Niko Gender?

[Gammija]

So, I've played through the game once now and the entire time i was playing I saw Niko as a girl, but I've also seen people call Niko a him. Did I miss something, or is their gender ambiguous on purpose?

[Highfeather]

Ambiguous on purpose. People referring to Niko as a boy is likely due to Niko is generally being a masculine name.

Of course, with the entire 'different world' antics, you could argue that that doesn't necessarily hold.

[zorg]

The name Niko being masculine has to do with what language you associate it with, though; If you look at it from a more japanese perspective, the "ko" at the end would tend towards Niko being a feminine name... probably.

[Naophae]

I consider Niko as a "they/them". It doesn't matter much, they're cute in every way. ^^

I think the name is also on purpose re: "neko" ("cat" in Japanese).

[GAMING_Alligator]

Originally posted by Highfeather:

Ambiguous on purpose. People referring to Niko as a boy is likely due to Niko is generally being a masculine name.

Of course, with the entire 'different world' antics, you could argue that that doesn't necessarily hold.

Niko can be masculine or feminine, being either a short form of Nikolas or Nikola. It's the same way Alex could be either short for Alenander or Alexa, etc...

Looking at their picture, I instinctively took Niko to be a girl, so was also surprised that people overwhelmingly seem to consider Niko to be a boy on here.

It is though never outright specified, so I guess it's left up to the player to decide for themselves.

[Gammija]

alright, thanks for the reactions!

[Papa Crust]

Thanks to GTA 4 Niko is a male name for me.
But Niko never was called he/she in the game so I guess it's up to the player to decide.

[Lowjack]

If you want the official stance, the developer on tumblr once responded to a question as to whether Niko was "a boy or a girl" with the answer "Yes, Niko is a boy or a girl."

Niko is Niko; their gender is irrelevent to their role in the story. Its only impact comes in the relationship between Niko and the player, ergo it's up to the player to determine what it is and what impact that has on their perception of Niko's character.

[Seff]

One thing's for sure: Niko is way more complex than the standard anime cat-girl. For that I'm thankful.

[monk]

I believe the devs announced they were gender neutral, but I refer to him as being a guy

[inter]

Niko is male. Period.

If the devs say he's neutral it's just to keep SJWs with their mouth shut.

[zorg]

Originally posted by it's gaige:

Niko is male. Period.
If the devs say he's neutral it's just to keep SJWs with their mouth shut.

Pure sodium chloride, no fun allowed. :c

[Gammija]

Originally posted by it's gaige:

Niko is male. Period.

If the devs say he's neutral it's just to keep SJWs with their mouth shut.

While there are certainly people who would like to see it that way, making your main character explicitly male in a game is not yet a controversial move. Unless they'd first actually intended Niko to be neutral, and later changed their minds (which would be weird, to only change their minds after the game being fully developed) im gonna guess they made niko neutral gender out of their own conviction

[TwinShadow]

This is what I probably would say:

Niko is neutral. Get over it you SJW's. The choice of gender was left up to the player.

Maybe I'll keep it there... But regardless, in another topic, it was said that Niko can be a boy, and can be a girl. Thus, the player can choose. Personally, my mind went to boy in this instance probably due to my own biases. Otherwise, I may have thought girl in this event.

[x21v2 {DIS}]

Niko is niko not male not girl

[Majorlag]

Since Niko's gender is never specified or referenced in any way, and since Niko only talks about a mother in their world, it's possible that Niko's species reproduces asexually. Or maybe they have five genders, who knows. It doesn't really seem relevent in any way.