FTM Character to be in Popular Video Game Series

[CMD042414]

For my fellow gamers the upcoming Assassin's Creed game will have an FTM character that gives side quests.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/09/25/assassins-creed-syndicate-to-introduce-series-first-transgender-character

Pretty cool!

[Nathan90]

I understood it has nothing to do with the storyline, so in that way I feel it's not something they should've done.

Besides that, it's not the first time they've worked with something like that. In Black Flag we had Captain Kidd who turned out to have a little more curves than we thought.

[FTMax]

...people still play Assassin's Creed?

My general reaction is meh. Unless there's trans-related dialogue that could potentially further cis people's understanding of the mentality of trans people, I don't see a huge benefit to it? Bioware has had canon trans characters in Dragon Age (both in a game and in the series literature). Reception was good both in and out of the community. Feels a bit like the new Assassin's Creed is pandering for diversity points now that they know it isn't a death sentence.

Don't get me wrong, representation is cool. But I don't see a massive benefit to it aside from that.

[Nathan90]

You'd be surprised how many people still play it haha.

But like I said, it's now the first time they've integrated a character who's genderbending.

[Maleth]

I think it's pretty cool. Definitely a step in the right direction.

[graspthesanity]

Even if it doesn't really talk about being trans, it's still great, it means that we are out there in games and I think that is fairly awesome, even if I don't play it.

[CMD042414]

I still play AC. Captain Kidd was pretending to be male to earn respect and fight. In her in-game bio she was certainly defined as a heterosexual female if I recall correctly. Although this character I'm talking about is not a main one he is still in the game. And he is a trans man. I think that's huge. I mean come on now! The vast majority of gamers are cis white males. Exposure is everything.

[Nathan90]

Haha sorry, personally I don't see it. Might be the difference in how people deal with it here. It has been in the news and on the telly quite often in the last few years. I don't see how this would make a difference here. But if it'll work for you that's great right.

[captains]

I'm hype for it. I don't play AC, but imo, the goal of representation is to add to the slush pile of characters -- when no one stops to ask "is this pandering," then we've reached a good place. And personally, I like seeing trans guys in my game. 

[CMD042414]

I've been a gamer for about 24 years now. It has become a very influential form of media. Watching a TV show with a trans character or seeing/hearing about trans issues in the news more is one thing. A game is an intimate experience. Representation and visibility are important. No one bats an eye anymore when Bioware has LGBT characters or when Bethesda allows you to enter same-sex marriages in a game. They've normalized it for a population that by and large has a tendency to be quite homophobic. As a black dude I know how important it is to be represented positively in forms of entertainment. It is many times the only opportunity that the majority has to get to know you. Anyway I hear this AC will finally take a turn back to the glory days and I'm psyched to play it.

[FinnM]

I'm not into the AC series but this is awesome 
Well done to the developers

[Peep]

I like this idea but then again you could say that it's just a way for them to have more white males with stubbles and still call it representation... after the 'women are too hard to animate' business when Unity was announced...

[soaringPhoenix]

Dragon age did exactly the same thing last year, and it was awesome. I don't play AC, but it's so amazing that we're getting some representation.
Even if it /is/ just pandering to the social demand for more queer characters, positive representation is positive.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Aazhie]

Dragon age did exactly the same thing last year, and it was awesome. I don't play AC, but it's so amazing that we're getting some representation.
Even if it /is/ just pandering to the social demand for more queer characters, positive representation is positive.

I think the fact that people are DEMANDING queer characters is pretty dang cool to me.  I'm sure it will be years before we get a transgender main character, but who knows?  I feel like five years ago, no gamer who wasn't transgender would really even know that FTM guys existed... much less get to play them in a game? XD


Considering that SO MANY people, mainly white cis guys are gamers, this is pretty cool.

Look how long comic books took to integrate any POC that weren't awful stereotypes into their roster, and even now... I can't name a character of color and I like superheros... I guess Spawn?!  Ugh I feel terrible for not knowing, but it tells you something that even today, there's like two or three MINOR minority characters in that particular genre as far I can muddle out of my tired brain XD

Video games are still becoming more and more a thing.  It's maybe not that exciting news for us because we want a main character of vital importance... by my god, considering that I'm 31 and can remember the advent of Super Mario Brothers.... this is a huge improvement on nerd culture accepting queers and trans people compared to... TV, comic books, uhhhh, pretty much anything else??!  I hate to overhype them, but seriously, games are the future.  Someday we may play movies like videogames rather than passively watch movies.  The interest in innovation and new ideas in videogames tends to be a bit better than other media.

I mean, is there even a famous FTM actor anyone knows of who isn't a specialist in FTM roles?  The only FTM character I can think of, whether from a book, movie, TV show, comic, whatever- was the guy from "Boys Don't Cry," which is a fairly old movie and is pretty much based off a true story.

Consider the uproar over Skyrim's 'gay marriage' options where you could pick the same sex mate for your character to basically get married to, and there is no taboo in that game world against it.  That was back in like... 2011?  I don't recall the actual time that became an option, but ANY progress that isn't reverting to twisted stereotypes is pretty cool in my book. The more the general public can see that it's not a big deal to be transgender, the better things will be.  Since most gamers TEND to be younger than the average American, I think this bodes good for the future

[Peep]

The main character in Boys Don't Cry is played by Hilary Swank (afaik a cis woman) unless you're talking about a supporting actor?

I mean, is there even a famous FTM actor anyone knows of who isn't a specialist in FTM roles?  The only FTM character I can think of, whether from a book, movie, TV show, comic, whatever- was the guy from "Boys Don't Cry," which is a fairly old movie and is pretty much based off a true story.

[FTMax]

The main character in Boys Don't Cry is played by Hilary Swank (afaik a cis woman) unless you're talking about a supporting actor?

I think he was referring to the character she played.

[CMD042414]

I think we are a long ways from a trans main character in a game. Baby steps I guess. I remember when GTA San Andreas revealed the main guy would be black and white males were losing it on all of the gaming boards. Same with this I think. Now if the game is good and from a respected publisher the cries would subside. I can Bioware doing something with Dragon Age. Or the Skyrim developer. A fantasy game has the best chance of getting away with it. Or the character is FTM in a game and you find out by happenstance in a no big deal way.

[Peep]

Weirdly i think fantasy can be more exclusive, because minorities (gender or race) are seen as 'issues' characters and not 'escapism' characters. This is maybe more in books/movies but yeah

[Yazoo]

AC is somewhat more mainstream than other games that have included (very few) trans characters. And I do agree that video games are a more personal experience, since you are not the protagonist of a movie or a book you are reading but you very often are the driving force in most games, especially roleplaying ones. As such you pay more attention to characters you interact with, even if they don't play a major role. For a trans character to play lead the general understanding of what that means needs to develop further in the society. But I can see that happening eventually, and if done right it should do quite a bit of good even in the non-gaming world.