Rust Dev Responds to "Extreme" Reaction to New Gender/Race Changes

"[T]he decision to randomize race and gender is all about better gameplay, not imposing ideology."

by Mat Paget on April 13, 2016

Garry Newman, the lead developer on survival game Rust, has responded to the "extreme" reaction that the game's new gender and race randomization has received. The developers updated the game with a feature that randomly chooses a permanent gender and race for players based on their SteamID--and some players weren't too happy about it.

Newman wrote an article for The Guardian, in which he explained the decision behind the randomization. He said, "Rust is not a game about identity," but instead a game about survival through "starvation, dehydration, radiation, exposure, and bear attacks."

The game originally had every player appear as a white bald man, but the developer didn't want to "spend six months making a player customization tool," instead wanting to focus on the game. Newman explained how the team believes a player shouldn't be able to attack someone, then come back later with a different appearance, acting more friendly.

Since the change, Newman said the opinions are mixed--some like it, some don't. Some male players have complained about having a "political movement shoved down [their] throat," while female players have pointed out that they were already being forced to play as men--Newman says some have even thanked the development team for the addition.

Newman added that he's received most complaints about "being black" from Russian players. Transgender players have also aired their complaints--one said that assigning a permanent gender resembled transphobia. Newman says he understands the arguments from transgender players, but his feelings stay the same: "We're assigning gender randomly in game--not in real life."

He says the decision is about gameplay.

"We don't believe that letting you choose your race and gender would improve the game. On the other hand, randomizing everyone's gender and race meets all our requirements," he explained. "We get an even spread of races and genders that make players more identifiable, while at the same time making the social aspects of the game much more interesting."

You can read the rest of Newman's article at The Guardian.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/rust-dev-responds-to-extreme-reaction-to-new-gende/1100-6438810/

Personal note: "Everyone's" offended.  I love it.

I... dont get why making gender and race randomized could ever improve gameplay and not the other way around.

But it is his decision, and if he thinks thats for the best, he should stick to his guns.But it is amusing that everyone got pissed with this lol

gameplay could improve gender and race randomization?

anyways,.. i don't see anything to get pissed about.

I think he's saying a more diverse pallete of players in terms of race and gener makes people stand out more from each other and easier to distinguish. 

Damn that is hilarious

Whatever. People always have something to complain about. It's impossible to do anything right. I'm glad he's sticking to his guns. Keep on keeping on.

Ok, I expressed myself wrong.I meant as I dont see why the randomization improves anything.Limiting the players option on choosing his own avatar on a game that identity seems important seems silly.But again, its the directors vision, so if he believes its for the best, he should stick to his guns.

Oh, so the dev was just being admittedly lazy. 

but the developer didn't want to "spend six months making a player customization tool," instead wanting to focus on the game.

Most likely, gamers were just upset over not having a player customization tool or not being able to change their character's look to what they wanted but gaming journalists caught wind of it and blew it ouf of proportion just for the click bait.

Nah been complaints since day 1 about being a black or female character mainly...the community  blew it outta proportion...I'm still waiting for one of my shared likeness characters to  carry a smg instead of a shotgun or explosives...but that doesn't ruin the game for me

People want to play as characters they can relate to or identify with. Similar race/sex makes sense. People from many different races and males/females/transexuals complained about it. There's a reason why most devs won't use a randomized race/sex for player generation without being able to customize their character's look.