So at the start I chose he/him however the npc's still use they/them in reference to my character. Is this because it's EA or is this the go forward solution? Thanks in advance!
#Pronoun usage?
final crescent
sweet hazel
You didn’t choose he/him, because that’s not an available choice. You probably chose “Mr,” and if you chose that, characters who use honorifics - usually the kids - will call you “Mr <name>.”
All player farmers get referred to as they/them regardless of honorific chosen, though.
final crescent
Ah yes my mistake. So is that the go forward solution then?
sweet hazel
Very probably. I haven’t heard the devs talking about customizable personal pronouns (which would be a lot of additional choices during character creation, as everyone would have to define personal subjective, personal objective, personal possessive subjective, and personal possessive objective) and I think they’re more focused on making sure chickens don’t crash the game, at least for now. 😆
final crescent
Hey I appreciate the quick answer and the good info! Thanks!
low ridge
pronouns dont always match up with specific honoricis is probably the thing
honorifics* oof
sweet hazel
…except then you have people who will want to be a Mr with she/her/her/hers because of course someone will want that. Not to mention the “choose your own honorific” option.
Basically if they allow pronouns to be changed for anyone then they have to force at least four active choices on everyone, complicating character creation.
As a real life he, I am more than happy to save the devs grief and be called they a few times.
low ridge
i think they/them is a good compromise, especially since adding in additional pronouns would probably be a lot more work
exactly topher!!!
im also not sure what sexuality would do with it exactly, but as a lesbian i think the devs are good on this front
final crescent
So as a dev myself... it wouldn't be all that difficult to implement...
Assuming they are referencing things the way I think
ember solar
Hey all, this sort of feedback is definitely appreciated. While I can't speak to the technical side of things, I can tell you that the team does want this game to be inclusive and will take these thoughts in to account. We'll keep everyone updated on any potential changes regarding this topic.
final crescent
Thanks!
glass cedar
While I understand the use of they/them is meant to be inclusive and has a place for sure... Its kind of ... idk... It feels depersonalizing for ME personally... I am not a they, im a her and (again this is JUST for me, and in no way reflects how I feel others should take it) it almost feels like im an item and not a person. They/Them for ME feels like "it". If that makes sense. I dont mean to be picky, and im fine if it never gets changed, but I thought I would throw my 2 cents in.
trail torrent
Technical issues aside, there are also localization requirements here. Depending on the different number of pronouns a language has, it may also have UI implications as they need to have more or less boxes on the screen which can change the layout of the character creation UI.
deep sparrow
In addition to this issue, and I think maybe related, the localization of they/them seems off in spanish, because the pronouns chosen for the localization are the ones that correspond to he/him while talking to npcs. Language is complicated 🙂
viral crane
I need to check it in german because I was very curious about how they solve that, too! German has only he/him and she/her, no official translation for they/them and I think a custom pronoun could be quite difficult there too
deep sparrow
here "elle" seems well stablished as an equivalent for "they"
viral crane
There are some neo pronouns here, but no one agrees on a default/most popular one...
final crescent
Realistically pronouns can be handled very similarly to how any customization component is handled.
A little easier since there's no meshes involved just "references"
UI could be mitigated by drop downs. Really a lot of ways but there are easily implementable options.
trail torrent
UI could be mitigated by drop downs.
Great point about the drop-down! You are right that it should simplify the UI layout problem.
I have no doubt there is a solution here. Like any project I imagine it will come down to prioritization, timeline, and costs. For every "group" of pronouns the sentence may have to be translated slightly differently (for example, "he is" vs "they are"). I don't know what their localization budget is like here and of course each language that is being supported will come with its own set of grammar and verb conjugation rules.
It seems to me the best course of action here is to let the developers know in #🤝coral-feedback and keep fingers crossed. 🤞
zealous zodiac
A good thing to look into when it comes to this is what’s happening with The Sims 4 Pronouns update a while back. It’s taking them a loooong time to get it all sorted out within every thread of communication in the game because of how much pronouns are used and recreating the customized objective, subjective and possessive ect to replace each piece takes a while to be done correctly - and even still isn’t fully correct grammatically. Especially when multiple languages are being translated. It makes a huge difference inclusion wise and feels more personal- because beforehand sims were just referred to by their names only. But I am seeing how much work it seems to be taking on the technical aspect (though the sims 4 has been around for many years now and they have a lot more to un and redo)