Trans Player Character?

[Grαεy Rebis]

Dunno if this has been asked before but I was wondering if there's been anything said by the devs about having a Trans Player Character?

EDIT: Hey, Moderators. Can you delete this discussion? There's a lot of people being weird on here for some reason.

[Vilhelm]

The main characters gender are not specified in anyway so you could roleplay them as trans honestly.

[Miche]

How will that make the game better?

[Swintcore]

Why do you want to play as trans instead of your preferred gender?

[Rustypug]

ofc the final fantasy 14 player is asking

[BEAR]

how yall gonna try and ♥♥♥♥ on someone wanting representation in a videogame about literally ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ monsters and animals ridiculous

being able to switch body types independent of your genitalia would be nice though

[Hawke]

Originally posted by SHEEP:

how yall gonna try and ♥♥♥♥ on someone wanting representation in a videogame about literally ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ monsters and animals ridiculous

being able to switch body types independent of your genitalia would be nice though

Agreed. Though, I assume that changing each scene would require a lot of work.

[Tianlu/Bixie]

Originally posted by boi513:

Why do you want to play as trans instead of your preferred gender?

Easy, people want to play as a realistic representation of themselves and the journey they went through. That's often something in between, not either/or.

[Thorley23]

This will be long, but the gist of it is that anyone who is genuinely Trans simply believes themselves to be, or identifies more with, the opposite gender. In a game with male and female options a person can simply choose the gender they want their character to represent as, and actually be that gender for the purpose of the game. There is no point to any kind of specific "trans identity" other than some troll trying to demand a ton of content all about such issues. In many games it doesn't even make sense, for example in D&D based games there has been a way to change gender (Girdle of Femininity/Masculinity) since 1E and science fiction games like "Starfield" in part make no sense in having pronouns and things like trans representation as there is literally in-game technology presented fully in character whereby people can change their gender, there is a corporation selling such services with in game lore. Thus these would be non-issues if someone found themselves in that situation. It's a big part of why people complain about inserting real-world politics into fantasy worlds where they are not going to apply as anyone with those issues would be ridiculous for such representation given access to a solution. In Paizo's "Pathfinder" world in their published adventure "Wrath Of The Righteous" the NPC Anevia (also in the video game version) for example used magic to become a woman in order to enter into a lesbian relationship. Thus given that possibility there would be no trans people in Golarion, everyone simply is the gender they want to be.

It should also be noted when it comes to Trans issues, and to be fair a lot of social issues, there are issues with the target group representing themselves unreasonably, and taking advantage of ignorant trends where they think someone that is part of the group, or a faction of it, can speak for the group. In reality to solve most real issues involves someone outside of the box who understand not only that, but the other problems intersecting with it.

To keep it mostly to trans issues, understand that far less than 1% of the population is actually trans. The 5% LGBTQ+ population is broken down as 2% Bi, 1% Gay, 1% Lesbian, and 1% making up everything else including trans people. This means most people representing as trans are not actually trans in this sense.

Mental illnesses like DID (Disassociative Identity Disorder) can include a trans sexual component. Hollywood likes to take that to the "split personality" extreme, with say Normal Bates being a cinematic example of an extreme case of DID with a trans component. In reality most DID basically involves people having core awareness of who they are but relying on a false persona as a shield for some reason, never going as far as a split personality. The idea being that someone might create a flamboyant trans identity to shield the real person, grow to rely on it, and then get stuck so far inside their own head that it causes increasing detachment from reality and impairs function and social acceptance.

To simplify things greatly, an actual trans person is typically just themselves, as themselves except for the gender difference. The more points their identity differs from their actual reality the more likely they are mentally ill and not actually trans, and have something like DID. For example if the person's trans identity that they have to live as to be comfortable has a different name, and is also very physically unlike them (say an obese male who insists he is really a beautiful, svelte female), then there is an increased chance it is DID with a transgender component... or other disorders. The "trans suicide rate" is actually very similar to untreated DID cases, with the central problem being the core awareness and the eventual realization that no matter how nice people might be to them reality can never be their fantasy identity, so they off themselves due to not being able to have that.

