I'm already feeling emotionally exhausted and unsafe, so I'm probably going to stop responding after this, but before I do, I just want to give a huge thank you those who commented and showed their support for a small change that could make a world of difference for a deeply vulnerable population of people. I'm glad I posted in spite of my fear and knowing full well some people would take umbrage with the idea of a game welcoming people like me.
I also agree about the translation thing. It might be a bit tricky, but it can definitely still work...
I know that even though the Royal Spanish Academy still refuses to recognize "Elle" as an official gender neutral pronoun, that doesn't stop non-binary Spanish Speakers from using it and it's becoming increasingly common. You can also make forms of group address neutral by switching the ending from an "a" or an "o" to an "e." For example, "amigos" or "amigas" meaning friends would become "amiges." Trying to learn Spanish myself and my Spanish speaking friends wanted to know how to address me and some fellow NBs gave me some great advice. Absolute worst case scenario, a few languages having gender neutral pronouns would still be better than none at all.
Last couple points here, I don't get upset with people making mistakes about me, but I do get upset when I politely correct them and they continue to insist my identity is whatever they feel like based on what's most convenient for them no matter how much it hurts me or the trauma it inflicts. That's a society issue, not a me issue and one that increased representation can help to address. And it's a fact that the more marginalized a population is, the less physically and emotionally healthy that population is overall. When society changes to become safer and more accepting, their health and wellbeing improves. Not the other way around. And the only way to get there as a society is to push for these changes. As I said this is a request for a game feature and that last paragraph was specifically to avoid a debate mired in transphobia. And we're talking about a video game in a fantasy setting, the characters won't make mistakes with my pronouns if the devs decide not to write them that way.
Gender is not a social construct. If it was, I would not be trans and there would be no issues. The gender binary is and it has it's roots in Christianity and colonialism. Non-binary people have existed for thousands of years in culture's across the word and still do. From two spirit Native Americans to the Hijra in India
If you don't want to see they/them pronouns in your playthrough, simply don't use them. It may not happen anyway, but I'm perfectly allowed to make the request. Me asking for a feature to increase immersion for and include an entire population of people is not inherently political. Just because I have an opinion that some people may vehemently disagree with, also doesn't mean I'm being political. It's no more political than Larian Studio Writers including pronouns in their bios. My desire for and request for the bare minimum representation is just as real and valid as female gamers, or other queer people or BIPOC wanting more representation in video games.
Last edited by TheBlueFaery; 15/02/21 02:45 AM.