Cyberpunk 2077 could be the first AAA game to have a transgender playable character

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Cyberpunk 2077 could be the first AAA game to have a transgender playable character

I just realized (and btw, it is pretty obvious, I don't know how is it that I didn't think of it before) that if the game allows you to choose the most famous implants of 2020, in this case, Mr. Studd/Midnight Lady, it'll be the first AAA game in history to allow the players to play with an openly transgender character.

What do you think about that?

[Sard Edit: Step CAREFULLY, all. I despise bigots and gleefully remove them. If I catch a strong whiff of bigotry, you're going to have a probably very long timeout.

This topic is for the discussion of transgender in CP2077 from a gameplay/2077 perspective ONLY. Keep your Real World shit in good order or else.]
 
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Didn't Saints Row 3 has a sex change operation clinic?


EDIT: After the sex change operation in Saints Row 3, you were simply considered either male or female, CP2077 could do the same, since it would be easier for them to design the game and there's no difference between transgenders and cisgender females for modern society after all.
 
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Lisbeth_Salander;n9375881 said:
Didn't Saints Row 3 has a sex change operation clinic?

I looked about this subject as I didn't play Saints Row 3, and it seems that there were changes in the rest of the body if you changed your sex, but it was a sex change, it wasn't a woman with dick or a man with vagina, like you could do in CP2077 if you chose to play a femal and put a Mr Studd implant.

[Sard Edit: Nope, not gonna talk about who does or doesn't deserve to be represented here. Trans in the game is pretty much a non-issue in CP2020+ - the tech is there, the trans/bi/furry/virtual-sex-only people are there, effing AIs are going to kill us all, etc. Whether CDPR puts them in is up to them, but they are in the setting and not really a big deal.

This isn't the forum to have a fight about trans rights in our world as represented by CDPR's game.]
 
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[Sard Edit: Nope. Just no. This is not a fight over..whatever your issue against trans being represented is. If you don't want them in the game, you better either a) have a good ingame-related reason (not, "it sucks up resources!") or b) say nothing.]

 
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Lisbeth_Salander;n9376251 said:
The fact that you chose some to be represented while others are ignored is the very definition of inequality.

I don't remember saying that, most probably because I didn't. Infering that because I'm happy that transgenders could have representation in CP2077 means that I'm saying that the rest should be ignored is inaccurate and a clear attempt to twist my words.

Lisbeth_Salander;n9376251 said:
Every decision CDPR takes at this very moment takes resources, money and time and they should priorize wisely what to work on.

I'm sure that they already thought about implementing the most famous implant of the game, so no extra resources are needed, you just need to be able to choose a Mr Studd if you're playing a woman, or Midnight Lady if you're playing a man.

[Sard Edit. Nope, not gonna talk about people's possible transphobia here. Take it to PM]
 
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My argument is that it is disnecessary because CDPR won't gain anything by doing that.

Your argument is that CDPR should do it to appeal to a social cause and in this case CDPR will eventually become BIOWARE 2.0 which means, they will be more concerned about social crusades, than doing great games.

Offended? No, I'm not a Social Justice Warrior.

Political correctness is an enemy to artistic freedom.
 
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MadqueenShow;n9375811 said:
What do you think about that?

Doesn't move me as an option. The keywords, though, would be natural and unbiased implementation.

But if it somehow would turn as some sort of halfass social commentary about what certain "progressive" circles today think and feel about the subject and pandering them, or if it is just blatantly underlined, highlighted and romanticised (like lgbt stuff in Bioware games), then to hell with it. Don't push this game into that ocean of shit that follows.

If there is to be positivity towards it, there also needs to be indifference and negativity depicted. And all from an unjudgemental perspective that let's the player decide which is "the right thing" to say or do or think (saying/doing/thinking nothing being an option). And have (again unjudgemental) reactivity to that choice.
 
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Hokay.

That's enough.

This is a hot button topic, since people get offended way too easily by it to talk reasonably.

If you can play a transgender character in Cyberpunk, that'll be nice.

And it'll be NO ONE'S BUSINESS BUT YOUR OWN.

Do not use this as a platform to launch some kind of rant or attack on other people's gaming preferences. Or to rail against modern transphobia. Not the place.

Sentences that start out like, "Modern society claims.." or contain phrases like "SCIENCE SAYS" have no place here and will get you infracted and then banned. Fast. The excuse "I'm against it because it will suck up resources" will not help you or anyone else. Also the excuse, "this NEEDS to be talked about!" Nope.

I want a pleasant, interesting conversation on the option to become transgender in CP2077 and what you think that might add to the game or your character. Dialogue choices, seduction options, you name it. If you bring your (aggressive, bigoted) politics into this or I catch you with your prejudices out, you're gone.


This tech IS in the CPunk PnP and has been available in that game since the early 90s. In that sense, I see it as pretty unlikely there is serious discrimination in 2077.

Transgender just isn't that much of a button-presser to the bigots in a world where you can turn yourself into a omni-sexual shark-man...and join a gang that focusses on fish-people.

