Trans Character in a game

[Gennadios]

I was under the impression that transgenders want to be the opposite gender. Not get implants and a lifetime of hormone injections to pantomime it.

So why not just create a character of the gender that they identify with? Does any TG player really want a game where they deal with the same social stigmas that they experience in everyday life?

 

[The_Echo]

Does their status as a transgender individual have any impact on the plot of the game? No? Then it's not needed and will only feel shoehorned in as a means to appeal to a minority.

If I were a game designer, I would only make them transgender if there were a point to it. If it were going to serve well in dialogue with other characters, or if it were a part of their personal growth as a character.

But never would I ever have a transgendered (or homosexual, or what-have-you) character just for the sake of having one.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

What's that one pink one from Mario?

Anyway...make it as evident as it would normally be considering the character in their design, and don't go over the top otherwise. It doesn't have to impact gameplay unless it's a game that deals with character interactions on that level, in which case don't represent it strangely or shoehorn it where it shouldn't come up. Basically treat the character like a character.

 

[prowll]

Does their status as a transgender individual have any impact on the plot of the game? No? Then it's not needed and will only feel shoehorned in as a means to appeal to a minority.

If I were a game designer, I would only make them transgender if there were a point to it. If it were going to serve well in dialogue with other characters, or if it were a part of their personal growth as a character.

But never would I ever have a transgendered (or homosexual, or what-have-you) character just for the sake of having one.

Pretty much this. I'm not seeing how this is going to be a very 'needed' part of the story. Frankly, we're moving into areas already where we're putting women into men-centric roles, and not feeling they're out of place. (Hello, Samus) If we're not making a big deal about gender...we're not making a big deal about gender. Period.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Does any TG player really want a game where they deal with the same social stigmas that they experience in everyday life?

By that logic you'd not have any games about real world issues, though.

 

[Madame_Lawliet]

Speaking as someone who's spent a large portion of my own life questioning my gender identity this is actually kind of a tough question for me. I'm a firm believer in the idea that one's gender should be viewed as irreverent when crafting a character, I feel that's how we avoid stereo-types and token characters. What I mean is this: you shouldn't make a trans character just to have a trans character, you should just make a good, well-rounded, relatable character and then have gender identity/ sexuality as an aspect of that whole, not the central point around which the character develops.

On the other hand however, a character who properly displayed the difficulties and hardships that transgender and non-gender conforming people in a way that doesn't pander could be a huge step forward for the medium of games and the game community, the question is, how would you pull it off?
Maybe have a heavy rain-esque morning routine where you have to bind your breasts as a trans man before going out, or take Estrogen as a trans woman, show the struggles a transgender person goes through on a daily basis, that sort of thing.

 

[deserteagleeye]

"Sleepaway Camp: THE GAME!"

I can't imagine not making it a twist at the end. Otherwise I'd make he/she like "Whatevs I'm shemale, let's fight these zombie aliens."

 

[Sewa_Yunga]

More fun is to think about what games you already played have a transgender protagonist that you never thought about. How many games can you prove for certain the hero isn't trans?

So back in the day, Maria and Luigia used to rescue the helpless princes Patch and David from the evil Queen of the Koopa... Then they all became trans. Sounds about right

 

[norashepard]

The most common response here seems to be "just don't make it a big deal." While I get that, and I definitely don't like obnoxiously pandering stories with, say, a gay protagonist that is only ever flirting with dudes and fighting with bigots, I don't think that would do it service at all.

In any game, having it just be a thing that is never mentioned would make absolutely no sense at all. Being trans* isn't an expressly hideable thing like being gay is, nor is it a usual thing like being cisgendered. There are pills, procedures, what's in the pants, harassment, and hiding, none of which is part of the usual experience. So to have it just be there as a background fact about the character would be kind of silly. I would assume the point of having a trans* character would be to show the struggles trans* people have to face, after all.

Not to mention, having a trans* character just act "normal" is kind of offensive. It reeks of assimilation. The idea that, for a character who is transgendered to be done well, they must not appear trans* or ever act like they were trans* in any significant way, is incredibly rude, and serves to erase actual transgender people, who live actual transgender lives, where they may not be normal, and may not have any chance of being normal. I mean, very few trans* people live their lives fully centered on their gender and only ever do things relating to it, but there isn't one trans* person who can ignore it.

And now I will step down off my soapbox.

 

[an annoyed writer]

interesting words that mean things!