You will notice when looking at the so called trans population, and also many other people claiming rare identities, they argue self-knowledge, they have never actually been diagnosed, as even most activists infiltrating the fields have some integrity when it comes to extreme cases. Part of the lack of diagnosis is that many people with rare sexual identities know if actually looked at by a professional it will not go their way, their only real chance would be getting some kind of activist with no integrity, and that is a massive dice roll even today. The thing about this though is that since mentally ill people are typically confident in their delusions, it means self-knowledge is unreliable in these cases, which is why professional, impartial, diagnosis is important.

To use other examples your typical Asexual who tried to get that dianosis would likely find an actual sex therapist dosing them with Erox and having sex worker (perhaps on payroll just for stuff like this) try and get them off. They will lean that they simply have a low sex drive (which is part of why they would use a drug like Erox), or more likely are just trying to convince themselves they have no interest, rather than being social rejects who the opposite gender just isn't into, and it's more empowering to claim an identity than be honest with yourself and strive for self improvement, or just accept that in this aspect of human life your just well below average and are going to have to without due to the freedom of other humans and your own nature.

This isn't to knock anyone so much as to explain why trans issues don't belong in games. The only real issue is that when your doing a game that doesn't rely on a specific character and there is only one gender option. If there is a gender option (and there is one here) a trans person can choose an avatar to represent what they want as I said. There is no reasonable reason to complain. Anyone offended by this likely has some kind of personal mental issues, or is simply trying to create outrage to get attention.

[ryanwilson277]

Originally posted by Graey Rebis:

Dunno if this has been asked before but I was wondering if there's been anything said by the devs about having a Trans Player Character?

The following is from their Official Discord Server FAQ:

Will you add character creation, skin tone, cosmetics, intersex & trans options for the playable protagonists?
• Adding options for a multitude of options for protagonists - including skin tone, trans & intersex options are some of our most highly requested features
• Extra support for cosmetics such as equippable clothing that appears on the character are also requested from time to time

• Unfortunately these options are not possible at this late stage of Cloud Meadow development
• They’re simply too much work & not congruent with systems or restrictions that were put into the game many years ago - we've designed our way into a corner on this one
• Given the player feedback these will certainly be a strong consideration in future projects

[Hawke]

Originally posted by Cherry Dye:

Originally posted by Graey Rebis:

Dunno if this has been asked before but I was wondering if there's been anything said by the devs about having a Trans Player Character?

The following is from their Official Discord Server FAQ:

Will you add character creation, skin tone, cosmetics, intersex & trans options for the playable protagonists?
• Adding options for a multitude of options for protagonists - including skin tone, trans & intersex options are some of our most highly requested features
• Extra support for cosmetics such as equippable clothing that appears on the character are also requested from time to time

• Unfortunately these options are not possible at this late stage of Cloud Meadow development
• They’re simply too much work & not congruent with systems or restrictions that were put into the game many years ago - we've designed our way into a corner on this one
• Given the player feedback these will certainly be a strong consideration in future projects

Thank you for the information.

[JudgeHeath]

Originally posted by Cherry Dye:

Originally posted by Graey Rebis:

Dunno if this has been asked before but I was wondering if there's been anything said by the devs about having a Trans Player Character?

The following is from their Official Discord Server FAQ:

Will you add character creation, skin tone, cosmetics, intersex & trans options for the playable protagonists?
• Adding options for a multitude of options for protagonists - including skin tone, trans & intersex options are some of our most highly requested features
• Extra support for cosmetics such as equippable clothing that appears on the character are also requested from time to time

• Unfortunately these options are not possible at this late stage of Cloud Meadow development
• They’re simply too much work & not congruent with systems or restrictions that were put into the game many years ago - we've designed our way into a corner on this one
• Given the player feedback these will certainly be a strong consideration in future projects

To add onto this specifically, I wish to also specify that you can pick your pronouns and physical appearance separately from one another, but there's no intention of adding any form of narrative focus on this. In the world of Cloud Meadow magic is common enough, and various species and gender expressions so varied, that they don't have the same hangups, expectations, or forms of bigotry that we do IRL, and we didn't feel qualified to make a narrative touching on the very real IRL issues all transfolks face.

