I'm offended.

[Termix]

Hi,

being called "they" offends me and sadly all characters seem to be non-binary in this game.

Is everyone in LA nowadays genderless?

And yes, this is not a joke, Emma Jaunt and everyone adressing my character with "they" breaks my immersion.

No need to call me names, but I at least expect this information on the character selection screen, if you go that route.

[Draconic Creature]

Singular they, cuts down on pointless complexity and also worls when co-op because multiple people.

Are you just looking for things to be upset about?

[Geist]

Eh. I played enough games where they call the female character he because they only recorded one set of VO. Going with they is a safe bet. Unless you are weird about it.

[Termix]

Draconic Creature, you replied to every instance I posted this and I answered your question.

Singular they is nowadays mostly used, when gender/identification is unknown, this should be disclosed on character selection screen if this is an important message or topic in this game.

Also I shouldn't worry about a few $ worth of voice lines in a multimillion $ game.

Why I'm offended by it is not relevant, but did it ever struck your mind, that it COULD offend people for various reasons?

[BlueStinger]

Originally posted by Geist:

I played enough games where they call the female character he because they only recorded one set of VO.

I've never seen this myself. Care to name some of them?

[Geist]

Originally posted by BlueStinger:

Originally posted by Geist:

I played enough games where they call the female character he because they only recorded one set of VO.

I've never seen this myself. Care to name some of them?

Games 2,593

I don't believe you. Anyway I have seen the reverse happen as well. Or times when the captions say the right thing but the VO is different.

[Termix]

Originally posted by BlueStinger:

I've never seen this myself. Care to name some of them?

Would be interested too, I can't recall one example of this and I'm rather "weird about it" as you would say.

Furthermore I did some testing with subtitles, since singular "they" doesn't exist in many languages (or is deeply offensive) the devs went with male/female pronouns there.

This might also be the reason why I take offense, in my language it's not possible to address a non-binary person without being offensive.

But this also raises the question: if the Slayers aren't non-binary, why not invest the few $ in additional voicelines?

They could also avoid addressing the player with pronouns and just call them "Slayer", because nobody else in this game seems to be able to slay zombies.

[Draconic Creature]

Originally posted by Termix:

Draconic Creature, you replied to every instance I posted this and I answered your question.

Singular they is nowadays mostly used, when gender/identification is unknown, this should be disclosed on character selection screen if this is an important message or topic in this game.

Also I shouldn't worry about a few $ worth of voice lines in a multimillion $ game.

Why I'm offended by it is not relevant, but did it ever struck your mind, that it COULD offend people for various reasons?

Why did you post the same thing multiple places to seemingly try to spark outrage over it or the like?

Also, there's people who will be offended by basically anything no matter how objectively positive, like the existence of trans people, so being offended over the use of a totally gender-neutral term doesn't strike me as something of particular import for anyone save yourself...

[Geist]

Here's a thought. Maybe it doesn't even matter. I didn't see it mention gender anywhere. It is probably just you projecting because other games have put an unusual amount of focus on such things. It probably is as simple as not having to record multiple vo or having to play different audio because of a mixed group of characters online.

[Termix]

Originally posted by Draconic Creature:

Why did you post the same thing multiple places to seemingly try to spark outrage over it or the like?

Also, there's people who will be offended by basically anything no matter how objectively positive, like the existence of trans people, so being offended over the use of a totally gender-neutral term doesn't strike me as something of particular import for anyone save yourself...

Because I was contemplating if creating a topic is okay, but I came to the conclusion that it is and I'm also curious about the reasons behind it.

The term is only gender-neutral in english, in my language it's offensive.
But I also think that most people even in the US prefer not to be adressed with "they" or am I wrong?

So are the slayers non-binary or are they not, like subtitles in other languages suggest?

[BlueStinger]

Originally posted by Geist:

Originally posted by BlueStinger:

I've never seen this myself. Care to name some of them?

Games 2,593

I don't believe you. Anyway I have seen the reverse happen as well. Or times when the captions say the right thing but the VO is different.

You've not named any yet. I'll take just one.

[Termix]

Originally posted by Geist:

Here's a thought. Maybe it doesn't even matter. I didn't see it mention gender anywhere. It is probably just you projecting because other games have put an unusual amount of focus on such things. It probably is as simple as not having to record multiple vo or having to play different audio because of a mixed group of characters online.

Sure, I think there's a simple reason behind it, but it's still telling that you can't recall even a single game that has done it before.

And I also think it's best to avoid gender identity completely before mixing and mashing, as I suggested above, being addressed as Slayer (or any other nickname) would've cost the same, while completely avoiding this discussion.

Especially if you make a game for a worldwide audience.

And yes, I'm probably one of very few people that's bothered by this, but as I said, there are reasons for it and those are not vile.

[Draconic Creature]

Originally posted by Termix:

Originally posted by Draconic Creature:

Why did you post the same thing multiple places to seemingly try to spark outrage over it or the like?

Also, there's people who will be offended by basically anything no matter how objectively positive, like the existence of trans people, so being offended over the use of a totally gender-neutral term doesn't strike me as something of particular import for anyone save yourself...

Because I was contemplating if creating a topic is okay, but I came to the conclusion that it is and I'm also curious about the reasons behind it.

The term is only gender-neutral in english, in my language it's offensive.
But I also think that most people even in the US prefer not to be adressed with "they" or am I wrong?

So are the slayers non-binary or are they not, like subtitles in other languages suggest?

Quite a ways off the mark regarding "They" in english, yeah. There's no slurs or insulting meanings tied to it, it's been in use for well over a hundred years both as plural and singular terms.

I think you might just be attributing similar meaning to "They" as an equivalent word has in your language, as I'm not aware of it being offensive to basically anyone outside of hyper-masculine right-wing chuds or the like in the english world.

[Dr.Absinthius]

in Dead Island 1 the game always acted as if you had a full 4 player party.
every character appeard in the cutscenes, even the ones no one played.
i guess they did the same here.

Fun fact:
in German we use "they" instead of "sir" or "ma'am" to talk politly

[Termix]

Originally posted by Dr.Absinthius:

Fun fact:
in German we use "they" instead of "sir" or "ma'am" to talk politly

That's not the same.

The german equivalent would be "it" and that's not used for people.

In fact Germany is one of the countries where they have gendered nouns even for objects and people, while also having a feminine and masculine version for nearly everything that has to do with people.

There are also gender stars * and talking breaks for political correctness.


And if they wanted to use "they" for multiplayer purposes, why did they use he/she in other languages subtitles and not the plural?

[V]

Originally posted by Termix:

Hi,

being called "they" offends me and sadly all characters seem to be non-binary in this game.

Is everyone in LA nowadays genderless?

And yes, this is not a joke, Emma Jaunt and everyone adressing my character with "they" breaks my immersion.

No need to call me names, but I at least expect this information on the character selection screen, if you go that route.

its npc dialogue and this game adds dlc with new characters, it would be too time comsuming to rewrite npcs to include the names/sex of every character now or in the future.