Harvestella, the upcoming farming sim from Square Enix, will offer a non-binary gender option in its character creator.
It was first revealed a couple of weeks ago, when the developer shared some screenshots of its character creator on Twitter. It showed separate pronoun and body options as well as standard hair and eye colours. The gender selection in particular stood out, and now Harvestella’s producer has offered some more insight into the decision behind it.
Speaking to Eurogamer, Daisuke Taka said that the decision to add more pronoun options to Harvestella was a no-brainer, saying “I think it’s completely normal these days for non-binary to be included in gender selection. The visibility of gender non-conforming people has become much more commonplace, so we thought it was important to reflect this within the game and show that all players are welcome to Harvestella.”
Put your best self forward in #Harvestella.Upon starting the game, you’ll be able to choose your protagonist’s hair color, their appearance, and how others in the world refer to them.Try these options out now with the free demo on Nintendo Switch: https://t.co/jD3nmWE1S6 pic.twitter.com/CSdDI15FncOctober 21, 2022
Taka added that “there’s no major impact on the game other than pronouns changing, but we hope that this means everyone feels included.” He continued that Harvestella is designed to be a game “for everyone,” and that “using gender-neutral pronouns takes a relatively small amount of effort, yet the positive impact is huge.”
Specific non-binary option choices in character creators are still few and far between. More creators are leaning towards ‘body types’ rather than gender and a lot of dialogue is being neutralised, which makes it all the nicer that Square Enix has gone out of its way to include a variety of pronouns. Even if they don’t matter to you, they sure as hell matter to someone else, and as Taka said its impact is minimal to those it doesn’t affect.
