Prior to Alex's introduction, Steve and up to eight variants of Steve, none of them female, were the only characters players could select for their avatars without paying for a greater variety of characters or changing the game's code through complicated methods.
All zombie units found in Minecraft appear to be wearing the same clothing as Steve, although no official explanation was ever given. Players are allowed multiple options to change the visual appearance of their player character's skin.
A skin is the appearance of the player's avatar that represents the player in the game world, which can be changed, altered, or replaced by the player. Steve is one of two default character skins which are available for new players of Minecraft. By presenting Alex and Steve as having identical physical capabilities or qualities as each other, Chiang said this reinforces the studio's stance on gender equality and their commitment to its ideals. Commenting on Minecraft 's reputation for better gender representation compared to other video games in the industry as of the 2010s, Helen Chiang, the Microsoft studio head responsible for the Minecraft franchise, explained in a 2018 interview that it is important for her company to leverage the power of the Minecraft brand to subvert traditional gender stereotypes. Alex's character model is similar to Steve's, but with a more feminine appearance: she has red hair tied into a ponytail, and arms that are more narrow. The character was added to the console and mobile versions of Minecraft at a later date.
Admitting that limiting the gender option to just male "is telling everybody this is a boy game only", Persson claimed that he once attempted to create a proper female character model in Minecraft, but said "the results have been extremely sexist." īy August 22, 2014, another default skin that is complimentary for all Minecraft players named Alex was added to the Windows and Macintosh versions of Minecraft. He emphasized that Minecraft was designed to "be a game without a gender element" in a game where "gender doesn't exist", and that the character model was "intended to represent a human being" who was genderless. In 2012, Persson explained that Minecraft 's blocky graphics inadvertently reinforced a default aesthetic for the game which is "traditionally masculine". In spite of his masculine name and features, Persson claimed that Steve's gender was never intended to be fixed. Side by side comparison of the character skins for Alex ( left) and Steve ( right). The character has also inspired a number of unofficial media and urban legends, most notably the Herobrine creepypasta which became widely shared around internet communities as a meme during the 2010s. Considered by some critics as a mascot for the Minecraft intellectual property, his likeness has appeared extensively in advertising and merchandise, including wearable apparel and collectible items. Steve became a widely recognized character in the video game industry following the critical and commercial success of the Minecraft franchise.
Depending on the version of Minecraft, players have a chance of spawning as either Steve or Alex when starting a new game. His feminine counterpart, Alex, was first introduced in August 2014 for PC versions of Minecraft. Steve lacks an official backstory by the developers of Minecraft as he is intended to be a customizable player avatar as opposed to being a predefined character. Created by Swedish video game developer Markus "Notch" Persson and introduced in the initial Java-based version of Minecraft which was publicly released on May 17, 2009, Steve is one of two default player character skins available for players of contemporary versions of Minecraft. Steve is a fictional character from the Minecraft video game franchise.