Notch: Minecraft is a Genderless World

Minecraft creator Markus Persson always seems to be saying quotable statements that peak the interest of the internet, and his recent blog post about gender in his blocky world continues that trend.

“The human model is intended to represent a Human Being. Not a male Human Being or a female Human Being, but simply a Human Being,” Notch wrote.

Steve, the default character in the game may think otherwise, but Notch’s blog post seems pretty definitive.

“The blocky shape gives it a bit of a traditional masculine look, but adding a separate female mesh would just make it worse by having one specific model for female Human Beings and male ones. That would force players to make a decisions about gender in a game where gender doesn’t even exist.”

He doesn’t believe every game should avoid gender distinction, but for a unique experience like Minecraft, the way the team handled it just made sense.

“Obviously, I’m not saying this is a good way to deal with gender in all games, as the better your graphics are, and because of how quickly the human mind tries to identify the gender of other humans, you are going to have to make a decision as a developer about gender, but I felt we could get away with it in Minecraft.”

Do you think this was the correct way to handle the default character? Did you always see the main character as a male or female? Let us know what you think in the comments below.