LGBT in Video Games

[Quellist]

I have no problem at all with the LGBT community. My boss is gay and a pretty decent guy, likewise a lot of his friends, i honestly dont really take a persons sexuality into account when i form an opinion of them. Though i am straight i have no problem with a gay guy flirting with me and in fact find it flattering.

As to the LGBT community in games, i find them vastly under represented in games in general. Makoto from Enchanted Arms is the only obviously gay character i can think of in any game i have played. I dont count the Mass Effect/Dragon Age characters because they seem rather than actually being bisexual to be sexually neutral out of a desire to offer gameplay to all, which is good but imo having each characters sexuality defined and having it be a part of their character would be more believable, i suppose Zevran might be somewhat of an exception as he came across as a oversexed 'takes all comers' bisexual and was easier to believe in that regard than Leilana

 

[Windcaler]

Im hard pressed to think of any characters that are part of the LGBT movement itself but I can think of a few that are bisexual or homosexual.

Probably the most interesting and well fleshed out is Kanji Tastumi who we get to see a real close look at if the protagonist works toward finishing his social link.

Theres also the girls from Fear effect 2 (I know ones named Rain or Rayne but the others name escapes me at the moment). During the game we see a few romantic moments and some flirting in the beginning. Of course some people refer to them as blatant pandering to the teenage demographic but Im not convinced thats the case

Veronica from Fallout:New vegas is another who I really liked because being gay was just another aspect of herself. Like her love for the brotherhood of steel and her joy of punching things with her power fist

For me the issue is that sexuality of any kind for people is fine but when it becomes the sole aspect of a person it becomes a negative thing to look toward. I understand that coming out can be a liberating event in a persons life but there is always more to an individual then their sexuality.

 

[nin_ninja]

I'm writing a Essay in my Critical Thinking Class about how the LGBT(Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) community is viewed by the gaming community. I want to hear my fellow gamer's opinion on the LGBT community. Let this be a open forum on your opinion. I want to hear what you all, be it negative, or positive, think about this topic. Feel free to get up your soap box, and get as preachy as you want, give your view on the LGBT community, as well as LGBT themes in video games. This Essay is suppose to be unbiased, so I need a wide range of opinions.

Edit: This is suppose to be a vague question. Say what you want, generally, or specifically, about the subject matter. For example, this doesn't have to be a "Yes, or no" kinda answer, you can pose your own question, or go on a rant, or even talk about how a specific game handles sexuality (Mass Effect, Sims, etc)

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.259903-Is-Dragon-Age-the-most-Gay-Friendly-Game#9809336

I think LGBT characters are fine in a game. They don't even to bring attention to it. Take Dragon Age for example. You have Zevran who is so full of sexuality he'd even screw Shale. He doesn't care, but his character is mostly about sex. Same with all the characters in Dragon Age 2. They're all Bi (technically) and their sexuality doesn't affect the story at all.

I DO think that if the person's sexuality is part of the story it better be well done, like Persona 4 or Nier.

 

[Batou667]

LGBTQ

What the devil does the Q stand for?

Anyway, what do I think of non-straight people in games? Couldn't give a monkey's, really. Would I want to play a game with a non-straight protagonist? Perhaps, depending on how tastefully it was handled. If the whole thing degenerated into some militant awareness-raising PR exercise (as some of the LGB lobby seem to be requesting) and the gameplay or story suffered as a consequence, then I wouldn't be interested.

 

[klausaidon]

We get it, Mario; you are attracted to Daisy! (or Peach? ...Both?)

Peach.
Daisy is suppose to be Luigi's girl, I think.

 

[Pyramid Head]

LGBT issues are something that requires delicacy. Though in my opinion there is nothing wrong with homosexuals, bisexuals, or people who are mentally a different gender than they are physically, there is a lot of problems coming from socially retarded idiots who think that there is something wrong with LGBT people. You want to be able to depict the people properly as real characters and not let their sexual orientation define the character, and at the same time you want to depict some of the ways the morons of the human race treat such people.
Sounds a bit above most game developers, doesn't it? I would love to see more good depictions of homosexuality and transgenders in games, but so far the only time i see alternate sexualities in games is when it's used for fanservice and when the sexuality defines the character. Maybe bring to light that while progress is being made, we still have a long way to go in both games and community when it comes to accepting people with naturally existing issues?

