The much-anticipated Starfield is finally here, with fans clamouring to get their hands on what is expected to be one of the biggest games of the year.
Starfield marks the first new universe in 25 years from Bethesda Game Studios, the people who brought you The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim and Fallout 4 – and some gamers have already had the chance to explore it for themselves after last week’s early access launch.
However, the game has already sparked controversy among some angry gamer bros., who seem to consider having pronoun options as a personal insult.
What’s been going on? Here’s what you need to know…
Starfield pronoun controversy explained
Starfield comes complete with an elaborate character creation system, with Bethesda offering dozens of traits and skills and other features to choose from.
Among these options are pronouns – your character can be he/him, she/her or they/them, if you choose to make them non-binary.
However, the decision to include the latter has upset certain streamers, who have been making their intolerance clear online.
British streamer Heel vs Babyface went viral after a sweary two-minute rant on X (formerly Twitter) about being asked to choose pronouns for his character.
‘I love nothing more than to be dragged out at every f******g conceivable opportunity so that you can f*****g current-day us!’ he said before he went on to accuse the makers of being ‘so f*****g boring’.
A second streamer, Dr Disrespect, appeared to stare at the screen in shock for several seconds when faced with the pronoun options. Whereas normal people would’ve just made the choice they wanted in an instant.
Western Gayming Industry, with the mighty @heelvsbabyface.#Starfield pic.twitter.com/J6yHjE0gfp
— Dan Vasc (@danvasc2) September 3, 2023
Dr Disrespect, who has claimed he was denied access to the promotional phase of the game due to ‘past controversies’ went on to drag Bethesda’s head of publishing for having pronouns in his X bio.
‘He/him… Got it, OK. Now everything’s starting to make sense,’ he said in a YouTube video.
Bethesda has not commented on the issue, but has said in the past the game allows players to ‘create highly detailed and diverse characters’.
While the outcry has led to some gamers asking for refunds on the game, others have leaped to its defence.
People outraging and refunding #Starfield because of a ‘pronouns’ option (one single time at the character creation)
When BG3 literally lets you F*** with a bear! pic.twitter.com/R5cObciUPB— Andrea Pichinini (@AndreaPichinini) September 3, 2023
‘People outraging and refunding #Starfield because of a ‘pronouns’ option (one single time at the character creation) When BG3 literally lets you F*** with a bear!,’ one person wrote.
Another added: People: “HAHAHA Look at all these Snowflakes trying to boycott #HogwartsLegacy”. Same People: “#Starfield has pronouns? REEEEE Boycott it at once”.
People: “HAHAHA Look at all these Snowflakes trying to boycott #HogwartsLegacy“.
Same People: “#Starfield has pronouns? REEEEE Boycott it at once”.
If you were in either boycott campaign, you have no right to laugh at the other.
I’m loving laughing at both tho. pic.twitter.com/1pKc8gQEfB— Andreas Vassvik – Ahsoka Skywalker Stan ð (@RealCyberkitten) September 3, 2023
Starfield was released on September 6 at midnight UTC – meaning British gamers got their hands on it at 1am local time.