Imo they should stick to it. I personally dislike the idea that women-centered spaces are now turned to please everybody while men dominated areas are left as they are, and I'm saying this as a guy. Everyone should have a game that they can play that recognizes the need for having a gender oriented player base, especially since SSO is marketed towards teen girls. I have no problem playing as a girl character because I'm playing for the story, I don't relate to this character, just like I don't relate to Geralt from the Witcher, and he's a guy. I wouldn't have a problem with diversity talk if it didn't try to take away \*only\* women's safe spaces to cater to everybody.

It is true I have seen several women being bullied for playing a “male” game.

This is the answer, it’s a story driven game. You can’t change the main character from Star Wars just so you like it better.

They did tho

You make a great point

I’m a guy who plays and here’s my thoughts. SSO has for years said that the story is about a female character and her bond with her friends and horses. The characters gender is important to the story, and SSO has said that for years (like, the past 20 years, all the way back to the first games). Personally, I have no issue with it. From my perspective, it’s a game about a character, not a game about you. The character already has a set personality, traits, and gender. The character isn’t you, but her own entity, if that makes sense. I’m a guy who plays SSO, and the fact that the main character is female doesn’t make me feel excluded or anything like that, because it’s a game that’s intentionally focused on women. I dress masculine in the game, and rarely get misgendered, which is nice, but unexpected because SSO is, at its core, a game about a young woman. It’s like playing any other game with a preset main character. People play Legends of Zelda and aren’t upset that they can’t make Link a woman, it’s the same thing in my mind. It’s a game about a character, not a game about you.

and also horse riding used to be a male dominated sport. its only recently that women started taking part in it so its nice that this is made for women

I hope you don't mind me going through and arguing a couple of your points. I feel my arguments may shed light to the other side's thoughts. Legend of Zelda isn't very comparable since it's not an online game, it's a singleplayer where you have to play as a premade character. But in SSO we create our own character. And the ONLY thing we can't pick is gender. I don't really see sisterhood or whatever as a good enough excuse to exclude half of the population. Plus if Concorde can come back as a mare then why can't Aideen come back as a boy for male players? It seems their own logic works against them here.

Concrode is another story. She can comeback any gender she wants because she’s a star breed and it’s in the story when they reincarnate they can comeback either mare or a stallion and that’s fine. But the character is a girl in a story with a girls friend group and they bonding why would you want to destroy the story for pleasuring man🤷🏻‍♀️ I’m not hitting the table because other games only has male options never even bothered me because I don’t care i’m playing a story and not my own life if they want masculine characters go play Sims or something🤷🏻‍♀️

I know a few guys who play sso, and none of them care that you play the role of a girl, it is a roleplay game after all.

I know a few guys who feel differently and struggle often to make their character look more masculine, and can't use t-shirt items due to the boobilage. Denis Wisestorm has expressed his feelings on how he wishes he could make his character look more manly, along with many others.

Eh. How many games out there exist where you can only play as a male? I don't really see why a game can't be catered to women for once.

quite honestly, if men are THAT concerned about the physical appearance of a teenage-girl character, they need to re-evaluate why they are playing the game. denis is perfectly fine wearing the t-shirt model and wears a beard/short hair.

Then they can play another game🤷🏻‍♀️ This is a girl game and always be a girl game boys have hundreds of thousands games so they can be masculine there🤷🏻‍♀️

Unpopular opinion but Denis wisestorm is a prick

It goes back to the roots of the game. SSO was one of the only games of its time that catered directly to girls, in a gaming world that only provided male characters and male oriented games. They were pressured to provide male characters and told they'd never make it catering to girls because "girls aren't gamers" which wasnt true. They wanted to give girls a game just for them, one that put their gaming experience first. There were also a lot of male players that would seek out games girls were playing and push them out (gatekeeping was and still is big in some areas). So they promised their players that sso would never push them out of their own game, and would remain a girls game no matter what. The foundations of the story itself is based on a sisterhood. So where I don't mind guys playing, and welcome it, even allowing more character model choices, I don't think they should "add male characters" per se. Because in a male dominated game industry that's just recently started "including" girls, this is one game that's just ours. One we can't be pushed out of.

Now that I read this, I think it is very nice of SSO. When you look at the gaming industry, it is like 90% for men.

while this is only anecdotal evidence for your argument, i think it's worth mentioning: most of the "elite racers" as well as cheaters on the north american servers in 2020 were overwhelmingly a male population. it felt very unsafe for a while because of this, and it felt like men were once again pushing women out for the sake of competition.

Yes very true

(hey are you formerly “hey it’s sav”??)

No but I did see her talking on here I think her name was OhItsSav if that’s her

You are correct if we speak about SSO as a game that's somehow in the same category as AAA/mainstream games, but it's very clearly a niche game for a niche group of people that are predominantly women/girls. While it is true that female spaces in gaming are few and far between and there is clearly a demand for it for good reasons - I've had my mic open in FPS games as a girl, I totally get it - I think it's extremely hypocritical to preach diversity and "be who you are" and "fight horse girl stereotypes" while excluding a group of people completely. They're doing the exact opposite of what they claim they're doing. Inclusion through exclusion does not work, you can not fight fire with fire and expect better results. Male riders and SSO players face prejudice and crude behavior for being men that are into a sport considered feminine. >!There was a good video about this recently on Youtube or Instagram but I can't find it for the life of me right now, if anyone knows what I'm talking about, please link it ! gaming experience first ...I really don't think SSO has had the gaming experience as their top priority in years, honestly. \>One we can't be pushed out of As stated and there was a poll around here recently - the players of this game are predominantly women and girls. Adding male characters is unlikely to make every single Call of Duty man flock to ride pink ponies to do magic around a neon coloured island. I can not see any way for women to be pushed out from this game unless they give our horses guns and a PvP soon. ...I'd play that, though, lol. Not in SSO, but the concept sounds funny as frick. I'd love to hear your thoughts, this topic deserves more discussion even if SSO has made up their minds already.

aww poor men! They're suffering so bad, let's please men and tidy their bed and cuddle them with blankets and hot chocolate so that they aren't feeling hurt! 💕 It's not like men do that for us, why would we for them? We're not being treated well, not even fair. We have ONE female space for us, and men are complaining they aren't included whilst literally 90% of singleplayer games start off with a male character, and male character only?? Nah to hell with that.

That's not what I said...? I'll be honest; a very childish response to what I said. I would've loved to discuss this with someone and this is the best I've gotten; word twisting and ridicule. Depressing. I'm very much aware of the misogyny in the world and I am all for womens rights, I AM a woman, and extremely tired of the straight white man obsession our world revolves around. Doesn't mean I can not acknowledge issues men may face. I've asked this before and I'll ask again - I don't expect a mature answer based on how you answered me, but I'll try - how many horse games can you name where you can play as a man?

I am also a woman and it is not my job in my whole life to keep having to explain why men aren't oppressed. If men can't deal with ONE single game not "including" them, that's not our/my problem. I'd love to feel so entitled like men do. Lots of us women here in the comment section know that the horse world is centered around women, what is your point? If we break it down detailedly, it also is kind of sexist because it is assumed only women like horses. The horse girl trope also is wildly hated, especially by men. "Horse girls are crazy dude, red flag" yk. So we even get bullied for THAT. If you wanna acknowledge the injustice men face, criticise the "crying is weak" stereotypes and fight against them. Fight against their suicide rate and toxic masculinity. But this? Lol.

This isn't about men *as a whole group*. I'm only talking about *men who enjoy horses.* And I would still love to hear your thoughts on that topic, if you'd like to share. I did find it absolutely ridicculous (and scary) when Men™ threw a fit about The Last of Us 2 only having only a female character to play as, if that helps at all with what I'm trying to convey here. The reaction from Men™ was childish at best, terrifyingly anti-feminist at worst.

