Some Rust players aren't happy about being forced to play as women

midian182

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The multiplayer, open-world, wilderness survival title Rust is incredibly popular. After more than two years on Early Access, it’s still one of the twenty most popular games on Steam and is enjoyed by millions.

Despite its legions of fans, Rust has introduced features in the past that managed to annoy a small number of its players. Some were unhappy at the game randomly assigning race – and even genital size - for every character, but the majority of people didn’t really care.

However, Facepunch Studios introduced a new update late last week, and it's irking more players than anything that’s come before: randomly assigned gender.

Once a player has been given their new character model, be it male or female, it’s locked to their individual Steam ID, so there’s no changing it. This hasn’t gone down well with some folks who’ve suddenly discovered their avatar is now sporting a pair of boobs.

Rust developers Garry Newman and Taylor Reynolds have acknowledged that not everyone appreciates the move. "We understand this is a sore subject for a lot of people. We understand that you may now be a gender that you don’t identify with in real-life. We understand this causes you distress and makes you not want to play the game anymore," they said.

"Technically nothing has changed, since half the population was already living with those feelings. The only difference is that whether you feel like this is now decided by your SteamID instead of your real life gender."

There is a client-side fix available for anyone not happy with their gender/race/genital size; other players will still see your assigned traits, but it does let you choose how your character appears on your monitor.

Newman added that he was excited to see what impact introducing female character models would have on the game. "I'm more interested in seeing what happens when we add the female model," he told Polygon. "Whether women will get attacked more because they're perceived as weak, or whether they'll get attacked less because they're perceived as vulnerable. That stuff is interesting to me."

He added that more changes to the character models are coming, but it looks as if players will be stuck with their given genders. "I'll continue to add variations over the comings weeks which means you're probably not stuck with your new face forever," he wrote.

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"I'm more interested in seeing what happens when we add the female model," he told Polygon. "Whether women will get attacked more because they're perceived as weak, or whether they'll get attacked less because they're perceived as vulnerable. That stuff is interesting to me."

So what Polygon is saying is Rust isn't a game, it's an experiment. Wow. Devs are doing more harm to gaming than piracy ever could.
 
This is *****ic...

Also we sensor the Idio- word but "morons" and other equally bad words are uncensored? come on guys
 
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Don't like the changes, don't play the game. Simple. There are plenty of other games out there where the devs aren't self-diluted morons. People need to realize that the only message self-righteous developers will listen to is the one you write with your wallet. (I realize the game is probably free right now, but the will eventually try to monetize it and you gotta hit them where it hurts!).
 
Don't like the changes, don't play the game. Simple. There are plenty of other games out there where the devs aren't self-diluted morons. People need to realize that the only message self-righteous developers will listen to is the one you write with your wallet. (I realize the game is probably free right now, but the will eventually try to monetize it and you gotta hit them where it hurts!).
game costs like $20 or something
 
Don't like the changes, don't play the game. Simple. There are plenty of other games out there where the devs aren't self-diluted morons. People need to realize that the only message self-righteous developers will listen to is the one you write with your wallet. (I realize the game is probably free right now, but the will eventually try to monetize it and you gotta hit them where it hurts!).
game costs like $20 or something
I'd pay the "or something" for it.
 
"I'm more interested in seeing what happens when we add the female model," he told Polygon. "Whether women will get attacked more because they're perceived as weak, or whether they'll get attacked less because they're perceived as vulnerable. That stuff is interesting to me."

So what Polygon is saying is Rust isn't a game, it's an experiment. Wow. Devs are doing more harm to gaming than piracy ever could.

I'd also point out that EVE has been a massive experiment in more ways than 1, from sociological to economical, and the gaming industry hasnt exploded yet. The moronic short sighted moves by publishers do far more damage than any sort of experiment found in games. And this expirement is just looking at data, not changing the game in any way.
 
"I'm more interested in seeing what happens when we add the female model," he told Polygon. "Whether women will get attacked more because they're perceived as weak, or whether they'll get attacked less because they're perceived as vulnerable. That stuff is interesting to me."

Unless there is gender dimorphism & cognitive biases worked into character stats, I fail to see anything of merit here.

Seeing how the game changes by nerfing female combat and survivability attributes and giving male characters a boost to physical attribute points per level would be interesting. Seeing whether people percieve a female avatar as weaker/vulnerable when the development trees are identical...useless.
 
I thought the random element brought forth by SteamIDs for the other topics was interesting. I still would prefer the gender to be what you said you were when you signed up for Steam though. Although to waste time complaining about this versus other predominant issues in the game is asinine--it's such a minute "issue".
 
"half the population was already living with those feelings"
So half the population doesn't identify with the gender they were born to? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.
 
"half the population was already living with those feelings"
So half the population doesn't identify with the gender they were born to? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

As a sentient intercontinental ballistic missile, I must say this is a very regressive view. Many of us were born organic but later realized that the classification we were assigned at birth was wrong. We should have been born mecha but got a bad roll. Most of us don't even voice our true feelings because of the stigma attached to transmaterialism.

And befoe any of you bigots tell me how wrong I am, transmaterialism is just as natural as anything else. Millions of children identify as attack choppers, airplanes, and race cars. Society, however, forcefully pulls them away from their truekin during their teen years under the guise of "growing up." It isn't a mental disorder. It isn't deviant. Deal with it.

*sound of rocket thrusters blasting off*
 
"half the population was already living with those feelings"
So half the population doesn't identify with the gender they were born to? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.
I think they meant half the population of the game, assuming 50% of the players are female which I doubt.
 
It isn't a mental disorder. It isn't deviant. Deal with it.
Driving on the wrong side of the road wouldn't be thought of as a mental disorder either, if everyone suddenly decided it was OK. The mental disorder is society thinking/tutoring sex to be anything more than a reproductive mechanism in life.
 
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