Stop Giving Me Meaningless Gender Choices

I cannot shut up about diversity and inclusivity in video games, ever. Given half the chance, I will happily explain to you why that single-player main character is secretly gay or bisexual when textually there’s absolutely no evidence to suggest they’re anything but straight. Similarly, I’m the first person to point at a textually cis character and go, “they’re trans now. Because I say so.” Yet I find that I’m so tired of games giving me meaningless choices of that nature, instead of committing to anything real.

Far Cry 6 has just been announced, and it’s the latest culprit. It’s far from Ubisoft’s biggest issue right now, given that they’re embroiled in a workplace sexual abuse scandal that they’ve been desperately trying to distract from. Given the state of the world and the constantly developing nature of that story, I’d rather take five minutes to talk about unimportant ways video games annoy me.

Still, I will bring the abuse thing up to anyone who mentions Ubisoft right now. Letting that particular story slip under the radar is exactly what would be the desired result for that company. It is important while they tout their latest wares and game announcements ahead of the upcoming new console generation. Don’t let it slip under the radar.

Back on topic: video games are annoying when they offer you meaningless options. One of the announcements that have come out of Far Cry 6 is that you’re going to be able to pick the gender of your player character. Okay… and? The Far Cry series is mostly single-player, a first-person shooter where you might not even ever look at your character. We had relatively thorough character customization in Far Cry 5, but that game was pushing its co-op/multiplayer aspects, where other people would see you.

I don’t actually know what Far Cry: New Dawn did. It is bold of you to assume I finished Far Cry 5, let alone picked up its technicolor vomit spin-off. Don’t accuse me of not being fun! I love fun! Far Cry: Blood Dragon was a marvel. It’s just that by the halfway point of Far Cry 5, I had fatigue enough to drop it and leave New Dawn in the same unfinished bin. Anyway, we’re getting off-topic again.

Far Cry is not a roleplaying game. It’s a shooter, through and through. When you’re given options on how to shape the game, they’re often small, end-game, or otherwise meaningless. The notable example (spoilers ahoy) is in Far Cry 3, when at the end of the game you can either spare your friends or kill them. It doesn’t really matter what you do, because it’s the end of the game.

That’s totally fine! That’s about the level of choice-making I look for in a shooter. I want a reasonably solid excuse to be shooting things in the first place, also known as a half-decent story, and minimal effort otherwise. I don’t mind having a silent protagonist, as long as everyone else has enough spunk to carry the game. Though I equally enjoy a bratty, opinionated main character.

At the end of the day, though, I don’t look at my character. The story is deeply unlikely to change based on how my character looks. This isn’t Mass Effect, where you project your entire personality onto your created Shepard and then deeply mourn the fact you don’t get to make the first Turian-Human babies with Garrus. It’s Far Cry. I’m here to shoot things and skin animals. I’m all out of animals.

I would much rather Far Cry 6 just commit to a main character that is interesting. In fact, I’m sure Dani Rojas, the named protagonist of Far Cry 6, is going to be interesting regardless of the gender the player chooses for them. Rojas will be voiced, and will have more agency than previous protagonists according to Ubisoft. We won’t really know what that means until gameplay trailers start giving us hints, or until the game releases in its entirety next year.

I just can’t help but wonder if they’re going to add enough to make two voice actors worth it. If Rojas has approximately the same level of decision making as Jason Brody (Far Cry 3) or Ajay Ghale (Far Cry 4), which is to say a bit but not very much, does it justify the effort? I’m sick of playing as grizzly men, but I’m also exhausted by performative inclusivity.

A solid single-player game doesn’t always need a gender choice. Even in roleplaying games, the ability to pick your character’s gender often leads to clunky dialogue and cutscenes where the game goes out of its way to avoid pronouns. Often, the game treats the characters exactly the same except for those pronouns, even in situations where that would be weird.

Also, in case you’re thinking I’m starting to sound a little anti-feminist by whining about people getting to pick their gender, it definitely feels like an excuse to avoid having a main character that is a woman. There has never been a Far Cry game where you play as a woman, without the option to play as a man. Commit to the concept of a main character that is a woman, Ubisoft. Commit to something.

This isn’t unique to Far Cry, either. Assassin’s Creed has done the same thing. In the main series, there are no games where you play as a woman without also being able to play as a man. When you can play as a woman, you can opt-out. This re-frames things far less as the esteemed idea of player choice and makes it smell a lot more cowardly.

I would rather just have Dani Rojas be a single, cohesive main character. I would rather they put the money from paying a second voice actor into creating a strong, funny, interesting human being for me to put myself in the shoes of. Maybe Far Cry 6 will knock it out of the park with details and nuances that make the gender choice feel more than aesthetic, and feel more than just a performative measure. However, i’m not holding my breath. It’s Far Cry. Dani Rojas isn’t even on the poster, because the protagonists of these games have never been as detailed or interesting as the villains.

This isn’t, to be clear, meant to just drag Far Cry 6. It’s simply the latest in a long line of pointless choices. Even Animal Crossing: New Horizons gives you completely meaningless “styles” to pick from. Every islander has the same body type, is not referred to with pronouns, and can wear any clothes. So what’s the point of a choice to begin with? I have no idea. That said, I was and am still deeply excited to see more simulator games dropping gendered language, and can’t fault it for that.

There are a few ways to demonstrate that diversity and equality are important. Fill the world to the brim with people from all walks of life, all genders and all backgrounds. Stuff it full of interesting characters who are distinct and cannot be homogenized. Commit to realistic characters that captivate players. Design main characters that matter, stand out, and are women.

If you’re going to include gender choices, do it right. Make them trans-inclusive. Give me pronoun options. Then make them matter to the story in ways that are real. Dani Rojas as a woman might experience different aggressions about her skill level than a man. Equally, she may be part of a culture that explicitly discourages giving anyone lip based on their gender.

Does she fight differently to Dani Rojas as a man? If she’s designed as slimmer and lighter than Dani Rojas as a man would be, then she might prefer a dirtier fighting style when forced into melee. She might prefer ducking and jabbing, utilizing agility where Dani Rojas as a man might leverage brute strength. Or is she designed to be explicitly equal to Dani Rojas as a man? Is she muscular? Can she throw a punch in exactly the same way?

On the other hand, does a masculine Dani Rojas have to rely on strength? Maybe he’s built slighter, or at least on a level with Dani Rojas as a woman. Maybe they both prefer an agile fighting style. Does he struggle to put his head above the crowd? Does a woman have a hard time being taken seriously because she’s a woman, and a man has a hard time because he’s just another in a sea of them? What would happen if I could play Dani Rojas as non-binary?

That’s what I find lies at the heart of this for me. Video games that like to perform realism and diversity by asking if I want to be a boy or a girl, but never treat it as anything but a superficial aesthetic marker. Gender is varied and interesting, and a powerful part of a person’s identity even in the act of rejecting it entirely. It’s not supposed to be this shallow.