Homosexuals in gaming.

[DemonicVixen]

Damn i wish i could remember the game where i have actually seen lesbians and gay characters. They weren't main characters (at least i dont think they were) but they were in the game a lot.

You can now on Sims and things, make your characted gay/lesbian/bi ... if you really wanted to.

 

[wheeman]

Master Chief is a pretty cool guy, eh kills aliens and doesn't afraid of anything.

NO, no, no, it's HALO is a pretty cool guy, not master chief lol.

Anywho, I really wouldn't care if I had to play as a gay character in a game, as long as I get to play the game.

 

[JokerCrowe]

I thought it was kind of interesting that J.K Rowling would make Dumbledore gay, just so.... I really have no idea why actually. Because, I think she made him gay... he doesn't exist in real life, so she can do what ever she wants with him...
The reason I'm mentioning this is because, even though there is nothing wrong with being gay, it's not as common as being heterosexual (fact) and I think that many game developers think that "if we make a main character gay, not as many people will be able to relate, and feel that they're the main character, and maybe they won't buy the game". But I don't know, just my 2 cents.
(i've actually been getting a gay vibe from Master Chief... or maybe my "gaydar" is scarmbled...)
EDIT: Gordon Freeman... gay? I've always assumed that he was asexual, or at least emotionally oblivious...

 

[Snowalker]

why when we say gay, do we mean male gay? I say we should have realistic Lesbians as well. I mean come on, that chick from Mirror's Edge has to be a lesbo right?

 

[Airhead]

MGS3 Had both typical kinds of gays

Yeah, Japanese developers don't seem to have a problem with portraying homosexual characters in their games. Sometimes they overdo it and reach stereotypical flamboyance, but MGS's Vamp was awesome.

In the case of characters like Master Chief or Freeman, mentioning details about their sexuality would be totally out of place. MC is a straightforward ass-kicking character and he doesn't do anything else as far as I can tell (kinda flat, but still cool). Gordon is a kind of an Everyman, whose blanks are left on purpose for the player to fill out. I mean, the guy doesn't even speak. Can you imagine Freeman saying: 'Guess what, I'm gay!' as his first words? The bizarrity. 0_o

 

[wheeman]

Yes, but then nobody would have understood what I was talking about if they didn't know what it was.

Oh, I see, sorry.

 

[Labyrinth]

Personally it wouldn't make a difference to whether I'd play the character or not. Well okay, I might be more inclined to like a developer if they were to take that step because I think it's a positive move for acceptance amongst gaming culture.

The tragic bit of this is I doubt I'm part of the majority.

There was an Escapist issue a while back about gays in gaming. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/features/issue/222] It brings a lot of very interesting points forward about for example characters who were removed from games or changed in them before they were distributed to the US public due to controversy that they were expected to spark. Another speaks about a mod made in which the character was gay. Someone on the forum responded to that mod requesting that the creator remove the gay implication which I suspect would be a primary response to any mainstream occurrence of this.

Or I could simply have such low expectations of the culture and be wonderfully surprised by how open and accepting they are.

 

[Syntax Error]

Well, noting what I think is Marcus showing interest in Anya in Gears of War 2, I don't think he's gay

I think it's just a front because he got this feeling that people are catching on...

 

[Mr.Black]

Who gives a shit. Why does gay culture have to penetrate (lol) everything? You've got people complaining about Avatar because it's has heterosexual themes in it. What the fuck?

 

[psyniac_123]

Isn't it hinted at that Ike from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance is gay, in super-secret scenes? I've heard about it but never looked into it. Seems very un-Nintendo but it's also a very popular point of view, I think.

 

[Lonely Swordsman]

Bioware love themselves gay love-interest options in their RPGs and I heard nobody complaining yet.

And then there's Solid Snake... okay, he's not explicitly stated to be, but he's always quite akward around women with clear intentions on advancing on him, and he lives together with a male ex-damsel in distress he rescued in the first game. If the next Metal Gear Solid game would have a scene where Snake openly states his sexual orientation, I wouldn't mind a bit. Hell, it would be fantastic to get rid of stereotypes. "Hey, here's a gay dude who doesn't have a single flamboyant atom in his body and can kill you in a blink of an eye."

 

[oppp7]

They could have it as a hidden character trait, and just hint slightly at it but never directly say it.
I mean, it worked for Dumbledore, right?

 

[Kathinka]

i remember one of the five characters in i have no mouth and i must scream was a homosexual, and a major psychological plot point was his admittance to his wive about that fact. that was in the late 80s or early 90s, mind you^^ would have been controversy fuel unleaded if the game would not have had a million really bad mindfucks up the sleeve that made this fact fade into the backround somewhat^^

 

[Uszi]

Also, I think Gordon Freeman is a little bit too clean for someone who's main role in life is to kill alien monsters. Just sayin'...

If Valve told me Freeman was gay, I would totally buy it.

I mean, who meticulously maintains their goatee whilst escaping from blood thirsty aliens?

