Should RPG's Include Non-Binary Options?

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

In any game you make the character I have no problem with it. As long as it is not forced down my throat as an agenda. Because agenda laden games wreck it for me by not being a good story or action piece.

Well, Call of Duty and most shooters already have agendas. They are literally funded by US Army recruitment forces.

Call of Duty is army funded? I know the game America's Army was. And it included as much realism as could be put in the title and used parts of actual army field manuals. There was a case of someone knowing how to control bleeding because he had gotten through the medic portion on America's Army and it was all based on the actual classes. My understanding is that those that played that game prior to enlistment did better as well because they already had some of the material down.

The US army found out that video games are a good way to aid recruitment. Did you really think the oodles of nearly-identical shooters that infest our arcades are a viable business strategy without external support?

[Nealithi]

In any game you make the character I have no problem with it. As long as it is not forced down my throat as an agenda. Because agenda laden games wreck it for me by not being a good story or action piece.

Well, Call of Duty and most shooters already have agendas. They are literally funded by US Army recruitment forces.

Call of Duty is army funded? I know the game America's Army was. And it included as much realism as could be put in the title and used parts of actual army field manuals. There was a case of someone knowing how to control bleeding because he had gotten through the medic portion on America's Army and it was all based on the actual classes. My understanding is that those that played that game prior to enlistment did better as well because they already had some of the material down.

The US army found out that video games are a good way to aid recruitment. Did you really think the oodles of nearly-identical shooters that infest our arcades are a viable business strategy without external support?

Uhm. Does Fifa pay for its near identical games every year?
The clone saga of video games does not inspire confidence in this theory.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

Well if you see a shooter game and/or military game come out of the USA, there's a decent chance that part of its budget comes from the US Army.
EDIT: Dang it, link was behind a paywall. I can look further if you want for evidence/support, though.

[Nealithi]

Well if you see a shooter game and/or military game come out of the USA, there's a decent chance that part of its budget comes from the US Army.
EDIT: Dang it, link was behind a paywall. I can look further if you want for evidence/support, though.

Considering America's Army was pretty up front with it and included proper military guidelines and CoD as far as I can tell, doesn't? Yes I think I need a bit of evidence there.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

In any game you make the character I have no problem with it. As long as it is not forced down my throat as an agenda. Because agenda laden games wreck it for me by not being a good story or action piece.

Well, Call of Duty and most shooters already have agendas. They are literally funded by US Army recruitment forces.

Call of Duty is army funded? I know the game America's Army was. And it included as much realism as could be put in the title and used parts of actual army field manuals. There was a case of someone knowing how to control bleeding because he had gotten through the medic portion on America's Army and it was all based on the actual classes. My understanding is that those that played that game prior to enlistment did better as well because they already had some of the material down.

The US army found out that video games are a good way to aid recruitment. Did you really think the oodles of nearly-identical shooters that infest our arcades are a viable business strategy without external support?

Uhm. Does Fifa pay for its near identical games every year?
The clone saga of video games does not inspire confidence in this theory.

EA Sports is more about franchising simulation and not direct gameplay. They're not identical in that regard, and you can probably blame the sports games for legitimately inspiring the state of microtransactions today. Unlikely that you really can, but the point of that being that you're undermining the appeal of EA Sports games.

FN's point was that you're fine with agendas, going so far as to polarize this issue between trivial features and political misrepresentation. And... more importantly, the agenda brought specifically for games like CoD is more subliminal or obfuscated, unlike AA.

[TGLS]

EA Sports is more about franchising simulation and not direct gameplay.

I have to agree there. There's almost no difference between, say, NFL 08 and 07, just a different lineup of players, which is part of the appeal.

[Rocketboy1313]

"Should RPG's Include Non-Binary Options?"

Here is the thing, the question is phrased wrong.

If the objective is to provide a wide variety of opportunities to express oneself as a character within a story the question isn't "should they" it's "Why were they so lazy as to not include the option?"

Providing these options should be the default, not the exception.
Providing options in an RPG is the whole point, and they are not providing this option(s) for... Reason?

[Winter]

"Should RPG's Include Non-Binary Options?"

Here is the thing, the question is phrased wrong.

If the objective is to provide a wide variety of opportunities to express oneself as a character within a story the question isn't "should they" it's "Why were they so lazy as to not include the option?"

Providing these options should be the default, not the exception.
Providing options in an RPG is the whole point, and they are not providing this option(s) for... Reason?

Simply, because not including it was how it has always been done.

Something I'll always remember when Korrasami was made canon was when one of the creators made a note how they weren't sure how they were going to make it canon without alerting the studio. And then they had a thought, why not just ask? They couldn't go all the way with a few things being censored but Nickelodeon WAS Okay with Korrasami becoming canon. By all accounts the studio didn't argue with Bryke and just agreed to let them have the first open Same-Sex relationship with the lead and the effective co-lead in a show meant for kids.

In the years before Call of Duty: Cold War, not including a non-binary along side binary options was just how things were done and some people STILL don't know what non-binary means. Not saying that made it alright I'm just saying that no one thought of it because it likely never came up. Also keep in mind that LGBT representation has only started to become more normal in main stream in the last 5 or 6 years. Even BioWare was slow to provide a wide range of LGBT characters until DA2 and even that had it's issues as LGBT players noted that it wasn't so much that the cast was mostly bisexual but rather player sexual as key scenes like Anders revealing he was in love with another man ONLY happens if the player plays as a male Hawke.

Again, I'm NOT defending this mentality I'm just noting the most likely reason why it's taken so long for a game to include a Non-Binary option.

[Madner Kami]

Games can and should contain any and all options (within the constraints of the game's world and narrative and, by necessity, technical limitations) easily, if developers just start to give the middle finger to those who argue that a given NPC needs to have fixed preferences. Yes, I am still miffed by Judy being exclusively lesbian.

[TGLS]

Providing options in an RPG is the whole point, and they are not providing this option(s) for... Reason?

Well, how about when it's a JRPG where there are approximately zero options?