 

[idarkphoenixi]

No different from anyone else. If they flaunt their sexuality (eg: being overly flamboyant for being gay) I still find that annoying. Other then that, no differences.

Pretty much this, I don't care what peoples preferences are but if it's thrust in front of me non-stop then I get annoyed, this would also happen if it was a guy constantly telling me how much he loves women - One reason I can't stand Duke Nukem (as if I even need a reason to hate DNF). It was partly why I skipped over Dragon Age (2), the "gay" option isn't really an option sinced you're forced to go through that scene. Either I have sex with the guy or I piss him off by saying no thanks.

Sexual themes of any kind should be a lot more subtle and wholely optional if that's what the player chooses. Mass Effect did this perfectly, you choose someone you find an interest in and build an actual relationship. If you wanted you could skip the sex scene altogether.

As soon as a characters orientation becomes much more pronounced (and unavoidable) you start to exclude people who might either get annoyed by that or maybe even feel a little uncomfortable. In short: Don't let the sexuality define who a character is.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

As an asexual female, I can only say that as long as my lack of an interest in sex is respected I will respect their preferences. I would like to just see gaming take itself more seriously and respect people. If someones whole character is represented by one aspect, like race or sexuality or religion, then the writers are doing it wrong.

I always say this. And this person put it more eloquently. Well said! And welcome to the escapist. Dont go into the basement. Sexuality should not DEFINE a character. It should be a subtle part. Not a whole point. Not a simplification. Not a steriotype. Like any person they need a variety of defining characteristics.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Is the OP asking specifically about our views on LGBT people, or characters in video games?
If the former, I'm of the generation where discrimination based on race, geneder or sexual orientation is frowned on. It still happens but anyone of any faith, race, creed or whathaveyou is promised by law equal treatment and I wholly concur. I have a bisexual friend and 3 gay friends, 1 man, 2 women and don't think any differently of them for it.

I will admit I have an issue with the T in LGBT tho. I don't even really understand why they are included in a group with the others because transexuality is a vastly different set of issues altogether. I can't say I truly understand transexualism and I don't particularly agree with it though I would happily fight to defend their rights to do as they wish and be treated equally regardless. I don't know, nor have I ever known anyone transgender and I think I would find it awkward to deal with them...I consider it odd and aberant (the dictionary definition of the word), though perhaps no more so than previous generations considered homosexuality. The issue is mine, tho I don't feel the need to address it.

If we're talking characters in games, I'm not really sure that it's of import. BioWare, who others have mentioned, haven't really addressed the issue of homosexuality in games. It's simply treated that the PCs gender is irrelevant for commencing a romance with a character, whose dialogue, behaviour and storyarc doesn't change one whit (except for maybe "him"/"her" as appropriate). I don't think they necessarily have a place in video games...what I mean is that *unless* homosexuality is an issue important to the game's story or character development, it's pointless being there.

In most games (without romances) sexuality is irrelevant. Our FPS protagonists with neither voices nor legs would be no different whether they were gay, or otherwise, thus it is a needless detail that does nothing for the game. If it is an important detail, then I don't know what kind of game it is that makes such a point of sexuality, and regardless, I don't think it would be something I'd play. Not because of homophobia, but because I probably wouldn't enjoy a game like it, nor could I empathise with (or project onto) the protagonist.

I'd be curious to hear however, from anyone gay of either gender, would you gain more enjoyment from a game in which say the damsel in distress is instead a dude in distress, or the protagnist is a female and the damsel remains a damsel? I don't mean specifically a Mario/Peach type affair, but any similar story where currently the male protagonist and female plot-device might be substitued for a same-sex equivalent.