They could have it as a hidden character trait, and just hint slightly at it but never directly say it.
I mean, it worked for Dumbledore, right?

I present a short, one scene play on why Dumbledore is Gay:

JKR: Oh man, I'm not constantly in the spotlight anymore now that I finished the books... What else can I do?
*Little Devil Appears on her shoulder*
LD: Dude, just make Dumbledore gay, that will make everyone flip a shit and love you more.
JKR: But I really haven't hinted at all that he was gay this whole series.
LD: Bullshit it!

Ta-da.

 

[ZombieGenesis]

I see your point. People complain about a lack of representation in games for groups such as homosexuals, but unless there is a definative quality or scene in a game then there really is no way of telling. Add to that the point that if they did want to express this, how would people respond? If you saw Freeman kissing a man in Episode 3 do you really think it would be unfair to expect an outcry of disgust from the fanbase?
Sadly, it wouldn't surprise me.

It's an interesting approach though, taking an established character and then addressing such an issue down the line, should it be appropriate. As an example in the game Dead Space I myself was quite surpised to find that the main character was black. Not to say I have a proble with it of course, but considering the amount of marketed 'on-the-box' black heroes there are in gaming (of which there is now ONE) it was a pleasant surpise.

And in case anyone was wondering, no; 50 Cent, C.J (etc) are not 'heroes' and never should they be considered such.

 

[Herklethehoboking]

im just gonna say im pretty sure baird and cole were gay

 

[TimeLord]

"So Master Chief, you got a lady back home?"
"No, I'm gay"
"...Riiight... That's cool"

That could be comedy gold, but it'd be interesting to see how people react to it too.

I would love to see the reaction of every 12 year old Halo fanboy if that conversation made it into Halo: Reach

EDIT: I'd like to point out out I dunno if MC is in Halo: Reach cause I don't play Halo

 

[Aerodyamic]

Just don't mention it at all unless it's relevant. The only people who go around constantly informing people of their sexuality are the ones who are completely insecure about it. I knew one guy who'd greet people by saying 'Hello, I'm gay'. Wrong way to go about it.


I think it would be funny if a main character just casually mentioned he's gay after somebody asked him about it.

"So Master Chief, you got a lady back home?"
"No, I'm gay"
"...Riiight... That's cool"

That could be comedy gold, but it'd be interesting to see how people react to it too.
I wouldn't mind myself. For as we all know, Master Chief is a pretty cool guy, he kills aliens and doesn't afraid of anything. (sorry, I just love that meme)

Here's at least one way to make it even funnier:

"So, how the wife, Master Chief?"
"He's whining about how his new dress makes his ass look big."
"Seriously? God, don't bitches ever changes?"
"*sigh* Not that I've noticed."
"At least you've got the comfort of a loved one when you get home after a mission, man."
"Are you kidding me? That little corksoaker seems to be be more upset that I tracked alien blood onto the hall carpet! And heaven forbid I want to watch the Deathball game and fool around afterwords! He's alway got 'a headache', for chrissakes!
"Geez, dude.... that's just.... harsh. Do you think he's cheating on you?"
"No, I don't think he's have the balls for that."
"Maybe you should take him out for a nice dinner next time you get home. It always get me in Cindy's drawers, alien blood or no."
"Hmmm... we haven't really had a quiet night out in a long time. You know, I'll try it."
"You should check out 'Boots and Saddles'; I heard they have an awesome leather fetish night!"
"Dude, I'm gay, not freaky."

OT: Meh, I'm certain there's a certain percentage of lesbians floating around in games, and aren't half the JRPG male characters at least a little Emo, and therefore at least bisexual? If there's anything Youtube has taught me, it's that I will have to spend 5 minutes trying to identify the sexes of the emo-twats in any given emo-makeout video, and almost every JPRG male character could be subbed into those videos.

In any case, gays as characters doesn't bother me, and I don't really care about someone else's sexual orientation, unless I'm attracted to them, and I don't do sausage.

 

[CroutonsOfDeath]

Sadly, most homosexual characters in video games are stereotypes. Bernie from GTA IV really bothered me, not because he was homosexual but because he was every homosexual stereotype in the book. I'm biased towards homosexual men & women because I was raised by a Lesbian couple that happened to be hippies so I'm one of those preachy "Accept everyone" folks and actually think that most homosexuals are better people than straights because at least they don't make a big deal out of it and they're usually not assholes. Gay Tony thankfully wasn't a stereotype, but I don't think he should be a role model at all.

Oddly enough one of the most honest and agreeable portrayals of homosexuality in video gaming comes from a really awful game: Phamtasmagoria 2: A puzzle of Flesh. There's a friend that the main character has who is a homosexual, but is portrayed in a normal natural way and oddly enough, he was the only character I didn't want to see killed in some horrific manner.

If some big name character were to come out of the closet, I wouldn't care. As you said, if Freeman came out he'd still be a world saving badass. I personally hate attracting attention to it, it only solidifies the negative idea that they are different and unnatural. It shouldn't really matter in the end, I suppose, unless its a negative or hurtful stereotype.