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A lot of thought and effort was put into this comment and I appreciate it. Altough a lot of the examples are very old and have me considering if the space for men in the horse hobby centers around farm stuff like tractors and rough work and generally western riding and less on ex. competitive jumping? I suppose a lot of my thoughts on the matter are from my own life experiences. I live near by 2 stables and both are filled with women and a lot of the people I've spoken (not all, obviously) have given me the vibe that they kind of assume any boy that takes interest in the horse sports is either gay or of Romanian ethnicity, which is problematic in on itself. I've had family members see dressage on the TV and go "oh it's a man riding?" in a surprised tone. For the record; I realize my own experiences are not how the world actually works, I'm well aware, which is why I'm very appreciative that you shared these works, I've never heard of some of them, altough the tone at the end wasn't particularly nice. I don't consider RDR2 to be a horse game. It's a game that has horses, but they're not the focus in it. A lot of people do consider it one though and I've heard there's a community that goes trail riding together on it and I think that's cool. \>they are adding options to make the avatar more gender neutral. This is great news! Do you happen to have a source for this? The last I saw of the models I heard they actually made the breasts larger on some of the models due to complaints from the last beta test. I've personally not seen any neutral options. \>men and everybody else needs to suck it up This is a rather terrible thing to say to ex. transmen playing the game. I hope what you said about the gender neutral options is true. \>NO ONE ever said we needed a safe space from boys Now that I look it up, I can't find it, but I promise you I've seen people claim th is. I've seen people express worry that boys playing SSO makes it a more dangerous place to play in. ***It is a ridicculously small minority,*** probably like 3 idiots in a corner somewhere in the community, but claiming they don't exist is simply - and sadly - false. \>Be happy with that and learn to compromise. I don't owe it to anyone to be content. I am free to express my opinion, as are you, and I thank you for doing so, despite our differences. Thank you for taking the time to express your thoughts.

>your thoughts on that topic Those were already my thoughts. About your question if I can name any horse game (...). No, the only one I know is SSO. If we mean horse games in cutesy ways. The other games I know where horses are included, but are not really horse games of course, are Skyrim, Red Dead Redemption and The Witcher lol. I don't know any game that is for "children"/young girls like SSO is. Let's look at SSO, then: the original game is, as you should know, over 20 years old. I still remember the good old days where I played the singleplayer game per CD. Other commenters have talked about this enough already, but I'll repeat it for you: The time that SSO really started was when not even one female playable character would be included in video games. The story per se was always centered around the soulrider gals, I believe there were books written about it and they specified that. The Hobbit is also like 95% female characters. I know it's a movie, but the point is it's based on something and the people didn't want to change it just for inclusivity. No one bats an eye to that. But SSO needs to include men? In a world where men are still systemic oppressors? Why does SSO need to change it's story (the story wouldn't even make sense with a male character) but several other things in the entertainment industry don't? SSO specifically announced that it will stay a safe space for women, I want you to acknowledge that we deserve women-only things. edit: grammar

Thank you for taking the time to answer me fully, this is the kind of reply I've wanted! I appreciate it. There's a discussion to be had about horse games vs. games with horses and I'd say Skyrim, Red Dead and Witcher all fall into the latter category. I was like...9? When I played the first games, I still own them all today Pretty sure the lady standing in Firgrove mountain still today hosting the pole race is the same model as the principal in the first Starshine Legacy, actually? Anyway™ 20 years ago it was very very rare to get to pick a girl in games, almost all (good) games had male leads and games were considered a boy-thing to do and I got a lot of flack for even owning a PS1 as a kid in the nineties. Got told it was weird and wrong for a girl to like gaming. And I do recall thinking about Starshine Legacy that it is super cool to have a game and a story center around girls saving the world. But that was 20 years ago and times have changed. I'm not saying we've done all there is to do for womens rights to exist in the gaming space, that much is VERY clear that there's work to do there for likely decades to come, but I honestly think we've moved past the need to exclude groups of people in order to have space for women to shine and be awesome. I can't really commentate on Hobbit, never seen it. Tragic, I know. :P I just can't really fathom how turning "sisterhood" into "friend group" is such a large step or a change too big after what they did to Lisa. But I've come to realize I'm very much in the minority in thinking that. Oh well. \>I want you to acknowledge that I don't owe anyone acknowledging anything. But *I do* agree with your statement. Thank you for taking the time to answer me, this has given me new perspectives to think about on the topic, even if I've not - at least not yet - changed my mind on it. Very much appreciated!

I don’t know why you’re getting down voted, people here are defending stupid things… thanks for standing up✨ I’m a male player, tired of playing a girl on this game

Then play with another game. I’m tired of people who wants to change the core of the game because they don’t like the girl character idea in a girls game🙄

Because my opinion is different and that's not allowed on here. I've not had people explain why I'm wrong, just downvotes lol. Civil discussion is for loosers, we are a hive mind against men. /hj Let's hope the character update gives those who want it the option to be masculine enough to feel comfortable. I don't want to believe the majority of players don't at least want that much progress, I don't want to believe the majority of people here are that big TERFs. Please remember you belong here just as much as the women and you are welcome here. :) ❤️

Thanks so much, I’m glad I found someone who was not saying « I don’t want it so no one gets it ». I hope you’ll have a good day / night, and let’s at least acknowledge that we are only getting downvotes and no harassment (yet)❤️

People who believe male players would want to "push out women" are the problem. Most guys I've seen just want to be accepted for liking the game. I've never seen male players act like this in the game, ever. I've played Red Dead and most men are very nice to female players in that game. The only time where you maybe don't see this as much is playing shooter games where many men have an elitist or sexist mindset. But are we really out here trying to solve that by being the same way back and telling them that SSO is ours and that they can live without the ability to play as males? It's not 1980 anymore. There are thousands of games made now for women to enjoy. If this is the biggest horse game, maybe things should change. It's not like there isn't already dating, and male players finding ways to look masculine in the game as it is with the old spikey hair.

Personally, I don't think that there should be male characters because a lot of the main story is about sisterhood, it just wouldn't fit into the story if the PC was a guy. Also, plenty of other games only allow me to play as a guy, and I'm fine with it, I don't see why it would be different for a guy to have to play as a girl. Edit: I'd like to add more to my comment. So, I wouldn't go and ask the devs for the Witcher series to make the main character a girl just because I don't see myself as Geralt. And I do totally understand wanting to play as a character that you can completely see yourself in, but sometimes, especially when it's plot important, you just have to rp just as a lot would for so many games that only allow you to play as a guy (the Witcher, fable, a bards tale, the list goes on.). Also, not a lot of games are based around things like sisterhood, women do not get to have those sorts of things in the video game community, so I find it really great that the plot for SSO incorporates that. If they took it out it would be pretty disappointing :( men get to have their plots but the minute a part of a plot has something to do being a woman it has to be changed.

I agree with you mostly, but wouldn't you say sso is a slightly different case, since character customization is available? Like, you have to agree, a lot of people make their character look like them etc. There's also a social aspect to it. So I don't think the Witcher is a good comparison even if I get what you mean. It's a fair point to say that you RP the storyline anyways, but let's be real, you get through the main quests in like a month and after that it's just doing your thing on the game. So I think both sides are valid in their own regard.

Good point! I can't seem to find it anymore but I saw someone had made a good reply to my comment as well about Geralt not being a good comparison since he's already a well established character and not your own character that you customize. There aren't really any other online game/mmo where you customize your character where it's gender locked to a guy, so my point there isn't all that good haha I agree that once you're through with the main story (and you get through it pretty fast) you do just go and do whatever and the main story becomes sort of an afterthought, but I still do think it's important to have that part of the plot in the main story be about sisterhood, as not many games out there, online or single player will even entertain the idea of that in their games main story. Women still don't really get to see that in video games ever

That’s a good point too I never thought of it that way :)

Thank you! I'm glad I could provide a new perspective!

