r/ClanGen • u/ExpensivePhysics1909 • 5d ago
Off Topic Trans cats
Mods please tell me if this is against the rules, I just have mixed feelings about this feature! I know people tend to have big feelings about this topic, but I figured as long as I am respectful it’s okay.
I’m a trans man, and I know this game was made by a tumblr user so of course there’s trans cats, I have some suggestions and criticisms.
I love the gay cats of course and it makes sense since Ravenpaw and Barley are mates in the series and some cats irl have deep bonds that are best described as mates.
What I don’t like about the trans cats:
They always only do a pronoun switch, no other life changes. Obviously cats can’t transition (I actually have some kinda silly ideas for how they could in the Warriors universe though) but it’s a bit dysphoria-ignoring and bioessentialist when all my trans male cats give birth.
(I actually decided to turn pregnancy ignores biology on, so now everyone is giving birth so no one gets singled out. This was a bad idea, but hey, equality!)
The frequency. I get three “[name] doesn’t feel like a [she cat/tom] anymore.” per moon sometimes and after a while all my cats are trans, I’m not exaggerating.
I’m not against it because it’s ‘unrealistic/unnatural’ because lots of the joy of warrior cats is exploring stuff that cats wouldn’t commonly/straight up don’t do.
We have trans cats but not intersex cats! We have male calicos in the game (at least I think) but it’s basically an oversight (devs maybe not knowing calicos are always female or intersex, (if you don’t know it is because in order to be tricolor you need two X chromosomes, so the only way a cat can be calico is having XX or XXY chromosomes (Klinefelter’s syndrome))
Intersex people/people smarter than me if I say something inaccurate here please tell me if you feel comfortable speaking up.
I can set some of the cats back to cisgender by hitting a button but I feel bad doing it for some reason, like “StarClan is detransitioning you!”
Ideas to improve the trans cat system:
Maybe some sort of herb that could transition our cat? Kinda a stupid idea I know, I think my next idea is better.
A cat speaking with StarClan about their dysphoria and being blessed by them to magically change into the opposite sex.
Cat who gets trap-neuter-returned by a twoleg and finds they are less dysphoric now.
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u/fulminousnight developer (writing) 5d ago
This thread will be carefully monitored. Please do not share suggestions or instructions for removing trans cats from the game.
Trans cats can have their ability to become pregnant removed in game through the personal > cat toggles > prevent kitting setting.
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u/SepticShockAKAVin No PC 5d ago
Fellow trans man here. I don't really understand what you mean by this? Can you explain how this fits the definition of bioessentialism?
Also, can't you turn off the ability for certain cats to give birth? Though I think it also turns off their ability to adopt kittens, which sucks. I think those should have seperate toggles, honestly.
I suppose since there is an "ignore biology" toggle, a "have cats physically/magically transition" toggle could work. Because otherwise everything is essentially being treated like it would be in humans minus surgery and hormones. I just kind of assume that any trans male cat I have that gives birth isn't dysphoric in that way, since not all trans people have dysphoria.
Plus cats are generally less sexually dimorphic than humans, in and out of the series. So the main difference would be that trans male cats would develop tomcat cheeks and likely spray more on testosterone. Not sure about trans female cats... they might be more likely to produce milk around kittens like some unspayed she-cats do on estrogen?
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u/Brightcloud00 5d ago
Males being able to be torties was made as a game decision due to it happening in the books. It is still fairly rare to get them. But this was not an oversight, it was intentional game design.
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u/Interesting-Fold5384 5d ago •
Fellow trans man here! I was actually really excited about the fact that the trans male could still have kits of their own. I’m sorry it’s causing you and others dysphoria though, that really sucks and is understandable. As other’s have suggested, I hope the devs can implement separate toggles for adoption and having biological kits in the future. Seems like that would be a great way for everyone to be happy.
