Online multiplayer survival video game Rust is populating the barren frontier with a diverse cast of players. The only catch? You don’t get any say over customization. Everything has already been randomly generated for you and attached to your Steam ID, so it’s yours for good.
Huh, kind of like how genetics work in real life.
The game made waves back in March when it threw skin tone into the mix. “Everyone now has a pseudo unique skin tone and face,” says Facepunch Studios Founder Garry Newman. “Just like in real life, you are who you are – you can’t change your skin colour or your face.” The reactions have been varied, to say the least. While some have responded with (explicitly racist) complaints, others have praised Facepunch Studios for the update.
The community has begun self-policing racist language used by players in-game.
Facepunch studios wants to show players how arbitrary race is, letting them step into someone else’s wooden sandles for a change. It’s time to say goodbye to white mobs of naked men holding rocks above their heads and usher in an age of racially diverse naked men holding rocks above their heads.
Speaking of which, get ready to see a lot of nudity.
Every player spawns into the world of Rust the same way they spawned into this one: naked, with completely random physical features. Every body part is determined randomly. Every. Body. Part. Penises can vary considerably, as evidenced by this NSFW video shared by Reddit user u/M4STER_TROLL. As expected, this trait has been locked in by your Steam ID. You won’t find any male enhancement drugs in the wildnerness.
More excitingly, a recent devblog has shed new light on the upcoming female model.
The developers confirmed that, similar to the male model, they “really don’t want to make the female model unrealistic in the sense of her being aesthetically idealised.” Testing in-game could happen as soon as next week.
Personally, I love this system. I’m tired of seeing MMOs populated exclusively by white dudes with the physiques of Greek gods. Maybe experiencing life with a body different than their own idealized version of themselves will encourage gamers to play with a little more empathy.