Damn, why are you so good at summing up my thoughts on the matter so perfectly? I've been coming back to this topic several times today and I've been struggling to put together my thoughts on the matter.

 

[Flutterknight]

In this age, in 2013, the game would have to revolve around the fact that the main character was transgendered, for it to have meaning, since it's new territory for the vast majority of people.

If you mean putting a transgendered person in for shits and giggles, I don't see the point, especially when transgendered people identify as one gender and not a mix of both.

Perhaps you would have to make the character's transgender status be a major part of the game, but it would have to be executed extremely well or it would just end up contributing to the vast array of misconceptions the majority of the media's current depictions of trans people give about us.

The transgender spectrum is much larger than just binary aligned trans people (transexuals) it also includes genderqueer (identifying as somewhere in between the binary), genderfluid (having gender identities that aren't static), bigender (identifying as both genders at different times), and agender (not identifying with any gender) people (my definitions probably aren't perfect, but they'll due for now). Also this is a minor nitpick but "transgendered" is not a proper word. Transgender is already an adjective, not a verb, and does not need the "-ed" suffix to make it descriptive.

 

[Dango]

Unless there's a point or message to it, and unless you're going to tie it into gameplay in a tasteful way, there's absolutely no way of making it work.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Unless there's a point or message to it, and unless you're going to tie it into gameplay in a tasteful way, there's absolutely no way of making it work.

Yes...and no. I mean, there's overwhelming hordes of cisgender game characters, and this isn't a problem.

 

[Asita]

Shove it in he background info, probably. You scrounge around the boxes and shelves in someone's house (You KNOW you do that all the time in video games ), come across a character's journal/diary which reveals their gender identity. If you want to bring it to the forefront, I'd venture you'd need to give the player a reason to do an info dive on a character, ala investigating a suspect in a detective story[footnote]Hmm...might work decently well in an Ace Attorney character game, come to think of it[/footnote] ("There's a reason we can't find anyone who knew Kyle Patterson as a kid, and that's because until 3 years ago he was Kelly Patterson. We've been asking about the wrong person."). Barring that, it strikes me as an incidental detail that might help vary the cast a bit, but I don't see many ways to do it well other than making it an informed[footnote]Read: Author informing the audience after the fact, ala "btw, Dumbledore is gay"[/footnote] trait.

 

[Something Amyss]

I'd make the transgender part of her a very small part of the game. As in, it wouldn't have any real impact on the gameplay. That's usually what people like the most; when you don't make a big deal of it.

What people actually like the most is when you don't exist.

By "you," I mean "people like me." But that's another story.

Just being realistic.

The first thing to cover is why use a transgender individual to begin with? Does gender matter?

Context-specific or in general? Specifically, it would be an issue, but generally, gender matters. You could probably have a research field day on why, but if it didn't matter there wouldn't be people wanting more women in games and others screaming about how horrible it would be if they had to play as a GIRL.

Gender matters to (virtually) everyone, and the simplest explanation in gaming is that people like to insert themselves onto the characters they're playing as, watching, etc. That's why so many of the characters listed as "best" in gaming are virtual blank slates. What we like about them is what we add ourselves.

Samus has character traits which we can infer and those which are stated, but she also has a lot of traits we add and assume. Including, up to the finish of the first game, that she is a man. and if gender didn't matter, this reveal wouldn't be a big deal.

Just think about Mass Effect and think "what if Shepard was Trans?", what would it have changed?

All it would have changed would be the relationships (except Liara), other than the game would have been the same.

It would likely change the whole characterisation. Or, it would in any game where characters weren't cardboard cutouts. Transgendered individuals deal with things differently on a thousand little levels. Would Shep even be in the same position if s/he was trans? Would this be ammo against him/her? I mean, one of your squadmembers is a borderline Nazi, so I'd think there would be some characterisation of the society as a whole at some point. They've addressed all sorts of little nuances of the society, and it's clear that Drew Karpydyum put a lot of thought and effort into the world(s) of Mass Effect.

Point being, if you take the Mass Effect games as straight-up shooters, yeah, it probably doesn't matter. But then, there are a ton of little things that didn't matter, either. Hell, just the presence of homosexuals "doesn't matter."

I was under the impression that transgenders want to be the opposite gender. Not get implants and a lifetime of hormone injections to pantomime it.

