Is it possible to make an androgynous and/or gender neutral human video game character that isn't tumblr-level of pandering?
A good "blank slate" character that most everyone can appreciate on some level. I'd say Master Chief was a good example of this in Halo: CE because he talked two times in the entire game and you never ever saw even a glimpse of his face.
No, you can't appreciate a character who's not a character.
Jordan Adams
Undertale
Nolan Martinez
is pikachu a girl or boy
David Long
even if you managed to make an androgynous and/or gender neutral human they will still find something to complain about, nothing will ever be good enough
they have built their lives around complaining and campaigning against trivial shit
Ian Edwards
what
Logan Reed
test tube baby
Michael Rogers
there are male and female pikachu, fuck knows how you tell the difference
Isaiah Jenkins
You tell by the tail, the tail on a female Pikachu has a heart shape on the end.
John Rogers
found it
Parker Stewart
Chief was still definitely male from every single sound he made.
Don't make anything like that tumblrtard buzzword shit, just make a giant literal furball or an alien completely genderless with no interest in sex and only focused on fighting bad guys if you have to. There's a character perfect for anyone to play as.
Make it a first person adventure game without detailing who the main character is, like Zork Grand Inquisitor. Failing that pic related in Tekken. Leo is androgynous and made for anyone to relate to the character and actually became quite popular.
Blake Clark
A full body cyborg?
Angel Long
Male/female brain.
Jeremiah Robinson
...
Sebastian Miller
Brains are social construct.
Xavier Thomas
kek
Andrew Hughes
just make it an alium that has no sexual features a worm
Samuel Jenkins
Normalized through implants.
Lincoln Morales
It wont change the development that occurred while growing up. It's like saying you could change the type of material a building is made out of by switching out furniture and putting on a different kind of paint.
Grayson Richardson
Make a mute androgynous main character. Alternatively you could make him use full body armor without ever taking off his helmet, or be an FPS and never show his face nor tell his name.
Aiden Collins
Congratulations, you are retarded.
Anthony Reed
Not an argument.
Sebastian Taylor
That is a shit analogy user. The interior of a building does not affect its purpose, and it can easily be repurposed by doing exactly that - switching out furniture and putting a different kind of paint because it doesn't matter what the materials are so long as the building stands.
Brandon Gomez
Not your personal debate club.
James Ross
*by interior of a building I mean the innards of its construction, but you get the point.
Nathan Smith
You missed the entire point of the analogy. Purposely avoiding the point and addressing something else is not a valid argument. Anyways, I don't think you understand just how complex brains are. Thinking that you can just inject things in them to make them non-gendered shows that you're either ignorant or misinformed. Not to mention that going through all the trouble just to fulfill some retarded millennial political belief is a waste of time.
Not an argument
Austin Davis
Agreed.
Robert Lewis
Not an argument
Oliver Hernandez
Ad hominem. Not an argument.
Not an argument.
Isaac Parker
(checked) I get your point, I am just saying it is a shit analogy because unlike humans you CAN repurpose buildings.
Ethan Rodriguez
...
Zachary Perez
You can, but the point was that you can't just rearrange things and slap on a new coat of paint in hopes that you can change what it's built of. I don't care about changing its purpose, the issue was changing what it is by using "implants" or similar.
Nice hats, user. They look good on you.
Benjamin Morris
...
Samuel Jenkins
Not an argument
Grayson Bell
Are you a tranny? Is that why you're so invested in insulting me? Not my fault that your biological urges have been perverted.
You're right, it was a compliment. Nice hats.
Jose Butler
Not an argument
Kayden Reed
Then find a better argument. You use that on a regressive leftist SJW and they will tell use it back on you by saying the same way you can repurpose a building to become something a human can change and become something else.
Hunter Mitchell
...
Jack Scott
huh
Luke Watson
We Ghost in the Shell now, nigga
Leo Williams
You're still dancing around the point by being incredibly pedantic over terminology and analogies. If you want an essay on this, you're not going to get it from me.
