The option to play as a non-binary soldier in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has invited many reactions from around the internet. While some of the reactions have been hateful, the vast majority have been supportive of the non-binary community. Others still have made interesting points about how the glorification of war and serving as a non-binary spec ops killing machine serving under Ronald Reagan doesn’t really count as an inclusivity win.

The Call of Duty series has always had a problem with gender inclusivity, as players weren’t even able to play as a female solider for the longest time. As other genders and sexual orientations have gained more mainstream acceptance, video game studios have slowly made a better effort to represent non-binary, transgender, and other marginalized groups in their products. In an example of how not to do this, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s original treatment of non-binary characters was to implement a third “classified” player gender, which drew a lot of justified criticism.

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It became pretty obvious that the non-binary community didn’t appreciate the classified option, so now there is an actual non-binary option for players to choose. Most Twitter users, like Mrboomhill, feel that it was about time for this kind of representation in-game and that those who don’t appreciate it should get over it. Other communities, like in this Reddit thread started by sejebille, are full of users mocking the kind of people who have an issue with non-binary representation.

An interesting point was brought up by Twitter user Kati Knitt though in regards to gender choices in the game. Despite Treyarch and Activision’s attempts to be more inclusive to gamers, there is still the issue of the series glorifying war and allowing players to commit war crimes. Considering that the player will be forced to work for a technically illegal black ops group for a president who was notoriously homophobic, it is very much at odds with Black Ops Cold War’s attempts to be much more inclusive of other genders.

No matter how you feel about the way that Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has handled this situation, it is still very nice to see a AAA studio attempting to be as inclusive as possible. Treyarch and Activision may not be making the exact right decisions here and Call of Duty still  has a lot of growing to do, but Black Ops Cold War is moving in the right direction at the very least.

See also  Dexter: 10 Things About The Series Finale That Have Aged Well

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

Source: Mrboomhill, KatiKnitt, doubledepress0, sejebille

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Cody Peterson
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Cody Peterson is an avid reader and writer. Graduated from Midwestern State University with a BA in English where he worked as an editor for the University literary journal. Currently a freelancer for Screenrant, where he spends most of his time writing guides or reviews. Be warned that any conversation started with him will probably wind up gravitating towards his two dogs, The Adventure Zone, or Kingdom Hearts 2.

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