Transgender Emergence in Video Games: Intersections, Discourses, Directions

This commentary by Robin Longobardi Zingarelli, published in Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture (2024), surveys the emergence of transgender identities and representation in video games. Its central argument is that video games offer meaningful spaces for transgender players and designers to explore gender identity and affirmation, particularly through procedural features such as character customisation, embodiment, and the player-avatar relationship, yet these same spaces can reproduce transphobic tropes and exploit trans creators. The piece draws on trans theory and game studies scholarship, mapping developments across three areas: customisation options in open-world and simulation games such as Cyberpunk 2077, Baldur's Gate 3, and The Sims 4; scripted transgender characters, where the author cites Thach's (2021) analysis of 63 characters from the 1980s to 2010s and the recurring association of trans identity with dysphoria, mental illness, and trauma; and transgender game design, including autobiographical works like Dys4ia (2012).

The review synthesises empirical work on transgender players, noting that studies such as Whitehouse et al. (2023), which involved 40 transgender participants, and McKenna et al. (2024) report that avatar creation offers affirmation and freedom from being deadnamed or questioned. The same literature also documents dysphoria triggered by stereotypical representations (Liang et al., 2023). Because the commentary is a critical overview rather than an original study, its evidence base is largely secondary, drawn from a limited number of small-sample and qualitative studies, and its scope is concentrated on English-language scholarship and Western commercial and independent games.

The commentary identifies three contradictions: the recognition that trans players gain in games often depends on concealing their identity, the question of why detailed sexual-characteristic customisation was introduced and whether it objectifies trans players, and the labour exploitation and identity tourism faced by trans designers. It concludes that continued critical engagement from academia and industry is needed to move the medium toward trans affirmation rather than harm and erasure.