You might think that you're making me mad, but by replying like this all you're doing is showing everyone how much of a hothead you are. Not an argument btw.
user, don't leave your hats on the toilet, that's unsanitary.
Josiah Wilson
Not an argument
Jaxon Richardson
I'm trying to help you you idiot. This is why everyone is treating you like a moron and derailing this thread. Shit dubs btw
Jordan Smith
Slow down there, cowboy.
All I see are two mad wannabe cunts and someone who is a "concerned bystander" :^)
Andrew Butler
Not an argument.
Camden Lee
I mean, if you think by saying genderless brains aren't possible I'm actually wanting to become a tranny, that's your opinion. It's a wrong one, but it's your opinion. Do you have any more pictures of cool hats?
Nathan Sanders
meant for
Nicholas Lee
a cute tomboy
Jacob Rogers
>>>/4chan/
Lucas Turner
Make a tomboy character, everybody likes delicious tomboys.
Carson Miller
Was making me laugh part of your plan?
Ryan Torres
You're as deep into identity politics as the progressives you hate so much. I am literally laughing at you right now.
Connor Diaz
...
Benjamin Miller
You're making a lot of irrelevant assumptions here. Are you grasping at straws?
Luke Walker
haha u mad
Caleb Edwards
What if you made a game, that had the player in a full-body suit and gave no hints to gender. Then, based on choices made in the game, your character would be revealed as either male or female, depending on what choices you made.
Then give it to trannies and laugh when they get their biological gender.
Eli Hernandez
Stop advertising yourself. You are either ignorant, pushing your headcanon about biology or simply baiting.
Kevin Barnes
...
Aiden Richardson
Holy shit, you are SIZZLING right now. I can practically feel it.
Isaac Flores
OP you're missing the point of blank slate characters like that. They're a vessel for the player. That's it. They aren't good, they aren't deep. They're just there for the gameplay aspect, and that's all they need to be. Master Chief is a bad example because he talks.
Camden Williams
That's just your herpes acting up.
Elijah Bennett
Link. He looks feminine but has a lot of masculine traits. I think that's why chicks love him so much.
Otherwise, a masked character might work. Though I have no examples.
Lucas Smith
doesn't this case make a stronger case for trannies since it's all "a bloo bloo what I feel like is what I am" type stuff?
Nathan Murphy
Not an argument
Jaxon Powell
???
Aiden Miller
...
Samuel Cooper
Apologies, I didn't see the ID, only assumed that was some response to the previous post. Your position is valid. But it's still not worth it to argue with retards over the internet. Have an analogy: "Never try to wrestle with a pig. You'll get dirty and the pig likes it."
Benjamin Brown
Of course.
Jason Bell
Wanna know what happens when you repurpose water pipes through new rooms ? They leak, architects intentionally design dry rooms and if you mess with that you get leaks and mold over the place.
I have retard neighbors like you who moved their kitches and now we have mold all over the place both for me and them. The carrying column of the building has a huge mold spot in it and I can only pray the thing doesn't coincide being wet with below zero temperature in winter.
The design is important. Especially for buildings. Beat that into your head before you are forced to undo the bullshit you have done by moving rooms.
Carter Wood
some real triggered trannys up in here. get the fuck out of your room and appreciate the time you have left, instead of being a little insecure fuck who spends all their time fantasying about something they're not,
Austin Gutierrez
no he didnt
Evan Rodriguez
...
Oliver Richardson
Requiescat in pace, doggu
Luis Stewart
...
Grayson Green
No because all humans are born as either male or female so they are always going to be one gender or the other. You can do a faceless protaganist where they are in armour the whole time and hardly talk so the gender isn't obvious but if you ever go much into their character then you will have to give them a gender eventually.
You can make a non human character that doesn't have a gender though. Most people design characters to be either male or female but you can quite easily make a god or spirit of some kind that doesn't have a gender. You can also make shapeshifters that don't have a set gender, something like Alex Mercer that's an it rather than a he or she.
