Weve seen three separate AAA games released with transgender characters, plotlines or themes present in them in this month alone. The differing ways in which they each try to tackle the subject shows that AAA developers want to start putting trans characters in their games, but dont seem to know how to do it well.
Its not perfect as a scene, as the lack of explicit trans language usage means many will deny this interpretation of the character. Its also unfortunate that the character was only accepted as male after conforming to a strict set of societal norms for assumed male traits. Still, this is above average for trans representation in modern gaming.
Breath of the Wilds Gerudo Town quest line plays like a men deceiving women to sneak into their gendered spaces narrative at times something damaging and depressingly common but theres enough content away from the core progression path to suggest theres more to the picture of Gerudo Town than meets the eye.
Link can buy more womens clothing beyond what they needed to complete the quest in the city, and I totally get behind a trans girl Link who discovers her identity as a result of having to dress as a woman on this quest before buying additional clothing and running off to save the world.
The fact that Hainly expresses discomfort at her previous name, yet willingly and unprompted reveals it to Ryder upon their first conversation, makes little sense. It shows a surface level knowledge that birth names can be harmful to hear, but fails to make the link that as a result the character would likely keep that information private. If you travel that far to make a new life, you often dont bring up your old, painful existence as a way to introduce yourself.
I dont want to discourage developers from including trans characters in their narrative. Trans characters arent harder to write than any other character in a game, you just have to know what youre talking about or be willing to speak to those who do. Games also join movies and TV in struggling with casting trans actors to play trans characters, despite the existence of so much trans talent in the industry.
Development teams can bring life to their characters simply by asking trans individuals about the dialog or scenes theyre writing into their game or, even better, employ trans individuals to help create the game from the ground up to help see these easily avoided mistakes before they make it into the final game.
2017 has already been a busy year for trans representation in gaming, but that doesnt necessary mean its been a good one. With the right care in the design of these games, people wont have to choose one or the other.
I was really interested in the gerudo town reading. It's not one that would have occurred to me, but I think it's valid and a cool way to look at things
There was another article specifically about gerudo town out there which I can't recall where to find right now
I was really interested in the gerudo town reading. It's not one that would have occurred to me, but I think it's valid and a cool way to look at things
There was another article specifically about gerudo town out there which I can't recall where to find right now
I saw the BotW character as a guy pretending to be a woman to get into the city and not wanting to give up his identity, but I guess it can be seen in a different light. Entirely agree that the beard gag at the end wasn't really necessary.
Link can buy more womens clothing beyond what they needed to complete the quest in the city, and I totally get behind a trans girl Link who discovers her identity as a result of having to dress as a woman on this quest before buying additional clothing and running off to save the world.
I saw the BotW character as a guy pretending to be a woman to get into the city, but I guess it can be seen in a different light. Entirely agree that the beard gag at the end wasn't really necessary.
Considering the weird vague queer coding and stuff, when I ran into that it felt like a shitty trans stereotype; not some guy trying to disguise himself.
I'll be honest it didn't click with me about the Character in Horizon but thinking back on the dialogue it makes a lot of sense. I'll actually say that was a pretty good example of a Trans character in a game even if there isn't any specific Trans language used.
Y'all are reaching with Gerudo Town. There's very real, in-universe reasons why voe are not allowed inside. As for the outfits, it's because dressing up as a girl is a common joke in JP. Same thing was in FF7, and countless forms of their media. It doesn't come from a transphobic place, but it gains humor from the fact that it's outside the norm. Another good example of this would be Kanji's bad-bad-bathhouse in P4, it isn't funny because Kanji is/isn't gay, it's funny because it's so outside the norm for that character that it skews the users POV.
Zelda in-universe reasons:
Ganondorf. In OoT, a male Gerudo was born once every 100 years, and would inherit the title of King of the Gerudo. After Ganondorf betrayed both the Hyrulean and Gerudo nations, that rule was changed, and AFAIK, no male Gerudo have been born since.
First half was stated in OoT, second half in BOTW.
Also:
Development teams can bring life to their characters simply by asking trans individuals about the dialog or scenes theyre writing into their game or, even better, employ trans individuals to help create the game from the ground up to help see these easily avoided mistakes before they make it into the final game.
Tend to agree, as much as i love the game and Nintendo. Japanese as a whole is still in the "crossdressing = funny" stage and media where trans characters are something other than a walking joke is rare (only thing i can think of off the top of my head is Catherine).
Doesn't mean that trans characters are *only* jokes, like with One Piece where it's definitely a joke but they're also goodhearted people who are very self-sacrificing, but i would doubt Nintendo had any pro-trans awareness when doing the Gerudo Town infiltration plotline.
Considering the weird vague queer coding and stuff, when I ran into that it felt like a shitty trans stereotype; not some guy trying to disguise himself.
It was a bad trans-stereotype either way, hence why I disliked the beard joke. Unfortunately, with a lot of japanese games, it's them playing up stereotypes for an entirely different joke which results in a lot of extremely bad connotations.
Considering the weird vague queer coding and stuff, when I ran into that it felt like a shitty trans stereotype; not some guy trying to disguise himself.
It really felt like someone cross dressing. And to be honest apart from the dumb "gotcha" joke the whole pretending to be a woman to infiltrate thing is surprisingly great.
She's saying Link could figure out he's actually a woman after wearing women's clothes, like that's all it takes. She's the one reducing womanhood to a clothing choice.
I met him but didn't actually put together that he was trans. The "was born a girl but chose to be a soldier" made me think they just worked hard to prove themselves. Seems obvious now in retrospect.
