Action Adventure Development Leaders Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart were thinking about making Rivet’s new character “more feminine” by adding wide hips and large breasts to her look. However, other staff members opposed “stereotypes that could harm women” and ultimately won. A former 3D artist told about this on his Twitter page. Insomniac Gamesknown on the net under the nickname Xavier…
The final version of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart makes it clear to players that Rivet is a female character, but this effect is not achieved due to the large breasts and wide hips, the author pointed out.…
According to an ex-employee, discussions about Rivet’s design sparked a violent squabble between him, the development manager, art director, lead writer and character CTO. The latter at that time identified himself as a trans person, but did not manage to complete the transgender transition to the end.
The parties decided what should be Ratchet’s girlfriend and whether to make her “more feminine” due to wide hips and large breasts, by analogy with the heroines of many cartoons.
“The development manager and art director insisted on a more stereotypical look, they wanted to see wide hips, bulging chest, bulges on the suit.
In turn, I, the lead writer and the character technical director, were against this approach. We argued that 1) the heroine should not be stereotypically feminine to be a woman, 2) This contradicts the idea of the game, which implies that the hero can be anyone – regardless of appearance, 3) Rivet is not a human, but a damn alien fox, like Ratchet, “- said Xavier.
The dispute lasted for about half an hour.
“Two thirds of the women on the team and one white cis man (s) explained to the art director and development manager that Rivet, the space fox, shouldn’t have big boobs and wide hips.”
In the most violent moment of the argument, Xavier tore off the poster with Ratchet and pointed out to the development leaders that the central character is very different from people, and therefore Rivet must be different.
“I put it in front of them, asked them to look at this damn creature and explain to me how much Ratchet looks like a real man.”
The discussion ended shortly thereafter, with the development leaders leaving the room “incredibly disappointed.”
“And I left the company a few weeks after that,” Xavier wrote.
The ex-Insomniac Games employee encourages young colleagues to pay attention to such moments, because, in his opinion, endless adherence to stereotypes about women and minorities results in a big problem.
“I’m not perfect, I didn’t attach importance to such moments before, and now I really regret some of the decisions I made in the past when creating characters in my first job. It’s not worth it. If we pay attention to these little things, we can avoid bigger problems. – like those that happen at Activision Blizzard“.
Read our Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart review here…
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