Justin Cooper
What you want and what are your individual limitations are two different things. With recent advances in brain imaging you can recognize morphological and functional differences between male and female brains regardless of their personal opinions in the matter. One example of many: med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2016/06/brain-activity-during-cooperation-differs-by-sex.html
Jeremiah Bell
I bet you're a cute tomboy
Ian Miller
yes its possible, you simply dont pander to tumblr. its not some herculean task.
what a shitty analogy, especially considering the transsexual suicide rate, they certainly aren't standing any more, on account of being dead, because they realized they've mutilated themselves in the vain pursuit of a dream fueled by their own damaged sexuality.
Ayden Jackson
A prepubescent kid? Even that would not be fully "gender neutral".
Brayden Ross
Still counts
Andrew Sanders
holy shit no it doesn't stop spreading this meme, you mock the legacy of the bateman. CONSECUTIVE DIGITS
Ryan Flores
nice number pattern
Ryder Stewart
Undertale did this.
Dominic Richardson
made me laugh
Dominic Foster
sometimes you just gotta smek
Josiah Smith
...
Zachary Martin
Androgynous? Have you played any jrpg ever?
Colton Sullivan
But MC was obviously male because he spoke
Jose Turner
MAPPY EVERYONE RESPECTS LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS
Adrian Barnes
Make it a suit of armor with no one inside.
Brandon Garcia
Literally any MMO?
Joshua Parker
isnt mappy a mouse, not human?
Lucas Ramirez
...
Sebastian Bailey
...
Mason Turner
No, because there's no such thing as gender neutral.
Lincoln Gutierrez
Why do people keep posting that faggot's art? All of it is traced and slathered with ugly post-process effects.
Evan Walker
??? also why would you care? what's the point in making a gender neutral character?
So, to answer OP's question: You can, but the more you prioritize ambiguity and neutrality, the less character you'll have. If you have a really good writer, you may be able to circumvent this by creating a very alien character, but such a character would be exceptional, not the rule.
Sebastian Price
It is Tumblr pandering, and you are indeed a faggot that needs to go back.
Parker Bell
saved
Owen Hill
If I connect my brain to a computer so my feelings wouldn't be hormone relate but actually simulated through a complex program ran by me.
Would I be a male or a female.
Jeremiah Davis
If you dont pander to tumblr and design it that way with out marketting in mind, you have successfully not pandered.
Joseph Ortiz
Gender is defined by the structure of the brain, not "feelings".
Ryan Turner
didnt we have a banner of it at some point?
Christian Gomez
Yeah but if I stripped all the hormonal parts of my body. Creating, in essence, the perfect human brain.
Would this be a male or a female brain?
Caleb Sanders
what does it identify as?
Jace Martinez
Male and female brains are physically different bro.
Christian Davis
I know. I'm talking meta bioengineering shit here.
Like, it has no discernable difference, it doesn't produce sexual hormones and stuff like that while still being perfectly functional.
William Lewis
John Money set this guy up for suicide by doing these evil experiments and sexual abuse on him and instead of putting that kiwi sicko in prison, some kinky pinko institute gave him a medal.
Brody Phillips
why do modern people (on both sides) take bullshit like gender/religion/race/etc so seriously? who the fuck cares, how do billions of people supposedly care about this nonsense bullshit?
Jackson Lopez
That's a boring answer, but it would probably stop at being 8-10 yo kid level of personal development, both intellectual and emotional. Maybe even below that.
Kayden Roberts
Your nihilism enlightens us all.
Anthony Miller
Nihilism is good until you're 18 and thrown into the real world where if you don't pick a side you'll end up getting trampled by everyone else.
Julian Jenkins
The day you understand is nih. ehehehehe
Eli Richardson
because the internet gives people a voice
the real world is a crutch
Ethan Cooper
Oh hey I drew that shit
Liam Wood
Blank slate characters are the standard because the gameplay takes higher priority than the story or writing. This means that most characters just don't get many defining traits outside of what you, as the player, does in the game.
A good blank slate character is one that you get to shape with your decisions. What their background is. Where they came from. Why they are there. How you interact with other characters, what you get to say, how you approach problems. If they care or if their goals actually align with what is offered to them.