 

[Dominic Burchnall]

Personally, I have absolutely no problem with the LGBT community in general, and I do have gay and lesbian friends (For reference for the OP, I'm a straight English male, 19, student). However, it has taken me quite a while to get here. At primary school, I was bullied and my tormentors used homophobic language to insult me and embarrass me in public. As such, I became quite aggressively defensive about my sexuality, and I fear that may have spilt over into my behaviour and attitude at the time. However, that was seven years ago at this point, and the internet has actually helped me develop my views on it, being able to research things like gender dyspraxia (I hope I spelt that correctly) and biological reasoning behind sexual orientation. I do think that ignorance has a large part to play in the lack of acceptance, for obvious reasons.

(Snip) I feel that the gaming medium has far too few positive homosexual characters. They tend to be overly flamboyant and their sexuality becomes their entire personality.

This is actually where a large part of my homophobia came from in early adolescence. As popular media depicts homosexual characteristics in an exagguarated manner, and since I was just started to become a sex obsessed teenager, I was worried that gay men had the same mentality as me, and that they would want to try and sleep with every man that crossed their path. It took me a while before I realised that sexual orientation is basically a footnote on their personality.
A lesbian friend of mine recently had someone ask her, "Why are you gay?" She promptly replied, "Why are you straight?" Asking questions like that falls into the rather daft category along with "Why are you tall?" or "Why are you Asian?", with the universal answer, "Because I am".

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

Being Strait is fine
Being gay/lesbian is fine
Bisexuality doesn't exist, it's just someone resisting the knowledge that they are queer.
Transsexuals have a mental disorder. I've never been sure why they were lumped in with the gay and lesbian community, but if you want to put a knife to your penis then you are fighting your natural biology.

I dont think you are qualified to comment on what does or doesnt exist. If someone wants to be something it does exist. And nothing you do can make a person wrong about who they are. Best deal with it.

I agree that hacking off your dick doesnt make you female as much as attatching a fin makes you a dolphin. However people can want to be what they want to be. Its natural biology for senescence to kill us at about 80 with old age to prevent horrible cancer. Yep, the defence mechanism to prevent cancer kills us by aging us. How about that nature? Do we fight it? Damn right we do. I dont think you can comment on what is and isnt natural or who people are or arnt,

 

[Giest4life]

A straight guy is not going to be interested in playing a game where he has to rescue a gay love interest.

That is an extreme generalization.

And false logic too. By that I as a gay gamer should not have any interest in playing a game where I have to rescue a straight love interest. And how many games have that?

I agree, it is an extreme generalization, but I think it is true for me. Giving me a same sex love interest would very easily kill my motivation in the game.

 

[Giest4life]

Someone feels like a man trapped in a woman's body, nature has f***ked up and we need to fix it. I'm not quite seeing the problem here.

Nature and general evolution has brought mankind to the point they are at today, instead of being one of the many dieing out species, it has also made and formed the planet we are living on with its different biotopes and has done pretty much "right". One could argue that mental states going against that natural order of evolution and reproduction might as well be "nature fucking up" one would like to "fix" as you so well put it as has been practice 50+ years ago, but I'm sure you didn't want to go there xD

The moment you can cure gender dystopia is the moment you become a very rich man. Until your future space-mind comes up with a solution however, all we can do is alter the body to suit the mind rather than the other way around.

Just because nature and natural selection does many things right doesn't mean it can't get things wrong.

Quick note: Nature does not do things "right" or "wrong." "Right" and "wrong" are prejudices of man. Nature simply does.

 

[drisky]

I can not sat that I ever personally knew any of the mentioned categories, but my opinion is:
Being gay, lesbian or bisexual is fine with me (as long as gay guys don't try to make "moves" towards me), because it is their sexual prefference. Must I be disliked by other humans because I like black-haired women? Of course not.
I still think, that most humans must be straight, well, you know, so that kids would have both biological and mental connection to both of their parents.