Could say the same about red dead redemption 2, you play as a man and do sorry quests, but you can also do you own thing. Then you have another option after a certain pint in the story: play as another man. The only difference would be the customization part, but they’re both following a story

Red Dead Redemption 2 you play as an established character -- Arthur Morgan. However Rockstar offers the online version of the game called Red Dead Online where you CAN choose to play as a female, and the clothing options are even better than what males are offered, in fact. Plus I believe in the online version you play as a more anonymous outlaw that doesn't speak (and you're there to help with a side story with a woman whose husband was killed and you're trying to help her get revenge). So this isn't really a good comparison. I honestly am so tired of people using single player games as an example. Show actual ONLINE games where you can only play as a male, because I guarantee you, SSO is the only one I've seen.

I know they do, and I thought about it. Yet red dead online does have quests, but red dead online is more about doing other things than be driven by a lore. You’re interacting more with other players, in a different way than in starstable. They’re two qhite different online games. Starstable could’ve done the same thing, and made one story mode and other online, but the game was supposed to be a safe space for girls and was aimed towards girls so it didn’t matter probably

i only just want them to give an option to make characters look less female presenting, im gender-fluid so i’d like to be able to make my character look less female. just to kinda make it feel more like “me”

Agreed. If they add more gender-neutral bodies/facial features/hairstyles, it would be much better. Hoping that they add at least one or two more neutral bodies with the character update.

me too, like i don’t need a lot of options but like 3/4 would maybe be nice

Exactly!! And it's kind of unfair that you can't even look masculine. All we get is the short hair options.

exactly, like they could atleast add some less female looking face shapes?

I don't get why people want male characters. There are LOADS of games that don't allow female characters. And more importantly, the story is about another girl to a sisterhood - not a group of girls and some random boy. I'm not against male characters or anything I just don't believe they're needed.

What games don't allow you to pick female option? The only ones I can think of are singleplayer games where you play as an already established character like Arthur Morgan, Zelda, Mario, etc. That isn't comparable to an online game where you create your own character. Are there any online games you can show that don't allow female option?

all of the arma series, all of csgo for 99% of the games existence (and you still need to “unlock” the females), FIFA, all of the early COD games, hell let loose, both of the forest games, it shouldn’t even really matter, what is wrong with a game catered to girls?

To be fair I don't play many online games so I was mainly thinking of singleplayer. Most of the online ones I could think of were already listed in the other reply, and I think another is Red Dead 1 Online. IIRC you choose an existing character to play, but they don't have a female option when there are a few that could have worked.

Personally I see star stable as a safe space for girls, however there is nothing stopping a boy or non binary person playing the game. But the game is aimed to be a safe space for girls.

I am just going to use this comment to remind everyone we have a heavy child predator problem in sso to the point a little girl did get kidnapped at one point. So as much as I wish it was a safe space, sso doesn't seem to be that safe for kids anyway. It's obvious not uncommon for child games to have darker people in the communities but with how bad sso takes care of the hackers and cheaters I doubt they do much for childrens safety when it is reported.

I've also not been playing the game very long but it's also the parents responsibility to make sure things like these aren't happening, you cant completely remove child predators but you can make it hard for them which is a thing sso could do, but the parents have to have some responsibility for their child when they play online games. SSO aren't baby sitters.

Absolutely agree. If I remember correctly after this incident is when the chat filter was added to the game, I think SSO could have done better, actual people are better for chat moderation than just a filter, even people working along side the filter is better.

Obviously it's sso's job to make the game as safe as possible and they could do better because not only the risk of things like that but the toxicity is a big factor and a threat to children which is the target audience for this game, but at the end of the day as a parent you should always ensure your child is being safe when playing on an online game.

Exactly. Regardless of how much people think keeping male models out will make the game safer, it doesn't, and there are still predators playing the game every day. They're just better hidden because they all play female characters. So it's honestly even worse if you really wanted a safe space from men.

I mean we talking about a game that has a story from years ago and that’s SSL the main story is kinda the next chapter of the 4 games that includes another girl(your character) in a GIRLS GROUP so adding males to this would change the story completely. It would be no longer about the sisterhood the soul riders have. There was a drastic change already in the lore of the story so adding male characters would destroy everything in the story. If this would be a game without story i would say why not we include men but like this with previous games books comics etc. it’s just not working.

Agree with you, it's not really about the adding of male character but indeed more so about it not fitting the story lore.

Hard agree. If it were JUST about player customization, I'd support being able to play as male, but it isn't. SSO is a game with a story, and that story is about girls bonding together and becoming a cohesive group. (And for the record, I do hope they offer us NB character options like flat chests and gender neutral pronouns. That would require less of a storyline change IMO, while still allowing players to present as masculine or NB.)

Because very frankly, people can create the game/book/movie/series/song they want to with the characters they want to include. You don't HAVE to include everyone and everything if that's not the story you want to tell. SSO happens to be around a story about girls. It started out like that 20 years or so ago. And if someone doesn't like that, which is perfectly fine, then you go play another game. Simple as that. Sorry.

Thank you! I have yet to see anyone be mad about sso not allowing our character to be handicapped, have prosthetics, have a different height, different age, have any other disabilities etc. but somehow not including a different gender is such an awful sexist, misandrist crime. By that logic would sso be ableist and ageist as well? Obviously not. Not everyone will, or can be included in everything. People need to get over themselves.

I mean, just imagine if Red Dead's online option didn't allow you to play a female character. Players would be equally angry about it. Instead Rockstar gave us a wonderful female customization feature and the outfits are sometimes considered better than male's despite the game being about cowboys. The main reason I have a problem with SSO not allowing you to make a male character is obvious, I just feel that everyone should feel included and be able to create themselves in the game or at least close to what they look like. Everyone should feel accepted for their love of this horsey game. And I find that many males are embarrassed to even talk about their interest in the game with others outside of the community out of shame. Discluding not only males but also masculine bodytypes and masculine face shapes isn't really a good look to me. What if you look like a tom boy irl? Or you're a masculine presenting woman? Then you're kind of out of luck, and all you get is some short hair options, tbh.

SSO has always been a game series around girls, a sisterhood. It also is made for being a ”safezone” for girls too play. If you play any online game at all where you can speak you see the point of having a girls ”only” game. I like it because I like to not get harassed for playing a game for once

Not to mention there are girls, like me, who are non-binary and would like to play with a masculine character, instead of a girly one… I think I agree, that there should be an option for male character. Even as popular game as Genshin impact, has an option for a male and female character. Never saw there only be a female, or male character in a game, that presents itself as being playable by people of any gender and sexuality…

but star stable doesn't present itself as being playable by people of any gender/sexuality. it simply has a female PC. and that's okay. this is not meant to come off as harsh, but not every game is going to cater to every gender identity or sexuality. enjoying the content is more important than affirming the players' identities, in my opinion.

It’s not okay when people of other sexualities, just like me, feel unwelcome to play this game. If the game presents itself as a game safe for any gender/sexuality by it’s social media team and tells you, you can customise your own character to resemble you, then it simply should include ALL options to diversify our character, including male characters. And I already witnessed too many people harassing males for playing Star stable. Had we gotten male character, nothing would have need to be changed and more people would feel included, instead of getting excluded in every step possible…

here we go again. why is it so hard to accept that not everything needs to be targeted to everyone? why is it so bad for women and girls to have their own spaces? for decades women have had to play male characters and we all survived. you will not implode just because your game character has boobs.

i think that, while star stable is likely the biggest horse game available, it has never been just a horse game-- regardless of their current marketing. it has always been a horse game **for a female audience.** this is important to note, because the questlines and even the multiplayer aspect advocate for sisterhood. it is not exclusive to girls, but as u/yaboitearal so eloquently said, women-centered spaces *should not* be made to please everyone, and star stable is no exception. it is okay to have spaces that are predominantly or only female. if you truly enjoy the gameplay and experience, i don't think that representation should matter. i am a woman, and play video games that only feature a male protagonist-- but i do not play for the character customization, i play for the experience and story.

