Poll: Games aren't gay enough.

[Rayne870]

Anders from dragon age 2 was gay, and an amazing character.

Anders was bisexual. And he broke my heart as a straight man playing a female character and romancing him. I still love him though lol.

OT: Sexual orientation is a really hard thing to execute well in games. I am happy with gay characters being put in games but I want them to be less shoehorned in and have it just sort of be a thing that is. I think ME3 did a pretty damn good job with Cortez, in my lengthily talks with him I wasn't concerned at all about him being gay, but I was concerned with his life and how he dealt with losing his spouse and moving on. It was a very endearing story to me and I felt very connected to him as a result.

On the topic of ME3 is Vega gay or straight or just not interested in hanky panky? I haven't figured it out myself from my playthroughs. And while I initially hated him for looking like he walked off of the Jersey Shore I grew to like him after awhile, but I could never really figure out his motivations for sort of flirting with my Femshep but never really following through.

Garrus was BI. So I guess that counts... right? Whatever.

He was? I had no idea, I always figured he was Mansheps bro and a possible Femshep romance. I guess they really did things right then if it slipped past me that he was bi. Kudos to them for making it possible but not just blatantly noticeable. Always romanced Garrus on my Femshep and always thought it was one of the most endearing stories of love ever told.

...why do I keep playing females and romancing men...

 

[Ljs1121]

I disagree. Every Call of Duty match I play online has at least five people within calling each other homosexual slurs. I can't think of a reason to call somebody a homosexual slur if they aren't homosexual!

In reality, I couldn't really care less. I was a bit disheartened to not see a "Who gives a flying fadoodle?" option, but I assumed that's what Bengay was for.

It would be nice to have the option for people that wanted it, I guess.

 

[BoogieManFL]

Seems to me most of the time game a character's sexuality isn't of any relevance.


And to be honest, while I literally have nothing against gay people (I'm of the mindset, if you're not hurting anyone, knock yourself out, have fun) I don't know how much I'd enjoy playing a gay character in a game. I can honestly say not as much, because it simply wouldn't appeal to me. And in no way different than how I wouldn't want to play a game where I played some annoying little douchebag kid, or someone overtly evil. It just it wouldn't appeal to me much in the same way I don't care for racing games.

Until it's very profitable to do so, I don't see it becoming as common as heterosexual characters.

 

[Flutterfly]

Deconstruct it far enough and being gay is a sexual preferance, so is preffering under age partners. Then we start getting into dangerous waters. I don't like to get too involved because we are supposed to feel pity for one sexuality and despise another. Why are there parades for one and court sentances for another?

...I feel genuinely frightened by your assertion and people who think in such a way.

You don't know gay people, you've said it yourself. So maybe you shouldn't compare this massive group of 30% of the total population to pedophiles, and condemn a group of people you clearly know nothing of.

You feel frightened by people who have a differant opinion? I never condemned gay people I just shrug. To my reasoning a sexual preferance is what you prefer to have intercourse with and often it isn't a choice. Some people are born gay, some develop it over time or just go through a phase. Just think its a bit odd that we advocate one group and are meant to do the 'right' thing and support them while condeming other minorities who share the same trait of being differant.

Your different opinion is simply thinly veiled bigotry. You dare compare pedophilia and homosexuality and act like you're the reasonable one? No. You're not reasonable. When a pedophile has sex with the child they desire, someone gets fucked up for the rest of their life. When a homosexual has sex with the person they desire, it's the same as heterosexual sex. No one gets hurts in adult, consenting relationships unless .. it's non-consenting.

 

[Brendan Stepladder]

The Brotherhood of Steel follower in New Vegas was a superbly-written lesbian. Still, that one character is not enough to refute the OP's point.

 

[Relish in Chaos]

I do not understand people who say they cannot relate to gay relationships. Why not? I honestly don't get it! I'm gay and I find it perfectly easy to become invested in straight relationships.

The same reason interracial relationships, despite quite a number of them existing in reality, barely exist on TV. It's not "normal", and some people just can't take it. It's what you call "subconscious discrimination". I know it's from the 1990s, but just watch The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and count how many white girls Will hits on or dates, despite the fact that he lives in one of the richest parts of California.

PS: The people who keep saying they don't care about a characters sexual preference and how it wouldn't really bother them if X character was gay are so full of shit it's coming out of their eyes.

Really? I know I certainly wouldn't care, unless it was an annoying stereotype. Sexuality really doesn't matter to me.

So in a game, developers have to make it PAINFULLY obvious that a character is gay or else people will argue forever that the character is straight as if liking a gay character makes them gay also through some weird transitive property or something.

