There has been a lot of hype around the open world Harry Potter game Hogwarts Legacy.
The Grand-Theft-Auto-meets-Harry Potter game will no doubt delight people around the world as they play as a witch or wizard learning all about magic at Hogwarts.
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A new report from Bloomberg suggests there will be plenty of options to customise your character and the game will even give you the option to play as transgender.
Character creators typically lock voice depth, gendered terms, and hairstyles to a specific body type.
Traditionally, this isn't inclusive of trans people, and the industry is steadily moving away from this static model, allowing for players to add any combination of physical attributes to gendered language. The upshot of this is that it makes the experience more inclusive to everyone.
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Despite author J.K. Rowling's outspoken ideas on gender identity, the team that has been putting Hogwarts Legacy together want it to be as inclusive as possible.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has previously stated the team is consulting LGBTQ rights groups for input on the game's diversity and inclusion.
J.K Rowling has posted a series of tweets in the past that have been labeled anti-trans.
In June last year, she wrote: "If sex isn't real, there's no same-sex attraction. If sex isn't real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives.
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"It isn't hate to speak the truth. The idea that women like me, who've been empathetic to trans people for decades, feeling kinship because they're vulnerable in the same way as women-i.e., to male violence-'hate' trans people because they think sex is real and has lived consequences-is a nonsense."
She was reacting to a story that said 'people who menstruate' instead of women who menstruate.
Revealed in Sony's September showcase, Hogwarts Legacy is set in the 19th century, and players will explore the halls and grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in an expansive open world.
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"Expect Hogwarts Legacy to be filled with all kinds of immersive magic, while your student-character will learn spells, brew potions, tame fantastic beasts, select companions to help them fight off deadly enemies," the Wizarding World team announced.
Right now the game is set for a 2022 release after a significant delay was announced.
The move to make character customisations more open to gender identity is slowly becoming mainstream.
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Activision revealed it would allow gamers to choose gender neutral when playing Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.
Gamers will be able to select the gender of the main character, with male, female and 'classified' on offer. Classified is for people who want to identify as gender neutral in the game and, if they choose that option, they will have they/them pronouns.
Creative director Dan Vondrak said the move was designed to ensure that everyone around the world could see themselves as the protagonist.
"We didn't want to exclude anybody. The option to leave [information] classified was super important because there are only so many backgrounds or places of birth we can have listed in the game," he said, via Gamespot.
"If we don't find something somebody wants, then let's let them leave it classified so they can be that mysterious, shadowy Black Ops character they want to be."
Featured Image Credit: Warner Bros.Topics: GAMING