Apex Legends character Catalyst is a trans woman, coming to season 15

Apex Legends character and new defensive legend Catalyst is a trans woman and will launch for season 15, known as Eclipse, of the EA and Respawn free game

[SyntheticForm]

🤦‍♂️

[Jin_Sakai]

Got to make sure everyone knows what gender a fake digital character is.

[IanTH]

I don't really understand the issue. It doesn't exactly matter what anyone of them is, they could be faceless, colorless, non-human blobs for all it matters mechanically. It's just diversifying a roster. Most people don't like it when a character's orientation is front and center, which makes sense. Most people's aren't day to day either, and forcing it to show through normally makes people seem cartoonish. This is very much a side note.

But it won't affect anything, other than offering a feeling of inclusion for those who also identify. The same as getting different skin tones. So isn't this more how most gamers want inclusion to be handled? Not making a show of it? If not, what is better? And if there's nothing better, and it doesn't matter either way, why do people make a fuss about it in the first place?

[ChiefofLoliPolice]

Yup...pretty much.

[IanTH]

-

[lucian229]

yeah we don't need to know when a character is a Futa; if anything that will make him even less played than all other characters now lmao, because regardless of what the media tries to push....it really isn't popular

[ChiefofLoliPolice]

Was it really necessary to tell the whole world? Is her gender identity gonna be a gamer changer? Maybe it's related to a Ultimate Ability?

[neutralgamer1992]

They are trying to appeal to everyone this is all about money

[Palitera]

Appeals to both the transgenders and the (hidden, angry or not) ts fans. hehe

[neutralgamer1992]

Shane Kim

100% INCORRECT MEN SPEND WAY MORE I WORK IN THE INDUSTRY

[frostypants]

It's also sometimes activists within a company, where decision makers are afraid to say no for fear of customer PR backlash. At this point I think they'd be safe to stand up to it, as most people are clearly burnt out on this, but corporations are always a step behind the culture.

[Shane Kim]

Lol yeah the gaming industry. Not the global economy.

[attilayavuzer]

I'd be interested to hear opinions directly from all of these demographics. In general, I don't believe the vast majority of people care that a lot of "under-represented demographics" (for lack of a better term) are suddenly being placed in media. The issue is that it feels disingenuous; that their inclusion becomes more of a publicity stunt/novelty than a genuine care for people. You can picture the meeting where the marketing team was like "we saw a 40% increase in engagement when posting lgbtq/overweight/minorities etc...". It's become exploitive rather than inclusive. I think it's amplified with video games as well because they're generally pure escapism from real life stress/politics.

[Si-Fly]

And maybe it’ll actually make some people really happy that they can identify with a character in a mainstream video game.

A title like God of War is obviously pure escapism but the father/son storyline was deeply touching for me having lost my Dad before the game and becoming a father myself shortly before it. Seeing a character/relationship/story that has affected you IRL play out in a video game can be cathartic.

It’s easy to look at everything in a cynical way, but maybe there is somebody behind the choice to include sexual minorities in Apex that simply cares about people and has a platform where they can do a their bit of good 😊

[Christopher]

*** You can picture the meeting where the marketing team was like "we saw a 40% increase in engagement when posting lgbtq/overweight/minorities etc...". It's become exploitive rather than inclusive.***

Marketing is very rarely not exploitative in regards to "who you are" is what is being sold toward or advertised, just FYI. TV, Film, and modeling, it's all exploitative and manipulative.

I see a lot of online gaming community trans people, lots of them with GDQ for example, and you'd be surprised but a much higher percentage of video game developers are trans compared to most other industries, let alone LGBTQ. Same with D&D streaming now, there's a huge LGBTQ presence there. Essentially old hobbies and professions where people who were excluded joined others who were also excluded but not for the same reasons.

[Zeref]

I do not care if including minority characters benefit a corporation. At the end of the day literally everything is about money.

And if it makes some people happy, isn’t that a win/win? That’s literally how capitalism is supposed to work.

As for me personally, I like to have characters that look like me. Since I like to feel a connection to my character. Them looking like me greatly increases that.

Of course if you’re a regular white male or female you don’t feel the same way because you’re rarely if ever excluded.

I don’t understand all this bi**ing and moaning everytime they announce a new diverse character. Does it make the game worse because it wasn’t another white male?

[ChiefofLoliPolice]

Perfectly said.

[ChronoJoe]

And who exactly is being exploited here? Are you a trans person annoyed by the inclusion? That seems unlikely. Why do these claims of exploitation come from cis white men?

