The series also moves us back to a silent protagonist role, one that can be customized to a degree. Players can pick between three genders: male, female or “classified.” The “classified” classification is meant for anyone who might be non-binary or doesn’t want to identify a gender. The “classified” designation is also applicable to other fields in the bio form as well. The thinking from the developers is that rather than forcing players into a decision they don’t want to make, people will appreciate the feeling of being shrouded in mystery and letting their imagination define their character. The developers also rerecorded dialogue to use them/they pronouns for the “classified” gender. Other character options include incidental background details that don’t affect gameplay, like place of birth, and your military background.
“If we don’t find something that somebody wants, let’s let them leave it classified to make the mysterious, shadowy special operative Black Ops character they want to be,” Vondrak said. “So when it came to gender that same thing was thrown out. Why can’t we leave that classified? There’s no reason we can’t do that. We’re already going to change the ‘he’ and 'she,’ so it was easy enough to use those different pronouns as well.”