Well, similar thing, but apart from in the win/lose quotes of other characters, they didn't make it painfully obvious that Poison in Street Fighter X Tekken was a transsexual or, as Japan like to say, "a man who tucks away her business to look female".

And pretty much her only defining trait - and the reason that she was included in the game in the first place - is that people liked her so much, presumably for being one of the most notable transsexual videogame characters, and a sexy one too. So that's proof that, at least, not everyone were acting like a bunch of sexually insecure schoolboys scared of catching "teh gay".

I think there was a trans woman in Catherine, but luckily, I don?t think they made a big deal out of that. And isn?t Bridget from Guilty Gear a boy who was raised as a girl?

*snip*

Um...no offence, but I'm not sure you're allowed to admit to being a paedophile on these boards.

But yeah, I agree that, especially in the media, there needs to be a clear distinction between a paedophile (someone who?s sexually attracted to prepubescent children) and a child molester (someone who sexually abuses underage children). Not all paedophiles are child muleteers, and not all child molesters are paedophiles (because, for the latter, some are just sadistic and/or kids are easy targets).

We shouldn?t be prosecuting people for thought crimes, but there should be better rehabilitation for paedophiles so we can stop the problem at its source rather than shunning them and them potentially ending up molesting a child anyway because they didn?t get the help they needed.

Just a thought on the RPG's that 'allow' the protagonist to be homosexual: Doesn't that imply that homosexuality is a choice, which, from my understanding, is a sentiment that homosexuals don't approve of?

No more than choosing your gender or skin colour in RPGs is a choice. It's just a videogame mechanic.

 

[Skops]

I voted 'more gay' but let's be reasonable with it okay? Just because a character is homosexual does not mean he talks and dresses like the most flamboyant assless chaps wearing fag around. I'm not gay, but I know gay dudes.. And even they say "your sexual orientation doesn't change how you speak, or your ability to dress like an average person"

 

[Flutterfly]

I would simply not play a game that had a homosexual lead.

How do you know any of the women or men you've played as, from Mario to Samus, aren't gay or bi? Did they tell you?

And that's the key. Their sexuality isn't important and most people just assume those characters are heterosexual anyways.

But if it ever, came out, that Mario and Donkey Kong, etc are officially gay, I would never play one of their games again.

You're awful.

 

[Nieroshai]

Ballad of Gay Tony. The Avatar in Ultima (if the player chooses). Fallout 2 (see Ultima). The Fable trilogy (I'm sure it's canon that you're bisexual). Knights of the Old Republic. Dragon Age. Most dignified examples I can think of lets the player choose their sexuality. In other situations, the character simply is or is not. In other mainstream games, especially JRPGs, you aren't playing yourself, you are controlling the navigation and combat of an established character. That character is not you, but a complete creation of the story writer. There are so few homosexuals, that it shouldn't be surprising at all they are rarely seen. Besides, how many characters have you seen, especially in Japanese games, where you told yourself "Yeah, he's in the closet"? Many, is all I can say. If homosexuality was more common than 10% of the population (+-4%, it's based on poll data, it could be as low as 6% or as high as 14%, and that's including bisexuals), then of course it would be portrayed more often. Companies create to entertain, however, and the current largest market happens to be heterosexuals, primarily males. It's the same reason you rarely see games from American studios set in, say, Finland.

To ward off any potential "You're a homophobe" remarks, that'd basically mean I had an irrational fear of myself. Which I do, just for other reasons not related to genitals.

 

[thenumberthirteen]

I didn't even read the OP. "More Gay" is the answer to almost any question.

OT: I think the industry should do more with non-heterosexual characters. There is a whole world out there, and it could add to the experience as well as give us an awesome gay videogame hero.

 

[Nieroshai]

I would simply not play a game that had a homosexual lead.

How do you know any of the women or men you've played as, from Mario to Samus, aren't gay or bi? Did they tell you?

And that's the key. Their sexuality isn't important and most people just assume those characters are heterosexual anyways.

But if it ever, came out, that Mario and Donkey Kong, etc are officially gay, I would never play one of their games again.

You're awful.

This conversation raises a point I want to expand on. There are so many games and characters that don't even raise sexuality as a character point. What if Samus is a lesbian? I could link to about a thousand DeviantArts and fanfics that seem to think so. The point is, at least I think, this topic isn't as relevant as we like to treat it. Do I need my character to have a love scene? No. Do I need a character to be the same orientation as me? No. Unless I'm playing an open-world RPG that lets me play myself and let me make every choice according to my own preferences, like a Bethesda game, I don't care. My spellthief is me. Nathan Drake, Samus Aran, and Master Chief are not. I'm playing the game to have fun, and expperience their story. If I want to be the star, as they say, there's an app for that.