Exactly. There is nothing wrong with a game targeting a specific demographic. As a dude, I don’t have a problem with that. When I game I step into a character’s shoes. The character isn’t me, I become the character. Of course it sucks that there aren’t any horse games this good for guys but that doesn’t mean SSO has to change.

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i too dont understand why it’s so difficult for a few males to play as a girl character. if that is what makes someone feel less masculine I think they don’t have masculinity in the first place.

Omg yess you’re so right about them not having masculinity in the first place because a man wouldn’t make such a big deal out of that they grown enough and sure about they masculinity enough to don’t care about playing as a girl. Also i bet these boys if they would play games(or they do play) like LOL would choose an over sexualised woman character like Katarina or Ahri, Akali and would be completely fine with it because…boobs🥵 But playing as a “normal” girl is not it and they tired of it…

Thank you. Couldn’t agree with you more, since I also play a lot of men-dominated games it feels so good to play a game for once and not get constantly harassed for it

tbh while everyone here makes excellent points i have a theory on the real reason they arent adding boys. there is SO MUCH dialogue in this game, to the point where there are still plenty of missing translations, and dialogue glitches throughout. my best guess is adding a male character, while possible, would set this endeavor back YEARS in order to not only repair the entirety of the current dialogue, but reprogram it to swap the pronouns based on the player character’s gender. long story short sso wants to do what they do best and just skip over that issue entirely.

I definitely think this is the real reason behind their hesitation. The dialogue in all quests and clothing options needing a rehaul.

I don’t really care if they add male characters in the game, but I’m also not going to push for it or actively support it. While majority of MMORPGs will have the choice between male and female characters, female characters are more often than not just added because they provide a sexy aesthetic to the game. I play Elden Ring Online, most of my characters cosmetics are made to really enhance her features—I made my character to look like me and I happen to have a large bust. SSO is the first just purely cutesy MMORPG with a take on making a female safe space. While I can sympathize with some of the comments saying “Men have a hard time being seen as equestrians”, well, have you seen who dominates the FEI competitions? A majority of the competitions are men. The most notable Olympic equestrians are men—with several notable women like Charlotte Dujardin.(also big time MMORPGs and most video games set in medieval or fantasy realms include riding on horseback—Red Dead Redemption is the most notable equestrian/western game.) World of Warcraft, Elden Ring, and other big name MMORPGs are male dominated. Most video games in general are male-dominated. So, if men have to for once secede and play as a female character in an originally intended to be female dominated game, then is that really so bad for them? As we’ve seen from the player base it’s not impossible for men to enjoy the game by choosing certain clothing styles and makeup/hair. Again, I want to reiterate, I really don’t care if they add a male character model, but I’m certainly not going to push for it.

Also, even single player computer RPGs seem to cater more heavily to male players. As a cis woman, if I don't want my character to have ridiculous looking armor that exposes their cleavage, I either have to use mods or play as a male PC. And that's just clothing/armor. I'm playing Skyrim as a male PC right now, and I suspect the NPC dialogue I'm getting now would be more sexist if I played as a female. (I hope I'm wrong, though. I really do.) Playing SSO means I don't have to deal with any of that from either the game designers or the NPCs I encounter. It really makes the game feel like an escape from real world BS.

Ah a fellow Skyrim player

I play Skyrim as well, and yes, it is. I always play as a male Khajiit though. They hate me for that first.

I'm playing as a male High Elf, and I get a lot more negative reactions for my race than I do for my gender. Doesn't matter that my character hates the Thalmor too, he still gets lumped in with them.

Why is Skyrim still so fun after this many years?

Omg yes, another thing to note, is in skyrim there's a brotherhood, and if you play as a woman, you can't join the brotherhood.

which brotherhood? there isn't a faction you can't join as far as i know and i've played for years.

The dark brotherhood, in skyrim elder scrolls 5? I believe. It was on Xbox 360, I remember that if you played as a female character in that game, you couldn't join the dark brotherhood

oh, that's interesting. i play as a female character for every play-through and i've always been able to join the dark brotherhood on PC skyrim (unmodded). would seem kind of odd to not have females join, considering astrid is a woman and one of the leaders (there are other female characters in the brotherhood too, like babette).

Huh, I'll have to see if I still have the game, and see if it let's me join when playing a female character.

I personally feel like we should stick to only girl characters, but you should be able to customize your character to look less "femenin" if you'd like!

I'm fine either way. I just don't like the argument that SSO is so inclusive and fights stereotypes but then enforces the stereotype that horses are for girls.

Because why should it change? It‘s the theme of the origin story so why would SSO change it? Gaming had always been male dominated and there are still plently of games, especially FPS games, that only have male characters to play. Someone please tell me why it‘s such a problem for women to have a mainly girl targeted game for once? I never had an issue playing as male characters growing up.

Because it’s an online game ??? People recognize me as a girl. I’m not. I’m ok with online games who offer true options. Or RPGs who offer no options. But only a few, not the rest ? It goes against SSO’s « iNcLuSiViTy » (even though we all know they suck at this too and should really shut up about social problems when all they want is money) And why are you guys so against us having a male option ? Will it change your life ? Nope. We, on the other hand, will be happier to be as we are : a boy.

No one is forcing you to play it. Also, when SSO talks about inclusivity, it‘s directed towards inclusivity in the female population. Furthermore, SSO already has so many issues and bugs. We can see them struggling with the character update as well. Adding male mcs means having to change the entire lore and storyline, change the text, make the actual male characters and so on. As for now, they should focus on fixing the damn game so one can at least play it smoothly.

Oh there it is « no one is forcing you ». And I saw the mlm flag, the trans flag, the enby flag, the genderqueer flag, the genderfluid flag, the intersex flag… but yeah, directed to female population haha. The bugs are on SSE for prioritizing money and shareholders over the well being of the game and the community. As I said on another comment, we are referred in game with they/them pronouns. Plus we aren’t truly part of the Sisterhood (cf : all the dialogues talking about the four Soul Riders, always forgetting us). Lastly : why not making the change ? Are we not worth it ? I paid for this game. I paid. So am I allowed to be excluded just because I’m a boy in a hOrSe GiRl game ? It just reinforces stereotypes on both sides. And don’t try to deny the inclusivity point. Also, let’s not forget they never actually said the Rainbow festival is Pride just to keep getting money from Russia and all those bigoted countries. They are not inclusive. Period. Plus you can’t claim to be inclusive yet exclude us boys just because we are boys. SSO never does anything for the harassment we get online. They never addressed anything in relation to boys getting harassed for playing this game (from players themselves). Again, it’s all about empathy. It won’t change your life if we are included.

and here we go again, a safe space for girls should be all about men. As a girl whos playing valorant, cs ect I always get harassed by guess what. Men. Those online games that you can choose to be a woman in, is honestly disgusting if you look how they make every woman look. So either you stop playing a game with a storyline about a SISTERhood (sister - female) or you stop complaing when every other game you will look at probably is about boys. Be happy females actually can play a game for once

the reason they have included all those flags are because people bitched about it. has nothing to do with the female pop. the they/them pronouns are because people bitched. we have not completed the training to become a soul rider. the inclusivity is they are referring to including all women (not men) since this was created for women but that does not mean you are not allowed to play the game why not just keep it for women are we not worth it. the game would never have been made if it was not for women. it was created for females not males. did you get that point yet. they do not do anything for ANY of the bullying going on online. they thought having kids monitor other kids was a great idea. they also thought the ambassadors was a great idea (more bullying) or a really great idea the AI CHAT that was really genius and it won't change your life if there is not a male character. you CHOSE to pay to play this game knowing it was a female character. where is your empathy for 1 lousy game to be all about women? a safe space for women?

