Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War provides a “non-binary” option for your soldier’s gender in response to complaints from the LGBTQ+ community. While this supports diversity in the game, it seems strange to some fans of the Black Ops setting in the 80s .
What was the issue with the gender option? The single-player campaign of Cold War allows you to define details about your soldier for the first time. You can view the personnel file to get an idea of whom or what you actually represent.
Among the options is the question of gender. In an earlier version of the game, the choices included male, female, and “classified” (classified).
According to the developers, it would be a cool option to portray a dark, mysterious Black Ops soldier.
If we don’t have something that someone wants to have, then we let them keep it secret so they can be that mysterious, shadowy Black Ops figure they want to be.
Dan Vondrak, Creative Director
More information from the developers about the game can be found here in the MeinMMO interview:
Gender: “Classified” receives criticism
This is why the gender was changed again: This explanation from Dan Vondrak was not well received by all players. The classification of gender as something strictly secret that ought to be hidden outraged some players from the LGBTQ+ community.
On Twitter, there were several reactions, including one user who finds it ridiculous that your soldier’s gender is supposedly so dangerous that it is a state secret.
Developers allow “non-binary” gender
Due to the criticism of the classified gender, there is now instead the option “non-binary,” which is a diverse gender identity that cannot be classified as either female or male.
That, in the context of the campaign, seems strange, as the story of Cold War takes place in the 80s and your soldier conducts secret and highly controversial military operations on behalf of U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
Reagan suddenly with modern gender-neutral language
Ronald Reagan addresses you as a non-binary character, like all other NPCs in the game, with a gender-neutral pronoun. This is particularly bizarre since the Republican Reagan was considered extremely conservative and is even labeled as homophobic.
It is reported that his administration downplayed the emerging AIDS epidemic in the 80s as “the gay plague” and did not take it seriously at first (source Vox.com).
That this president is concerned about gender-neutral language while he sends out secret killer soldiers to commit war crimes is bizarre and unbelievable for many players:
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War focuses on diverse true events and historical figures in the story. This also applies to the main antagonist of the campaign. But who was the main villain “Perseus” really and is he portrayed correctly in the game? Read about it in our article on the topic.
