Starfield voice actor calls out homophobic trolls
Since its early access release last week, Starfield has been the topic of a lot of conversation surrounding its ‘wokeness’.
From the customisation screen asking for character pronouns to allowing men to flirt with other men and NPCs who do not identify with the sex they were born with, Twitter users have found plenty to complain about.
One of Starfield’s voice actors has responded to homophobic trolls
These complaints are not going unnoticed and the lack of tolerance from some Starfield players has drawn attention from across the internet.
One person who took notice was a voice actor who acted as one of the NPC voices in the game.
Elias Toufexis, the voice of Sam Coe, took to Twitter to respond to one account who was upset that men were able to flirt with the NPC, who had been perceived as straight.
The original tweet was posted by @GMNGChristian, who said: “Gross. You can flirt with Sam Coe in Starfield. This is fine if you're a woman, but I always play as myself in a game. This also goes against the story as Sam is a straight guy, just like yours truly. So why is the option there for males?"
While several commenters were quick to point out that no one was forcing him to press the flirt button, Toufexis' response told the poster just how wrong they were: "actually, I played Sam as bisexual."
Playing as yourself should not mean the game cannot be tolerant of others
A lot of the recent discourse around Starfield has seen people throwing out the opinion that, since they want to roleplay as themselves in the game, the experience should pander exactly to them.
GMNGChristian's tweet, which states that they play as themselves in games, ignores the possibility of LGBTQ men existing who may want to flirt with Sam Coe.
Similarly, people complaining about the ability to select pronouns are not only ignoring transgender and non-binary individuals who may want to do this, but are also seeking to limit the amount of character customisation players have access to. Just because something does not apply to you, does not mean it shouldn't exist.
As upset players refund the game and others take to social media sites to express their distaste, it feels like a good time to remind players that in a game as big as Starfield, you don't have to do things you don't want to do.
Don't choose pronouns if you don't want to. Don't click the flirty option for a character you don't want to flirt with. Play the space exploration game however you want to and have a good time.
