The Dragon Age character creator outrage explained

When you spend almost any amount of time online in gamingcircles, hardly a week goes by without some controversy rearing its head. Some are justified, such as exploitative monetization,, and the all-too-common studio layoffsor closures despite record-breaking profits. Dragon Age: The Veilguard has already been through the wringer multiple times during its tumultuous development cycle, but has hit one last stumbling block just before release.

This latest outrage is focused on the features of The Veilguard’s character creator. This time, players will have the option to give their character non-binary pronouns, top surgery scars, vitiligo, and cellulite to name the biggest “offenders.” Naturally, a vocal minority has been raging at the inclusion of “woke” ideology and inclusivity options in the game, but that’s completely missing the point. There is a valid, non-bigoted complaint to be made about the character creator that is getting buried and lumped in with the ignorant shouting.

Complaining about options is always ridiculous

Something existing isn’t the same as it being forced on you

Debunking any “argument” against the inclusion of things like pronouns or surgery scars is such a low-effort task that it is sometimes hard to believe that anyone can honestly speak them in the first place. The answer is right in the phrasing: options. A game giving you the option to use non-binary pronouns or make a character with vitiligo is not forcing you to use them any more than it is making you play as a mage just because it exists as an option.

I’m lactose intolerant. When I go to the food store and walk by milk or cheese for sale, should I boycott that store? No, right? I simply don’t go to the dairy section and ignore any products that contain it because they’re not for me. Dairy existing in the store is not an attack on me. To make a more general comparison, we can talk about vegan options. There are plenty of vegan alternatives in all major stores out there despite it being a small percentage of the population. If you want the real beef, bacon, or chicken, go for it. It’s right there.

Sadly, there are those who protest even vegan options in stores. These are the same people who rage against inclusive options in games, and it’s a deeper issue within them than an article can fix.

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We’re complaining about the wrong thing

The outrage is distracting us from a real issue

This controversy has spread to every corner of the internet in some form already. One side is arguing that games have “gone woke” or are catering to DEI initiatives that are “ruining the purity of gaming” or other nonsense. Everyone else with sense is punching back, which is understandable. To most, this is a very black-and-white issue with a clear moral high ground. However, like I admitted earlier, no online discourse is going to change what is really fueling the hate within these people.

That happens all the time and will keep happening. In this case, it is a bit worse because there are some valid problems that we can’t talk about with all the air being sucked up by this non-issue. Some have pointed it out, but The Veilguard’s character creator is also oddly lacking in more basic body customization.

Sliders for body shape and size are strangely limited, including bust and glute sizes. It is easy to see why BioWare would think this was a smart choice. By keeping proportions more realistic, it wouldn’t let players make overly sexualized characters only made to ogle. But that’s where this becomes an issue. Just like there are people who need options like top scars to feel properly represented, others will feel left out if they can’t make a character that has the same proportions as them. I won’t go so far as to assume the theory of it being toned down was an attempt to dial down overly sexual characters (there could easily be a technical reason related to character body types needing to remain a certain size so armor and clothing would function) but if so, that would be the exact kind of thing worthy of voicing dissatisfaction with.

At the end of the day, more options are always something to celebrate. A character creator exists for you to create yourself or whoever you want to be. Seeing yourself in a game is a powerful thing that most straight white men take for granted. And guess what? That’s still here. Pronouns and scars aren’t replacing anything. Instead, we should be focusing on pushing for more options in representation.

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