Goonhub
06-07-2024, 10:31 PM
From my perspective a major point of friction in this conversation is on the concept of a trait-- does a mutrace trait simply give mechanical effects, or is there a racial identity attached to each mutrace?
Goon's lore is not a rule; you don't have to have your cow character be "Mukau Bullhorn" from the cow dimension, or your lizard be "verbs-the-noun" that's just a 4th-gen gene-modded human from sleeper-ship colonization efforts. However, players still sometimes follow these cultural trends-- you'll find plenty of characters named "Seeks-The-Path" and "Mavis Moovenheimer" as part of the crew. Whether consciously or not, players find value in conforming their character to whatever mutracial identity they perceive as existing. I believe that, like Retrino, other players will (in the long run) continue to play characters that feel human visually and behaviorally.
And, as Solenoid already nailed in their post, Goon's lore also doesn't prevent you from playing your character as something outside of their assigned mutrace. Is that a wig, or real hair, or a pair of wings, or maybe just seaweed dangling from that crewmember's scalp? Is that a normal roach, or a moth, or a big ant (like the ones from A Bug's Life)? People will play freaks if they want to, not having blue skin isn't stopping them. Diagetically, it doesn't really make sense for this not to be available to crewmates roundstart, either; getting your skin color changed via genetics is probably pretty accessible, especially compared to the robot/plant arms you'd get from robotics/botany.
As you can probably tell by the fact that I wrote this PR, I'm certainly of the persuasion that the mutrace traits are just what they say on the box-- a set of gameplay differences you can install on your character. Although most players choose to fall into a fairly standard definition of humanity, possession of the human mutrace does not a human make.
Joel is right about us needing to level the playing field on this. So long as the criteria to get skin color freedom are qualitative, the distinction between haves and have-nots will never feel fair. If that means removing Contributor's benefits entirely, well, I'd be pretty sad, because I like my weirdos, but it'd be better than what we have right now.
Goon's lore is not a rule; you don't have to have your cow character be "Mukau Bullhorn" from the cow dimension, or your lizard be "verbs-the-noun" that's just a 4th-gen gene-modded human from sleeper-ship colonization efforts. However, players still sometimes follow these cultural trends-- you'll find plenty of characters named "Seeks-The-Path" and "Mavis Moovenheimer" as part of the crew. Whether consciously or not, players find value in conforming their character to whatever mutracial identity they perceive as existing. I believe that, like Retrino, other players will (in the long run) continue to play characters that feel human visually and behaviorally.
And, as Solenoid already nailed in their post, Goon's lore also doesn't prevent you from playing your character as something outside of their assigned mutrace. Is that a wig, or real hair, or a pair of wings, or maybe just seaweed dangling from that crewmember's scalp? Is that a normal roach, or a moth, or a big ant (like the ones from A Bug's Life)? People will play freaks if they want to, not having blue skin isn't stopping them. Diagetically, it doesn't really make sense for this not to be available to crewmates roundstart, either; getting your skin color changed via genetics is probably pretty accessible, especially compared to the robot/plant arms you'd get from robotics/botany.
As you can probably tell by the fact that I wrote this PR, I'm certainly of the persuasion that the mutrace traits are just what they say on the box-- a set of gameplay differences you can install on your character. Although most players choose to fall into a fairly standard definition of humanity, possession of the human mutrace does not a human make.
Joel is right about us needing to level the playing field on this. So long as the criteria to get skin color freedom are qualitative, the distinction between haves and have-nots will never feel fair. If that means removing Contributor's benefits entirely, well, I'd be pretty sad, because I like my weirdos, but it'd be better than what we have right now.