#they're also ambiguously non-binary/genderless/trans

[offbeat-manga-ships]

crying of happiness with how bi4bi they are :') <3

[hydropotato]

Since Temple's coming in a week, let's talk about nonbinary characters in video games.

I first want to disclaim that I am not nonbinary. I am transgender, yes, and I know nonbinary people, but that doesn't make me an expert. This is my personal critique on my observations; feel free to give your input, disagreements, additions, etc. so long as you're certain that you're being civil about it.

Content Warning: Discussing society's "Gendering" of Nonbinary Characters. If you dislike reading about how genderless individuals get wrongly gendered by others, I'm sorry. Please click away.

So, Temple, and their protoframe Flare Varleon! Warframe's... 2nd they/them character. Huh.

Flare takes some pretty obvious references to glamrock and - as even the devs have pointed out - David Bowie. David Bowie often explored gender and sexuality, and while he wasn't (as far as I know) nonbinary, he was definitely interested in playing with androgyny. To me, this is a great design direction, as Flare was thus designed to be covered in so much styling that it's nigh impossible to truly discern any male or female biological gender. This is one issue I will cover later on; undeniably, those who are less accustomed to gender as a spectrum will try to compartmentalise a nonbinary character as either male or female. I don't like that it happens, but I'm well aware that denying this phenomenon would not help in moving society's culture forward.

Flare has been (accidentally, I hope) misgendered by fans as 'he' and as 'she' to a decently equal measure, though teetering more towards 'he'. Considering the popularity of David Bowie, my assumption is that having him as the point of reference, Flare would then, in their minds, most likely be a 'he' by assumption. Let's hope they learn to gender them properly in the future.

But that's about it for Flare. Temple is practically Flare but with a more Warframe-y head & body, so not much to say about them. I do think Lizzie being an infested living guitar was a cool touch but that's not really on topic.

Let's look now at Xaku. As I mentioned, Temple/Flare was the 2nd Warframe character to go by they/them. Xaku was the first. Firstly, I think Xaku being they/them was a great way to test the waters, and we couldn't have a canonically nonbinary person without Digital Extremes (DE) first seeing if a nonbinary Warframe would be well received.

Xaku's gender/sex is stated as "nonbinary (pluriform)", because they're literally three warframes that were fragmented and reassembled into one by the Void. Again, I see this as DE testing the waters by giving a blatant "reason" to be they/them, and then checking for player response. Some may see Xaku's lore reason to be they/them as a cop out, but I personally see it as a great way to introduce the concept. Xaku was well received & rarely misgendered, with their Prime version being more recently released, much to the playerbase's delight.

Design wise, having Xaku be fragmented allows for greater androgyny, as every component can be different. Even the torso being slim and flat chested is an intentional choice to maintain gender ambiguity. The limbs each have different appearances, making Xaku neither masculine nor feminine, just really cool.

So, good job DE!

Let's look at other games, though. Starting with Riot's Valorant.

Clove is Valorant's non-binary character. They're Scottish, and I have no idea what Scottish culture is like so I can't tell if any part of their designs is a cultural reference, sorry. What I can talk about, though, is their design. Now allow me to be a little blunt.

The pinks and purples are beautiful, but they're also very... feminine. So are the short shorts and tights. Frankly, they look like they could be a trans woman. This is a pretty great design direction for a nonbinary character, as enbies, from what I know, can in fact express themselves in a variety of ways. Hiring a nonbinary voice acting talent was also a good idea, to show that yes, nonbinary people can be feminine, and much like with feminine men, it doesn't invalidate their gender.

The playerbase, however has wrongly assumed them to be a 'she' far more than 'he'. To me, this is not a failing of Riot's part, it is more so society not being quite ready to view gender from an open, non-dichomotised perspective. We can do better, we just need to learn and grow and correct one another when our fellow human makes a wrong assumption.

Moving on, let's look at Blizzard's Overwatch.

Venture is Overwatch's nonbinary character. Putting aside ActiBlizz controversies, and focusing on the art and design team's choices, Venture's design is very androgynous. The earthy tones are an excellent design direction, as it serves as a nod to their role as an archaeologist while also being a genderless colour scheme. The large baggy clothes also work to conceal their body's form, meaning that in a game where most female characters have visible or even emphasised breasts, Venture's body could be of any shape and still fit beneath their clothing. This helps the playerbase perceive them as neither man nor woman, with the assumers having a more balanced misassumption of their gender.

If only they got more cosmetics... That said, I do love the Toph skin.

Now to a slightly less known video game, but one I play and love: Path to Nowhere, by AISNO.

Path to Nowhere is a Chinese game, and Oliver's gender is labelled as "Unknown" instead of nonbinary. Considering Path to Nowhere's setting involves healthcare and mental healthcare for the people you take in, it is more likely that Oliver is nonbinary than actually "unknown".

The pink hoodie and plush unicorn may suggest young girl, but the shorts and the short hair are more akin to a young boy. As such, the designers succeed in conveying the absence of binary gender to the players.

Path to Nowhere has canonical ladies with flatter chests, with McQueen (right) being an adult woman. In most gacha games, flat chests would only exist on male characters and small (child sized) girls, but since Path to Nowhere's design variety is so vast, Oliver having a flat chest does not indicate them being male. I am trying to not sound like a creep; I genuinely appreciate, as an art student, the artistic decisions within this game to vary characters body proportions and forms, allowing for a nonbinary character like Oliver to fit in without being funneled into a gender binary. The only reason I can see for Oliver's misassumptions is their name, which is more typically a boy's name. That said, this game has characters called Ninety-Nine, Shalom and Summer, so I wouldn't think about it too deeply.

In conclusion- wait this isn't a school essay. I don't have to conclude. I think nonbinary characters shouldn't be a token thing, and Warframe having two proves to me that they have the will to be inclusive not for tokenism but rather for more creative variety. I think the characters I've mentioned each have great designs, and their respective design teams did a good job creating these characters despite the much easier option of just designing another masculine man or feminine woman. Telling people a character is nonbinary is easy; getting the point across enough that gamers who have never met LGBT folk in real life can go "oh yeah, they're nonbinary" is where the challenge lies. Anyways, I shall end here. I wanna hear your thoughts, on these fellas or on any other instance of gender expression in media that you thought was neat!