If more people engage with, and play the game because it has better representation, why are you framing that as if it's a bad thing? That's the point of representation, to allow more people to feel accepted and included. Yes that is likely to make the game appeal to more people, no that's not exploitation.

Did Naughtydog exploit white cis men by featuring a white cis man as the lead character for the Uncharted series? His sexuality is pretty overtly present in the game. Representation is not exploitation.

[neutralgamer1992]

I miss the days when fake gaming characters were left out of these stories.

[OMGitzThatGuy]

All gaming characters are fake btw

[SullysCigar]

Not in sports games ;^)

[TheColbertinator]

@SullysCigar

Yes they are. My Ronaldo in FUT FIFA has a 90 which is incorrect since he is playing closer to an 83 right now.

[Palitera]

Nice. This makes no difference to me personally, but will be good for many other people.

[Vengeance1138]

Slow news day? Who cares!? Irrelevant news is irrelevant.

[SolidDuck]

.

[Cussing]

So many comments one could make. But I don't want to get banned.

[goldwyncq]

Why fixate on the trans part and not just say she's a woman? Do most transgenders want to take pride in that fact rather than just be the gender they feel they belong to?

[Scissorman82]

Because it's a 'have you're cake and eat it too' scenario. On the one hand, someone will tell you that a trans-woman is a woman. Okay, fair. But when you have a circumstance like this, or a nomination for an award, or something noteworthy, then the 'trans' part sneaks back in. I would just like some consistency. If a trans-woman is a woman, than all this game got is another woman added to the roster. If not, than say that a trans-woman is not a woman and there should be a distinction between the two.

[SullysCigar]

🎯

[GoodGuy09]

Eh, apex has a very diverse character roster anyways. So why not. As long as the game isn't
forcing some kinda agenda lol. With how popular the game is, I understand they kinda had to else some random justice warrior that doesn't play the game will cancel them lol.

[Redemption-64]

This will trigger some people. I have personally never understood, why some people get so worked, hurt or triggered about things like this. It's amusing to watch, but curious

[Palitera]

Very very triggered! Suspicious, to say the least. :D

[kneon]

it's probably rooted in their insecurity in their own sexuality

[HeliosHex]

Because that's what really matters in games today.

[phoenixwing]

My disphoria isn't at a point anymore where I feel I need to transition and know I wouldn't make a very good looking woman. I play as female characters when I can. Can't say knowing a character is Transgender makes me want to play as them anymore than any other female character. But we are all different so whatever

[HeliosHex]

@Phoenix. Actually we are all more alike than we care to admit. Iam glad you found the strength to find some form of peace in living with your disphoria. It is something I do not wish on my worse enemy. I had a friend that could not find peace in his body, sadly he is no longer with us. Life is short and fragile. The mind can sometimes be our own worse enemy. Whenever your in doubt reach out to friends and family. We are not as alone as we think we are.

[badboyz09]

Freedom🎗🎀

[Smok91]

Honestly I can’t imagine caring

[Fonsecap]

What about the other characters? 🤔

[ClosetRebel]

Oh god. Whatever.

[Taero]

For people asking 'why did they bother putting this in', 'it's pandering', 'is her gender identify a game changer' etc. I'm not sure why you care since gender apparently isn't a big deal for you? Reading the article it seems that they decided to make the character trans as an example of how their past history had them dealing with tough or adverse conditions.

“You’re much stronger than you realise,” Margot says to Catalyst. “You’ve already been through so much.” “Transitioning,” Catalyst replies, “that was sort of hard.” [seems almost tongue in cheek or self deprecating on reading but I haven't actually seen the trailer :p just going from the article].

Seems like part of a background bio no different to 'grew up on the streets', 'lost an arm and had it replaced', 'family killed while young', 'experimented on to get powers' etc.

Could it be pandering? Of course it could be, they could totally have just decided 'let's make this character trans to get sjw points' or whatever else. Should they NOT be included because they're trans? Should all characters just be straight and 'normal' in gender identity? Do trans people not exist? If they do then why shouldn't a character in a video game with a shit load of other characters be one? Isn't it kind of like saying "why did they put a black/asian/indian/middle eastern character in, they're just pandering" and having the alternative being everyone is white? If you're fine with different races because they exist (and why shouldn't they be there) then why is this where you draw the line?

[Neonridr]

I'm sure this will appeal to more players than it will piss off. For those of you who aren't interested, it shouldn't matter what they decide to do with a character. And for those of you who can identify here, then that's a good thing as it brings more inclusivity.

The amount of whining over something so trivial (in your mind) is ridiculous.