"World of Warcraft" will discontinue charging $15/13 pounds to change a character's gender in the upcoming "Shadowlands" expansion.

Even though barbers can change most other aspects of their appearance with a small amount of in-game currency based on character level, the only way to change a character's gender is to pay $15/13 pounds through Battle.net. If you later change your mind, you must pay the full amount again.

However, executive producer John Hight told Eurogamer that requiring players to pay to change their gender "is not the right message" Blizzard wants to send. Especially if everything from skin color to facial features can already be changed in-game. Instead, gender will be another feature that can be adjusted at the barbershop.

The news comes after the discovery in Shadowlands of an NPC named Pelagos, considered by many players to be the first legitimate transgender character in World of Warcraft. The character was discovered after Blizzard released a statement explaining why they changed the pronouns in the game from they/them to he/his.

MMOs have always been a way for people to explore their identities in a safe way, so offering this feature for free is a great way to further that. blizzard still has a long way to go in terms of LGBTQ+ representation, but this a great step in the right direction.

Shadowlands is set to launch later this year, with an open beta starting next week. The beta is said to be "feature complete" and will allow players to level up to the cap, but Hight suggests that the ability to change gender will come a little later; for a bird's eye view of MMOs in 2020, check out our latest list of the best MMOs.