So why not just create a character of the gender that they identify with? Does any TG player really want a game where they deal with the same social stigmas that they experience in everyday life?

Or they could simply want to see a character whose issues they relate to, just like everyone else.

I'm speaking hypothetically. Personally, I'd rather just play as a chick, but I've never been part of this avatar imprint philosophy that is so common amongst gamers.

 

[Callate]

It's hard to think of a way such a character could be included in a game where their presence wasn't the point of the thing to some extent without the character's introduction coming with what would seem a gratuitous level of exposition.

I mean, a game like Mass Effect, it wouldn't be too hard- one more conversation thread that players might or might not choose to follow, explaining that Lieutenant Danielle used to be Lieutenant Daniel or vice-versa. Some of the more JRPG-styled games, I could also see a back-story that might inform on a particular character's outlook on life. Perhaps explaining why they have a contentious relationship with the local citizenry, or how their own self-acceptance is so hard-earned and unshakable. (Just spitballing. I have transgendered friends, but I'm not so myself.)

But in most cases, it would be a cutscene or pages of text that most people would be in a hurry to skip to get on to things that seemed more immediately relevant to the game-world.

 

[Something Amyss]

Footnote fun:

Hmm...might work decently well in an Ace Attorney character game, come to think of it

Objection!

...I have nothing to add on that front, I just wanted to say "objection!" in relation to a PW line.

Read: Author informing the audience after the fact, ala "btw, Dumbledore is gay"

Which was, interestingly enough, only brought up because Hollywood/Whatever the British equivalent is[footnote]probably "QuarryoutsideCardiffland"[/footnote] wanted to add in some romantic subplot. I mean, I don't know if she ever would have informed us otherwise. You can look back and say "this sort of makes sense when you consider (backstory element)" but nothing really guaranteed he was gay, and maybe nothing would have. Even "Word of God."

I like to think of this as part of the development process. As a writer, I like to have a general grasp of who my characters are and where they came from, even if those points will never come up in a story directly. I mean, it's impossible to carry a whole living breathing world down to the minutia around in your head, but you can give thought to the basic building blocks that go deeper than the info dump. They may impact the character in little ways, and I can look and say "nahhhh....I don't think that character would do that." I'm not sure how much thought Rowling put into his past, but on some level she did do the same thing. It might have never been an informed trait if not for someone else trying to add details that didn't fit to the character.

...And this is all rambling because I'm tired, but still.

Outright stating a character is trans might not be a bad thing, though. We often make direct statements about things like height, weight, sex, sex appeal. The level on which this makes sense depends on the context, but we're talking about fiction and fiction follows different rules (truth is stranger than fiction and reality doesn't need to conserve details or provide closure).

That is, of course, unless it's SUPPOSED to be a twist. If "she's a he!" is supposed to be a big plot point, yeah, concealing it might be the best course of action. But speaking of "well done" characterisation, those usually aren't well done, hence the deliberate phrasing above. As such, maybe an informed character trait may be better in the long run.

 

[Asita]

I like to think of this as part of the development process. As a writer, I like to have a general grasp of who my characters are and where they came from, even if those points will never come up in a story directly. I mean, it's impossible to carry a whole living breathing world down to the minutia around in your head, but you can give thought to the basic building blocks that go deeper than the info dump. They may impact the character in little ways, and I can look and say "nahhhh....I don't think that character would do that." I'm not sure how much thought Rowling put into his past, but on some level she did do the same thing. It might have never been an informed trait if not for someone else trying to add details that didn't fit to the character.

...And this is all rambling because I'm tired, but still.

Nah, you aren't rambling (that much ) and I very much agree with the sentiment. The writer has to consider these kinds of things, as they do inform characterization. My intent with the examples was really 'this is about as direct as you're likely to get', more than anything else. Odds are just good that there won't be a good opportunity to do more than hint at it in the story and even then the hints seem likely to be oblique, hence 'background info', as - to my understanding - it's not likely to come up in common conversation. Though in retrospect, I suppose it could also be done fairly well ala Rent (The character of Angel is introduced out of drag, spends the vast majority of the performance after that in drag). Come to think of it, that's fairly direct and [I'd say] gives about as much emphasis as it should probably see unless gender identity is a focus of the work.

 

[Wickatricka]

In any case what's the point in making the character any gender at all. AHA did I break the laws of time and space. People get so caught up in this shit for no reason. Then I'm just over here like whatever floats your boat my dear.