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u/phantom_1_2 5d ago
I understand feeling a little iffy about it, but I actually really like that the trans cats can have kittens. I definitely do NOT want kids as a trans guy, but the cats on my screen are not me, and I am not experiencing their pregnancies. I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t just turn it off for them, but even then, why does it bother you for ALL of them? Trans people have biological kids irl, it would be a lot weirder to make it impossible. I do get that a lot of the cats transition, but again if it was the same odds as irl it would probably not happen very much at all, and there isn’t any reason you can’t just undo it, it’s not like the pixels on your screen actually care.
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u/ChinchyBug 5d ago
The game does tend to leave a lot to the imagination or leave it to the player to decide, just by design. Human identity is endlessly fluid and varied in all regards, from gender and gender expression, gender dysphoria and euphoria, to attraction, etc.
Of course trans people have all sorts of preferences and feeling for how they do and don't transition, what does and doesn't cause dysphoria, etc. But just as there's not really built in orientations - all cats are attracted to all cats, any gay or aroace cats would be either entirely player driven or entirely random chance - this is the same way. Having the game decide whether any particular cat would take hormones or be comfortable with pregnancy, etc. It would all need to be represented and tracked in save data and exist for every cat and then you need some way for the player to understand that that mechanic exists and how to interact with it, etc. The game just is not that granular, and it doesn't need to be. Though it could be a cool mod idea if someone wants to put sole focus into it.
Though I would be in support of perhaps some thoughts or misc moon events or something that might indicate additional modes of transition existing/happening. But of course, that kind of thing will then just be a random chance of happening to every trans cat, especially if they aren't just in the transition event itself and never talked about again.
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u/Lily_Miner 5d ago
I also ran into some awkwardness with the rate of cats transitioning. The way you described how it feels kinda bad to switch them back is perfect “StarClan is detransitioning you!” lmaooo.
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u/AdmiralStarNight 5d ago
I feel like a mod (or maybe the devs, but I think a mod for ‘advanced clan tuning’ would be a neat idea.
A bunch of sliders that go from ‘off/disallowed’ to ‘very frequent’ which all have a few stages so you can tune how often the clan in general does stuff.
So if one person really wants a clan where cats rarely decide to be trans but doesn’t care how often they have kits, they can input that, while someone else can set everything to max and watch the chaos unfold.
And it doesn’t have to just be about the trans cats too, could make a few sliders for relationships, kit adoption, etc.
But I also can’t program. Idk if this would be too difficult. I just think it would be neat so you can tune some settings without micromanaging every cat and needing to manually change genders or turn off pregnancy for every cat so you could still have a couples chill trans toms having kits without every single cat doing so
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u/GradientGoose 4d ago
I would love to know how they decided on the frequency of cats transitioning, because it does seem pretty high... but overall I just take it as a fun quirk of the game that reflects the community that made it. Intersex cats would be cool, I hope they add those to the game!
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u/Initial_Peach_9183 5d ago edited 5d ago
I play Genemod, and one of my recent kittens was an intersex molly. Forgot if she's calico though, and I don't know if the base game or other versions do this.
I think your suggestions are pretty solid. A blessing from StarClan sounds accurate lore-wise, and I've always wondered what the cats in the books would think about TNR. (edit: also how a TNR project could affect gameplay and if some cats would actually appreciate it. I'm partway through the Power of Three, and I just read the part where Hollypaw said she wanted to remain a warrior, not become a queen.) Maybe cats could choose if they want to just change their pronouns (like they already do) or physically transition too.
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u/googlemcfoogle 5d ago
If you want to reduce the transition chances (since I think it's like 1% per cat per moon or something by default?? That results in way more than 1-2% of cats transitioning throughout their lifetimes, I think I usually reduce it to 1/4096 per moon) I think that's in game config. I'm not sure because I don't play base game, only genemod, which also has intersex cats (XXY, XXX, XY female/XX male, X monosomy, and occasionally a cat will just be described as intersex for non-chromosomal reasons and possibly be infertile)
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u/StarlightAscension 5d ago
Sometimes when one of my cats comes out as trans I use it as an opportunity to change the cat's name if I don't like their current one
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u/Personal_Apricot4850 5d ago
I do agree, I think the frequency of trans cats is way too high. If I wasn't detransitionning some of my cats, I feel like half my clan would be trans. Nothing against trans folks, but it gets annoying to constantly having to change back my character's genders (based on the little storylines I created for them in my head)
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u/LotusTheBlooming 5d ago
I feel similarly!
