MrFalconfly said:
Oh I really do not want to restart the massive row I had with some of you regarding this character on this very forum, but here goes.
Kung Jin from MK X (and I know it's petty, because it's a fighting game with little to no character development but that's just an example that springs to mind). A character, who in my mind could have been about the importance of breaking through ones own fears, but instead turned into a "showcase" of how some people live today.
Another example would be Ellie from Last of Us.
Ellie didn't start off as one, but that "Left Behind" DLC, transformed her from a rather interesting side character, to a showcase of "gays can be games characters too".
Righto. Just wanted to see whether we have entirely different judgements on this, and now know we do. I wouldn't consider those characters to have their sexuality as the "basis for their character" in a thousand years; the former mentions it in a single line (hardly basis-forming), and the latter has countless interactions that do not relate to it at all, several deep friendships formed with other characters which do not relate to it at all, and a single sub-plot which relates to it (in a way not unlike straight characters do all the time).
This just seems to be the trap of writing gay characters. Write them with only a single passing mention, and people will still decry them as using their sexuality as the "basis of the character". Write them precisely as straight characters are written, and the line is the same. The accusation is unavoidable. Utterly unavoidable.
johnnyboy2537 said:
It's tries to be subtle in its agenda pushing but comes off as obvious to me because of how they chose to tell it. I can get if you don't see that way but when you see that the primary thing pushing the game's "plot" is letters and collectibles it becomes really obvious. It just pushed its message badly. I'm not against LGBT rights as much as the rest of the community annoys me so I have no problem with the message. I think it was just done terribly.
What makes it "agenda-pushing", though, really? The relationship is gay, sure; had it been a straight one, with a similar plot and gameplay, nobody would think twice about whether it had an "agenda". It wouldn't even come up. The mere presence of a gay relationship is not an agenda-- when I'm walking down the street, I'm not agendering any-damn-body.
The only impact of sexuality, really, is the parents' reaction. But that's a perfectly accurate depiction of stuff that goes on. There's no reason not to show it in art. There's no reason real situations should be kept out of games.