I rather like the idea of multiple seduction options towards people who aren't sure of your gender - you don't have to follow up, ( and probably wouldn't unless you're bi, of course) but it gives you tactical considerations.

I would also enjoy a few lines like, "I was a man..once. Really miss just standing around, pissing. Real high point."
 
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I never said there shoudn't be transsexuals in CP2077, what I said was that if that was the case for CDPR implementing them in the game, then it'd be plausible to implement many others minority groups.
 
kofeiiniturpa;n9376681 said:
"I used to be a man like you, then I took an arrow to the dick."

I am ashamed to admit that I laughed. ASHAMED.

Also, totally Mr. Studd time. All night, every night and she''ll (he'll) never know.

Not-really-off-topic, but CP2020 includes the Cybersnake, an implanted body weapon. Borrowed from Walter Jon Williams excellent "Hardwired", the Cybersnake is designed to emerge from it's orifice-holster during..contact..with the target, cross from attacker to target and seek-and-destroy internal organs, causing shock, trauma and death.

Yes, it's just horrible. Yay for writers. As a Ref, I'd typically have it apply max damage when used properly, because, you know, it's IN YOU ALREADY. Anyway.

Of course our players immediately demanded a Mr.Studd that was also a Cybersnake.

No, no, not to kill people they are having sex with, (like it was designed to do!)..of course not. Boring.

They wanted it so they could have a two foot long penis-weapon. That did 2D6 damage when used. As an extra limb attack.

Sigh.

Players.

 
Sardukhar;n9376781 said:
They wanted it so they could have a two foot long penis-weapon. That did 2D6 damage when used. As an extra limb attack.

Sigh.

Players.
Sure.
By-the-way, it's now useless for it previous primary function as it's been replaced with inanimate synthetic materials to contain the retracted snake, launch it, and retrieve it.
 
No way. The ultimate transgender option is just play character of the opposite to yours gender, and that's enough. One such thread at Pathfinder: Kingmaker forums already descended into holywar, so let's just leave it at that.
 
Usually the closest we have gotten to it in a game has been playing as Poison, having a transgender companion or having the option of changing the male to the female model or viceversa because we fucked up, or we just want to play as the other. The fun thing about it would be the roleplaying. If Sard will allow me... please, I'm on to something here and I hardly think it classifies as something offensive to anyone... the problem sometimes with things like these in media, that also affects RPGs, is a case of presentism. In fantasy rpgs it's common for us to play a female warrior or a black prince in a typical, medieval europe inspired setting. And that's ok for say D&D, let everyone have a lot of fun playing what they want in a high fantasy setting. But we should also be able to play in settings where your gender and race actually matter, and for them to matter, we should be able to play into their gender identity, both the good and the bad. What does the setting of Legend of the 5 Rings think about the gaijin? If they think nothing in particular, maybe they won't be as interesting to play and I'll just stick to playing a native of the Emerald Empire.

Now that was about presentism in coded-past settings, where things were "less progressive". But transgenders in a cyberpunk setting? There are a bunch of them in cyberpunk novels. Marid Audran from Gravity Falls When Gravity Fails has a transgender gf. In settings like GITS is as easy as changing into a prosthetic body of the opposite sex (both Motoko at the ending of the first manga and Rofa, Batou's online date in Human Error processor, have done it. That's not to talk about the Puppetmaster). Also lots of genderless or androginous characters.

Now I don't know if the way these were portrayed back in the 80s would be considered nowadays as respectful or not... modern, realistic or antiquated...

The thing is, they would probably not be such a big deal... but I think there should be at least some reaction in the game world. Of some kind, at least characters acknowledging the fact that transgender characters are in fact transgender.

It would also be interesting if it wasn't something so black and white as "I'm a male now, I go to a clinic, choose the change sex option and ta-da I'm a female character like I would be if I had chosen at character creation". It would be cool if you retained a lot of your original features if you didn't pay for the extra plastic surgery, or if the lack of hormone treatment or larynx sculpture made your voice sound like before transitioning. Or maybe I'm not a transgender but I want to be a man with tits.

Now maybe I AM proposing something prohibitive.

Now does this have to do with representation of minorities? Yes, it does, but, is it the only thing that it does? The only crowd that it panders to? I think not. Lots of CP2020 players around the world have been playing this game for, what? 27 years? They have rolled lots of characters and they've probably tried lots of different concepts. I for example see the lists of languages your character can know in the core book and I wonder, can I play a guy that comes from Senegal? There must be a lot of people who want to play less conventional characters because the world of cyberpunk is exotic, modern and cosmopolitan. Some may have already done so in the PnP and they want to recreate that character in the new videogame.
 
in gamw where you can implante fangs and feline ears on a person, then make them go full borg, a sex change seems less exotic. still a nice option to have.
 
Decatonkeil;n9379001 said:
I think there should be at least some reaction in the game world. Of some kind, at least characters acknowledging the fact that transgender characters are in fact transgender.

But why? It's not a celebrating matter, nor something that calls for unprompted advertising. These things are way too easily drawn past certain borders.

