Are we ready for games starring queer/trans heroes? Mainstream and Indie

[CrystalViolet]

Can a game star the cross-dresser, the transgender, the overtly gay lead and be accepted?

It's all a matter of how well it's pulled off. If it's a tasteless pantomime of naked-faced sexuality in which a hyper-effeminate man in hot pants hip thrusts unicorns at you, played straight or played for laughs, it's not going to have a positive impact at all. If it's about an openly queer character with depth, personality, and character arc of their own, then I'm behind it all the way.

Could it cause an uproar of mass proportions.

If it's the unicorn-crotch game I mentioned above, it probably will and I'll be pretty pissed off myself, but a tastefully written game would either evoke praise or apathy from people not waving "God Hates Fags" placards.

The games I'm referring to are beyond simple niche. I'm talking games gone mainstream. A fighting game full of queer/trans characters, jrpg, action rpg, the skies the limits.

I guess it could work as long as there's more to the game than just "it's very, very gay". There would also have to make sense. Are we making a game about the Velvet Panthers? A crack commando squad of of post-op trans men? Or is it something people can relate to? A mainstream game with a niche interest would need to find ways to appeal to everyone, not just other LGBT people.

I'm hitting all spectrum of Queer. From the cross-dresser, Otokonoko, transvestite, the gay bear, to the twink, from the transgender of either gender.

I'm finding it hard to see how you could fit all or most elements of the spectrum into a single game in a viable way. The story would have to inclusive without alienating people unfamiliar with LGBT issues.

I'm not talking about an aside reference or mainstream representation either. I'm saying all the way queer, just about as much of it as there is of heterosexuality in games.

I don't really get what you mean. Do you mean a mainstream game with a character of Paris is Burning levels of queer involved in a context we might see in any other type of game?

Just how comfortable are you with it. Just how queer can a game be before it reaches the threshold you have in place.

I'm a happily cysgendered gay girl, but I like to roleplay as all kinds of characters including males, people with gender dysphorias, asexual elves, pansexual space monsters etc. I could easily play as a queer character but I just wouldn't be interested in a game that's just about someone being outrageously queer without an engaging narrative and gameplay. I get the impression that you're talking about a game for which the only interesting element is the shock value, and that would just bore me.

I find this topic intriguing for various reasons. With all the recent conversation of diversity in gaming culture, I wonder just how ready we are for something on that level.

I don't really like this "how ready we are" statement; like society must traverse a path of enlightenment before we can play really queer video games. I've never had to be "ready" for a video game because it's a non issue for me. A game with heavily queer elements has to stand up to the same rigour and will be judged by the same merits as a classicly "male", "hegemonic", or "heteronormative" game.

Related Story: My brother lamented discomfort in playing the video game Jojo's Bizarre Adventure All Star Battle. Despite the majority of the cast being straight, it was a fighting game far too queer for him due to the vogue-like poses and the fabulous 80s style clothing.

I don't know your brother, be he might just be put off by the style out of preference independent of prejudices. If someone doesn't like a cyberpunk style it doesn't mean they're racist against replicants.

If the game is fun, than it's all that matters in the end. If you set out specifically saying you want to tell a Queer Story, and have Queer elements in your game, better make sure the game is actually fun.

This is actually a shorter, better version of my argument I couldn't agree more!

Well, considering you could have a gay Shepherd in ME, and that didn't get too much insane wrath about it, and the game was pretty popular, I'd say it's possible.

Gosh, that was really well done! I loved how Traynor and Cortez were perfectly rounded characters whose sexuality weren't just their defining or central elements of their personalities! I was so impressed with Bioware's treatment of gay characters in ME3 when Cortez mentioned his husband because nobody else on the crew gave a shit. It was like his sexuality didn't even register with them because it wasn't important, and this is all the more apparent during the silly "buddy" moments between Cortez and the seemingly macho James. That was awesome!

I think it would depend on how central the character's sexuality/gender identification is to the story. If it's just "a thing" about him/her, while the game is actually focused on other stuff happening, I think the backlash will be less insane. If the entire game is about the character's sexual/gender identification, then you will probably have more negative reactions.

Completely agreed. I wouldn't even say the negative reactions would be because it's "too gay", but because the story most likely wouldn't be interesting enough. If Rain Man had just been about the struggled of an autistic guy, it wouldn't have been so popular, but a movie about an autistic savant is way more interesting.

short version: make the character 3 dimensional, and give them other traits aside from "i'm gay/trans" and the game will probably do just fine. Make it nothing but that fact, and focus the entire game on it, and you will probably have a lot of problems.

