to preface: as much as the title sounds like a critique, it’s not. it’s just a realization i had while thinking about baldur’s gate 3, and it’s good they provided the options they did, for me to have this realization in the first place

i’m a transgender man, and i’ve been on hrt for several years, i haven’t had bottom surgery, and i’m intimately familiar with the effects testosterone has on a vulva. i’ve also been in trans femme circles long enough to know how estrogen affects a penis (if you are unfamiliar, you can read about each at https://genderdysphoria.fyi/en/second-puberty-masc#genital-changes and https://genderdysphoria.fyi/en/second-puberty-fem#genital-changes)

and it’s really weird to realize that most people cannot visualize what i have going on in my pants. a cis woman’s vulva is fundamentally not accurate (which is basically what’s presented as your option). for me, obviously; for some trans masc people, it is accurate

i don’t know how trans femme people feel, but i could see the argument for them going either way. i’d like to hear what you think, if you feel represented by feminine body shapes with a penis selected as your genitals

and also, it would be interesting to see bottom surgery options represented. even if that’s just the same models but with the “is this from surgery” option ticked or something

finally. my concluding thoughts are that i’d really like to see how big a half-orc’s tdick gets (presuming that half-orcs are subject to the same sex hormones humans are and/or that they can substitute their hormones similarly. i mean that’s it’s own can of worms there)

i know i’m not ending off on any kind of a question but i wanted to share my feelings about this with people and hear how this made others feel, as well

  • Conyak@lemmy.tf
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    1 year ago

    I guess I just don’t understand why my video game character needs genitals. Maybe I’m just out of touch but it seems so pointless to me.

    • fracture [he/him] @beehaw.orgOP
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      1 year ago

      lmao, ironically your comment reminded me that there are nulloplasties as well, which would be a cool option to see represented, as well as various intersex options…

      ahem more to your point, though. while they currently have a very limited effect on gameplay, it doesn’t mean that they will never have an effect on gameplay. for example, one small thing that the devs of bg3 could do is have your bedmates remark on your genitals to you (i am being VERY presumptuous here that they don’t, but i would be VERY surprised if i was wrong). anywhere from remarks about it not being what they expected, to them saying they had a good time anyways, etc

      it doesn’t necessarily need to be gratuitous because interactions with genitals aren’t necessarily gratuitous. maybe you learn another party member had the same surgery as you or something, y’know. or you run into the surgeon who did your bottom surgery on your quest

      there’s a lot more we could be doing, than we currently are

      • AlexisLuna@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        So, I haven’t played BG3, but considering that it’s a fantasy setting, I am surprised that it seems to be same as irl for trans stuff. Compared to the pathfinder universe which had since the 1st edition magical hrt potions and salves which work way better than irl as well as straight up insta-transition magic items in 2e, DnD seems kinda boring.

        • fracture [he/him] @beehaw.orgOP
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          1 year ago

          it doesn’t touch on transition or related things, afaik, aside from allowing you to freely select both your appearance and your genitals (afaik). so it’s hard to say what it has or doesn’t have available

          that said, i feel like… you lose something with “perfect” transition. for example, in a world where you could remove breast tissue without scarring, i might still have a double mastectomy, because my transness is part of who i am. obviously, there are people who would love to have that, and that’s great for them and they’re not less trans for it. but i think there’s a beauty in “imperfect” transition

          i feel odd about feeling this way, though. almost certainly, medicine and technology will progress to the point where trans people will be indistinguishable from cis people. and i’m sure, at that point, these ideas will be considered backwards or coping or whatever…

          anyways. i guess this is a long winded way to say, pathfinder/2e may have the nicer and more expedient options, but they’re also maybe not as interesting

        • Dee@lemmings.world
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          1 year ago

          Oh, random based Pathfinder take! I love seeing it get love over DnD because yes, it’s so much more inclusive and interesting. From a lore perspective and a mechanic perspective.

          That’s not even getting into the issues with WotC as a company.

          • AlexisLuna@beehaw.org
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            1 year ago

            I was interested in pf2 for about a year now, but only got into it after the ogl thing. Now I honestly am baffled how 5e maneged to be so popular when 4e, pf1, and pf2 are all so much better than it as tttrpgs, and that only sticking to fantasy.

            • Vodulas [they/them]@beehaw.org
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              1 year ago

              From just a TTRPG perspective, 5e is so much easier to get into than 4e or Pathfinder 1. Character creation is relatively simple and level ups are all outlined in tables. Have not tried 2e, but at least at first blush is still more complex. I have no love for Wizards, but as far as fantasy RPGs, I would call it medium crunch vs the heavy crunch of those you mentioned.

      • Juno@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        You wouldn’t say that if it was you not being represented.

        There’s sex scenes in the game. I want a character to look like me. It’s only controversial to uptight folk.

        • nickwitha_k (he/him)@lemmy.sdf.org
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          1 year ago

          You wouldn’t say that if it was you not being represented.

          I’m all about representation and I don’t think that it was an incorrect choice to have in the character creation, on its face. However, you don’t ever see your character’s genitals after creation, even in the sex scenes, from my recollection.

          It’s only controversial to uptight folk.

          That is what I think was the point and what I meant. Uptight folk are loud about being offended by “naughty” things. Adding explicit content in the character creation that has no material effect elsewhere is fairly low-effort and does have a positive effect for some. But, it outages the most annoyingly vocal group who shriek “think of the children”. So, more people heard about the game due to the few publicity.

          Can’t really fault them as they did something positive for representation but, if it had a material impact on gameplay or story, it would be much better.

    • originalfrozenbanana@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Same reason you pick hair or makeup or face structure or voice. You can make your character represent a person you want represented.

      • Conyak@lemmy.tf
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        1 year ago

        I guess the difference for me is that I’m not running around with my genitals exposed. Maybe for my barbarian but otherwise it’s pointless to me. I’m all for inclusion though and not trying to imply I’m upset. I 100% agree with OP that if they are going to do it they should try to be as inclusive as possible. I just saw it during creation and thought, weird, why do I need to customize my genitals.

        I should also add that I feel the same way about graphic sex scenes in my video games. I’m not a big fan. I enjoy pornography I just don’t want it on my video games.

        • Vodulas [they/them]@beehaw.org
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          1 year ago

          Yeah, same goes for me. For those that haven’t played, BG3 had an option to turn off nudity altogether. It really doesn’t come into play with the exception of romance scenes (which are optional) And a few cut scenes where characters are nude but not sexy nude. All that being said, sex in video games is almost always awkward and choosing my genitals was not expected when I ticked the option for nudity.

        • bermuda@beehaw.org
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          1 year ago

          I agree. Not to sound too puritan but I think it would be okay if games were just like “bulge” or “no bulge” and left it at that.

          • Rentlar@beehaw.org
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            1 year ago

            I’d bet there still be people who be asking for a “kinda bulge”. (and others of course wanting B U L G E).

            I bet mods for this game and other games where it matters could take care of this issue and give what people want.

        • originalfrozenbanana@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Yeah I get ya. It’s a part of your body though and I get why devs want people to feel like they have the agency to choose (even if it’s imperfect)

          • Conyak@lemmy.tf
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            1 year ago

            This is why I try to keep an open mind. I have no idea how it might make others feel and inclusion is important to me. I may have thought it was pointless but it’s probably adding a lot for some and that is a good thing.