Adding the ability to change gender in Subnautica: Below Zero

[aChewyGummyBear]

I understand that several people have posted on this. I think a lot of people are upset that you can’t choose your gender in Subnautica: Below Zero. I am one of those people. I understand the game tells a story, and that it’s her story, but why didn’t they make it an option? It bothers me because if I’m going to be experiencing someone else’s story, I want to play it in third person. But if it’s first person, that’s meant to feel like it’s my life, my experience. I also want people to realize that a HUGE majority of all gamers are male, I’m not saying that all games should appeal to the likes of men and that women’s opinions shouldn’t matter, I’m just saying, wouldn’t it be easier to make a male character and that way more of your player base is able to connect with the character better? A lot of people are saying it’s difficult to do but look at the recent Far Cry’s, GTA online, Red Dead Online, Saints Row, the list goes on. I know that most of the games that feature multiple genders don’t allow your character to have a voice but it still would’ve been nice to see. One game that is done really well with character creation is Mass Effect Andromeda. It features both genders and fully voiced dialogue for the entire game. I’ve also seen in a lot of the discussions about this same topic, that people think “no one cares” and it’s definitely not true. There was an article a few years ago from a group of feminists that called Battlefield 1 sexist because it only featured male player models and no character customization. And then in Electronic Arts next release to the Battlefield series, Battlefield V, they added female characters, despite it not being historically accurate to a game set in WWII. Isn’t it ironic how, now when we put up our argument about wanting male character customization, we get backlash? It’s disappointing that feminism became less of being equal and more of being superior to men. And it’s disgusting that we’re letting it happen. But that’s not the point. The point is, several people have voiced their opinion on wanting a male protagonist option added to the game. I can see how that will be difficult to do. Hopefully something can be started and we can see it added in the distant future. But for those of you who are not developers and are just a part of the community, please realize that multiple people have voiced our opinion and we’re not being heard. We’re being ignored and shut down because we’re asking for a male option. Isn’t denying us our voice sexist? P.S. before some of you unleash in your responses, please know that I used the term gender since I didn’t want this discussion to be taken down because I used the “correct term”

[ONe_mOMENT]

Wrong forum.

And Devs made a choice. If they don't want to change it, suck it up and move on.

[Gwarsbane]

First...

Posting in the discussion area of the game/program you are talking about would be more effective then posting here as this is the suggestions and ideas area for the steam program itself which has nothing to do with the games other then telling the game to launch.

http://steamcommunity.com/discussions/#games

Second, I suggest you learn how to use paragraphs. People see that well of text and they will ignore it..

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

I don't know about you but I've had no trouble empathizing with fictional characters of both genders.

[Mansen]

Hahaha... no.

Originally posted by aChewyGummyBear:

A lot of people are saying it’s difficult to do but look at the recent Far Cry’s, GTA online, Red Dead Online, Saints Row, the list goes on.

You just answered your own question. Far Cry, GTA and so on are in fact narrativegames with PREDEFINED, voiced protagonists.

[Festive Mints]

Originally posted by Mansen:

Hahaha... no.

Originally posted by aChewyGummyBear:

A lot of people are saying it’s difficult to do but look at the recent Far Cry’s, GTA online, Red Dead Online, Saints Row, the list goes on.

You just answered your own question. Far Cry, GTA and so on are in fact narrativegames with PREDEFINED, voiced protagonists.

There's also the fact that they are all made by AAA studios and have far higher budgets, which means they can afford to have multiple voice actors dub several hours worth of lines each for the male and female protagonists, something that UWE most likely can't afford realistically.

[Halliwax]

FFS, I can't believe people still complain about this.

It's 2021! You CAN change your gender in-game! After your shuttle crashes, just step away from your mouse and keyboard, stand up and loudly proclaim, "I identify as male!" BAM! Gender = changed. You're welcome. Now go play the damn game.

[Talamarie]

Originally posted by aChewyGummyBear:

I also want people to realize that a HUGE majority of all gamers are male

And we all know that this same HUGE majority of Male players actually play female characters.

Originally posted by aChewyGummyBear:

And then in Electronic Arts next release to the Battlefield series, Battlefield V, they added female characters, despite it not being historically accurate to a game set in WWII.

Sacrificing Realism for gamer confort : noted.

Asking for gender choice here equal re-doing Subnautica the First with gender option too.
Asking for gender option here is also like spitting in the face of Jaye Griffiths and telling her "i want male voice acting get lost".

Since it's also apprently sexist : then i call out FFX-2 for managing a full WOMAN team. That's sexist we should be able to play with Gippel or Brother. I also call out FFXV for managing a full MALE team going on bros buddys (and don't you dare say Aranea is a part of the team for her mere time within and i don't accept the glitch).

[Montoya]

Dunno, most games do this: I am not sure that is the issue: they chose an hero and that's it. I was never upset for playing Lara croft or Duke Nukem.. I do think they made a very clumsy attempt to add too much history. (ok, I do think the idea for the story is OK, just have issues with the characters not acting like normal human beings and being obnoxious), but honestly, 99.9% of the game is still not talked, you and the ocean. In that aspect I also think that the original game was better (I hate the lilipad biome so much), but this one is still Subnautica part 2. Still having fun, and glad I bought it. Just that if replaying I might prefer the original. I don't understand why anyone would be upset about the protagonist tho.