Completely agreed

The point here is there's a difference between having a character be out of the 'straight white 30ish man' mold, and being a statement instead of a character. If they make a character who is a character before a statement, I'd try it. What I'm concerned about is that we might get a protag/pc that is defined by it, instead of the other way around.

Exactly. And the absolute worst thing you could do is make a huge fucking deal about it. I'm going to be sold on the story, gameplay, and character development, not on how queer the character is.

As an aside I will restate that it blows my mind that people praise EA/Bioware as a forward thinking, progressive company, when all they are doing is exploiting sexualities for profit and they're perfectly okay with that.

But I supppse thats okay because they have a "fully gay" character.

I try to be less cynical about it. Why do you think the gay romances were there for a superficial grab at profit? It didn't seem like that at all to me.

Shorter response: who cares if we are ready, make the games anyway, that's how progress happens.

Screw it, I would even play it to cleanse my palate after all that Call of Duty, Medal of Honor jingoist or "look at my manly gun-beard-pecs" Gears of War bullshit.

Captcha: rent-a-swag

Sorry, Captcha, my swag is not for rent.

 

[Gamer87]

I would love more gay and trans characters. A little variety in games certainly wouldn't hurt.

(of course as long as it's a good character in other aspects)

Games are a form of escapism and I find it interesting to step into the shoes of DIFFERENT interesting characters and not the same type over and over again.

 

[Silvanus]

Your picking instead of answering. Why stop at just gay, why not have a paedo character? Or a rapist?

Because they aren't the fucking same at all. Do not equate them.

This is the same argument used by opponents of equal rights in the real world. It was baseless and hateful there, it's baseless and hateful here.

 

[Elfgore]

Well, the Trait: Homosexual [http://vndb.org/i748] list on VNDB would be where I'd start.

I never really got into the visual novel medium. Maybe I should do so. Still, a good number of those seem to be Yaoi, which is not what I'm after.

Still, that list is worth looking into. Much appreciated.

Just as a tip, be careful which games you pick. I've found some visual novels display homosexuals very well and some that are downright offensive. Most commonly as rapist or that gay is some disease.

Honestly, speaking for the U.S., no. No we are not. As soon as one big game makes a tran/queer/etc. character, not only will some gamers cry out, parents, news stations, and religious organizations will most likely join in as well. Some stores may refuse to carry it, parents may not let their children buy the game because of it, Fox will claim it is corrupting our children, and the company would be most likely shooting itself in the foot.

 

[SUPA FRANKY]

As long as the game is good, I don't care. So long as thats the kind of game they wanted to make in the beginning, and nothing else.

Though I could potentially be turned off by it if it's a bit too X rated though a( COurse, that's whats the skip cutscene is for, right?)

 

[grassgremlin]

We already have a few?

I love vivian so much.
Nintendo of America says she's female, but in my heart she's trans and I view her as such.
Sorry, nintendo, you can't hide it.

Also other characters who I refuse to believe the gender nintendo assigns them as.

Spoiler

Gunstar Red

Birdo

Cubit Foxtar

Sorry nintendo, when you change they're gender, all you tell me is that they're trans.

 

[Martijngamer]

I'm completely with Zachary Amaranth on this.
A video game character is neither male nor female, gay nor straight, cisgender nor transgender, black nor white, until proven otherwise.

 

[joshuaayt]

I'd love a few games where you do play as a super camp gay guy- Maybe an open world game, where you can go to gay bars as often as you want, and pick up randomly generated dudes as a repeatable side mission.

People like this do actually exist, after all, and I feel like a lot of people who say they don't want a character who "acts gay" in a stereotypical sense just don't want a character who lets them know they're gay.

There's really no wrong way to depict a person, because you can bet there are people who will identify exactly with the character you write no matter what- it's only a problem if that type of person is used by everyone as a shortcut.

Because we're not exactly flush with gay game protagonists, you can't fairly say that any depiction is overused to the point of cliche, so for me- I just want more gay characters, more trans characters, more every kind of character, and I'll worry about cliches once we have enough for it to matter.

