an open letter to video game designers
hi my name is hunter and I would like to let you in on a little secret: not every male is big and hairy and not every female is small and curvy. for that matter, not everyone fits into the categories of male and female at all!
I, for example, am a short skinny male-leaning adrogyne who most people tend to think “looks” like a girl whatever the hell that means. I have friends who use pronouns like ze and ey and friends who are tall and short and skinny and fat and robust and fragile and flat and curvy and pointy and male and female and genderqueer and androgynous and agender and genderfluid and all other sorts of things I haven’t thought of yet.
guess what! all of these people play video games. chances are, most of them have played one of your games. and chances are, they had to play a character that looked nothing like them, that felt all wrong, that didn’t use the right pronouns. they had to choose between a character that was all wrong and a character that was even more wrong.
I know technology is limited in what it can do right now, but don’t try to tell me this level of customization is impossible. that’s ridiculous. if you can let me adjust the bone structure of my character’s face I think you can squeeze in a handful of body type sliders.
just once I would like to play a video game where I don’t have to choose between being a tall muscular flat-chested man or a short skinny hourglass-shaped woman. I don’t fit either of those categories and I am really not interested in trying to, even in a game.
no love,
hunter
(Source: niffick)