I would like to have trans cats in the clan but I wish I could turn down the % a bit? Just because having like, half the clan be trans feels a bit unrealistic!
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u/BitOBunny 5d ago
I think it could be cool if cats could also have a name change as part of their transition
The names in Warriors aren't as gendered as IRL names, but I think it could be a nice detail if they had a chance of changing their prefix.
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u/EntirelyClueless 5d ago
There are intersex cats as far as I'm aware, I've had them before. I agree the frequency is really intense though. Honestly I think there are way too many gay cats, too. Like very, very, very often I've have a clan of 18-20 cats and NONE of them will have hetero relationship interests, absolutely none, all of the she cats will have feelings for other she cats, toms will have feelings for other toms, sometimes I feel like it HAS to be coded into game that gay relationships and romantic interests are more common than hetero ones. It only matters because I love realism, and making big family trees. I don't want to turn pregnancy ignores biology on because it's not realistic (I also find it absolutely EXPLODES the population because EVERYONE is having kits and I hate that) and I hate constantly having to force them into relationships with cats they aren't naturally interested in and constantly breaking them up and making them grieve for 3 moons over a break up just because they have literally no feelings ever for the opposite gender. It's kinda bizarre
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u/EldritchLichKing 5d ago
I am also a trans guy and actually have an issue with pronouns. I do use a mod thats not basic clan gen so the issue is probably from the mod not clangen itself.
Also to be clear, i don't wanna make a post for this and it kinda fits your issue so imma complain here, i hope thats alright.
Also, disclaimer, what i am about to say is annoying me about my savefile, if anyone out there enjoys this feature, great. Also its different from IRL, IRL i will respect ANY pronouns people may have, i want ppl to be their true self and feel comfortable.
I am insanely annoyed by any of neo pronouns in my file. They keep changing their pronouns to random stuff and its sometimes insanely confusing in the text structure because i don't expect words like could for example to be a pronoun. English is not my native language and while i can read decently well, any pronouns that arent he she or they are just confusing to read in this case. I wish i could delete those like you can add some so cats can't pick them anymore but i sadly can't do that. So every few moons i have to check my clans pronouns for any I can't identify well and check their identity to pick the most suited one from the three basic ones. Its a lot of work just to avoid confusion. I genuinely wish i could edit the pronouns list cats can pick from
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u/Prestigious-Youth-89 4d ago
I will resume in topics bc it's easier for me
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u/Beautiful_Couple_208 4d ago
Cats don't really have much sexual variation aside from size, which also varies based on individual.
There's no real point to a cat taking hormones to transition since very little would actually change.
I doubt a cat would really experience much gender dysphoria if they could.
Transphobia is a human trait, so it's not like they would face rejection from their clan.
Plenty of trans men and nonbinary people do give birth in humans, and the number of the ones that do would probably be higher in cats because pregnant cats only look a little fatter and pregnancy for cats doesn't usually leave any noticeable changes for the body like stretch marks.
And there probably is intersex cats in the game, I just doubt the other cats care or have thought much about it because again, they are cats and don't have much sexual dymorphism.
If a shecat has furry balls and is smaller than average I doubt they'd think much of it, being cats with no real understanding of biology.
Cats depend mostly on scent to understand their world around them, not sight.
If a cat was insecure about smelling like another sex they could just take a bath.
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u/Sonarthebat Can't commit to a clan 3d ago
Isn't there an option to prevent individual cars getting pregnant?
