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
Same reason you pick hair or makeup or face structure or voice. You can make your character represent a person you want represented.
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.
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.
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.
On the other hand, my body, nudity, and sex and sexuality is a natural part of my life. I don't see why it "shouldn't" be included.
But I also don't put too much weight on sex, so to say. It's a part of life to me. It's not any more special than something like eating. Being sex-positive and casual about sex is just how it goes, and so it's nice to see that in a game as well. It just feels natural, and so more immersive.
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.
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)
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.
Hell yeah