Why are we always women?

[Noodles4Lyfe]

I'm not being sexist or anything, it's just that no matter the silhouette, it seems every single character refers to you as a woman, even if your silhouette is a man.

Again, not being sexist, it just takes away from the immersion of the game.

Edit: Ironically, the one time I'm referring to as a "He", I was playing a girl.
It seems I was just unlucky for my first 3 runs.

[Magus]

Originally posted by Noodles4Lyfe:

I'm not being sexist or anything, it's just that no matter the silhouette, it seems every single character refers to you as a woman, even if your silhouette is a man.

Again, not being sexist, it just takes away from the immersion of the game.

Edit: Ironically, the one time I'm referring to as a "He", I was playing a girl. Amazing

There is nothing to indicate the gender when selecting a teen player character. I'm not sure what in the selection screen leads you to believe the teen selected is a specific gender.

It is incorrect to say that all possible player character choices are female. As noted in your edit, you can be referred to as male or female pronouns. I would also note, that being misgendered happens regularly, and just because a stranger refers to your teen as "he" or "she" doesn't mean your teen is a "he" or a "she".

Again, nothing indicates the gender of the teen player character, you can choose for them to be any gender you want. If you would prefer to play as male characters only, then pretend every teen you choose is male. If a stranger refers to your teen as "she", you've been misgendered, that happens in real life too.

TLDR: Both male and female pronouns are used to refer to the player character throughout the game.

[Noodles4Lyfe]

I've just been unlucky then, I've only been "he" once.

And sorry if I didn't make this clear enough, but it was the silhouettes when you pick your character. Some are clearly male, and some are clearly female.

[Magus]

Originally posted by Noodles4Lyfe:

I've just been unlucky then, I've only been "he" once.

And sorry if I didn't make this clear enough, but it was the silhouettes when you pick your character. Some are clearly male, and some are clearly female.

The silhouettes are of heads, and they have no features that would define male or female.

Guessing off hair length or hats isn't gonna work, every gender has hair of various length.

I don't think there is a method to identify the gender of the teens.

[Noodles4Lyfe]

No, there is. Facial structure is the key identifying ingredient here

[Magus]

Originally posted by Noodles4Lyfe:

No, there is. Facial structure is the key identifying ingredient here

Clearly not, as you keep picking girls and thinking they are boys.

Pick the teens based on cash, distance, and starting conditions. You'll have a better time, and probably pick more teens that are referenced as "he".

Best of luck picking your preferred gender going forward.

[Noodles4Lyfe]

"Clearly not, as you keep picking girls and thinking they are boys."

See, that's exactly the problem, the silhouettes don't matter at all regarding what the characters refer to you as.

It's not the fact that I'm specifically picking only guys, I pick the smartest choice as you mentioned regarding cash and distance, however when I pick said option, I look at the silhouette and regard that as my identity going forward, as that's how I play. Obviously, the silhouette doesn't seem to matter.

I never said I wasn't having a good time, and apologies if it sounded that way. The game is quite lovely, but has a decent amount of flaws.

I don't have a "preferred" gender, I never said that did I?

[Magus]

Originally posted by Noodles4Lyfe:

"Clearly not, as you keep picking girls and thinking they are boys."

See, that's exactly the problem, the silhouettes don't matter at all regarding what the characters refer to you as.

It's not the fact that I'm specifically picking only guys, I pick the smartest choice as you mentioned regarding cash and distance, however when I pick said option, I look at the silhouette and regard that as my identity going forward, as that's how I play. Obviously, the silhouette doesn't seem to matter.

I never said I wasn't having a good time, and apologies if it sounded that way. The game is quite lovely, but has a decent amount of flaws.

I don't have a "preferred" gender, I never said that did I?

I had interpreted the question "Why are we always women?", to mean that you desired more play "as a man". You made it clear that the gender pronouns were hindering immersion, which I mistakenly thought meant you wanted to specifically be referred to as "he/him" during play for immersive reasons.

I didn't think you were having a bad time, just that the gender pronouns were breaking your immersion, and that was taking away from the experience as a whole.

Because the game doesn't seem to have a way to identify gender before selecting a character, the only advice I had to give was to ignore gender all together. It seems you already ignore gender, and focus on the mechanics anyway.

Thereby, I've got no good advice for this.

I've noticed the same thing you have, the silhouettes don't offer an accurate way to identify the teen gender.

An update, DLC, or mod that could set pronouns based on player preference would probably make people happy.

[Noodles4Lyfe]

A simple misunderstanding, all good :) I can see how my initial post could be taken as such.

[theodnum]

you can play men or women, it depends on the choice you do when you start a new travel

[TheeMan]

I agree, ignore gender all together and focus on the game's mechanics anyway and enjoy the game for what it is.

[Wandering Fruitcake]

I think its just a case of the devs being lazy when recording audio, basically most of the audio refers to a female character regardless of the silhouette you pick (being clearly male).
I get that it takes time and money to make audio that reflects your choice of character, but I've seen indie games with far less resources.

[Sphinx of Black Quartz]

Originally posted by Wandering Fruitcake:

I think its just a case of the devs being lazy when recording audio, basically most of the audio refers to a female character regardless of the silhouette you pick (being clearly male).
I get that it takes time and money to make audio that reflects your choice of character, but I've seen indie games with far less resources.

Most of the terms of address used by NPCs are not gendered ("kid," "youngblood,") and the rest generally seem to be a 50-50 coin flip. There may be some selective perception going on in your case: You notice and remember when somebody addresses you with terms that clash with your own gender identity, but not when they use terms that feel comfortable and familiar for you.

Or maybe you just got very unlucky with the coin flips. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Wandering Fruitcake]

50/50 is still a big chance of getting audio that does not fit, I put that down to lack of effort in audio recording. Not a huge deal perhaps, but its a bit grating.
Some characters (rig driver) mostly manages to avoid addressing your character in a "gendered" way, they should have done the same for all the characters.

[Magus]

Originally posted by Wandering Fruitcake:

50/50 is still a big chance of getting audio that does not fit, I put that down to lack of effort in audio recording. Not a huge deal perhaps, but its a bit grating.
Some characters (rig driver) mostly manages to avoid addressing your character in a "gendered" way, they should have done the same for all the characters.

I feel like being misgendered is a common occurrence for teens, especially modern teens.

But misgendering, by accident or out of malice, has been around for a long long time.

Bob Seger sings about it in "Turn the Page"

I'm glad they have both, adults that respect that they don't know your gender, and adults that think they know your gender better than you do.

[BlackZodiac]

Those that say that there is no indication of gender must have missed all the times Alex calls you "Homegirl".

It's true that ever kid I also played as is a girl by gender (since I run into Alex at almost every run).