Pronouns in D&D - How should gender be handled?

[Wicht]

I don't know about saying "him" is natural for reading, it's just as natural to read "her" isn't it.

Its natural to read "her" if the subject is inherently female. Its natural for me to understand the masculine pronoun to be capable of being used to apply to men and women equally, because that's the traditional mode of the english generic masculine. I understand the arguments for more inclusion, but logically, and for me, the generic pronoun is more inclusive than a specific pronoun. By eliminating the generic masculine, one eliminates the pronouns that are actually capable, in english, of being the most inclusive. The trend then becomes of using a generic plural, "they," to apply to singular figures, but I think that is no less clumsy in some instances.

 

[Celebrim]

I find the use of alternating pronouns to be distracting and silly. I also reject the argument that women stay out of gaming because they see 'he' used as a generic pronoun.

However, there is a good solution. Use concrete examples. Alternate between examples of fictional males and females in your examples of play. That way, 'he' or 'she' will be perfectly natural. Examples of play are given too little attention as it is.

 

[Erekose]

Alternating based on the gender of the icon for that class seems entirely reasonable. Was slightly odd when WotC first used it but then pretty much passed without notice for me.

 

[Argyle King]

I find the use of alternating pronouns to be distracting and silly. I also reject the argument that women stay out of gaming because they see 'he' used as a generic pronoun.

However, there is a good solution. Use concrete examples. Alternate between examples of fictional males and females in your examples of play. That way, 'he' or 'she' will be perfectly natural. Examples of play are given too little attention as it is.

I agree with this. It ties into why I suggested having iconics of both genders. That seems to be the best way to include everyone.

Having more examples is always nice too.

 

[am181d]

If you want to forcibly shift the direction of the development of the language and the modern society that uses it then get all the worlds great English linguists together, let them agree on what the changes will be (if any) and why, and THEN start teaching it in the schools, and work for the incorporation of the changes in the things that THAT generation comes to read and write.

That is not how language works. Linguists do not set the rules. They study what writers and speakers are already doing...

 

[am181d]

A few additional thoughts:

1: When the late William Saffire discussed this topic with the late Chief Justice Rehnquist (though not in specific regard to D&D), the Chief Justice's solution was to rewrite the sentence to use the third person plural they.

2: The third person singular they, while nonstandard, has been in use in the English for hundreds of years, appearing in the works of such famed writers as Shakespeare and Jane Austen. (Though only when writing for Pathfinder.)

3: The best long term solution would be to standardize third person singular they, but it's not the best solution for short term clarity. (Some readers will have trouble distinguishing the two uses of they and thus get their pluralizations wrong.)

4: Given that, the simplest, most reasonable solution is alternating genders by example. This may ALSO be confusing to readers, but in a socio-normative way rather than a grammatical way. The dude who is weirded out that a passage says "the player gets a +2 to her ride check" has learned a valuable lesson about what the world is like for non-dudes every day.

(Also, he gets a bonus to his ride check, so he should quit whining.)

 

[Morrus]

Alternatively, rules could only apply to players of the gender used in a given example....

Alternatively we could switch to something 'traditional' for those who prefer their language to remain in a static tradition. Thee, thou, yon, ye, and so on.

 

[Ahnehnois]

Well, the English language could really use a gender neutral pronoun. Failing that, I generally try to keep pronoun usage to a minimum in my writing when referring to unspecified or hypothetical individuals.

In D&D, it sometimes makes sense to use specific characters as examples, in which case maintaining a gender balance is a wise idea.

 

[delericho]

The 3e model (also used by Pathfinder) is the best - provide an iconic character for each class, and then alternate based on the iconic being referenced at the time.

Honestly, I'm surprised this is even a discussion. Do we really believe WotC would even consider going back to all-masculine pronoun use? Rightly or wrongly, that ship has sailed.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Generally prefer (1), can live with (2) if executed smoothly (e.g. 3E PHB). (3) is adequate but can lead to some awkward writing.