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The Mysterious and Indistinct Art of Pronouns: Revisited

In March we announced some changes to Fallen London’s gender options. Fallen London is known for its ‘mysterious and indistinct’ third gender option and we wanted to improve upon it, adding some of what we learnt from the system we used in Sunless Sea.

gender-options

In March, we explained the following changes would take place:

  • 'Si-, er, Mad-, er, yes' would be replaced
  • The game would get out of the way of your character’s gender, and take the Sunless Sea approach of asking for your preferred form of address
  • We would add new titles (some of which would be unlockable, depending on profession and other factors)
  • As with the recent Making Your Name changes, established players would be given an option to choose a new preferred form of address
  • The character sign-up screen would be the same, and players taking the third option would still be a Person of Mysterious and Indistinct Gender on their profile.


The changes were met with mixed feelings and opinions - understandably, as gender expression is a highly personal matter. Some players appreciated language that reflected acceptance, rather than confusion; others felt that the change restricted them and how they wanted to play the game. Many hoped that ‘Si-, er, Mad-, er, yes’ would remain, as they had grown very fond of it, and built their character with it in mind.

Having had the chance to see how the changes impacted on the game, and factoring in your feedback, we’ve made a few tweaks.

We have added 'Si-, er, Mad-, er, yes' as an option for how your character is addressed. This is available to all characters, regardless of gender. If players wish to choose this (or a different title), they will find the option on 'The Roof-Tops: Urchins' Opportunity Card.

In addition to that, to allow greater self-expression, players can choose any avatar cameo during character creation, regardless of gender.

Some of the changes temporarily removed 'Individual of Mysterious and Indistinct Gender' from the 'Profile' and the 'Myself' pages within the game. This was unintended - and it should now have reappeared.

Once again, thank you for all your thoughts and feedback, it means a great deal to us. We’re always listening - any further feedback can be sent to feedback@failbettergames.com. As always, we hope that any changes made will only enhance your experience of Fallen London!