Why are some people so hell-bent on creating self-inserts in RPGs like this one?

[Ereghor the Enigmatic]

It's a fantasy setting. Your character is supposed to be a part of that setting, or at least the story tries to sell them as such.

I am genuinely confused as to why people would use their character who is mechanically driven to kill, steal, and allegedly lay everything that moves according to what priorities people seem to have as a proxy for being represented/validated/their blatant fetishes satisfied?

You'd think an RPG is about role-playing and getting immersed in the story, not running around as a futa elf - which is now an option. Is that really the primary consumer base Larian decided to tackle, instead of, well, those who expected a new return to form for CRPGs? Because most articles and discussions and promotional material right now are less focused on the RPG aspect or mechanics or anything remotely clever and more on how there's a smattering of hair options for every ethnicity to be included and how there is a whole collection of genitalia options (but not any kind of facial or bodily customization...).

It just feels like the developers saying "screw it" and instead of taking their own game (and the setting they use) seriously proceeding to allow every sort of nonsense to run rampant because "player freedom (tm)". I'd rather take being able to pick the city/country of origin for a custom character than all of that, frankly...

[Quacksalber]

Originally posted by dulany67:

Originally posted by Grimbot:

I had to look up "futa elf". And even now I'm not sure how your classic form of role playing has been damaged by whatever's bothering you.

I did also, and I kind of feel like its a badge of honor not to be in the know.

I don't know what it is and also cba to look it up :D

[Jekko]

I WILL self-insert as various types of dwarfs

[Zef]

The same reason people (mostly women) recreate themselves and their crushes + family in the SIMS and role with it.

SInce there is some romance (no idea how in depth it will be), it makes sense people want to self insert them in the story instead of another character.

[Wubbinz]

Just play your single player game how you want and don't think about others. You'll live a happier life.

[Omence072]

Most people are simple creatures. I agree that it's more important and entertaining to immerse yourself into the story.

[SpaceNvader]

Quite the dog whistle here.

[K. Constantine]

Some people cannot roleplay characters different from themselves.
Some people have aphantasia.
Some people don't have an inner monologue.
People are people, let them enjoy the game how they want.

[zenebatos1]

Originally posted by Zalemz:

What are you even trying to say... are you actually complaining about more customization options? Really feels like you're creating a problem out of thin air. Have fun with that, I guess!

No you din't understand.

He's talking about the latest trend why Leftoid Twitturds are always crying about "the lack of representation and inclusivity" in video games.

Where they are pissed if the main character of a game is fit & strong instead of Fat and slob like like themselfs.

The "Inclusivity" and "Representation" is the new Holy grail, deranged Mental Illness victims like to use as a way to undermine the validity of a game, cause everyone, somehow needs everything to catter to them especially...

Wich defeats the whole point of escapism and video games in general, if every character had to be a 1 : 1 Insert of yourself to be "valid"...

It goes with the "barbie is harming the representation of woman and the expections of little girls" feminist rants, while Boys have had He-Man for the past 40 years and no one batted an eyelid about this...

Not that all of this really applies to BG3 imo, yes people could make some self-inserts , but the Companions and Origins characters are FAAARRRR from anything the classic Twittard is like, so i think we're ok on that front...

[KiT2142]

Running around as futa elf IS role playing and I fail to see what seems to be the problem. Devs give you AN OPTION. It's up to you if yow want to use it or not

[Arani]

Originally posted by Ereghor the Enigmatic:

...
I am genuinely confused as to why people would use their character who is mechanically driven to kill, steal, and allegedly lay everything that moves according to what priorities people seem to have as a proxy for being represented/validated/their blatant fetishes satisfied?

You'd think an RPG is about role-playing and getting immersed in the story, not running around as a futa elf - which is now an option.

Ah, so this is what this topic is all about. For the thousandth time of course.

Originally posted by Ereghor the Enigmatic:

Is that really the primary consumer base Larian decided to tackle, instead of, well, those who expected a new return to form for CRPGs?

Yes absolutely. An optional choice means everyone must now make that choice. You also have to play a gay Astarion and get that bear D. 100%. Because that's what a choice means, right?

DnD is a work of fiction, and it reflects the world and the consumers it was created for, in 1974. Since then, our world has changed quite a bit, especially culturally and socially. Nowadays it's not just white men playing the game. It's everyone. This is why WotC has made numerous changes over the years. But it's not just WotC either. Every single addon, comic, book, game, movie, every creator behind whatever product uses the license has their own creative freedom and even responsibility to add inclusivity options to the game. To make it a little bit better for everyone (yes, even for you, because contrary to your belief, you don't have to make that choice in your own game and with your own character), and more to the point for them, just to sell more. Now of course, labeling transgenderism as a fetish says everything we need to know about you, but I'm just going to go on anyway.

Someone who doesn't know their source material might think that trans or LGBTQ+ people in general have no place in Forgotten Realms. I mean I could just point out that there are numerous spells, abilities and magical items that can physically alter your appearance infinitely more radically than just adjusting your height, proportions and genitalia. But I think more to the point, Forgotten Realms was created by Ed Greenwood. His book Elminster: The Making of a Mage (1994), is literally official historical fact for Forgotten Realms. In that book, the goddess of magic Mystra changed Elminster into a woman to teach him the basics of truly understanding magic. She took the name Elmara and spent several years as a woman in service to Mystra. The book explores in great detail how completely everything changed for her. She became more attuned to her emotions and empathy. Her body was smaller and weaker and her emotional state and demeanor changed into a more feminine one. People would treat her completely differently from what she was used to, and she gained a new and full understanding of what it was like to live as a woman. She would even have physical relationships with men. Ultimately when Elmara had learned enough magic, she was able to turn back into Elminster. But Elmara's story never ended. Her identity had become so important to Elminster that he would continue to change between Elminster and Elmara to this day. Sometimes because it was just advantageous yes, but often simply because he was no longer just a man. He was both a man and a woman, and both parts were his core identity. Today we have a name for that: nonbinary.