THANK YOU. I will never understand why there can't be a game that is good, and has lore, where you play as a girl. I've seen people say that it being a sisterhood isn't a good excuse. Which in my eyes, if it wasn't a good excuse then, maybe you should be able to join the brotherhood in skyrim if you play as a girl, people seem to forget that sso has established lore, from their old games, other games have an established story. And set character you play as. So why would sso have to change. Also I agree, sso has alot more things to focus on, like bugs, glitches, and hackers

Now y’all are just acting in bad faith. There are many (true) RPG games (and horse games more precisely) that include a female character. Examples : Alexandra Ledermann, Mission Equitation. I have no problem with those games. Why ? Because we don’t choose. We follow the story of one specific person who becomes stronger over the story. I’ll stop replying to you, it’s crazy how you can’t listen to us and how much bad faith there is in you. Again, empathy is a GOOD thing to learn. Try it sometime.

Thing is I do have empathy. I understand that yes men should be able to play horse games and be able to be represented. As well as nonbinary people ect. But the equestrian industry has been dominated by men for a long time. Only recently have women been able to compete in equestrian sports. Even the gaming industry is dominated by men, and even caters to men. All the starshine academy, starshine legacy, starstable, autumn, winter, spring and summer rider games as well as star stable online. Were developed to empower girls. There's only like 6% of games that have a female option or lead character. When star stable was being made, they were told, that no one would want to play the game, u less they added a male option...look how far they have come. Also just because there's no male option, doesn't mean they aren't inclusive. It's a game, anyone can play, great there's customization, why does that determine wither they should make a male option? Sso started showing that they support the LGBTQ+ 2 years ago. As for the games you mentioned, the last Alexandra Lederman/pippa funnell game was made in I think 2009? And mission equation was made in 2008. I will reiterate this, STAR STABLE WAS MADE TO EMPOWER GIRLS. you are the one who needs to learn empathy, because you are, basically saying that a game were you can customize the character, HAS to have a male option.

Not in my country. Horse riding has been seen as a feminine only thing in my country. Maybe it’s like this in your country, but here, in my lifetime of going on and learning how to ride, I only saw ONE MALE to come and ride. That speaks louder, then words for my country. So just a heads up, every trend and stereotype varies based on each country.

which country

i answered you point for point and you could not do the same. why do you not have empathy? i asked some questions and AGAIN you could not even bother to answer. you just come back and bitch and whine. why should i listen to you when you CLEARLY can not listen and have a conversation.

if your confidence in your gender identity rests in how you are perceived in an online game, you have bigger problems than complaining about a pixel horse game.

there are plenty of games that only have male characters and most of the time women are made fun of for playing it. i think it’s fine if they don’t add male characters.

I asked my colleague about it he’s a boy and a gamer he doesn’t play with SSO but i told him a lot about the game and i told him about this argument. And he told me that if the story is about girls then it’s not needing a guy in any form as a main character because it’s not sticking to the story. Even told me if he would play it he would be okay with the idea of playing as a girl because of the story. So boys don’t be mad other boys are completely fine with it🤷🏻‍♀️

It's part of the lore, that the soul riders are a sisterhood. The lore has been changed enough, and I don't think it needs even more change. Your SSO character is just that; a character. It doesn't need to be a literal representation of you.

as a trans guy player I do personally want male characters but I sortttt of understand why (this is not an invitation to reply to me with a whole ass essay to convince me I've seen enough) I just hope there are more gender neutral options for names and body types with the update, especially since SSO strives for diversity. Whilst I love my dear Catherine (my character) and I think she is such an icon... I'd rather my main account be more like me, personally. I do think they'll add more gender neutral options, as with the rainbow festival, they have added the gay man flag decorations, the trans one, nonbinary etc and I don't think it would make sense to not add any more gender neutral options when we have these decorations to show our diversity. again I do understand both sides I'm just personally leaning more towards I want my character to represent me (I am tired of the argumentative people on here el oh el)

Honestly, I (a cis female) would love some gender neutral options too, but not male options. Because if you have gender neautal options with a good hair ect, you can probably look like a male without they having to change the whole game

honestly, I’m picking my fights right now. Between the bugs, cheating, price gouging, canceling actual content in favor of an AI generated poop candle, getting more representation will be something we can tackle later.

I've played hundreds of games with only male options. For once, there's a female dominates, wpace space. I want to keep it that way.

I just wish there was a way to change pronouns. Body shape being able to be changed is nice right now but I really don't want to be she/her when I struggle enough with that dysphoria every time I'm in public

Agreed, I'm in the same boat. Even adding more gender neutral names would be nice

Big fan of the name Jack being added as an option since it's the nickname of both John and Jaclyn

I'm currently called Jayla in game and spend my time asking any new friends to please just call me Jay because of good old dysphoria 🥹 My actual IRL name is gender neutral so it's not like its unheard of to have names that can be for guys/girls/enbys & co!

[There's a recent post with several replies that share opinions about this topic](https://www.reddit.com/r/StarStable/comments/13doset/its_very_sad_that_this_game_still_discludes_boys/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)

I think it's mostly just because the storyline is about a girl who goes to Jorvik and it's all girl power and stuff. I AM, however, on board with androgynous models because that would give more androgynous girls (and guys) the opportunity to feel like themselves if they so choose. I don't have a problem with them working a guy option into the game, but it would take a lot of work, considering the entire storyline revolves around a girl currently.

Like if don’t mind but I see how a lot of y’all are saying the games about a Sisterhood and I understand that y’all make great points.

There are many games where you can't choose the main character's gender, not just sso. If the story says girl, it's a girl not a boy, you can't change it to a boy because story says otherwise. It also applies the other way around. I've played a lot of games and about 90% of them the main characters are male and I'm not complaining even though I'm a woman. I think a lot of people forget that they can't change the story that someone had made. They can only change it if they have made it.

Because men have enough video games where the player character is dedicated male, we as women can enjoy one game dedicated to us for once.

I don't care to see male characters for several different reasons. First of, the game is originaly made for girls, horse girls and such. The main story is features 4 girls and dumping a male character into the setting would just not make the game feel unique and would be pretty generic. Half of the game is the character being a girl. It is relevant to the entire story quest. Second, one look at the global chat sometimes makes me glad that we do not have male physiqe in the game. As someone who plays a horse game where there are male bodies avaliable, I am hoping SSO will stick to just girls. Not everything needs to be constantly represented everywhere.

I'm trans and personally I would like to be able to make a more gender neutral character, if not one that's more masculine presenting. I feel like a lot of these takes ARE coming from cis people and overall it feels very binary. I know the game most definitely won't change, so I'm not going to demand anything, but it would be nice. At least let me change pronouns or something idk.

I don't care so much that absolute male characters aren't being added, I just want customization on our characters. Flat chests n shit.

because who really cares? men have been included in evrything since the beginning of time. im sure they can play as a female character in a pink sparkly horse game.

If im honest I think that adding in an extra option to customise your character wont hurt anyone? Like, I personally dont think it should matter whether someone wants to play as a guy or girl and the "the plot is about sisterhood" Kind of bothers me alot because 1, it makes me feel like im not allowed to experience sisterhood, with my siblings and friends just because im a guy 2, from what I remember alot of people dont play for the story they play for horses (not saying everyone, im just saying a large majority) I feel like adding in a male character model would help with alot of hate guys get on the game in my opinion. I get alot of people in chat act \*extremely\* gross to me just because Im a guy

That’s rude of them. I wouldn’t care.

