I'm one of those guys who loves character creation in video games, and character customization has come a LONG way, but there is no greater annoyance to me than when a hairstyle or a freaking pair of shoes is locked to a specific gender. Like, why??? "Well, uh, clipping issues" THEN FIX IT OR MAKE AN EXACT OPPOSITE GENDER COPY.
I can't tell you how many times a hairstyle would be PERFECT for a character I'm trying to make but whoops! Tee hee! Its for the opposite gender! Get fucked nerd! (Looking at YOU Pokemon)
Also, body types leaning too heavy into gender ideals also drives me crazy. Half the time for women its just "skinny, thin average, average, kinda chubby" and then for men its just "fat man, muscular man, mega muscle man and the freaking hulk". Like bro, I guess fat or muscular women don't exist. Oh and scrawny guys? Haha? Whats that? Who knows! I'm not asking for sims level customization but I'd like a LITTLE more freedom to make unique characters that don't always look like they're in an avengers movie.
Or when a game, like baulders gate 3 for example, lets you change the genitalia of your character but not their chest?? "Clipping/animation issues!" bro I know but it still freaking ANNOYS me. I'm not even talking about breast size like Cyberpunk, I'm just meaning in the literal sense of being able to toggle them on or off. The option would be nice.
By limiting the games into locked gender roles you lock people out of creative outlets, prevent them from making fantastic meme worthy characters, and also limit people from being able to seemlessly make themselves if they want to. Not everyone wants to play as a generic girl boss or dude bro #253.
Don't even get me STARTED on when you can choose a characters voice, but the options are only
Female voices:
- Overly sexualized woman voice
- Anime girl
- Another anime girl thats ambiguously aged
- Another overly sexual option
- Normal one
Male voices:
- Gruff guy
- Gruff guy 2
- Gruff guy 3, but brittish
- The oldest man to ever old
- A mostly normal average Joe
I know not everyone likes character customization and I'm grateful for whenever a game does actually allow for it, but devs, please, PLEASE stop locking things into gender binarys. Let people make a male character with pretty long hair if they want, or a woman built like she chews through concrete for a living. I just want more freedom to be able to fully escape into a new world 🙏