: Did I say that I wanted to see Buck as a black man or the Master Chief as a
: woman? No. Noble Six as they were presented in Halo: Reach was gender
: neutral. Their identity was neither inherently male nor female. What
: they've done and how they did it isn't up for debate, however, it was
: solely up to the audience to decide who that person could have been. When
: there is precedent elsewhere for characters with non-descript gender, why
: go either way?

That's not true. You could choose for your Six to be female or male. They had very distinct body types to accompany their gender, and the choice was open to players because the character was a blank slate. They weren't an ambiguous gender, they were one or the other. That there is a canonical version of that character is an entirely different thing altogether.

: Now I'm not saying that because of this determination I would totally ignore
: everything that they've done as a basic character. They're a fixed point
: in the fabric of this universe with their actions and I'll enjoy them all
: the same because of it. Until now, however, that fixed point was made
: better by who they were because it was one thing that seemed like the
: developers put squarely into the imagination of its audience.

I think it would be incredibly difficult to write for a character simply because I microscopic part of the fan base wishes for that character to identify as a Cabbage, or whatever. Should they use "he", "she", "it", "SHeIt"?
There's representation, then there's screwing up a simple story (even though 343 has screwed up yet again with this story) to appease an audience, and this doesn't seem to be the time or place for that... And that's unfortunate, but true.

: Noble Six was an ever evolving canvas in an otherwise linear gallery. Every
: fans interpretation of that character was valid so long as they were a
: hyper-lethal vector with a cool, calm head in combat. Now, understandably,
: that can't be true in the greater context should they ever be expanded
: upon in a more intimate light. Any fan who would denounce Noble Six for
: not being a fan of 20th century space opera or who wouldn't tear apart a
: colony just for a single cup of halo-halo is being a little unreasonable.
: I'm simply saying that no matter what they enjoy, what their faults are,
: etc., Noble Six still wouldn't need to have a descript gender. There's
: already so many mysterious things about them that it would allow gameplay
: intentions to thrive in regards to freedom of expression.

But ultimately that's your interpretation of the character. Snipe had his own interpretation, and he isn't crying that no mention was made of Noble 6 having a robot arm. I'm sure people with prosthetics would love representation too...