Pokémon Go praised for letting characters be non-binary
Pokémon Go, which is taking the world by storm, has been praised for featuring non-binary characters.
The game which allows players to become a Pokémon trainer using augmented reality, is currently available in Australia, Japan, New Zealand and North America.
Many users who have already had a chance to play the game have been applauding developers for creating gender non-binary avatars for players to choose from.
When a user first sets up the game, they are asked to create an avatar. Instead of choosing a gender, however, the game allows players to pick a “style”.
The developer’s choice to make the characters non-binary followed a petition, which asked them to acknowledge non-binary and gender fluidity.
Writing for Australian youth organisation, Minus 18, Sam Lilit, said: “By not labelling these avatars as male or female, they’ve acknowledged that clothing/hair aren’t inherently gendered, and by not asking players “are you a girl or a boy?”, they’ve made the game more comfortable for non-binary people, because we won’t be forced to misgender ourselves.”
Recently, the Sims removed gender barriers on an update that meant players could control Sims that non-binary or gender fluid.