 

[geK0]

I have photo evidence that all the female characters in Zelda are gay!

 

[Nieroshai]

Just a thought on the RPG's that 'allow' the protagonist to be homosexual: Doesn't that imply that homosexuality is a choice, which, from my understanding, is a sentiment that homosexuals don't approve of?

It allows the player to generate a character that's like him/herself. Completely different. You can also choose your skin color, does that mean the game's saying skin color is a choice? You can also choose your name, something you usually can't do without legal red tape. Oh, and you can choose your gender.

 

[Froggy Slayer]

More gay in games where it would actually be relevant and enhance the experience; mainly RPGS. You don't really need to know a characters sexuality in a game that's only about shooting the terrorists.

Although I do find it strange that with the Mass Effect example that people find it worse to have same-sex intercourse than to bone an alien

 

[WaRreapeR7]

I personally don't even believe, in the slightest amount what so ever, that being gay or lesbian is right, but it should be something more prevalent in games, if that game may call for it. Not all games need it because maybe its just in the character to be heterosexual, or its just something that isnt even important to the story, but just like in Mass Effect, its about creating a character who you reflect yourself in, or who you would like to see yourself as, if not playing the role of an entirely pre-determined character.

It'll come up more and more as gay rights make more of a standing and maybe more respect in society as a whole. I just don't think it has to be emphasized so very much or that others should find it too offensive that it may not include gay, serious or not, characters.

 

[Signa]

I don't know OP. I'm not saying we should not have gays in games, but we really shouldn't have gays in games.

What I mean by that completely intolerant statement is that a "well written gay character" shouldn't be any different than a straight character. If they are written to differentiate themselves from straight characters, they pretty much are going to have to be flamboyant. The thing is, what you do in video games usually has NO crossover in what you do in the bedroom (besides play more video games).

Picture this: A straight guy, a gay guy, and a transgender male (female acting male) are all in the military front lines in real life. How do you tell them apart? Well, the tranny might look a little more feminine, but they all are still shooting the bad guys. That's what they are there for, and that's what they need to do to survive.

In a video game, the only way to show these differences is have the straight guy being all "AMERICA, FUCK YEAH!" the gay guy hiding in a foxhole putting on nail polish, and the transgender doing I don't know the fuck what, because I can't even think of poorly written transgender characters right now. Maybe letting his inner chick get the best of him/her/it. See, a well written gay character wouldn't do anything different than a straight guy in the same situation. Maybe if more games were like Mass Effect where dialogue and relationships were a huge part of the game, it could work. But by far the majority of games feature sexuality-neutral situations for the player to overcome, and not for them to be concerned with who the character would bone.

Actually, if you want to think of The Kid in Bastion as gay, go ahead, it doesn't change a damn thing about the game. That's really what this problem comes down to, just mindset. Hell, most "damsels in distress" could be saved by the "gay" hero just because she's a really good friend, or he needs fashion tips. That could explain a lot about Mario actually. Since the majority of game characters don't have sex, or are never implied to have sex, you could think of all of them as gay.

 

[Tanis]

Best Homosexual Character In A Video Game Goes To...

Kanji Tatsumi

 

[GameMaNiAC]

...
-[small]Fallout 2[/small]
-The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
-Planescape: Torment
-Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura
-Persona series
-[small]Grim Fandango[/small]
...

You... you even put Arcanum in there! That is, to me, the best written video-game of all time, and exactly before reading your list I told myself I won't find it on there. But I did.

You, sir, deserve a cookie. A lot of them.

OT: I don't know about this. I choose Bengay! The thing is that I don't really care about homosexuality. You can put it in if you want (hurr-hurr), but as it has been said before, I think it would be badly written, as is the case with heterosexual relationships.

I myself prefer hetero relationships in games, as I am heterosexual. But I would find nothing wrong with a homosexual one, provided it was well-written.

 

[Cheesepower5]

In Persona 2: Innocent Sin, you can choose between 2 girls and a guy as your love interest. The gay male party member is very effeminite, but a deep and interesting character none the less.

And as a straight guy(or so he SAYS,) I agree. I wanna see more gays. Cool gays, funny gays, badass gays, sissy gays, guy gays, girl gays. No need for it to make up the majority of the population, but one or two in most games would be nice, with varying characterization and roles. Same for any race that fits the setting, women and what the hell, little people... Which, to me, sounds even more condescending than "midgets," but whatever.