Three months later, and Bitlife is still failing its Queer players

On June 30, 2020, Candywriter released a gay pride-themed update for their popular life simulation mobile app, Bitlife; as a longtime fan of the game, I was greatly disappointed. The update was downright offensive, and as of September, the game (which updates quite frequently) remains unchanged…

…Most notably, the mechanism for defining your character’s gender identity also provided a framework for changing your character’s pronouns. June 30’s update 1.38 provided an option for they/them pronouns but by July 2, Candywriter recalled the change in update 1.38.1, stating: “Adopting third person plural pronouns to refer to non-binary characters has wreaked havoc on the game’s writing. Rather than spend weeks re-writing these strings, we are going to adopt the singular gender-neutral zie/zir/zirs/zirself in the next update!” When players cited their discomfort with the decision, Candywriter claimed that “it was either [remove plural pronouns] or have messed up grammar across the app,” repeating the age-old adage of transphobes reluctance to use a person’s correct pronouns: bUt GrAmMaR?! Even though singular they pronouns are grammatically correct, it seems like the developers of Bitlife prioritize fixing grammar issues, whether real or imagined, over the comfort of their queer customers…

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