Overall I think the article is good. It's very constructive in how it talks about the missteps. Glad it talked a bit about Krem in DAI. I think that's the more egregious part of the trans character writing in ME:A, the last game from the studio did a good job with it.
Okay let's assume you actually are interested in an explanation. The beard punchline is a tired joke about how gross it is for anyone identifying as a woman to have masculine physical features. I hope I don't have to explain why trans people would not appreciate this.
I dunno, the Gerudo Valley quest feels like reaching? I'm sure there are some themes that can be interpreted in that way, but if that wasn't the intent does it really count? Its vague enough that it could be either way.
As someone who has no personal experience with trans people, would you consider Miranda from Watch Dogs 2 to be a good example of this? I was surprised when she showed up and I liked her character.
Then again, I can't say I'm an expert on this topic because I don't know anyone who is trans in real life, but I didn't see much "outrage" about that, maybe it was because Ubi did it right?
I'm sorry if I offend someone with a wrong term or something, I'm really ignorant about these topics and I'm willing to learn, but don't want to look like an idiot in the procees.
Eh. I get their point. The character in question doesn't come across as a guy who just wants to sneak in and do business, he comes across as someone who has come to terms with identifying as a woman, going to great lengths to indoctrinate himself within an environment that is literally all women. The problems arise when they do little sight gags with the beard and sort of play the whole thing off for laughs instead of playing it straight.
That being said, there is no one nearly as bad is tingle in the game and that's fine. There are 2 (3?) openly gay characters in the game that, for the most part, are pretty well done and that's a lot of progress for a Japanese based game, which usually turn okama into gigantic cringy gags.
As someone who has no personal experience with trans people, would you consider Miranda from Watch Dogs 2 to be a good example of this? I was surprised when she showed up and I liked her character.
Then again, I can't say I'm an expert on this topic because I don't know anyone who is trans in real life, but I didn't see much "outrage" about that, maybe it was because Ubi did it right?
I'm sorry if I offend someone with a wrong term or something, I'm really ignorant about these topics and I'm willing to learn, but don't want to look like an idiot in the procees.
Miranda was a positive example yes. Granted I never finished the game, but the few missions she's a part of, she's not played for gags, she knows what she's talking about and she accepts that there's a lot of people around her who are going to be completely ignorant and belligerent because of who she is.
That's kind of what I thought too. Since when I met Janeva I thought it was a criticism of Carja culture that seemed to put down women warriors, namely those who are natively Carjan.
Does anyone know how the tree with the seeds in Zelda identifies? Asking for a friend. Also, 30 hours into Horizon, no idea what the heck they are talking about.
Does anyone know how the tree with the seeds in Zelda identifies? Asking for a friend. Also, 30 hours into Horizon, no idea what the heck they are talking about.
That's...interesting. I never even considered Janeva in Horizon a trans character, honestly. I always assumed she was a woman, especially considering the diversity of the women represented in the game. Weird.
She's saying Link could figure out he's actually a woman after wearing women's clothes, like that's all it takes. She's the one reducing womanhood to a clothing choice.
Zelda guy is clearly cross-dressing to get into Gerudo town. That's how the scene reads on its face, and that's why the 'beard' reveal is okay, imo, if not particularly funny.
It's an entire town of people to trade with but you need to be a woman to enter. The fact that someone would do so isn't outrageous. The portrayal of the Gerudo themselves is awesome, too, so... I don't see much of a problem with it.
Had the male in woman's clothing been somewhere else rather than attempting to get into an all women's town, then I'd see the argument. As it is it's reaching.
Haven't played ME:A or seen any trans character in Horizon so far.
It was a bad trans-stereotype either way, hence why I disliked the beard joke. Unfortunately, with a lot of japanese games, it's them playing up stereotypes for an entirely different joke which results in a lot of extremely bad connotations.
She's saying Link could figure out he's actually a woman after wearing women's clothes, like that's all it takes. She's the one reducing womanhood to a clothing choice.
She's talking about a personal headcanon. If Link were a transwoman who didn't yet understand that about herself, in this particular headcanon, then yes it would make sense that trying on women's clothing could make for a moment of self-realization, absolutely.
I'd trust the words of an actual transwoman, over you, when it comes to this topic. No offense.
She's saying Link could figure out he's actually a woman after wearing women's clothes, like that's all it takes. She's the one reducing womanhood to a clothing choice.
I haven't played the game but if I understand correctly link is presenting as a woman there with the intent of having other people see him (her ) as a woman. It's more than just clothing but in the end it is still just an act/costume.
Really just an amusing headcanon idea. The other character from what I've seen is worth more discussion since I don't believe that character ever claims to be anything other than a woman (again haven't played so I only know so much of the dialogue)
she's saying that she's on board with a trans link FINDING themselves through it not that the simple act of wearing women's clothes makes them transgender but the act could open up prior thoughts and feelings put aside.
Doesn't mean that trans characters are *only* jokes, like with One Piece where it's definitely a joke but they're also goodhearted people who are very self-sacrificing, but i would doubt Nintendo had any pro-trans awareness when doing the Gerudo Town infiltration plotline.
Well, that's the thing. Any given person on an individual level in JP probably doesn't care if you're gay/trans/a car/whatever, same as anywhere else. With that said, though, being straight is the societal norm, as it is most everywhere else. Then, take into account the massive problems with low birth rates JP has, and you can start to paint a picture as to how being outside of the norm is actually hurtful to the health of the nation as a whole. Whether or not that's true is 100% opinion, but understanding both sides helps a bit. Japanese developers/creators generally are not actively considering whether or not what they're making is homophobic/transphobic, because they don't really consider it a thing.
