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Character gender in Starmourn - the final word
Aurelius
Administrator Posts: 467 Starmourn staff
There's been some discussion over the months on this thread - http://forums.starmourn.com/discussion/124/character-gender - about whether we should have more than two gender options (three if you include Decheerans, who have no gender).
We've decided that we're going to have a third after all, though we're not intending to go beyond that for a number of reasons.
We'll have male, female, and non-binary as gender options. The pronouns the game will use for the non-binary option are the familiar they/them/theirs (unlike Decheerans, who use 'it').
We feel like this is the best way to go because there are too many permutations of potential gender (especially in a sci-fi universe with the advanced cloning and genetic manipulation tech available) to cover mechanically and it gives players space to define what it means for themselves in whatever way they want, via descriptions, dress, actions, etc. We realized, in fact, that we never even have to address biological sex mechanically, and so we won't. Gender is going to refer to just that, gender. If you want to write your personal description so that your gender is a woman but you have a penis or vice-versa, that's up to you. You can do that in any of our games already anyway, since descriptions are free-form. (Not that I encourage you to include your genitals in your description. That's kind of tacky imo.)
So, anyway, that's what we're doing!
We've decided that we're going to have a third after all, though we're not intending to go beyond that for a number of reasons.
We'll have male, female, and non-binary as gender options. The pronouns the game will use for the non-binary option are the familiar they/them/theirs (unlike Decheerans, who use 'it').
We feel like this is the best way to go because there are too many permutations of potential gender (especially in a sci-fi universe with the advanced cloning and genetic manipulation tech available) to cover mechanically and it gives players space to define what it means for themselves in whatever way they want, via descriptions, dress, actions, etc. We realized, in fact, that we never even have to address biological sex mechanically, and so we won't. Gender is going to refer to just that, gender. If you want to write your personal description so that your gender is a woman but you have a penis or vice-versa, that's up to you. You can do that in any of our games already anyway, since descriptions are free-form. (Not that I encourage you to include your genitals in your description. That's kind of tacky imo.)
So, anyway, that's what we're doing!
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Comments
I'm sorry, I couldn't resist
Jin
VOTE FOR STARMOURN
if there's no kittens in space
I'm going on a rampage
TectonToday at 2:17 PM
They're called w'hoorn, Groot
sets out a saucer of milk
"They are elect to whom beautiful things mean only Beauty."
— Oscar Wilde
"I'll take care of it, Luke said. And because he said it instead of her, I knew he meant kill. That is what you have to do before you kill, I thought. You have to create an it, where none was before."
— Margaret Atwood
I don't see a problem with creating diversity in the game's cultural approaches to gender. There are many races to choose from after all.
"They are elect to whom beautiful things mean only Beauty."
— Oscar Wilde
"I'll take care of it, Luke said. And because he said it instead of her, I knew he meant kill. That is what you have to do before you kill, I thought. You have to create an it, where none was before."
— Margaret Atwood
I know Sindome does it.
It is positively... sinful.
I also know that, at least, Achaea uses a layers system for their clothing, and Aetolia uses a semi-version of that as well.
It is possible.. but um.. I wouldn't mind genitalia being omitted. It'd just let me add tattoos to parts of my char's body that I don't have to explain being revealed? "How can I see your back tattoo when you're wearing a jacket and a shirt?"
@Satomi Tattoos are different, since they have a mechanical component in IRE games (and at least as far as iriil goes, they will in Starmourn). I agree, a system to make them visible/invisible makes good sense to me, since they're equipment, not just flavor.
I've interacted with many characters who would have loved a non-binary option for gender so kudos to the staff for already being open to the desires of the community! Well played.
- Players end up feeling obligated to describe every single body part, which becomes spammy and superfluous. These body parts include upper arms, forearms, hands, and be real with me here, is it really necessary to describe these all separately?
- Players become rather lazy and unimaginative with the way their descriptions flow and instead of describing an organic, overall impression of the human body (e.g., 'He is lanky of build, with long, sinewy limbs and a sallow disposition.') fixate on unimportant minutiae. (e.g., 'His athletic thighs would allow him to cover long distances. His calves are pale, skinny, and covered in hair. He has ten perfectly standard toes.')
