Would you mind if a game had an Agender protagonist?

Hey!

So I'm in a game dev. team and a while ago we were deciding on what gender should our leading character be. An idea came up to make this character Agender (EDIT: doesn't identify neither as woman nor man; not sure what the right expression is) and this sparkled a very "passionate" debate. The team was pretty much devided in half. Some thought it would be a good idea and others (including myself) seriously opposed it.

The arguments FOR having an Agender protagonist (as presented by part of the team that was cheering for this idea):

- it would make the character more mysterious

- it would set us apart from other games

- it would be very inovative

- it is something that catches attention

- it would appeal to a wider spectrum of gamers

Now for the arguments AGAINST such an idea (those arguments are totally biased and written from my side of the view):

Whilst it's true that it would put more mystery into our character's persona and it would also set us apart from other games, I think it's also true that we have to consider HOW do we set us apart from others. Yes, it would be something inovative and we would stand out, but would this really be portraing what are we trying to do game-wise, or would it portrait us more as a certain political agenda-serving studio that tries to appeal to the PC culture we're living in today? And yes, it does catch the attention, but what kind of attention? It's a very common expression we hear that "even a bad publicity is still a publicity", but I think it's evident in the gaming world, that good reviews and good publicity is what makes you money. And this leads me to the last point: would it really appeal to the "wider spectrum of gamers"? I think not. Again, I think it would only appeal to some of the people, but majority of these people would not be the kind of people that would actually consider buying our game (eg. would not be gamers), but would instead just agree with the agenda we would be representing and move on.

As a marketer I have to look at things from marketing point of view and I always tend to follow the basic saying: Inovations are welcome, as long as they don't produce more bad than they do good.

But I've been wrong before, so I'm really interested in your opinion. Is gender something you even notice? Would you mind if the game's main character would be Agender? What do you have to say?

A man or woman... A mix would just be weird. Unless it's earthworm Jim.

Yeah, been done before:

In other words, stop worrying and just make a good game.

@tilenm:

Personally, I prefer being able to choose the gender. If not, at least identify which is it. The last game I played with a character like that was Undertale but it was ok because the mc didn't talk at all. So maybe that would help me overlook the gender-fluid idea. If it's just like an emotionless avatar, then it's fine but if it talks, pick a gender or give us the option.

@killered3: Alright, that's a good point. Thanks for the response! :)

@joshrmeyer: Thanks for the input! ^^

Nope.

@madrocketeer: Always a good advice :D

i'm more inclined to agree with your arguments against. there might be a feeling of you jumping on the lgbt bandwagon which is fine for scoring points with that movement but whether they're your core audience who are likely to buy the game is a question you need to think carefully over. i'd only do it if it's critical / highly important to the storyline. on topic i heard someone in the bank the other day say to the teller that they were non-binary and didn't subscribe to traditional gender identities. to be honest they sounded like a bit of a tw@t

You could just make it a female protagonist.

Seems to be the craze now a days.

So you want this, as a game?

No, something like that wouldn't bother me.

@neatfeatguy: lol that's immediately what I thought of. I remember there was a bit where a barber was trying to figure it out, and he offered Pat some magazines, and was like "Would you like Men's Quarterly, or Elle?" and Pat was like "Ummm Newsweek please"

Anyway @tilenm do what you want, just don't make it a big deal or the focus. You start doing that, then you make it a thing, you make it a thing, then it becomes a principle, then it suddenly becomes political. It would not bug me at the slightest if the main character was androgynous/agender unless it was brought up often.

I have to read that god damn disclaimer at the beginning of every Ubisoft game ("this game is made by a multicultural, multiracial, multigendered, multireligous, multispecies, multiinterplanetary team of developers...") and it makes me want to vomit. Good freaking job for you for being inclusive and doing what you should do. Now stop making a big deal out of it.

@Macutchi: Thanks for the response man. And yeea, it seems we are on the same page. I'm happy that we decided not to go that way. :D

@Sam3231: I'm happy to announce that's the path we chosse at the end. :)

@Archangel3371: Thanks for letting me know! :)

@nibbin1191: Thanks for the reply! And it seems you and I are also on the same page. :)

@mrbojangles25: That's a really good point and I thank you for it. But what I'm most concerned that this would go political even if we wouldn't try to make it so. But at the end we concluded that having a female protagonist is the best option for us right now. :)

If this is weaved into the narrative proper, it's cool. If the gameplay is not taking a backseat in exchange of a socio-political platform for genders, it's fine.

That's a horrible idea

I don't care what they identify as. That's just nonsense. Instead of making the protagonist agendered, make him/her androgynous.

I don't care if you play as a sentient sponge as long as your game is good.

Is the protagonist a plant?

It wouldn't bother me, if it made sense within the context and story of the game. However, if your aim is to be all-inclusive, just allow the player the option of character creation at the start. That way they can choose race, gender, and whatever else that might help them to engage with the main protagonist. That system has worked well in other games such as the Saints Row and Mass Effect series.

I've become pretty annoyed with PC culture run amok in recent years, so my first impression upon hearing about a game like this would be that it was created by a group of SJWs that want to push their political agenda down the consumer's throat and that would be a turnoff to me.

If you are having trouble determining what gender the character should be, I would suggest letting the player create their own character.

I think Tranny's are weird. It's a tiny, tiny segment of the populace at large, though it's been in the news a long time.

I'm all for people being who they want to be. I'm just saying I don't have much interest in playing a game just because there is a politically relevant character. How/why is it necessary for this character to be androgynous? Is it relevant to the game/story? If not, there's not really a reason to force it into the game. If, somehow, there's a good reason to be playing the androgynous character, then that's a good reason to involve it.

This would just be seen as a political statement and do nothing for the story. As a person who was in marketing, it is never a good idea to alienate a section of your possible sales base.

If it is a human it would be wierd ... otherwise there is plenty of caracters that it is hard to know the gender ...