character, regardless of appearance, can be he, she, or they.
This simple inclusion has proven to be welcoming to trans and nonbinary players, as the characters’ genders are not strictly defined by their physical appearance. Even better, no character in the game treats the player any differently. A character that is outwardly masculine yet uses she/her pronouns is regarded as completely normal. That small change has made the game more approachable than it would have been otherwise.
Battletech is the latest game by Harebrained Schemes. In it, players create their own characters and run a band of mercenary mech pilots as they scrape by from job to job. At the start of the game, players create their character using an in-depth character creator. They pick the character’s history, where in the galaxy they hail from, and, yes, the character’s pronouns. Regardless of how masculine, feminine, or androgynous one makes their character, the choice between he, she, and they is always there. A woman with a beard or a man with breasts are both completely fair game.
Like with Monster Prom, this helps make the game more welcoming to trans players as many players can make themselves in a video game for, perhaps, the first time. In fact , due to the in-depth character creator, players can actually create a character that looks like them without having to forego their chosen gender. It also increases the role playing possibilities of the game as a character can now actually be crafted as trans. It is encouraging to see a game that prizes its ability to facilitate role playing without then actively stifling players by forcing them to be cis if they choose not be.
Both of these games came out this year, and their reception has been encouraging to say the least. The inclusion of pronoun selection requires minimal work to implement, yet it goes a long way to helping trans gamers feel represented and seen. Representation is good for our mental health, and helps make us less alienated by an industry that we love. Of course, the option to keep creating cis characters is still there, and, hey, don’t be a jerk to us who are happy to finally be represented by video games. It’s only taken forty years.