[Hawke]

Originally posted by JudgeHeath:

Originally posted by Cherry Dye:

The following is from their Official Discord Server FAQ:

Will you add character creation, skin tone, cosmetics, intersex & trans options for the playable protagonists?
• Adding options for a multitude of options for protagonists - including skin tone, trans & intersex options are some of our most highly requested features
• Extra support for cosmetics such as equippable clothing that appears on the character are also requested from time to time

• Unfortunately these options are not possible at this late stage of Cloud Meadow development
• They’re simply too much work & not congruent with systems or restrictions that were put into the game many years ago - we've designed our way into a corner on this one
• Given the player feedback these will certainly be a strong consideration in future projects

To add onto this specifically, I wish to also specify that you can pick your pronouns and physical appearance separately from one another, but there's no intention of adding any form of narrative focus on this. In the world of Cloud Meadow magic is common enough, and various species and gender expressions so varied, that they don't have the same hangups, expectations, or forms of bigotry that we do IRL, and we didn't feel qualified to make a narrative touching on the very real IRL issues all transfolks face.

Thank you for the information. It is nice to hear.

[Grαεy Rebis]

Originally posted by boi513:

Why do you want to play as trans instead of your preferred gender?

Because some people are trans non-binary/GNC and I would like to know if this is in the roadmap.

Originally posted by Miche:

How will that make the game better?

I mean, it definitely won't make the game worse. I don't understand the question here.

Originally posted by Thorley23:

This will be long.

Yeah, I'm not reading your thesis paper. Sorry.

[Grαεy Rebis]

Originally posted by JudgeHeath:

Originally posted by Cherry Dye:

The following is from their Official Discord Server FAQ:

Will you add character creation, skin tone, cosmetics, intersex & trans options for the playable protagonists?
• Adding options for a multitude of options for protagonists - including skin tone, trans & intersex options are some of our most highly requested features
• Extra support for cosmetics such as equippable clothing that appears on the character are also requested from time to time

• Unfortunately these options are not possible at this late stage of Cloud Meadow development
• They’re simply too much work & not congruent with systems or restrictions that were put into the game many years ago - we've designed our way into a corner on this one
• Given the player feedback these will certainly be a strong consideration in future projects

To add onto this specifically, I wish to also specify that you can pick your pronouns and physical appearance separately from one another, but there's no intention of adding any form of narrative focus on this. In the world of Cloud Meadow magic is common enough, and various species and gender expressions so varied, that they don't have the same hangups, expectations, or forms of bigotry that we do IRL, and we didn't feel qualified to make a narrative touching on the very real IRL issues all transfolks face.

Thanks for the answers and your time. I greatly appreciate it as well as your politeness. In comparison to some of the other answers of this discussion, it's very refreshing. Hope ya have a good day.

[Grαεy Rebis]

Originally posted by Hawke:

Agreed. Though, I assume that changing each scene would require a lot of work.

Oh, yeah. It'd definitely be more work. That's why I'm asking if they've said if they have plans for it in the first place. If they are, that's super cool because more CC options is always good. If they're not, that's also fine because I'm not gonna ask them to add more to their workload if they weren't planning on it to begin with. Common courtesy and all that.

I tried to search for the answer before posting the question but didn't find anything besides either fanart - which, by the way, nice - or people being weird and vehemently arguing against the concept. I hoped that the forums would give me a straightforward answer but alas, people do be posting entire essays about how they don't believe trans people should be in their sexy teratophilia farming game.