Some think gender is a spectrum and while no movement or complain came from the LGBTQ community, certain publications like to stir things up. Apparently, someone over at VGR.com and a couple of other websites would like to see non-binary gender options in CD Projekt RED‘s Cyberpunk 2077.
While the inclusion of such an option is welcomed, criticising CD Projekt RED isn’t the way to go. Gender spectrum, non-binary are relatively new concepts to the gaming industry and it would take some time before their inclusion is normalized but for any feature to be a part of a video game, it should first make sense, fit the design, story elements etc. Pressuring a developer with criticism won’t get you anywhere.
Video games as a platform must remain non-political and we should fight for it. Cyberpunk 2077 developer has already stated it is too early to say what will and what won’t make it to the final game. And to their credit, they have looked into this feature.
The footage we saw at E3 was pre-alpha which means lots of changes will be made but changes will and should be based on community feedback, and whether or not they fit the game. And there isn’t much support right now for non-binary gender options for Cyberpunk 2077, judging by community feedback. Here are some of the comments from Reddit:
“Fkn sjw garbage, get that shit outta here”
“Can we ban vgr.com please? They put out articles for every single sentence the devs said in interviews. They added nothing new to what we already knew by just reading off a compiled list.”
“I am active in the LGBT community, bisexual and gender fluid.”
“And I’d like to say, I don’t give a single shit. and no one else should.”
“Its just click-bait, look at OP’s history.”
“Who freaking cares”
“And it’ll be better for the game if the devs don’t spend the resources even thinking about such triviality. Depending on how you look at the subject of sex vs gender, non-binary genders either don’t make any sense or are completely irrelevant and useless, with the only purpose of making people, that are demanding special pronouns, feel special. It’s almost as if they want to have nobility treatment: I am Demihoe Riley Blazkowicz, my shield is a circle with a confused question mark pointing southwest, you may refer to me using a Huehue pronoun.”
“Yeah uh….other than some dialog options how would you even implement that…ya either got lady parts or dude parts. Check a box and at some point in the game someone references it? Waste of dev time. I doubt it makes it in. I’m sure there will be references somewhere in the game but as far as for your character seems kinda pointless to make a big deal out of it. Not quite sure if it’s even part of the original game.”
The comment about its implementation is interesting to me because if gender is a spectrum, how can a spectrum be implemented properly in a video game? Someone somewhere will feel left out no matter what you do.
But CD Projekt RED is the only one capable of pulling it off if they decide to add this to the game. However, it can make things very complicated for a development that’s already neck deep.
Cyberpunk 2077 is releasing on PC, PS4, and Xbox One in the next two years.
How do you see the non-gender binary situation with Cyberpunk 2077? Would gender fluidity help Cyberpunk appeal to a wider audience? Share your views in the comments below.
