Non-binary option for characters, please?

[Fredco191]

Eh.
4567890

[Shurrikhan]

I can argue that in a world where we ride and fight alongside dragons, are the champions of the God Mothercrystals, where we summon and fight gods, adhering to the gender binary also does not make a very well told story. You yourself play a catgirl.

To clarify, I don't have numbers here how many people want this, and I'm rather certain that unless there's a huge outcry, the devs won't place this high on their priority list even if they do implement this. But we know that not everyone on the dev team works on the same things and they have pulled rabbits out of their hat as far as small yet meaningful QoLs go. I just disgree with the use of 'they' being so groundbreaking in storytelling. Did you know 'you' used to be plural-only as well? And look at where we are now.

While it's true that the court T-V blend (use of the plural for figures of authority, just as a monarch would be more likely to answer with "we" rather than "I" in explaining his or her verdict in the same era) has occurred twice in English, it's worth noting that that clear-cut situational use never caused any wide-spread ambiguity. In transition, it modeled perfectly use of "sie" in German. And after the transition, our indexes lost only the equivalent of "du", "vous", or "tú" forms, not any distinct plural.

I also don't see what any of those fantasy elements would have to do with adhering to or exiting social binaries. Until such a binary is an actual story conflict, such that a wizard cannot embrace magic until having blended the apparently female and male halves of its source, or realizing that they're actually the same thing, the two are absolutely irrelevant to each other. No matter how real or fantastic the setting is, unless social binaries are a part, one is not relevant to the other.

And while I certainly wouldn't mind the addition of a third gender option for our simple class flags, unless such a conflict organically fits the story... I don't want it. I have enough issues just with "It's Allagans. It's always Allagans," and "Sinister figures behind literally everything. People can't be 'evil' for normal reasons. Old Gods/Zodiark." I certainly don't need a "Cus n+2 genders" plot-twist forced in there.

On the other hand, give me a race in the Sharlayan Mystlands were believes literally bend reality, changing beastmen between various forms and abilities and, naturally, genders, and I'd probably love the hell of it just because that actually would be consistent: the point there would be how pervasive, how deep, how unlimited, that concept goes. But that wouldn't have anything to do with aiding gender or genderless immersion; it'd have to do with the story of those people in particular.

[Kuzulo]

You can already select the gender of the character.

[Rhysati]

That's because "he" and "she" are both singular that this works so well. "They" is plural and depending on what is being said that can change the meaning of the phrase. The story refers to both groups of people and individuals together in phrasing very frequently, and replacing a singular word with a plural could very easily convey the story in a misleading manner. Simply replacing "he" and "she" with "they" can be done but it would definitely not result in an equally well told story.

This is incorrect. Singular 'they' has been used since the 16th century. Usually 'they' is used in replace of he or she if you don't know the gender of the person in question. There is a reason why there are a lot of people that wish 'they' to be used as a pronoun for them and it isn't because they wish to break the english language.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/word...nonbinary-they

[HyoMinPark]

That's because "he" and "she" are both singular that this works so well. "They" is plural and depending on what is being said that can change the meaning of the phrase. The story refers to both groups of people and individuals together in phrasing very frequently, and replacing a singular word with a plural could very easily convey the story in a misleading manner. Simply replacing "he" and "she" with "they" can be done but it would definitely not result in an equally well told story.

This is incorrect. Singular 'they' has been used since the 16th century. Usually 'they' is used in replace of he or she if you don't know the gender of the person in question. There is a reason why there are a lot of people that wish 'they' to be used as a pronoun for them and it isn't because they wish to break the english language.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/word...nonbinary-they

To add to this, language is something that is ever-evolving. Just because someone interprets “they” as a plural form doesn’t mean that it cannot evolve to be used in the gender-neutral singular. Which it has already done so.

[Eloah]

This is incorrect. Singular 'they' has been used since the 16th century. Usually 'they' is used in replace of he or she if you don't know the gender of the person in question. There is a reason why there are a lot of people that wish 'they' to be used as a pronoun for them and it isn't because they wish to break the english language.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/word...nonbinary-they

Thank God someone said it, I was getting worried. It's the same with "You" which can be both singular and plural. And to add to the ever evolving nature of the English language, "They" can also be used singularly, even if the gender is know. It's a way of the speaker removing themselves from the topic/situation, and is a small way of showing respect in English. Think of it like how one address someone in Japanese if they don't know a person that well.

[Naraku_Diabolos]

I don't quite understand what this whole thread is about. There are only two genders in our known world, besides plants, animals (like the garden pest called a "scale insect," they are all female but can reproduce to make more offspring, but all future offspring are female as a result), bacteria etc. that can be asexual. Humans cannot be genderless; there's no scientific proof that a genderless human can occur. You need a male and female to procreate to make another human, so no Adam and Steve or Eve and Ava cannot cut it. Only people who think there are more than 2 genders really have mental problems, and they need to take biology classes etc.


As mentioned, this game already has some form of gender neutrality in the game when the main characters address you as the Warrior of Light. Plus I have a feeling that the OP is just trolling really hard. We can never take the Internet seriously here.

[SannaR]

I'm not sure how much work this would require as it's "easy" as a fix in english, but I don't know enough about the other languages. I do know some have male/female connectors that let the listener/reader know which gender they're speaking of and that there are some who have a few unisex terms that are better than just english's crappy they. Just I don't know if in the other languages what they're using when using the gender neutral phrases when speaking about our character. I'm not against this. I just don't know how easy it would be to implement it or how well they would end up doing it.

[Vidu]

I'm not sure how much work this would require as it's "easy" as a fix in english, but I don't know enough about the other languages. I do know some have male/female connectors that let the listener/reader know which gender they're speaking of and that there are some who have a few unisex terms that are better than just english's crappy they. Just I don't know if in the other languages what they're using when using the gender neutral phrases when speaking about our character. I'm not against this. I just don't know how easy it would be to implement it or how well they would end up doing it.

In regards to that: German has no gender neutral pronounce. It will always be either "er"(he) or "sie" (she), we dont have an equivalent for "they".
Actually, Warrior of Light is "Krieger des Lichts" in german, with "Krieger" being the male version of the word, even though a female one sort of exists - simply by adding "in" to the end (so its "Kriegerin"). Despite being female and playing a female character it never bothered me though.

I'm studying german and I couldnt think of a way to express things (truely) gender-neutral in my native language. At least german has no easy fix for this, because as far as I can tell you, there is no fix at all.

Personally I wouldnt want such an option and I honestly dont see much use for it. I'm obviously not in OPs shoes, but it seems a little strange to me to want such an option... seriously, at least I couldnt care less about being "miss-gendered" and thanks to being a female playing an MMO it happens a lot. Almost everyone in DF/PF refers to me as "he", despite the female character, and I never saw that as a big deal...

[Starflake]

It's true. In 100 years from now, they will see you as the couragious warrior who fought for more gender neutral terms and applaud you for such bravery among a crowd who mostly doesn't give a shit.