World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, the next phase of Blizzard’s monumental MMORPG, will be released tomorrow. It will add to the game not only a lot of new content but the first “transgender character” in an online game.
In an interview with VG247, Assistant Lead Quest Designer Johnny Cash spoke about Pelagos, a video game variation of a transgender:
It all started out just as an idea: “Hey, we really would like to make a character that looks like the representation of a transgender person in Shadowlands.”
As the character matured, we received feedback from the community and the voice actor. I am really happy with the result.
In fact, Pelagos is not exactly transgender. It’s just that the character’s race allows you to look different after death. As a mortal, he was a woman, but in the afterlife, he chose to become a man. The team first called him they, and then they became him, emphasizing the desire to become a man.
Cash stressed that the team will continue to develop ideas for inclusiveness in the future.
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands will be released on November 24 on PC.