In short, it takes an ass load of options and it requires developers to be far more skilled than the assclowns at Zenimax.Bethesda and Bioware.
Liam Richardson
I guess so, but why did you have to come and make this thread here of all places?
Carter Nguyen
yeah, OP get the fuck out with your video games
Cameron Jenkins
KYS for even mentioning HALO faggot
The only way to make something "genderless" is to outright hide it behind lots of clothing or armor. Genderless characters are possibly the most bland and boring shit you could possibly put on a game.
Luke Jenkins
Wew I think he means a "normal" genderless brain isn't possible. Anything not male in a male body/ female in a female body is just an outlier (I.E. mental illness)
Jaxon Mitchell
you don't need a medical degree to know the brain has some differences in men and women. the only possibly genderless thing in your body may be your blood
William Parker
This is the closest you're getting. Griffith video game when?
Jayden Rogers
You've done it now
Justin Torres
Nope. White cells in blood would still have XX or XY chromosomes. And the concentration of sex hormones would be different too.
Ian Ramirez
I did nothing wrong. Neither did Griffith.
Jeremiah White
Halo 1-3 were some of the best shooters on Xbox you autistic shitstain
David Morales
So Metroid games?
Gabriel Ross
…with no real competition.
Jose Gonzalez
Kirby?
Jaxon Roberts
I want Griffith to bear my children.
Ayden Watson
Halo:CE was a good game- generally well designed and well polished, particularly for its time and the limits of the original Xbox. Anyone saying differently is a contrarian hipster faggot.
Wyatt Powell
...
Nicholas Johnson
Did you like all those empty corridors? Because I sure liked all those empty corridors.
Bentley Peterson
upsage negated
Julian Watson
Post some
Ian Gomez
robots
William Thomas
Then you've answered OP's question.
You can't have a gender neutral vidya character that isn't tumblr-level pandering because it would be considered tumblr-level pandering simply for being a gender neutral character.
Ian Wilson
This. Just don't add any tits.
Anthony Cooper
Have you not seen the amount of posters here who want to bang that robot from fallout 4?
Jaxson Carter
Just because it's sexless doesn't you can't have sex with it.
Brandon Miller
...
Gabriel Myers
Just never address the question of its gender and you're golden
Brayden Roberts
Infocom's Leather Goddesses of Phobos starts you off with no specification of if you're male or female. In order to advance the plot, you have to go to the john, so the game decides your sex then. That's the way to handle it, because a 'genderless human' is a meaningless, impossible thing, you might as well make an alien that repoduces through budding or something.
Ian Jenkins
Considering those don't exist, no. Humans can only be male or female. There is no third or null gender. If you wanted something that didn't have a gender it could not be human nor sexually reproduce though generally anything that reproduces asexually is referred to as female in a very roundabout sense because we as humans don't like referring to sentient beings as "it" and instead use the gendered pronouns. Then again how it acts might have more of an effect on which gender it is referred to as in conversation (ex: WallE). It's very hard to have androgynous characters that have a human shape because humans have sexual dimorphism. Even an empty suit of amour can be distinctly masculine and feminine so even if you just don't mention it your players will make an assumption based on how the character is presented. Silent protagonists or ones without any substantial personality to them are there exclusively to make it easier for the player to self-insert (ex: Link). It depends on what you're trying to achieve with making a nothing character. If you want to do it so the player can self-insert but avoid making character creation/customisation tools, a silent protagonist might be the way to go. You don't have to make them gender neutral to achieve that and specifically making them gender neutral and going out of your way to say it or even show it at all is tumblr pandering because they are the only ones who care about/want that shit. I don't know why you'd even want a character that has no character, anyway. It reeks of laziness not wanting to write another character and doesn't add anything that having some basic character traits would take away.
Also master chief talked quite a bit in Halo CE and had some action movie tier quips in the later games. His movements had a fair bit of character to them and how he interacted with 343 and Cortana showed that he wasn't an empty suit but instead a very level headed guy. Somewhat overly trusting too.
