Creating new characters and skins has been possible since the game’s earliest days. But without installing mods or buying characters, generally players were left with Steve, the famous cyan T-shirt-wearing mascot who occasionally shows up in real life and scares people. “Now, everyone loves Steve,” Owen Hill from Mojang wrote in a blog post. “He’s probably the most famous minecrafter in the world, and has excellent stubble. But jolly old Steve doesn’t really represent the diversity of our playerbase.”
No longer; Mojang has announced that a new, free seemingly female character will be available in all versions of the game starting on 29 April. The character – ‘Alex’ – will be a complimentary update, featuring “thinner arms, redder hair, and a ponytail”, according to Mojang. (And yes, it does look a bit like lead Minecraft developer Jens.) Alex will come to Xbox and Playstation gamers first, and be available to Pocket Edition players in the summer. Alex already existed in PC and Mac versions of the game, but was randomly assigned to players rather than a selectable option.
Minecraft’s developers have also in the past made the argument that the game is essentially gender-less. “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,” wrote Minecraft creator Notch, in 2012. “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.”
But while players can make their own skins (or pay for official add-on packs such as the upcoming Simpsons DLC), others have made the argument that for young children especially, the addition of a free, default feminine option will make it easier to play the game with a character with whom they identify.
