Despite clothing changes, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet protagonists are still gendered
Leading up to the release of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet on November 18, some fans were excited at the prospect of the newest generation of Pokémon doing away with gendered locks on in-game clothing items. The changes to clothing were first shown in a gameplay trailer, in which fans noticed that the clothing in the stores of Paldea didn’t seem to be tied to either gender. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet made good on that feature, and built on it by not asking the player their gender at the start of the game, instead simply having them choose the character avatar they want to use.
It’s then extremely confusing when the principal of the academy you’ve just transferred into immediately starts referring to you as either “Miss” or “Master” whatever your name is. Though players are never asked to explicitly identify their gender, and the clothing options are available to everyone, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet still insists on enforcing notions of binary gender, even though it really matters less than ever in terms of actual gameplay.
Allowing players to freely choose how they look and dress without labels, but still enforcing them in dialogue is strange and also unnecessary. With the variety of options available for customization in developing RPGs, Nintendo and Game Freak could conceivably provide options for players to set their own gender/pronouns. Alternately, they could lean further into the idea of avoiding gendered labels all together by just using the names players choose to address them.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet has made some impressive jumps when it comes to its iconic creature collecting formula, but it’s unfortunately still stuck in the past when it comes to imposing binary genders onto players, even when it seems like it’s trying to move past that.
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