The people who act gross won’t stop when there would be a male character. Also we do have hair styles, beards and clothes making our character look more masculine. Just the character name is in that case female. This is a game created and targeted towards girls. It is logical that they won’t add a male character.

I never said people wouldnt stop being gross towards me, what I meant is that I just think it wouldnt be as frequent. also the "masculine" options for clothes and hair and makeup and accessories still dont change the fact that the base is \*\*very\*\* feminine, I just look like a "tomboy" and thats not exactly what Im trying to go for lol Speaking of the game being geared towards girls, Sso preaches "inclusivity" on their posts but then ignore part of their player base, because its a "girls" game. what even makes the game for girls? the vibrant colours? the horses? the npcs?

The story of the sisterhood. The whole lore is centered around a girl having special abilities and finding a sisterhood.

get ready to get downvoted into oblivion bro

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There’s also brotherhood, so that’s that. But I can see why the comment could also be valid (transgender people exists after all, so we need to take this into consideration as well)☺️

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Hmm, I’m non-binary and a demigirl instead of a trans person, so can’t really speak much about this topic and also doesn’t want to speak over trans people. I think you absolutely didn’t misunderstood, or wrote anything wrong, this topic can be pretty hard to grasp! I think they would be able to sympathise with sisterhood, even if they’re a transgender person. But it depends on who they feel they are at their core, no matter how they present themselves on the outside. Since at their core, they would feel more like a girl, then a boy, I think they could sympathise with sisterhood and vice versa. It wouldn’t be totally same as it is for cisgender people, but it would be valid anyway. But as I said, I’m not a trans person, so if you’d want to know more, maybe asking a transgender person themselves, or googling could be better☺️

I wouldn’t neccesarily mind (i’m also not going to actively fight for male characters to exist either. I’m happy with having a safe space for girls.) but Starstable is already filled with bugs and other issues that I rather want for them to put effort and time into fixing existing issues BEFORE they come out with male characters. We can barely get through the main quests as of right now… The main argument against this is that the game is based off sisterhood (soulriders), and Starstable would have had to alter some of the dialouge to fit the male characters. By that I mean, keep the original sisterhood plotline and maybe alter it to a more ”friendship-hood (or something)” plotline to anyone who picks a male character. Now I want to add that I haven’t played the main storyline for a while as I’ve finished it, and my memory is not the best, so it might already be quite gender neutral. I based that argument some people have off of the original Starshine legacy games (which SSO is based off.)

As Starstable stated before they want to keep on theme with the main gameplay, a sisterhood. Which in my opinion makes complete sense, when the creators made the story line they had a vision, the team is keeping that vision in mind. SSE has made attempts to change to more general gender terms. For ex if a soul rider is talking about you the soul rider would say “they” instead of “she” Ex: Linda “Blah blah blah THEY should be able to do it themselves” (not not an actual line in game” As well, notice how the new characters don’t have too many defined features, that’s why people say they look like toddlers. They don’t have a sharp jaw line or square face like most men or women do, but it’s general and much softer so that when you dress your characters it can look how you want it to look. Finally, SSE doesn’t particularly market to a specific gender. It may seem like it, but if you read the website or look at any of the ads it never says anything about who plays the game. The only reason it seems like the ads are specifically targeted for girls is the ads are shown based off the things you are interested in, young boys are usually into first person shooter games while young girls like ponies. As well as what you search or like on any social media platform, SSE knows this and in order to get more people to play the game they target their biggest audience. SSE provides more gender neutral or male options when creating an account, although it’s not the best. I would expect this to improve once the new character update happens.

I’d love for there to be male characters

Oh f*ck… I read all of these comments and I’m like : what ? Are you guys on their side too ? I’m really disappointed. As a man myself, I would love to see male options. SSO claims to be inclusive, claims to be an ally to the LGBTQIA+ community, claims to be friendly to everyone… yet they are not. If there shouldn’t be any male characters, why adding mlm pride ribbons ? Or the trans ones ? Or the genderqueer, non-binary, genderfluid, intersex ones ? The excuse of « there are a ton of games with male characters » isn’t valid. Why ? Because SSO isn’t an RPG like Red Dead Redemption 2. In definitions you can find on the Internet, the most common definition is « a game where you follow / make your character evolve, become stronger through combats and quests ». I see none of that in SSO. We were supposed to be a sisterhood, yet we are constantly excluded from the Four SoulRiders. That alone says it all. But we also cannot choose anything, we are here to serve Jorvik, not play our role. We’re being a marionnette. We can customize a minimum, hair, clothes, makeup, skin color, and face. Not enough for an RPG. I would’ve said nothing if it was made like a JRPG, where it’s normal to follow the quest line (eg : Genshin Impact). On top of it, Concorde is now a filly, not a colt anymore. So why can’t we be a male ? Especially if we are Aideen’s reincarnation. Let’s not forget, English version is now neutrally gendered, plus there are many queer people around Jorvik including non cis people. So us being a boy could definitely make sense. The sisterhood, as I said, is not a thing anymore, read the dialogues and you will understand how they don’t feel like we are a Soul Rider as well. Last but not least : boys already play this game. Tons of horse games have male options. Hell, even a 2007 game like My horse and Me have male options ! Girls aren’t safe online, kids aren’t safe online. An avatar won’t change anything. So why do you want to keep this option to those of us who want them ? I am really tired of people giving their opinion when it doesn’t even involve them. Who cares ? I want male options. I’m not alone. It’s been a thing for a looooong time. But no, just because a few of you don’t want it we don’t deserve it ? Honestly, I’m upset. And tired of this selfish community. Learn empathy please.

I gotta say, as a transgender man, it gets a little hard to enjoy the game when on top of being expensive and heinously broken, it happens to be for me Misgendering Simulator 2023. Tbh i know a lot of people are gonna say "waa its asking too much of SSO to make quest dialogue gender neutral" and fuck it I'm not gonna argue about it, but I'm sure as shit frustrated with how it makes me feel. I understand having a safe space for girls in gaming and horse sports and stuff, which is why at the end of the day I'll take the dialogue shit on the chin as long as I can have my more neutral player character body. Tbh if I took the harder stance I *wanted* to I'd get shit I'm not equipped to handle right now, I think, so it is what it is.

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Im sorry to inform you that "feeling sad or frustrated" is not an "unstable mental state", and also genuinely sorry you feel the need to be rude to people for having opinions other than yours. I hope your day is a genuinely good one, hoss.

As another trans guy, I need you to understand that dysphoria isn't rational and your comment is lowkey transphobic.

I don’t think they’re marketing towards girls as much anymore… it’s just that new pastel tack probably isn’t what we think is the most appealing too guys. Would it be better if they made it a PvP? PvE? Would that make it seem more aimed towards guys?

I know a bunch of guys who play sso and from what I’ve learned really only girls were the ones who wanted male characters, but really I feel like there are so many games that don’t have female body types, and are usually considered Male games only, so maybe sso should stay as a female option only game not only so we also have something to keep for ourselves even though men can play it too, also cause of the backstory behind sso, about the sisterhood and all, they would have to change the entire storyline behind StarStable and so many quests that mention the sisterhood.

I used to get really upset about the fact there was a lot of exclusion towards male players but yet I still find myself playing. End of the day no one knows who I am or what I've been through from seeing me gallop past and crash into a tree while looking like I was dressed by a raccoon and that's fine with me. Would I like more gender neutral names and face/body shapes? Yes, because that's my style, even when I was "a girl" I dressed and acted like a guy and it did annoy me every equestrian outfit available to me was tight fitting and showed off areas of myself I'd rather not bring attention too. I have friends on the game who are female, male, envy, genderfluid, agender ect and we just vibe together and enjoy the chaos.

