Why is there a neutral gender?

[MattB]

I think it probably makes you entirely normal but I'd appreciate it if you didn't make light of the issues trans people deal with. I don't think you meant to but being flippant about sexual reassignment surgery doesn't come across very well.

You're quite right, and I apologise unreservedly to anyone who was offended. Please be assured that no offense was meant.

[Timo Pietilä]

Side note: perhaps "unknown" would be better than "neutral"? "Decline to specify" seems overly-wordy and legalistic.

"neither" and "both" after male/female choices. Maybe "other" could work too.

So we have

a) male
b) female
c) neither
d) both
e) other
f) unknown

[buzzkill]

As most things in character creation, I choose a random sex as I don't don't care whether it's male or female, although sex will figure into the characters evolving back story and may even alter my play style in a limited way.

I'd prefer neuter to neutral. Neutral has no flavor. It's not even a proper PC descriptor, which is the whole point isn't it.

[Therem Harth]

ekolis: it's about education and respect, not censorship. Making jokes at the expense of a group of people is disrespectful; takkaria's polite correction was warranted IMO.

And I've run male characters, female characters, neuter characters, and trans characters. Who cares? Coming up with interesting character backgrounds is fun.

[chris]

Most males play girls so they have a nice rear end to stare at while they play. Whether that applies in ASCII games is up for debate...

@



Drool :P

[takkaria]

I for one appreciated the joke. Please don't censor jokes just because you think some hypothetical person out there might be offended...

Nope, I wasn't doing it on behalf of some hypothetical person.

[ekolis]

I, being male, imagine the character as male, so I can identify with it better.

[Patashu]

I have a related question. In ASCII games where there is no choice of gender and it is not hinted at all by the game (no use of gender specific pronouns or figures of speech, etc) yet you are clearly playing something that should be gendered,
-What do male players tend to imagine the gender of their character being?
-What do female players tend to imagine the gender of their character being?

Is there any study on this kind of thing?

[ekolis]

I think it probably makes you entirely normal but I'd appreciate it if you didn't make light of the issues trans people deal with. I don't think you meant to but being flippant about sexual reassignment surgery doesn't come across very well.

I for one appreciated the joke. Please don't censor jokes just because you think some hypothetical person out there might be offended...

[takkaria]

Personally speaking, I'm a human boy, but I quite like playing a sexy elf girl.
Does that make me:
a> Normal
b> Unusual
c> Kinky
d> Very, very sad
or
e> A prime candidate for surgery

I think it probably makes you entirely normal but I'd appreciate it if you didn't make light of the issues trans people deal with. I don't think you meant to but being flippant about sexual reassignment surgery doesn't come across very well.

Most males play girls so they have a nice rear end to stare at while they play. Whether that applies in ASCII games is up for debate...

While it might be true, it's pretty grim.

[Nick]

Most males play girls so they have a nice rear end to stare at while they play. Whether that applies in ASCII games is up for debate...

I used to always play male so as not to be like that, which is pretty lame in retrospect. Now I just choose random (except playing spiders, when I always choose female, not wanting to get my head bitten off).

[takkaria]

Side note: perhaps "unknown" would be better than "neutral"? "Decline to specify" seems overly-wordy and legalistic.

Maybe just ripping it out entirely would be a good idea :P Says the person who loves removing gameplay mechanics...

[Derakon]

Side note: perhaps "unknown" would be better than "neutral"? "Decline to specify" seems overly-wordy and legalistic.

[Patashu]

Most males play girls so they have a nice rear end to stare at while they play. Whether that applies in ASCII games is up for debate...

[MattB]

Personally speaking, I'm a human boy, but I quite like playing a sexy elf girl.
Does that make me:
a> Normal
b> Unusual
c> Kinky
d> Very, very sad
or
e> A prime candidate for surgery