 

[Dr. Thrax]

No, we're not.
Considering some assholes thought that BioWare was "abandoning their core demographic" the "straight white male gamer" when they went through ME3 in a fashion that made Kaidan lightly hit on M.Shep and were having a massive shitfit over it, no, we're not ready for that.
We're barely even ready for a strong female protagonist, much less any male who isn't a straight, muscle-bound, gravel-voiced, emotionally-void super-soldier with shotgun in hand unless they're from a JRPG. And JRPGs get a pass because, well... Japan.

 

[Obama's Dad 420]

I am so down for a Ru Paul's drag race game.

 

[f1r2a3n4k5]

I am tempted to just say, "Yes." And leave it at that.

But I suppose I should delve more deeply. I'm assuming you mean focusing on gay themes as opposed to merely a gay character.

I think the Indie scene has the advantage of being able to throw anything and everything out there on to the market at anytime. If an indie dev wanted to make a game about a drag-queen fighting aliens in space, they could and they could find a niche for it.

Conversely, I think AAA games are going to be significantly more reticent to star gay characters and gay culture. I think that including it as an option, a la Mass Effect, is the first step.

However, I severely doubt we'll have a AAA video game that focuses substantially on gay themes until we start to see a new generation of "named" game designers. People who carry enough clout that they can convince industry giants to take a chance on them for the sake of their past reputation working in the medium.

 

[MailOrderClone]

I played Saints Row 2 as an extremely buff, British drag queen. Loved that it played it completely straight. I would love to see a few games that featured queer and transsexual protagonists, just so long as they're entertaining characters on top of that. Developers can't go in expecting these characters to be accepted as the basic blank slate that we've been getting all the time in recent video games. They have to try a bit harder to make the players like them. Which is totally doable, and it has been done with any number of popular characters in the past who have personalities of their own.

 

[aba1]

My characters were actually written to be initially genderless all together actually but I didn't want to get into explaining the pronouns and such to people who don't know anything about trans people. So I just made them a boy and girl cause they were more feminine or masculine each. But ya my point is if I was going to do it I am sure I can't be the only one and I am sure it will come up soon enough. On the plus side they are both ace still if people care about that sorta thing.

 

[Rayce Archer]

No really I wish this was me making a joke but there is an game with an openly gay main character and a large openly gay cast made by I believe an openly gay developer. Why have you never heard of it ?
Well Social justice warriors the industrious lot they are claimed it was homophobic. No really.
The game is my ex boyfriend the space tyrant [http://store.steampowered.com/app/312970/] and is a "Gay Adventure game" designed to be a gay version of Leisure Suit Larry.

From what I played it's kinda ropey but for essentially an indie game and first attempt by this studio it's not bad really.

I am shocked, SHOCKED, by how responsible the critical steam reviews for this are. Maybe the world isn't doomed.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

personally i would find it highly unconfortable

 

[Autumnflame]

A persons gender/race/sexuality

Has no impact on if the game/story/character will be good.

Poor writing and acting will still produce poor characters.
And no amount of gender/race/sexuality pandering can make up for it.

Mass effect 3
You can be male or female. You are not special for your gender.
You can be varying sexualities depending on the romances you as a player choose. even asexual if thats your wish.
You can choose the skin colour and characteristics of your in game Shepard.

None of these things make Shepard better or worse.
Its Shepards actions that define him/her not Who or what.

Last of us

Bill and Ellie
Bill is gay. cool, But it is not his only defining character trait.
We learn this late in his character arc. hes a man of strengths and weaknesses. a little unhinged. and the subtle sharing of his sexuality added a nice seasoning to his character.
Ellie's sexuality is a little more up in the air to personal interpretation. this does not add nor subtract from her character.
But fills a narrative of a teenage girl in the time of her life when she is discovering who she is

Tv Show Banshee.

Job.

I cant remember if its ever been explicitly stated on Jobs exact gender identity.
For me I like the bit of mystery in Job's character.
Does Jobs ambiguous gender identity mean the character is stronger or weaker for it . No
It is part of the character but not all the character has to offer.
We have seen in a few episodes issues that trans/crossdressing/queer people can face.

Making someone Race/Gender/Sexuality as the "Defining" primary character attribute will lead to a poorer character.
These things are part of a character but should never be the only thing we know them for.

For a simple anology take a tv show that has a checklist.

We need the man, the woman, the gay one, the over protective mother, the dorky best freind. ect ect.
If all a character has is their one characteristic being their main point it leads to bland uninteresting characters