I mean unless it's a situation where it is contextually fitting to possibly (players call) bring up such a matter, be it trannyism or some gay thing.

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I don't think these things should've ever been (in any game) about "minority representation", but simply about believability of the gameworld and handled as such.
 
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I am not bothered by either the inclusion, or the exclusion of things like this in games. Take note that I am partly not just talking about something like transgender options here in a game, I am talking more general with things related to people in general and what not... but... due to that, what I say does include things like transgender, amongst alot of other things (even the "norm" and most common things I guess), etc.


If it is in a game, then that is great... gives people the option to play what ever they want, and/or experience such things in the game. I don't feel that you always have to have stuff like this in every single thing... especially not if it is just there for the sake of having it in there... but also feel that when it is in, and it has been done well, then it can enhance the experience of what ever it is.

If it is not in a game, then that is a shame... since it gives people less option, and/or less opportunities to experience such things in a game. But...like mentioned, I don't always feel that you absolutly have to have every thing in there for something to be good or what ever. Also... I don't judge the games or the devs because of a lack of X, Y or Z thing, since there can be multiple valid circumstances as to why various things are not in a game (be it anything from there just not being enough time and/or money to actually include it (to me this does partly depend on the project, and size of team, their timelimit to release, etc), or just a general lack of actual knowledge about a topic so that it would not feel right to add it due to a chance of representing it wrong, or that it might just not be fitting for the setting for one reason or another, and what ever else it might be, etc.


I guess the only thing I really ask for when it comes to these things, when they are in a game, is that it's atleast done in a good way. I don't know exactly what that means though, to "do it in a good way"... that could mean almost anything. But I guess unless it is supposed to be a defining factor of a character, that they are "X, Y and Z" (no matter if that is the most common thing people are in general or on average, or if it happends to be something which a minority amount of people are)... don't make to much of a deal about it, because it is compleatly unnecessary to constantly refer to it over and over and over again if it is not a defining factor to who the character is... something as simple as an NPC (no matter their perceived gender/etc) saying something like "Yeah, we'll do it... me and my husband/wife/boy- or girl-friend/partner/etc are going to go and fix that for you now." would be enough I feel to give the players a clue as to who the character might be in one of the aspect of them.

I don't know how the best way would be to include something like transgender to NPC's in games with out the game constantly hitting us across the head with a hammer about it... because unless it is supposed to be super obvious that someone is transgender, there is a chance that you might never actually know that a person might be transgender. I mean that is true in real life as well, where there is a chance that you never knew that someone is transgender until the person tells you they are, or someone else points it out to you. Not compleatly sure either how much effect the fact that your own character could potentually be transgender should/would/could have on the game in general... if the game should in some way take note of it (no matter what you are, be it male, female, transgender, or anything else), so that some NPC's in the game might mention it, or that it might work for or against the player character in some occations... or if the game should not take note of it at all, where it does not have an effect on the game at all.

I don't know... there are better people then me to figure things like this out... because while I am totally behind the thought of equality for all, no matter who you are, I am not a person who will directly get involved in matters like this very often (or alot of other importent things as well for that matter)... partly because I am not a very social person at all (and as such I usually only have enough "social energy" to deal with social stuff in my own main interests), but partly also because I might not actually know a lot about the subject in general (and don't feel a need or interest to dig deeper into it... which comes from the fact that I do have Aspergers, which means that my interests are a very limited set of things, and if something is not really in my set of interests chances are I won't feel like spending a lot of time on it). The way that I get behind things like this is by maybe once going "Yes, good... this thing is something which I fully/mostly stand behind" (like I am partly doing with this particular topic here), and with my vote if a vote is required to get things going/changed/fixed... other then that, I stay out of most things like this. XD

Anyway... it's a good thing, but I don't know what would be the best way to implement it... I guess that is all I have to say about it for now... XD
 
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This sounds that it would be something a character chooses to do after starting the game rather than something in the character creation menu.

You're not gay in Fallout 4 until you bang the black dude. You're not bi unless you three-way with Kate and Preston.
Actually you're only ever bi in fallout 4, cause you start of happily married with a kid. Unless you really want to jump through some explanation hoops. Anyway.

If it's an option to go into a clinic in the game and get a sex change, and when you walk out your Character screen has the sex changed in the description then whoop-die-f*cking-do.

I think it's inclusion would cause a bigger ruckus than should be expected for such a minor amount of coding involved.
Not really sure how much time the developer seriously wants to spend on that aspect of character development.

[Deleted something I said here, taken seriously, I was joking]

I can assure you of this, there are going to be thousands of times more of little kids laughing there asses off at creating a woman with a beard or man with a balloon-y chest than anybody seriously feeling represented.

The irony in this is I would image if I was a man in a woman's body, or a woman in a man's body, then video-games is the one place where I could actually be in the same gendered body that I am in my mind.

The game could include trans stuff but ironically I don't think it would be of much interest to the actual people it's meant to appeal to... as much as it would to people who think trans stuff is retardedly funny, which actually make me think it's better if it's not included.
 
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