I don't care if she is there, but I would like the line gone. I don't need to know she's transgendered anymore than I need to know Dumbledore is gay in Harry Potter. This line is as weird and unnecessary as if Harry made some innocuous statement like "So, I hear Grindelwald was a bad dude when you were younger" to which Dumbledore replies "Oh, yes, we had sex" and then Harry says "Oh, awesome, can I skip Occlumency lessons with Snape?" Rowling made the correct decision in her reveal, which was after the fact and as a by the way because *it doesn't matter that Dumbledore is gay and has nothing to do with anything.* There is literally no reason to put it there other than to be obnoxiously smug about it's inclusion.
If you really want to put in a transgendered character than they actually need to be a developed character and the transgenderism has to be relevant in some way to the story. As another example, I don't know the sexual orientation of most of the NPCs because it doesn't matter in the story. They don't come up and say "Hi, my name is gay Stan!" or "Hi, I'm straight Sue!" For the ones who are bi/gay/straight whatever, it becomes apparent when it actually matters - namely when they are in some actual relationship with charname or some other NPC.
The fact that it is some utterly inconsequential NPC and its only done once exacerbates the issue. It is very much tokenism. If you look at DA as an example you see various gay characters organically portrayed at all levels from companions to major NPCs to minor ones so it becomes normative within the game world and not just a checkmark in a box that seems put there mostly for reasons of disruptive smugness.
TLDR Learned a new word today. "Virtue Signalling." That's what this was. No virtue signalling please.
Please feel free to consult the many other threads where people said the exact same things as you almost as if you were all reading from the same script with the same tiresome buzzwords, and the many responses they were given.
Also, if you want a serious discussion, a) don't use chan buzzwords like "virtue signalling" which make it very difficult to believe you are interested in a constructive dialogue, and b) try not to immediately reveal that you probably haven't even read the dialogue you're complaining about, since Mizhena only reveals the information after charname asks first about the origin of her name, and then follows up by asking why she changed it (she changed it because she is trans, and her birth name was a boy's name). That is precisely the opposite of your comparison scenario, since you only learn Mizhena is trans if you ask a direct question for which her gender identity is inextricably tied to the answer. If you don't ask her about her name, you don't find out. The game does not push it on you.
You also might consider that if people like you think a single minor trans NPC is worthy of this much attention and can only be in the game to "be obnoxiously smug" (if Beamdog was looking to pat themselves on the back for their inclusiveness or whatevs, why was the trans character so minor and easily missed?), how precisely is a game supposed to reach the point where they are normalised as you say gay characters are in Dragon Age? Should trans characters have been "at all levels from companions to major NPCs to minor ones"?
I mean, I wouldn't mind if two or three party members, Caelar Argent, that troll you find in the library, Entar Silvershield, Thrix, and a dozen or so other NPCs with dialogue were trans, but I rather expect most of the exact same people who have popped up here to be angry at Mizhena would.
Im still wondering what the big deal is, I didnt even notice her dialogue until reading about the outrage on the SJW stuff...would be funny if she could be an npc though and keep putting on the garter on and off and booze up at the tavern every other night to really confuse mizhena
Joinable NPC so there is a non-evil non-multiclassed priest character. She also sounds really interesting! Like how she wouldn't help someone cheat against a cleric of Red Knight. As it is it seems like tokenism, as people have said. I have not followed the outrage at her inclusion... were people outraged Glint was gay?
Obviously that would be a lot of work that I would not be doing. I doubt it will happen. But a new NPC seems neat to me.
Sorry for reviving a half dead thread, but I have seen so many posts from people pretending to know how GG'ers feel, accusing them of hating/###phobia blahblah... so as a gater (or former gater? the movement is now N/A the preachers no longer annoy us) I thought I better add my two cents.
I voted: Make her a playable, romance-able and memorable character!
The community she represents DESERVES a lovable and memorable Mizhena. Instead they got a lazy token checlist NPC. What offended me most was the fact that she has so much potential to be an awesome character (and imho a much more interesting romance option for males than the boring options we currently have like Neera... Zzzz)
There should a wider range of dialogue options also ranging from romantic/friendly/neutral/rude/hostile. As for her not using things like the girdle... Maybe make her bigoted/resistant to magic items aka a wizard slayer? Or maybe she just prefers her original genitals? Regardless I hope a mod comes out giving her storyline and playability that can explain it all.