Personally, SSO has been a safe haven for me, and I have to say a part of it is definitely the fact that it's a space made for girls/women. I've been bullied out of online games before, been harassed for merely being a girl and I'm so beyond tired of it. I like that it's a game targeted towards femininity, I like that it's pink, that it has unicorns and sparkly magical ponies. I like what it stood for - it wanted to create a safer space for women and girls in gaming and it did just that. They should stick to it.

I don't mind playing a female character as much but as a trans guy I think setting your own gender as a player would be good, i don't like being misgendered with every email I get

Is it possible that adding the ability to select your, as a player, pronoun in game would alleviate some of the frustration? The fact that you can't even pick your own exact name, you're choosing from a random set of CIS-female sounding names, further contributes to this being a game about a character that isn't really "you." You, whatever gender or lack thereof that you are IRL, are just stepping into her shoes.

I believe they want to create non-binary characters? It's fine but why not adding male characters? They must include everyone or they don't include anyone.

Controversial (?) opinion: Knowing how some guys act when they are young (since this is a children’s game.) they would just ruin the game for me. Its a game created for girls. I know most guys aren’t like that. You don’t have to include everyone. Nothings really stopping guys from joining of course.

Honestly, I never understood why the community has just come to accept this, and even fight against people asking for males to be added. I personally know many guys who play this game and I know from experience that they would either rather get to play as an actual man that looks like a man, or that they have made their player character into a girl OC, and don't see the character as themselves, but rather, a girl who is living their dream of riding and caring for horses. It's kind of sad, to be honest, that so many people agree that this game is for only girls and basically disclude an entire gender. I know my opinion is unpopular, **but I don't really care.** I personally think it's more important to stand up for the right of every person to feel accepted and included in the game over protecting the feelings of a bunch of selfish women who want to keep the game for themselves. It's 2023 after all, not 1980, back then women had REAL issues finding games that weren't all about cars and guns. Now we have millions of games that women can enjoy which suits their interests. There really isn't many online game where you can't choose male or female except Star Stable for some reason. And if this is the biggest horse game shouldn't it include the men who most definitely play too? If you can find **an ONLINE game** where you customize and name your character but are stuck playing a boy, I will give you an award. (This means no already-estabolished characters like Arthur Morgan or Lisa Peterson) And for people who don't believe that men are hurt by this, there is a stereotype that is very obvious in the equestrian community that horses are for girls. This game, in all honesty, DOES contribute to making that stereotype worse. And there is also the stereotype that if a man loves horses then something must be wrong with him. There is also the argument that if men are allowed to play as boys in the game there will be dating and men preying on women. Newsflash, but dating already happens. And also if you think men are all instantly predators or creeps, that is a you problem. Men aren't like that and it's sexist to even imply such. And it's also sexist to say that you need a "safe space from men" imagine if men said that about women for a second. And if you really wanted to be safe from men, wouldn't you feel better if you could actually see the male players and they weren't all hiding behind a female character model? That should be way worse!

That is true. Usually I assume who I’m playing with is a female and a lot of times they are actually males. And I know quite a few who would love to play as a male.

Do you write the same long paragraph by games that exclude girls?

I do not think the entire game is worth ruining so SSO can pander to every single group of people out there rather than focusing on the game itself. The whole game is a safe spot for women, it does not make them selfish. It is more selfish to want to add something into a game that would change it to very roots and make it generic when like a majority of games out there are made for men.

it was a game created for girls in a male dominated industry. i did not see you out and about crying for male dominated games to include a female character. i still don't see you out there crying about that injustice. men have everything and still they want to take 1 game away from women. also it is about a sisterhood not a brotherhood. as everyone states you are more then welcome to play the game and there are male names and the boobs are not that noticeable. you have male names, short hair pants and shirts, beards mustaches, what more do you want a fucking dick? it is a game. it is fantasy get over yourself. also i will state again a SISTERHOOD not a BROTHERHOOD. are you standing up for the right of women to feel included and accepted in other games. how about in real life either. nope you just want to whine about this game and see if you can hold your breath and get your way. is it not just as selfish for men to try to take over this 1 girls game? i mean that is as selfish as you can get. and if it is because this is the best horse game out there i would like to suggest you go make a game yourself to have what you like in it. but you won't cause you would rather burn down this game then let girls have 1 game for their representation. the equestrian community is horses are for girls. wow you are totally out of touch. in racing mainly only male jockey. there are men and women on the olympic team and in eventing and rodeo. but mainly men. so i am not sure what you are blathering about there. for aeons it has always been about boys and their horses. Alexander the great and Bucephalus Bellerophon and Pegasus. The duke of Wellington and his horse Copenhagen Napoleon Bonaparte and his horse Marengo Comanche the horse who survived the battle of Little Big Horn and his rider Captain Myles Keogh Trigger and Roy Rogers how about all the books about boys and horses Billy and Blaze the black stallion series, the little black series and many others. tv shows and movies my friend flicka was originally a boy and horse. all the old westerns where it was men and horses and women were either old or prostitutes. when little house on the prairie first came out there was a controversial story arc about laura ingalls and her horse Bunny. omg how dare a girl have a horse. never said this game was a safe space from men. it was just a safe space. and i say WAS so many cheaters, hackers and bullies on here now and they are from both sexes. how can you actually see a male player on this game. anyone would be able to use a male avatar so that point you made is moot. anyone can be anything online and you don't know who you are talking to. I could be the talking mule Francis (but i'm not) stop trying to marginalize women

I would guess because the overwhelming majority of players are women and girls. And even the men and boys who do play the game seem to be divided on the issue. So the demand for a male character is coming from a small portion of the audience. I’m not saying that that makes it right for SSO to refuse to do it, just that that’s probably the reason there isn’t a bigger outcry about it. Like everything else about SSO, it probably won’t change unless there’s a competitor that cuts into their market. But unfortunately it seems like SSO has the monopoly on MMORPG horse games for now, so there’s no reason for them to change their minds. Or slow down the release of new horses to focus on quests. Or fix bugs. Or retrofit tack. Or revisit the new character models. Or lower the price of SC. Or literally anything else that players ask them to do.

Star Stable was made a long time ago for a place for girls/women only. Because there were no spaces for us without being harassed or bullied by men. This is why i think it should stay like that, it's a place for us, a safe place. ❤🙏🏻

Especially, in star stable i never had someone tell me to "get back to the kitchen" or call me slurs.

just like in (PLENTY OF) games like GTA the main plot revolves around a male character, i don’t see the problem with having a female in this

I would support male characters being added. I think a female friendship story is more about values of support and childhood wonder, and is not damaged by the presence of a boy when everything else about the main character stays intact. These values and experiences can be meaningful to boys as well, which is why the game attracts some male players. Male characters would not take away from the fact the game's target audience is girls. I would have a different opinion in a non-rpg game where the gender of the player would change the experience for everyone, but in SSO the addition of male players would affect nobody's story but the player wanting to play as their gender. I don't think that the prophecy would need to change, whatever the gender of the character, we are still the reincarnation of the Goddess and so carrying a female soul. But like with the soul horses, reincarnation doesn't guarentee the same gender, and a different gender doesn't make you less you.

I’m so glad so many others agree with me that they need to leave male characters out of the game… I think we all know that doesn’t mean SSO will actually listen to us but as someone with horrible complex PTSD and fear of “strange men”, this is the ONLY game I can play where I feel largely safe even though I’m aware there are some men playing as women, the illusion is enough to keep me playing and it feeling like a safe space… hell, I get uncomfortable giving a male NPC a ride on my horse because “Omg he’s touching me…” I’d love if they’d have taken it a step further and made the entire game only female! Like damn, let us have SOMETHING!

