When popular indie survival game Rust first introduced the idea of adding female player models to the game, some players thought the developers were out of their minds.
In Rust, the original male characters' features, like race and penis length, are randomly assigned based on players' Steam IDs, and there is no way around it. Though some players will remain playing as men, others will be women. This controversial move has split the gaming community, some praising the developer's push for gender equality, others hating the idea of losing their penis forever (in the game, at least).
In an interview with Facepunch Studios founder Garry Newman, he said that the decision to assign gender instead of letting the players choose which character to play is a direct response to what Newman feels "is a bloat and prevalence of character creation in other games." He criticized how the current games put so much focus on game customization instead of actually developing a great game. Newman believes that, in an ideal gaming world, players need to be recognized by what they look like and not by having their username bubble over their character's head.
"We landed on randomizing players' appearance and locking them to it, then working on a bunch of different heads and customization attributes that would make players more and more unique," Newman beamed.
Despite the initial negative reaction from players who refuse to give up their macho image in the game (note that some female players feel the exact same), Newman has tweeted the latest stats showing that Rust has seen a significant increase in sales and player counts since the update. Newman reported a whopping 74 percent jump in sales when female models with forced gender was added in the game. "We are seeing a lot more positivity around the change than negativity," Newman said.
The gender-related controversy that surrounds Rust has surprised Newman who admitted playing as female characters in other games, such as Gina in Half-Life Deathmatch, Sheva in Resident Evil, and Chun Li in Street Fighter. While gender can be a big deal for some players rather than others, the Rust developer believes that users will get use to the idea in time, and he has the stats to support his claim.
Rust was initially criticized for randomly assigning color and race to the characters. The response has been alarmingly unpleasant that the game developer had to remind the players that the objective of the game is about survival and not identity. However, Newman and his crew believe that the haters are but a vocal minority, and that the increasing number of people who show interest in the game reflects a more popular view that the gaming community needs to pay more attention to.