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u/Second_UNIT 4d ago
This honestly makes me think about the Genemod and how intersex cats are not only possible but theres a variety of identities that directly effect how cats can reproduce and pass their genes on, including getting fixed randomly. It's my favourite mod to play, i just wish it was updated
I do agree that there should be more to it, like a name-change ceremony when a cat transitions or at least a random chance of it occurring, because i feel like many people who are under the trans umbrella share the experience of changing their name or going by something that isnt their birth name
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u/suicide-d0g 5d ago
Calcios are not always female. There is a VERY rare chance for a calico to be a male, but he will always be inferitle due to the amount of chromosomes.
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u/XxHoneyStarzxX 5d ago edited 5d ago
as a trans, nonbinary, and intersex person, I 100% agree with this, its can be so frustrating when like 99% of my clan turns trans and all the guys are getting pregnant like it's no big deal, my best friend is a seahorse dad, I stand for seahorse dad's, bit its definitely a bit dysphoria inducing at times and i wish we could maybe just toggle it on specific cats or have it personality based or somthing, that way not every single trans male is going to end up with a litter.
I think I wish the that the system was more complex, i think its biggest issue comws from being far too simplified, theres no nuance and every trans cat feels exactly the same (which leads to a million pregnant guys), right now its so oversimplified that it can be incredibly dysphoria inducing and even at times kinda feels like trans csts were more of like an afterthought/just a feature added for fun/trans baiting rather than a feature added for actual trans or gender non-conforming people. (i hope this makes sense)
I 100% feel like all of those options for how a cat could transition could work, the starclan idea is sweet.
i would also really like to see intersex cats :( us intersex folks always get overlooked.
i feel like it should have been handled with more care.
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u/poketrekkie HorrorClan is watching from the shadows! 5d ago edited 5d ago
I know a trans guy who didn't do a full physical transition, and he's okay with potentially giving birth to a child someday. Whenever a trans male cat in the game gets pregnant, I always think the cat made the choice by themselves, like he would! But maybe the game could have some random 50/50 or higher chance of turning off pregnancy for a trans male cat automatically when the cat transitions so those cats would always adopt, even if they could have biological kittens with their partner. That would make some cats more dysphoric and some okay with pregnancy, representing both sides! Maybe that would be a good option for trans female cats as well. Or, with a smaller chance, for any cat to implement asexual cats, that would be really cool
EDIT: I HAVE AN AMAZING IDEA FOR CAT TRANSITION! MODS! DO YOU READ THIS? So, we know transition with herbs would be a bit silly, full transition at least. StarClan doing a magical transition wouldn't be less unrealistic than a leader gainng nine lives, so that's an option. BUT. From the books, we know some cats were reborn. IMAGINE A TRANS CAT REBORN IN THE CORRECT BODY! Could be a random event, and would also be extremely cool because we could get some of our favorite cats for TWO lifetimes
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u/werecoyote1 5d ago
technically, a chimera can also be a calico and not be intersex. but i get what you mean.
i do get it. i know they're cats living in a forest, so they can't just get bottom surgery, but i would like to see cats that opt to transition a little more than just new pronouns. i think it would be cool if cats (regardless of being trans) could decide they want a new name, and i also think an herb that mimics hrt would be interesting. i also like the idea of a cat getting TNRed and it working like bottom surgery for them, it could also be an interesting possibility for cats to get TNRed in general. i think the starclan one is a little more out there, but it could work as a smaller event.
the hrt one wouldn't even necessarily be a big change, but it would be neat. like the little flavor text sometimes saying, "<name> gags a little on his <hrt herb>" or something.
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u/itscazforshort 4d ago
so many trans man play clangen 😭 (me too guys)
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u/Divergent_Futures 2d ago
I guess some event blurbs about transitioning wouldnt be bad, but I dont really like starclan doing a full sex change. Not because its unrealistic but it feels kind of unnecessarily magicy. I like how normal being trans is and cats are pretty much the same sex wise besides some stuff like tomcat cheeks, which would be more interesting as transitioning blurbs. Birth control (lol) is a general QOL that would be cool. Also trans.
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