[AuldWolf]

I'm sorry, thisn't White Male Chauvinists Anonymous. That's three doors down. The developers aren't chauvinists, they acknowledge that different kinds of people exist—it's just chauvinism to not want other people to enjoy games just as much as you do. Which means that a game might—and more often will, these days—focus on an ethnicity or gender that isn't your own. If you're uncomfortable with that, that's called chauvinism and it's not acceptable in today's society.

If you can't overcome your own chauvinism, you're going to be more and more of a social outcast as time marches on. The fact of the matter is is that people of other ethnicities and gender exist. And hey, guess what? They're equal to you! That's right! They're equal. It's contrary to your chauvinism to believe so, but they are. They're entitled to have games that focus on them, too.

In the past, chauvinism was more acceptable, it's what lead to white people having excluisve eateries. Exclusive spaces for white people is no longer a thing. That's good. That kind of chauvinism is incredibly unacceptable. Other ethnicities and genders have had to play games that catered to your demographic for decades, but the world has decided that that kind of chauvinism isn't acceptable.

Now you have to either adapt, or become a social outcast. In 2021, there's no place for chauvinism.

[Coops]

" ...please realize that multiple people have voiced our opinion and we’re not being heard."

Ooooh MULTIPLE people! That's different. We hear you, all 0.001% of you, we just don't care.
This is not yet an area where one person complains and they fire three people for off color tweets from six years ago, change 10 laws and regulations and spend a trillion dollars to comply. If you don't like the game don't buy it.

[Kanthric]

Originally posted by aChewyGummyBear:

I understand that several people have posted on this. I think a lot of people are upset that you can’t choose your gender in Subnautica: Below Zero. I am one of those people.

Some individuals are upset/annoyed by it, but I suspect most gamers aren't. And believe me, the opinion you're raising has been voiced around Below Zero, repeatedly. And if I've heard it umpteen times, I'm sure Unknown Worlds have too. You have been heard, and no-one is denying you the ability to voice your opinion. Equally, other players are free to voice their opinion of your opinion, and the developers are free to ignore anyone's opinions in pursuit of the games they want to make.

Below Zero is far from the first game to have a fixed female protagonist and player character. As an aside, that doesn't seem to have caused major headaches for, say, Metroid, Tomb Raider, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Mirror's Edge, Silent Hill or Alien Isolation.

To have added an optional male character in Below Zero would have almost doubled the voice acting costs (all of Robin's lines would need re-recording, plus Sam would need to refer correctly to her brother rather than sister in speech and text). It's an extra complexity that large studios sometimes take on, but smaller studios typically wouldn't.

In the overwhelming majority of games with a defined and voiced player protagonist, the protagonist is a white bloke. If it really grinds your gears that the PC is female, you have way more alternative options than a female gamer who feels the same way in reverse.

Subnautica was Riley's story and Below Zero was Robin's story. If you had difficulty playing through Robin's eyes, but not through Riley's eyes, it might be worth considering how much of that difficulty sits with you rather than with the devs.

[Tux]

valid points the OP is making however I do not think they are being made from a voice of authenticity

[Suomipoika11]

This topic will die quick.
In first game, you were asian male. There were plans for both sex models , but they were scrapped in favor of male.
In BZ, you've been black female from start of EA. Plus, process of hiring actors for both male and female is quite expensive .

Besides, know how much Kimberly Brooks asks for reading poems ever since Mass Effect ?
(That was a joke, btw)

And as someone said above - paragraphs, use them !

[Flight]

I'm emailing Sega because I want a Sonic version that is human, because I can't get myself immersed in the game if I'm controling a hedgehog.

[Meewec]

Originally posted by Kanthric:

Some individuals are upset/annoyed by it, but I suspect most gamers aren't. And believe me, the opinion you're raising has been voiced around Below Zero, repeatedly. And if I've heard it umpteen times, I'm sure Unknown Worlds have too. You have been heard, and no-one is denying you the ability to voice your opinion. Equally, other players are free to voice their opinion of your opinion, and the developers are free to ignore anyone's opinions in pursuit of the games they want to make.

they were complaining back when below zero was first being talked about by the devs as a possible dlc featuring a female character and nothing was definitive on if it was even going to become a thing or not.

Originally posted by aChewyGummyBear:

Isn’t it ironic how, now when we put up our argument about wanting male character customization, we get backlash?

maybe if you people made genuine arguments you wouldn't get backlash. but you're always complaining when it's a female character in a STORY based game and never the other way around. plus i see the battlefield thing brought up all the time as a huge insult because of "historical accuracy" even though there were some women that fought back then and it doesn't really matter much what people are playing as in that multiplayer nonsense.

hell, one of the old call of duty games i had on gamecube(i think) had various different characters you could play as including some women i believe. can't remember 100% but i do remember playing as winston chirchill in battles against my brother who was a velociraptor. can't exactly say either of those is accurate to ww2 and never heard anyone complain about it back then.

(edit)oh, and if you're worried about threads being locked on the sex/gender subjects being used wrong, maybe go look up the differences between the two