As I said, Elminster: The Making of a Mage was published in 1994. It was in many ways ahead of its time at least culturally. It was also the first book I ever read exploring what being trans can be like, although I didn't realize it at the time both because I was very young and the world was different. I simply found this unbiased exploration of the relationship of being a man or a woman fascinating. It made me think of how my life might change if I was suddenly a woman. Would my friends, hobbies, my self-image, personality etc. change? How would I feel about that? That, and I thought of it as a beautifully written example of just what all is possible in a world of magic. Something that's been fueling my imagination ever since.

The issue of self-insertion in RPG's is an interesting topic for a couple of reasons. For one, if you're a white straight male playing a white(ish) straight male character, aren't you self-inserting? It seems a bit hypocritical to complain to different people who wish for inclusiveness, when you already benefit from full 100% inclusiveness in pretty much everything you do. You've never had to feel what it's like when you can't pick something that is close to you. Or, and be honest now, how many times have you played say a black female in any game? How about gays? Any LGBTQ+ or racial minority at all? The second point is an interesting thing I discovered while just reading about games and people's chosen genders in general. Turns out that for a LOT of trans people, videogames are where they first discover they are trans. Most of them don't even realize it. They just naturally feel more comfortable playing a different gender from their own. Because games have none of the burdens of real life. You don't have to worry about what your family or friends or other people think. You don't have to even think about surgeries or HRT. What your real life self looks like or sounds like makes no difference. It's a clean slate. In games, you can be anything you want to be, with no risk, trouble, hassle, or anything else involved.

Again, this is a difficult concept for someone to understand who has their whole lives felt right at home in their body, role, culture, and social relationships. Empathy by definition requires that you can put yourself in another's shoes, to understand at least in some way how they feel. How could you ever understand something you have never felt? Something that's completely alien to you? Trans people do not feel at home at all. Every day, every moment, they feel that something is wrong. They look wrong, feel wrong, sound wrong, act wrong, dress wrong, are treated wrong, looked at wrong, and wrong things are expected of them. That is, until they come out, embrace who they are, and change everything about themselves from their appearance to clothing to voice to their general attitude into what they feel comfortable as. Become outside, who they are inside. But things are not binary, trans people come in all shapes and colours, some with their old equipment and others not. Regardless of where they end up in their journey, like all people most of them want to embrace who they are. If that person is a girl with a peepee or a guy with a veegee? Then so be it, nothing wrong with that.

The inclusiveness in the game, from skin colours to hairstyles to pronouns to voice to body type to equipment is not about a fetish. That's an extremely insulting thing to say. It's not even about trans people really. It's about everyone. Every person can in their own games create a character they are comfortable with no matter their race, gender, age, sexual preference, anything at all. And that everyone includes YOU too, and those white straight males. But just because they might like something that looks like them, or an idealized version of themsemves, doesn't mean they aren't every bit as interested as that white straight male in exploring what it's like to brawl, cast spells, heal, shapeshift, shoot arrows, go stabby with daggers, be good or evil or anything inbetween. As for the cultural implications in general, we know people. LGBTQ+ people are real, nonbinary people are literally in the lore. We *know* that if Forgotten Realms was real, there would absolutely be futa elves, dwarves and whatever else in there running around, and nobody would bat an eye. Because magic.

Finally, I'd like origins to be open to custom characters too. But let's be real here, between a choice of genitalia you'll likely see once (if that) in the entire game, and rewriting all origin quests and dialogue and redoing all the cinematics to account for a custom character that could be literally anything... it's pretty easy to see which one was the easy win, and which one would have cost a ton in an already huge, long, and expensive game. I do hope however that whatever game Larian does next, they will on day one plan to have origins playable with any custom character. I mean, that should be their entire point.

[Anako]

Let people play how they want?

[Cutlass Jack]

You have it backwards. Not making a self insert is exactly why I like to see as many options as possible. More options are always better than less. Always.

If I can make some wildly different characters across multiple playthroughs to see as much as possible It's an RPG I'll remember forever. I'll play multiple genders, races, colors, sexual preferences etc if it leads to something interesting.

Larian making a game where you could play whatever you wants is the right call. Being able to vaguely self insert is just a happy extra benefit that comes with more options.

[katzenkrimis]

Originally posted by Ereghor the Enigmatic:

Proceeding to allow every sort of nonsense to run rampant

If you think this is bad, then you haven't played enough MMO's.

Those games were like walking TikTok accounts.

[MarkFranz]

Originally posted by Ereghor the Enigmatic:

You'd think an RPG is about role-playing and getting immersed in the story, not running around as a futa elf - which is now an option.

I find Faerun setting repulsive, so i don't care about world that much. I play this game because it's Larian game and i liked they writting in Divinity OS II. I will play futa human, in heavy modded game, and will roleplay as futa-human in context of her ending up in that sh*tshow what Faerun is. And it's will be fun to me.

[Aria Athena]

Originally posted by Ereghor the Enigmatic:

I am genuinely confused as to why people would use their character who is mechanically driven to kill, steal, and allegedly lay everything that moves according to what priorities people seem to have as a proxy for being represented/validated/their blatant fetishes satisfied?

My character is driven to protect herself, thank you very much. Don't assume her priorities.