Trans Woman in the Battlebit Community, and my experience thus far!

[daisy.exe]

Hola, mi nombre e Emerson. And I don't actually speak a lot of Spanish.
I'm a trans woman who's always enjoyed massively multiplayer combat, Battlefield and Battlefront have always been highlights in my experience with gaming. Much like, everyone in this community, I witnessed much of the rise and unfortunate fall of Battlefield as a franchise, and purchased Battlebit as a remedy to that. What I didn't expect to find was a vastly improve gaming experience from most games of it's caliber. I'd seen reviews and I'd heard praise for this game and it's limited dev team of extreme talent, but I never expected it to fully live up to it. After dropping several 50 kill, 5 death games, with only my experience from prior Battlefield experiences, and not feeling an empty hole in my stomach while doing so, I knew this game was worth some time.

But this post isn't just about how genuinely enjoyable the game is, but about my experience in it as a minority (unfortunately). After the fall of battlefield I went to COD for a while, I am level four-hundred ninety something on the new MW2, and with that I got just about what was to be expected -- exposure to extreme transphobia on top of the outright violence of the fairly immature playerbase. I love that game despite my pretty generally negative experience with people in it, but it has conditioned me to expect extreme reactions to trans and queer openness in especially male-dominated online spaces, like shooter lobbies.

I'd like to say that immediately upon getting to character creation and finding that the only options for character creation was a pretty unfinished skin-tone selector, about 4 hair colors and 2 eye shapes, I was a little disappointed. I don't think this is just a queer thing, but having female character creation choices would be a general benefit to the appeal of the game. And no, I'm not talking about adding blocky tits or retexturing clothes. But facial textures, and more hairstyles (both male and female). I recognize this will likely be addressed going forward, but to join a game in 2023 and see, male, male (5 O'clock shadow), male (beard), as my character creation options was a little disheartening.

Clothing options were also disappointing. While the Americans have nicer camos, they have less options in clothing ranging from military uniform to military uniform sleeves rolled up. The only piece of clothing I find genuinely nice is the off-duty shirt, which is neat and stand outs, only to realize it's American exclusive, and the Russian team doesn't have a (base) equivalent. Moreover all of the Russian uniforms are ugly except for the base one. They look tacky except for with the Russian recon light chest-armor.

I have no complaints really with the helmets just wish we leaned more into the possibilities of the cooler looking stuff that the Support class gets, which unfortunately hardly anyone plays.

Character creation qualms aside, I'd also like to highlight that I have had a few incidents where I've experienced outright Transphobia in Battlebit lobbies, although arguably a surprising low amount for how often I participate in voice chat. When talking with an enemy I had just downed one of my own teammates (presumably upon seeing my name) interrupts me and says "Shut up, you're not welcome here." In another instance a player who, while reviving me, read my user and said "what kind of username is that?", and continued on for a minute or so after harping me about it, I thanked him for the revive and went on my way. In another instance someone killed me and said "Take that tr*nny", immediately after. I assumed I had been causing him some trouble in game.

The community overall isn't very active with eachother in games. You don't really establish long-term friends over the course of games in a single server since re-encountering people is so rare unless you're a really good medic, so I haven't had a lot of instances where people have had the opportunity to really latch onto me and attack me repetitively, neither teammate nor enemy.

Finally I'd like to point out, this game has a trans playerbase! I've encountered a remarkable number of people who, upon talking to me, have disclosed that they themselves are trans, and just don't talk about it in game. Giving those people some solace has encouraged me to keep my username as trans-positive as possible.

With that said, don't like trans people in your game, idk. eat and cope.

[Noodlesocks]

They moderate voice chat pretty well in this game and everyone's voice is recorded for review. If you experience any overt discrimination through voice or text chat, report the player. Plenty of players have been caught and banned this way.

[Picosh]

Thanks for sharing your perspective!

[Thuse]

It a war shooter with a very small dev team not even "fully" released or even close to done.
The customisation is more than enough, because its not the focus of the game.
Issue with adding females is that you will either be so closely resembling a man that there is no point or there will be shape/size differences leading to advantages or missmatching hitboxes, putting time and effort into this is nothing they need atm, they got plenty on their plate.
Also it doesnt matter if ur trans or w/e, hitting the big drum saying u are something for everyone is in general a dumb idea because it doesnt matter what you are people can always twist it to troll / bait or trigger you.

[Royal Tea]

I forgot to make a thread about my experience as a straight male in the Battlebit community thus far! I better get to it!

[Thuse]

Originalmente postado por Royal Tea:

I forgot to make a thread about my experience as a straight male in the Battlebit community thus far! I better get to it!

im holding my breath in anticipation!

[RedBoyke]

Why do you need to put that you are a t-girl in your username?
You could have easely blend in the game just putting emmerson.
And nobody would have cared. You dragged attention to yourself for no reason.
And then are surprised that all is not positive.

