Offended Ultimate Fantasy XIV followers are taking to Steam to slam new growth pack Dawntrail, with many singling out trans voice artist Sena Bryer and bombarding her with criticism and abuse.
Bryer voices Wuk Lamat, a central NPC (non-player character) in Ultimate Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail, the fifth growth pack for FFXIV: a massively multiplayer on-line role-playing recreation developed and revealed by Sq. Enix.
She’s described as a “beloved member of Tuliyollal’s ruling household (who) has recruited the Warrior of Gentle to assist her within the ceremony of succession. Wuk Lamat should win the throne if she needs to protect a peaceable nation for her folks, and so has joined the competition in opposition to rival claimants of formidable capacity.”
The Warrior of Gentle, additionally generally often known as Adventurer, is the participant’s created character in FFXIV.
The Dawntrail DLC was launched on 2 July, however has already dropped to a “combined” ranking on Steam as a consequence of a flood of very unfavorable evaluations, in keeping with The Gamer.
Most describe Wuk Lamat as “annoying” or “unbearable”, nonetheless within the FFXIV dialogue part on Steam, some folks declare that gamers wouldn’t be criticising the character a lot if Sena Bryer wasn’t transgender.
One Steam consumer wrote: “I assure if she wasn’t voiced by a trans girl, and seemed like Y’shtola, folks can be wifing her in all places.” Y’shtola Rhul is without doubt one of the predominant characters from the Limsa Lominsa story in Ultimate Fantasy XIV.
Different feedback within the dialogue discussion board misgender Sena Bryer, whereas one individual even suggests altering the sport’s language to Japanese to keep away from listening to a trans girl.
Over on X (previously Twitter), the assaults have been arguably much more vicious and transphobic, with some folks accusing Sq. Enix of going “woke” by utilizing a transgender voice artist.
Nonetheless, many individuals additionally voiced their assist for Sena Bryer and her efficiency, with one fan tweeting: “Light reminder, Wuk Lamat is an unbelievable character, and the one that introduced her to life is a trans girl and she or he did a f**king unbelievable job. with gaming being as poisonous as it’s proper now, its an important reminder that there are moments like this that should be celebrated.”
The unfavorable feedback about Bryer echo related ones geared toward fellow trans voice artist Zooey Alexandria, who confronted “hideous assaults” from on-line bigots after her Useless By Daylight character The Unknown made its in-game debut in March 2024.
Who’s Sena Bryer?
Sena Bryer is an completed voice actress who has additionally portrayed characters in Hearthstone and Want for Velocity Unbound (2022) amongst many others. She beforehand voiced Wuk Lamat in FFXIV: Endwalker. She’s initially from Kentucky and has a level in Inventive Writing. She at present lives in Los Angeles.