Allow Gender Changes in GTA Online

Allow Gender Changes in GTA Online

Started
August 15, 2019
Petition to
Signatures: 3,915Next Goal: 5,000
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Why this petition matters

Started by Amber B

Most online games will allow you to do a gender change via a paid service outside of the game using real world currency or through a service in-game with virtual money. However, GTA Online doesn't have this option, and it could really benefit the game. A lot of trans people such as myself like to play online games as characters of their gender to relieve dysphoria, which they may not have realized that they had back when they started playing the game. I would love to do this to my character, but it isn't an option. Recently, there was a bug to allow gender changes via the appearance change menu that was patched with the recent casino update. While I was very desperate, I didn't use the bug because I don't agree with exploitation in online games. Online sandbox games (such as GTA Online) are amazing ways to cope with dysphoria, but playing as a character that's the wrong gender without an option to change it can trigger dysphoria in many trans people and make them not want to play the game anymore. These games are like a second life: a temporary escape from our current day to day struggles. Playing as a character that is the right gender would allow many trans people to have a temporarily escape from their struggles with dysphoria.

A possible issue with this would be outfits. Since males and females can't wear the same outfits in GTA Online, this could cause an issue if the player changes their gender. An easy workaround to this is to include a warning that they will lose their outfits and will not be able to refund them.

A solution that is possible right now in-game is to make a new character of one's preferred gender. However, there is no way to transfer the old character's progress over to a new character. For this reason, a gender change should be an option to players. Many people would love nothing more than to keep their hard earned current progress while customizing a character character of their gender, and I am sure many other people (trans or not) feel exactly the same way.

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Signatures: 3,915Next Goal: 5,000
Support now