Why does the player character have to be so accepting necessarily? Wouldn't an evil (or good, depending on how you look at it) character say something "hateful"?
But no...it's like the game developer is saying "You WILL accept this" - which perfectly mirrors the authoritarian attitudes of real-world SJWs.
I have an Elf that would be accepting and I also have a blackguard who, after realizing the character is biologically male, would commit a hate-crime (and a bad one).
So I just hate that it's so forced. It's like you're being told how your characters must think.
Comments
If you really want to put in a transgendered character than they actually need to be a developed character and the transgenderism has to be relevant in some way to the story. As another example, I don't know the sexual orientation of most of the NPCs because it doesn't matter in the story. They don't come up and say "Hi, my name is gay Stan!" or "Hi, I'm straight Sue!" For the ones who are bi/gay/straight whatever, it becomes apparent when it actually matters - namely when they are in some actual relationship with charname or some other NPC.
The fact that it is some utterly inconsequential NPC and its only done once exacerbates the issue. It is very much tokenism. If you look at DA as an example you see various gay characters organically portrayed at all levels from companions to major NPCs to minor ones so it becomes normative within the game world and not just a checkmark in a box that seems put there mostly for reasons of disruptive smugness.
TLDR Learned a new word today. "Virtue Signalling." That's what this was. No virtue signalling please.
almost as if you were all reading from the same script with the same tiresome buzzwords, and the many responses they were given.Also, if you want a serious discussion, a) don't use chan buzzwords like "virtue signalling" which make it very difficult to believe you are interested in a constructive dialogue, and b) try not to immediately reveal that you probably haven't even read the dialogue you're complaining about, since Mizhena only reveals the information after charname asks first about the origin of her name, and then follows up by asking why she changed it (she changed it because she is trans, and her birth name was a boy's name). That is precisely the opposite of your comparison scenario, since you only learn Mizhena is trans if you ask a direct question for which her gender identity is inextricably tied to the answer. If you don't ask her about her name, you don't find out. The game does not push it on you.
You also might consider that if people like you think a single minor trans NPC is worthy of this much attention and can only be in the game to "be obnoxiously smug" (if Beamdog was looking to pat themselves on the back for their inclusiveness or whatevs, why was the trans character so minor and easily missed?), how precisely is a game supposed to reach the point where they are normalised as you say gay characters are in Dragon Age? Should trans characters have been "at all levels from companions to major NPCs to minor ones"?
I mean, I wouldn't mind if two or three party members, Caelar Argent, that troll you find in the library, Entar Silvershield, Thrix, and a dozen or so other NPCs with dialogue were trans, but I rather expect most of the exact same people who have popped up here to be angry at Mizhena would.
Obviously that would be a lot of work that I would not be doing. I doubt it will happen. But a new NPC seems neat to me.
Also perhaps she could be a romance option.
I voted: Make her a playable, romance-able and memorable character!
The community she represents DESERVES a lovable and memorable Mizhena. Instead they got a lazy token checlist NPC. What offended me most was the fact that she has so much potential to be an awesome character (and imho a much more interesting romance option for males than the boring options we currently have like Neera... Zzzz)
There should a wider range of dialogue options also ranging from romantic/friendly/neutral/rude/hostile. As for her not using things like the girdle... Maybe make her bigoted/resistant to magic items aka a wizard slayer? Or maybe she just prefers her original genitals? Regardless I hope a mod comes out giving her storyline and playability that can explain it all.
Why does the player character have to be so accepting necessarily? Wouldn't an evil (or good, depending on how you look at it) character say something "hateful"?
But no...it's like the game developer is saying "You WILL accept this" - which perfectly mirrors the authoritarian attitudes of real-world SJWs.
I have an Elf that would be accepting and I also have a blackguard who, after realizing the character is biologically male, would commit a hate-crime (and a bad one).
So I just hate that it's so forced. It's like you're being told how your characters must think.