Rust creator responds to gender assignment backlash

The other day we told you about Facepunch's decision to use a player's Steam ID to determine the gender of their character in Rust, the studio's open-world survival sim. It seems as though there's been something of a backlash against the move, with many people unhappy with the forced change.

In response to the criticism, studio boss Garry Newman has posted a column on The Guardian explaining the studio's reasoning.

"Rust is not a game about identity. The objective in Rust is to survive," he explained. "You will survive better if you're a part of a group, but this takes a lot of mutual trust. If you kill someone you'll be able to loot their corpse and take all their food, medicine and weapons. This makes the game very interesting socially, since players struggle with trust and slowly build up relationships with one another."

Newman and his team obviously views permanent gender and appearance assignment as a way of reducing negative behaviour among the player base.

"A survivor shouldn't be able to attack another then come back later with a different gender or race and befriend the same player. They should be recognizable consistently and long-term—so anyone likely to commit a crime would be more likely to wear a balaclava or a face mask."

There has been a mixture of complaints, with some players disgruntled at being forced to engage with what they consider a feminist agenda, and transgender players have voiced concerns that fixed gender types are "reminiscent of real-world transphobia."

Despite the complaints, it seems Newman and his team are unmoved and will stay the course.

"Ultimately the decision comes down to gameplay. We don't believe that letting you choose your race and gender would improve the game," he said, summing up. "On the other hand, randomizing everyone's gender and race meets all our requirements. We get an even spread of races and genders that make players more identifiable—while at the same time making the social aspects of the game much more interesting."

For more further insight into the studio's recent decision making, and for additional details regarding who has been complaining about what in the game, head this way to read the column.