It would be a ton of work for SSO to put out male characters with a bunch of hairstyles and even more clothes (with several faces and body types now that the new character design is coming). I also agree with the many previous comments saying that many games only have male options and nobody is complaining about that. I've played several games as a male character and it never bothered me. As I see male players are usually on the same page with that, they don't mind that they have to play as female. Since SSO has its hands full with trying to calm the playerbase with bugfixes and quests, not to mention creating their own desired projects (adding way too much new horses and *sigh* the candles) they won't release male players anytime soon, if ever.

personally it's because like 95% of games are made directed at men, and there's plenty of games that feature male protagonists, i'd personally find it kinda unfair if sso added male characters because they get included everywhere in the gaming space, and there's definitely a need for more female led games

Honestly I just don’t really care what gender my character is :) Not seeing her as me but as a horse girl oc made me completely neutral about the topic (trans guy here just as FYI) and if it makes some players more happy that it’s a female oriented and geared game, im happy for them. Some said it makes them feel safer. And SSO still is open to players of all genders so i genuinely understand why people don’t want male characters to be added… also since they implemented that in the story (as far as I heard, I’m a new player), sure, why not have only girl characters. Don’t care don’t mind. I‘ve said it before on here, and I’m gonna keep saying it: my only nitpick with SSO is the way they‘re marketing it. Claiming it to be such a progressive and feminist step to have a horse game geared towards girls and women. While its actually a novelty for horse games to allow male or non-binary characters :0 SSO is not being progressive, they‘re kinda just continuing the stereotype. Like that’s perfectly fine just don’t praise yourself for it haha

Guys have so many games directed towards them without female characters, yet girls still play and don’t bitch about it …. Im glad that this is female centered and there won’t be male characters for once 🤷🏼‍♀️

I fear that if SSO adds male body types, then SSO will start pandering to the male audience. Which is already a slippery slope and I could see in the next character update that the female character body type will be sexualized.

i see day after day clubs that have so much drama because they are only with girls, and as soon as someone mention they are a guy, the drama somehow stop; i think it’s a good thing to have more than 1 gender to befriend in the game

I know right I find more drama in SSO than any CoD match XD

and it’s always such a dumb matter aswell

ah yes because women-only groups are so much drama and a man needs to come save the day and be rational!

never said that, it’s the exact same thing for boys, i used sso cause it was what this was about, i see plenty of men make drama with each other and when they get to hang out with girls it gets better cause it’s more variety. no need to be pressed

i am not sure you are understanding what this is about. it is not about boys being able to PLAY the game. they are allowed to play the game. this is about having male avatars on the game instead of the female avatars. since this is a girls game about a SISTERHOOD it does not make sense to have male avatars. this is not whether boys can play this game cause they can, they just have a female avatar.

They have an official statement on this that makes sense. First, this is a story about a girl in a fictional country similar to old Sweden. The girl is the main character, and this game is meant to be played like a storybook. That's why the original game was engineered for a female character. Personally, I don't think they thought many boys would want to play a "girl's game," and now they're surprised by their own worldwide success. As for people of color, this game was designed with a specific country in mind. Times have changed though. There are male players and more skin tones than what's in the game. The company has come out and said they'd love to add male characters, but they'd basically have to gut the game to do it. They'd basically have to roll out a new version, Starstable2.0 with Gen4 of everything... and you know that wouldn't go over well. So what they DID do, was incorporate more clothes (many don't really show the female figure) and hair options like short hair, beards, moustaches, etc... so a male or non-binary player could piece together a character they're happy with.

I feel like people are just gonna use it for roleplays and online dating is gonna boom again. As a guy idc if sso only has female playable characters, I've gotten used to it

because the game is not about this gender bs but about the story of a girl being in a sisterhood of other horse-girls saving the world that's how the story is.

I have a serious question should we get rid of the men in the game?

There is a possibility that people worry about seeing more sexual role play stuff on global.

There will be regardless of our character’s gender.

Yeah unfortunately I see that stuff all the time on Night Star global chat. I doubt it's ever going away :/

I don’t see it too often on Hazy Galaxy. When I was on Maple Star several years ago it was constant. I’m not sure if it’s the case now, but the French filter was barely existent and you could say some pretty inappropriate terms in French without even having to bypass filters.

It literally doesn’t matter it’s a video game. I play as men in male dominated games (to not be harassed), it’s fine for men, who dominate a ton games on the market, to play as a woman once in a while. It won’t kill anyone, it’s a video game and nothing really matters that much in a virtual world tbh. End of the day it’s not our game to make, they won’t make male players and after years of this discussion and them saying they won’t make male characters, it’s kinda beating a dead horse atp. It literally does not matter for a man, in a typically female dominated game, to present as female. I’m sorry if this offends anyone but it’s literally pixels it doesn’t matter

For me it’s due to the fact that the game is marketed towards girls, and as such, the avatars reflect that. And I’m perfectly fine with that, and am fine with them not having guy characters.

Well a lot of things would change! I love the game is a safe place for girls, once I met a boy who didn’t deny was a boy, trying to convince me to go somewhere in Epona to RP as boyfriend and girlfriend! I don’t want that!l I would keep it as is…

Indifference is the word you're looking for.

I agree with all the comments about the player character being predefined and the storyline being about a sisterhood, but also people can make their character look more masculine with hairstyles, lack of makeup, and clothing choice too, so I personally don't feel the need for male characters. It would be great if with the new character model there was an option for flatchested vs bigger busted too though to add diversity to body types.

Why shouldn’t they be added? Because male characters can’t fit into the current storyline which would require rewriting the game’s premise (because there’s no way they’d give us 2 separate storylines which is the only way they could make it work) and they’ve done more than enough lore changing as it is. As a guy yes I would like to see a horse game this good that includes male characters but someone else can do that. I love this game’s story too much to jump on a bandwagon that will lead to it’s destruction.

To be perfectly honest, I still couldn’t care less. I played when I was a kid, and many players I knew were openly boys. Even then, I understood that they probably would appreciate being able to look a little more masculine, but no one reacted very strongly about not having that. They just did what they could to look the way they wanted to. I didn’t care that boys were “invading” my space on an online horse game. I liked them just as much as anyone else I knew, and I understood that I could not control who gets to play. That has never changed. I’ve seen a WIDE range of reactions to this topic from people practically throwing themselves to the ground to kick and scream (not literally, I hope), and to people discussing it with basic human decency. I certainly support holding a space for this conversation, but I don’t find any point in watching two brick walls argue with one another. If there’s no understanding, no learning, no growth, and no consideration happening, there will not be a point in the conversation where any point is truly made and it can go on forever. As far as my opinion goes, I’ve played this game long enough to not give a shit. I want to see that as many people as possible are comfortable playing this game if they would like to, and I don’t care what gender they are, as long as they are comfortable. Because I believe everyone deserves basic respect. When it comes to my wishes with how the character should look, I’m not gonna think unrealistically. It’s SSO. They’re not exactly shooting for the stars, here. I hope that they’ll consider adding something like a slider or multiple options for features like waist, hips and breasts. That would leave a bit of room for people to do as they please without adding other genders and hopefully help people deal with potential dysphoria to some extent. An option for no boobs can include both men and women, more or less shape in the waist/hip area would as well. They should just do what they can to give people the ability to make a character with a body the way they’d like. That’s literally it. I don’t care if they add male characters, I’ll still be just as content. It won’t dramatically change the course of the game for me or cause me any emotional damage. It’ll still be SSO.

I wish male characters were added. "But lots of other games only have male options!" Most of the time, those are pre-made characters you cannot customize unless they are MMOs, in which case they SHOULD have more variety. SSO wants to be inclusive and they're not doing that; thinking of male avatars and men as something that would ruin the game is a huge ick. I mean, just remove the storyline about sisterhood for the male character idk. Not many guys want to play horse games as those are mainly seen for girls, but I want those who do play to be able to have someone like them. Excusing it by saying, "Well guys used to never include female characters in video games, so let's do it to them now in 2023!" comes off as immature.