If you would have put im vegan people would have told you i like meat so i dont think it's a phobia thing. You are provoking a reaction for no reason at all.

There are different age groups playing this game and this all rainbows colored things is somewhat confusing to people.

The clothes I dont care I look good in everything.

In a game where we shoot eachother all that matters to me if you are on my side or you are the enemy.

Everything else is politics.

[Toilet Paper Merchant]

Devs have provided tools for reporting, but you made this post to complain. Who exactly is unable to cope?

[Shaken_Widow]

Originalmente postado por RedBoyke:

Everything else is politics.

everything else is virtue signalling bait actually.

this isn't a political issue, this is a "i don't like the way you think and i want to control it" issue being sparked by the OP.

it doesn't matter what sex you are or claim to be, and to MAKE IT matter is an affront to everyone here.

nobody cares, and you shouldn't try to make us care.

[daisy.exe]

Originalmente postado por Noodlesocks:

They moderate voice chat pretty well in this game and everyone's voice is recorded for review. If you experience any overt discrimination through voice or text chat, report the player. Plenty of players have been caught and banned this way.

I am aware and I have a lot of respect for the folks who run the moderation for this game. Unfortunately, with the way voice chat is set up it's hard to sometimes catch names, and the gameplay itself is pretty high octane despite the massive map sizes, leading to little down-time or conscious memory to make that a priority when engrossed in the gameplay experience.

[Picosh]

Originalmente postado por Shaken_Widow:

Originalmente postado por RedBoyke:

Everything else is politics.

everything else is virtue signalling bait actually.

this isn't a political issue, this is a "i don't like the way you think and i want to control it" issue being sparked by the OP.

it doesn't matter what sex you are or claim to be, and to MAKE IT matter is an affront to everyone here.

nobody cares, and you shouldn't try to make us care.

Nah, you can count my out of "everyone" and "nobody", which makes your assumptions wrong

[daisy.exe]

Originalmente postado por Thuse:

It a war shooter with a very small dev team not even "fully" released or even close to done.
The customisation is more than enough, because its not the focus of the game.
Issue with adding females is that you will either be so closely resembling a man that there is no point or there will be shape/size differences leading to advantages or missmatching hitboxes, putting time and effort into this is nothing they need atm, they got plenty on their plate.
Also it doesnt matter if ur trans or w/e, hitting the big drum saying u are something for everyone is in general a dumb idea because it doesnt matter what you are people can always twist it to troll / bait or trigger you.

I understand, however I also think I addressed both of the things you said here!
"And no, I'm not talking about adding blocky tits or retexturing clothes. But facial textures, and more hairstyles (both male and female). I recognize this will likely be addressed going forward, but to join a game in 2023 and see, male, male (5 O'clock shadow), male (beard), as my character creation options was a little disheartening."

I'm not asking for hitbox reworks, just different complexions and hairstyles, both are items which would have no effect on hitboxes, and are purely for cosmetic purposes. Hell the hairstyle wouldn't even matter if you enjoy playing with full-helmets and masks.

and for presenting myself as trans:
"Finally I'd like to point out, this game has a trans playerbase! I've encountered a remarkable number of people who, upon talking to me, have disclosed that they themselves are trans, and just don't talk about it in game. Giving those people some solace has encouraged me to keep my username as trans-positive as possible."

I have thick skin, I'm reflecting on my experience here in a way I hope to be productive with. I'm not particularly bothered by transphobic comments, but being able to give people like me, who aren't quite as accustomed to the outright hostility of most gamers, some space to breathe and be open is, a good thing.

[daisy.exe]

Originalmente postado por Royal Tea:

I forgot to make a thread about my experience as a straight male in the Battlebit community thus far! I better get to it!

It's not a bad idea to reflect on your experiences in any community, so, go for it!

[Leo]

I aint readin all that. Good for you, or sorry that happened. I dont care

[ʙᴜɴ.ᴇ]

maybe don't have a name that is asking for that reaction.

[daisy.exe]

Originalmente postado por RedBoyke:

Why do you need to put that you are a t-girl in your username?
You could have easely blend in the game just putting emmerson.
And nobody would have cared. You dragged attention to yourself for no reason.
And then are surprised that all is not positive.

If you would have put im vegan people would have told you i like meat so i dont think it's a phobia thing. You are provoking a reaction for no reason at all.

There are different age groups playing this game and this all rainbows colored things is somewhat confusing to people.

The clothes I dont care I look good in everything.

In a game where we shoot eachother all that matters to me if you are on my side or you are the enemy.

Everything else is politics.

I enjoy being openly trans, actually. It's a part of me which I respect and defend faithfully. I find that the trans community inside of the gaming community is one of the most interesting and loving places on the internet. By being open I also grant others a space to breathe and be open. Strength comes in numbers for minorities in online spaces.

I don't "draw attention" by being openly trans. If you see my username in a lobby and can't help but say something mean, that's not my fault. I post about my experience though because I want to have these discussions with people. Talking to folks is fun.