- Such systems don't allow you to describe multiple body parts in one sentence, since you must categorise each description separately. For example: 'His eyes look like they have seen much, with a vacant, thousand yard stare. Like his cheekbones, they are sunken in, flanking a beak-like nose.' In this instance I would have to choose whether the second sentence belongs to 'eyes' or 'lowerface'. And if I choose lowerface, any time my character wears sunglasses, you would have a visible description that doesn't actually make sense out of context. If I choose eyes, you're seeing more of the face than should be visible if he's wearing a balaclava.
- Predictable breast/groin descs. I mean really. It's a running gag in Haven that the town it's set in has an uncommonly large average penis size, because unsurprisingly the dudes all give themselves 10" dicks. This problem is further compounded by men playing female characters as cartoon blow-up-dolls and giving them all gravity-defying bosoms with pepperoni nipples, since they rarely seem to have an understanding of how the female body works.
In my opinion, none of this is necessary. It's overengineered and gets in the way of organic storytelling flow. Don't describe your character as a set of attributes, describe them as a person.Emotes allow you to explore such attributes in as much detail as you desire when the need to do so arises. Instead of describing a back tattoo or hidden scar, describe what's ordinarily visible about your character and when you emote them undressing, emote what's revealed. From a writer/roleplayer's perspective I think this is a lot more interesting to read, anyway.
Counter system I would propose would be something like 'describe hidden (area)' — a command that lets you specify a hidden detail that isn't included in your ordinary description, but becomes visible when you remove an item of clothing. So you have your ordinary paragraph description which is always visible, and then on top of that, any time your character removes all of their torso garments it sends an echo of your hidden description, e.g., 'A back tattoo of planet earth hovers between his shoulder-blades.' But if there's nothing interesting about their naked torso, ideally you just wouldn't bother with that command at all.
I would also like a system that enables you to conceal your identity via masks/costumes but that would probably require IRE to move beyond their current system of having character names visible as soon as they walk into a room regardless of whether you've ever met/seen them before, and I doubt that's going to happen any time soon.
"They are elect to whom beautiful things mean only Beauty."
— Oscar Wilde
"I'll take care of it, Luke said. And because he said it instead of her, I knew he meant kill. That is what you have to do before you kill, I thought. You have to create an it, where none was before."
— Margaret Atwood
(I apologize for derail. Seemed like such a great idea)
eta: was a response to Kestrel, Aurelius snuck his in while I was tediously typing
Jin
VOTE FOR STARMOURN
if there's no kittens in space
I'm going on a rampage
TectonToday at 2:17 PM
They're called w'hoorn, Groot
sets out a saucer of milk
"They are elect to whom beautiful things mean only Beauty."
— Oscar Wilde
"I'll take care of it, Luke said. And because he said it instead of her, I knew he meant kill. That is what you have to do before you kill, I thought. You have to create an it, where none was before."
— Margaret Atwood
Regardless of weird political beliefs, in this game genders DO exist so that would be a moot point. In this game W'hoorn and Ry'nari and Elgan exist which do not exist in our world but I trust you're not suggesting we erase any of the races outside human?
If you are unable to respect another person's wishes, it is in your best interests to avoid them, so they do not upset you, and in their best interests that you avoid them, so they need not be unduly exposed to your disrespect. For this reason the ignore/snub command is a very elegant means with which to handle situations where you feel that you're unable to communicate or be exposed to others' communications without being disrespectful. It will protect you from having to acknowledge them.
"They are elect to whom beautiful things mean only Beauty."
— Oscar Wilde
"I'll take care of it, Luke said. And because he said it instead of her, I knew he meant kill. That is what you have to do before you kill, I thought. You have to create an it, where none was before."
— Margaret Atwood
2. You are mixing biological things, which are like race and sex, and mental things like genders.
3. Show respect to all political views
4. Also, as I already answered to Kestrel, I DO NOT speak about existence, I request an option not to see non-binary genders. This is as valid as request to introduce them
Triggers exist to sub out words.