Angel Bennett
just dont theme anything around overcoming gender oppression or coming out of a closet or any of that rainbow hair crap. you can address the question without turning it into a dramatic episode and anything less than that i wouldnt consider pandering because its not acknowledging it as some huge struggle or trying to pat anyone on the back for being weird.
Landon Hughes
I'd play it, assuming the choices aren't just a questionnaire at the start like in the Mystery Dungeon games.
Then you wouldn't have a human brain. Sex is easily one of the most important parts of the human psyche, without it you wouldn't have even half of the motivators that make the human mind tick.
This brings up an interesting point, are machines gendered by their appearance, or are they just defaulted to male until someone draws lewd pictures of it/gives it a voice?
Bentley Lee
Respect you say?
Thomas Reyes
Mappy is a girl
Thomas Wood
Wait is that the friendly unnamed cop? is there more of this?
Landon Adams
Whatever that is, it's not gender-neutral since it's clearly trying to emulate a female
Anthony Martin
More evidence that furfaggotry should result in an immediate and permanent IP range ban
Dominic Price
It's possible, though not many immediately come to mind. Maybe this faggot fuck.
lolno
Joshua Rodriguez
I was going to say NiGHTS, but that wouldn't count as a human.
Adrian Peterson
Outside of Zork (and any other game I don't know of that someone could mention), I know jack-shit in a game with a good "blank slate" character. Either way, SJW's will still find something to complain about. It's better to not give a shit about their complaints than trying to appease them.
Daniel Scott
Final Fantasy seems to do just it just fine.
Nolan Jenkins
A game about David Bowie.
Liam Watson
Make a character who is literally just Tilda Swinton/David Bowie in vidya form. That's all you need to do.
Nathan Hughes
he dies in the end
Nathaniel Martin
Humans falls flat..but it's a shit game
Jayden Miller
We all do
Nolan Hernandez
Reminds me that he actually did music for Omikron: The Nomad Soul
Ian Gomez
But that's a chick, dumbass The great twist that Harada did was that everybody was that the whole tumblr crowd was expecting her to be a trap but she turned out to be a girl, much to tumblr's butthurt harada is a master troll
Logan Price
It's still androgynous.
Daniel Davis
Forced gay shit ruined that game for me I'm sorry, 2 doses of forced gay shit
Adam Murphy
Yeah, just make a giant spider.
Parker Thomas
Don't talk about gender or relationships, don't even bring up the subject. That's literally all you have to do and nobody will experience cringe about your character's lack of sex.
Not turning their personality into an obnoxious queer cock sucker will help too.
Connor Howard
guy from shadow of colossus, took teenage me a while to figure out it wasnt a grill
Brody Martin
Late to the party, but I'd say Samus in the first Metroid.
Chase Smith
Link.
Austin Perez
here, now make a game
Cooper Sanchez
You know the devs are going to put something behind that shirt, right?
Angel Ramirez
...
Nicholas Cook
...
Carson Barnes
...
Lincoln Murphy
why not, didnt stop most of the other suggestions
Liam Lewis
I actually liked Undertale, but the attempt at gender ambiguity (calling the protagonist "them") was pants on head retarded.
Alright, let's accept for a moment that a person monster who doesn't know the kid at all could say "them". But then there's Toriel, who wants to adopt the kid. I mean, she could say: "I care so much about this kid so much that I want to adopt… him or her, I don't even know what it is." No, you stupid goat, I can't believe you care so much about someone about whom you know so fucking little that you can't even tell it's a boy or a girl!
Someone should make a "grammar fix mod" to make the two human kids unambiguously male.
Brandon Walker
but protag is a girl
Jaxson Morris
Nope. Frisk is totally a cute shota.
Chara could be a girl because fucking up everyone else's lives with underhanded passive-aggressive bullshit is a girl thing.
Jacob Roberts
don't really see it happening
Noah Robinson
Just being a blank slate, you answered your own question.
Samus from Metroid would be a good example but she revealed that she was a woman. If she was just in a suit of armor and never spoke grats you got a blank slate "gender neutral" character I guess.