Transgender though... *sigh*
Listen, my opinion is that if this person does not hide his/her state, then it's...well...managable.
But if this person, for the sake of example, lets call her Sam(born Samuel, now Samantha), meets a guy, a straight guy, and tells him that she women all the way, that means that she is LYING(yes LYING)to him in a very unrespectable manner. To make it simple, eventuall this guy will find out that he has been making out with another guy. In "already" female body, but still.
Imagine what kind of trauma the guy will get.

That is my opinon.

I would just like to note that its pretty rare that a transgender person won't tell you before any make outs occur. The whole "surprise penis thing is, for the most part, a myth. Transgender people know that it is in bad taste not to bring it up before a relationship starts, even after having all the surgeries. Aside form that what they were born as shouldn't matter. Transgender people recognize that most won't be ok with it sexually and will bring it up before anything physical happens. They know it will come out eventually and are not out to trick the straights (or gays for the matter). The chances of your scenario happening are extremely slim. Also I believe, having to live your life as the wrong gender, is probably more traumatizing then unwanted make outs but that is just me. Pretty much all trans people people have been thought depression.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

I will say that I don't see a huge need for sex in games though. I mean, there are very few games where a personal relationship like that actually mattered to the gameplay or story. And if it doesn't matter to the gameplay or story, then it doesn't really need to be included at all.

Quoted for truth.

I'll offer one argument against homosexuality in video games for the purpose of discussion and playing Devil's advocate. Businesses cater to a client base, always have and always will. Mills & Boon publish "chick-lit"/erotica because it's what their audience wants and expects, for example. Similarly with video games, in the same way the developers now develop for consoles before the PC (because that's where the greater sales are), I would hypothesise that protagonists are straight, and mostly white males, because the vast majority of gamers who buy those products are too.

The protagonist is usually an "everyman", if not largely undefined (or player defined) so that players "project" onto them, and thus homosexual protagonists will largely remain scarce if not, non-existent. Why cater to a smaller market, when by making the protagonist straight, the target audience will be wider? (In the same way contemporary games are generally developed for the most mass-market appeal, and are thus a little more dumbed down than they used to be).

The above is a question for discussion, not my own views.

 

[Gorilla Gunk]

I don't care what anyone does in his private life, he can have sex with mailboxes for all I care (as long as they aren't mine), but the trend to want to push one's own sexuality into someone else's face e.g. "Look at me, I'm gay, respect me, I'm special!" and the "token gay character" that every TV show and/or movie has to have today to be "complete" is somewhat pissing me off sometimes.

I've heard this a lot and the thing that annoys me about this viewpoint is how one-sided it is. A heterosexual person can say how they "don't care" what gay people do as long as it isn't thrown in their face, but god help me if I say the same thing about straight people.

Example: People make a huge fuss about gay characters in games, especially if that gay character can be you provided you flirt with the right people. They'll ***** and moan until the sun sets about how the developers are "forcing" homosexuality down on them. But the second I complain about the scantily clad, big-titted bimbos that are practically used to wallpaper some games everybody turns to me and says "Dude? What's the problem?"

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

They...are people. And that is about it. I really don't care what your sexual orientation is. You are the same person whether you sleep with men, women, or both.

 

[SnakeoilSage]

I'm straight as an arrow, and I'm still looking forward to an Arkham City-style game starring Shoreleave from The Venture Brothers. Hell, I'll take it if it stars Brock Samson, and Shoreleave is a DLC. Boom, yummy.

 

[sleeky01]

I'm writing a Essay in my Critical Thinking Class about how the LGBT(Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) community is viewed by the gaming community.

I'm more curious what a "Critical Thinking Class" is. Is is a High School course? Collage? Uni?

What course package is it wrapped up in?

 

[Don Savik]

I'm straight as an arrow, and I'm still looking forward to an Arkham City-style game starring Shoreleave from The Venture Brothers. Hell, I'll take it if it stars Brock Samson, and Shoreleave is a DLC. Boom, yummy.

I think Shoreleave is the perfect character this thread is talking about. Everything else seems to one-sided. You can clearly tell that he is gay within 3 seconds of seeing him, but does it fucking matter in the slightest? Not at all.