Might it be a better idea to specify your characters pronouns in the description rather than their gender? It ticks the same boxes of detailing your character's gender, but provides additional space for people who use pronouns across the gender spectrum, such as (but not limited to) he/they, she/they etc.
It also makes it easier for people looking at your character sheet to know how to refer to your character with just a glance.
I doubt this would be a particularly time-consuming change in terms of developer time and resources, but could serve to help D&D Beyond's mission of promoting inclusivity and self-expression.
That's true, and I already do that. Just feels like changing the 'Gender' box to a 'Pronouns' box might make it easier for both character creators who are more new to the game and people viewing the character sheet to work stuff out at a glance.
That's true, and I already do that. Just feels like changing the 'Gender' box to a 'Pronouns' box might make it easier for both character creators who are more new to the game and people viewing the character sheet to work stuff out at a glance.
Not every pronoun represents a different gender, so are you suggesting less inclusivity by only focusing on the 3~4 pronoun groups?
You are basically complaining that a field asks for your favorite number but you only want it to ask if it is a positive or negative number. Why don't you want numbers on display? Anyone can tell it's sign just by looking anyway, or the sign can be easily added by the person who's favorite number it is.
You see why this feels weird? Is this some new, subtle way to try and force genders into a binary? Because it is starting to feel that way.
Not every pronoun represents a different gender, so are you suggesting less inclusivity by only focusing on the 3~4 pronoun groups?
You are basically complaining that a field asks for your favorite number but you only want it to ask if it is a positive or negative number. Why don't you want numbers on display? Anyone can tell it's sign just by looking anyway, or the sign can be easily added by the person who's favorite number it is.
You see why this feels weird? Is this some new, subtle way to try and force genders into a binary? Because it is starting to feel that way.
.
I don't see how that follows at all. Gender can be a complicated thing to express and for many people struggling with gender expression, it can be a difficult thing to summarise in a small box. The last thing I would want to do is reduce gender to an unrepresentative and restrictive binary: pronouns and gender are not the same thing, they are simply related.
The practical question is how to refer to your character, and that is the question that a pronoun box rather than a gender box would drive at the heart of. It simplifies the character creation process for new players who might be experimenting with gender expression, and provides better 'at-a-glance' reference for DMs and other players.
Many games are following this trend in their character creation: instead of specifying 'male or female' and providing a third option if we're lucky, they're going for the relatively simpler task of asking for pronouns and letting you design whatever character you feel best expresses yourself.
Not every pronoun represents a different gender, so are you suggesting less inclusivity by only focusing on the 3~4 pronoun groups?
You are basically complaining that a field asks for your favorite number but you only want it to ask if it is a positive or negative number. Why don't you want numbers on display? Anyone can tell it's sign just by looking anyway, or the sign can be easily added by the person who's favorite number it is.
You see why this feels weird? Is this some new, subtle way to try and force genders into a binary? Because it is starting to feel that way.
.
I don't see how that follows at all. Gender can be a complicated thing to express and for many people struggling with gender expression, it can be a difficult thing to summarise in a small box. The last thing I would want to do is reduce gender to an unrepresentative and restrictive binary: pronouns and gender are not the same thing, they are simply related.
The practical question is how to refer to your character, and that is the question that a pronoun box rather than a gender box would drive at the heart of. It simplifies the character creation process for new players who might be experimenting with gender expression, and provides better 'at-a-glance' reference for DMs and other players.
Many games are following this trend in their character creation: instead of specifying 'male or female' and providing a third option if we're lucky, they're going for the relatively simpler task of asking for pronouns and letting you design whatever character you feel best expresses yourself.
But a character's description isn't just for how to refer to them, it is how to describe them.
This is the same section of the character sheet that has alignment, faith, age, and personality traits. It wouldn't make sense to remove gender from this section and replace it with pronouns, because pronouns don't describe the character.
Maybe you should instead argue that a pronouns field be added next to name?
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Might it be a better idea to specify your characters pronouns in the description rather than their gender? It ticks the same boxes of detailing your character's gender, but provides additional space for people who use pronouns across the gender spectrum, such as (but not limited to) he/they, she/they etc.
It also makes it easier for people looking at your character sheet to know how to refer to your character with just a glance.
I doubt this would be a particularly time-consuming change in terms of developer time and resources, but could serve to help D&D Beyond's mission of promoting inclusivity and self-expression.
The gender field is an open text field, so you can include or even just specify pronouns. E.g.
This is actually why the gender field is an open text field; so people can describe it however they feel best fits their character
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Imagine the irony and PR nightmare if the gender field were a dropdown with only male, female, and other options.
That's true, and I already do that. Just feels like changing the 'Gender' box to a 'Pronouns' box might make it easier for both character creators who are more new to the game and people viewing the character sheet to work stuff out at a glance.
Not every pronoun represents a different gender, so are you suggesting less inclusivity by only focusing on the 3~4 pronoun groups?
You are basically complaining that a field asks for your favorite number but you only want it to ask if it is a positive or negative number. Why don't you want numbers on display? Anyone can tell it's sign just by looking anyway, or the sign can be easily added by the person who's favorite number it is.
You see why this feels weird? Is this some new, subtle way to try and force genders into a binary? Because it is starting to feel that way.
.
I don't see how that follows at all. Gender can be a complicated thing to express and for many people struggling with gender expression, it can be a difficult thing to summarise in a small box. The last thing I would want to do is reduce gender to an unrepresentative and restrictive binary: pronouns and gender are not the same thing, they are simply related.
The practical question is how to refer to your character, and that is the question that a pronoun box rather than a gender box would drive at the heart of. It simplifies the character creation process for new players who might be experimenting with gender expression, and provides better 'at-a-glance' reference for DMs and other players.
Many games are following this trend in their character creation: instead of specifying 'male or female' and providing a third option if we're lucky, they're going for the relatively simpler task of asking for pronouns and letting you design whatever character you feel best expresses yourself.
But a character's description isn't just for how to refer to them, it is how to describe them.
This is the same section of the character sheet that has alignment, faith, age, and personality traits. It wouldn't make sense to remove gender from this section and replace it with pronouns, because pronouns don't describe the character.
Maybe you should instead argue that a pronouns field be added next to name?