The Surge in LGBT rainbow characters - AKA: The New Demographic and why its happening.

[Angelblaze]

Upon coming onto the forums I'd promptly heard about MKX's new supposed openly gay character, Kung Jin. I didn't even know MKX was coming out and I wouldn't have cared if I didn't see the SJW character. (Yes, yes I can feel the 'you shouldn't pick a game merely because it has a certain character archtype- blah blah blah coming on, just wait.)

This got me thinking, why are there so many gay/LGBT characters suddenly? Sure, its a progressive decision to make...then I realized why.

The most vocal demographic is now not the 'stereotypical'/'assumed' heterosexual white male but the internet sjws, the people that hate them, the people that support the addition, the people that hate it and everyone that heads to twitter, or tumblr, or the internet forums or whatever to talk about it.

Why?

Because its nearly-free advertising, plain and simple. (There are other reasons, such as people just wanting to write characters who are gay or in the LGBT group rainbow, people who are required to put at least one gay character in, etc)

Say a character is gay, in some way imply that this has had a negative effect on their life and let the e-cocks begin battle. Every gaming news website (for lack of better words) will swarm upon it like starved creatures on roadkill because there's virtually nothing to report that will cause as much forum posting, internet ranting or mere conversation. You don't even have to show them having sex with someone of the same gender or dressing up as the opposite sex. Just imply it, and people will swarm on it (and if anything, the more you tease them the more they want it. See: Sherlock fandom. And yes, that was intended)

My point is, do you think that this effect has somehow...'fetishized' the original point of HAVING inclusive characters, which was to give LGBT people and youth someone to look up to for reasons, not just because of their sexuality but also because of the trials they face that are NOT related to their sexuality? Does this say that LGBT people are not people anymore but now are nothing more then their sexuality/personal identity, etc, a symbol of previous oppression instead of an actually fleshed out character?

Additional notes below, but its basically a rant/further one-person self discussion on the topic.

Spoiler

My favorite character within in the past 2 years of gaming was an asexual spirit...ghost...apparition...with the body and face of a farm hand and a 'human terms and phrases and society are really weird and I adorably don't get it' personality like Teen Titan's Starfire (Dragon Age Inquisition: Cole. Such a cutie).

I love LGBT characters. I enjoy the concept of having more progressive games, games with more inclusive narratives and things such as that.

Now, is this to say that somehow a gay character is always a good addition to the game? In my opinion as an author, not really. After all, I am a non-heteronormative (Asexual) and I believe we've hit a point where we unfortunately have turned gay/lgbt people into false heroes who are ONLY strictly fighting against one specific thing: ignorance. They, in the narratives in which they exist, only seem to exist with the singular problem of not being excepted due to their sexuality/personal preferences.

Instead of writing characters we write lgbt people, whose only problems revolve in and around their gayness. They don't have the 'normal everyday problems' we humans face, they aren't people who are lgbt. They are lgbt icons. People whose only worth and value in any form of narrative comes from the ignorance they fight against. They aren't on a quest to save the world because its the right thing to do, they're on a quest to save the world cause their non-heteronormativity pushes them to do it. They don't have rent or bills to pay, or anything stress over other then being lgbt. They're just there to be a messiah like figure that only gets rejected due to the ignorance of the rest of humanity (aside from our more then likely heterosexual protagonist who is always so totally cool with the whole thing.) This turns them into forgettable one-off characters who don't ever really impact anything, including the narrative they are in.

I believe we need to humanize our LGBT characters, give them you know...actual issues to fight against that are no different then those of their straight counterparts. Then let people know either through narrative THAT DOES NOT REVOLVE AROUND THEIR SEXUALITY that the character is the way he/she/the mx., is.

To wrap it up...I want more games like Rogue's Legacy in which a character could be gay and it does impact gameplay/get revealed through narrative in an extremely subtle sense (gay character changes which statues drop meat/mana.) and not like MK X's 'People didn't like me because I was gay'.

tl;dr: it keeps happening not just because it is a progressive decision and allows you to target a 'new' market of customers, but because people crying about it is easy advertisement, people agreeing with it is easy advertisement, the inevitable news post about it because having a gay/non-heteronormative character is advertisement, forum threads JUST LIKE THIS ONE YES I REALIZE THE IRONY talking about it are free advertisement. And this isn't a bad thing. Just that having just gay characters and nothing else beyond 'yes all their problems are coming from gay. no one has any problems besides this' is not a good thing.

On a side note: Where were all the people making threads about the Evil Within's main cast being all Latino-descended/Asian-descended/Women/Mentally ill people? Because that was awesome.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

Basically what it is, is pandering. It's pandering because a lot of people with no connection to the community are championing the community as of late. Really it strikes me like why so many people want gay marriage without actually being gay them selves, and without considering what sort of possible consequences there are for it. I'm not gonna dive in to detail on that matter though.

What it comes down to is that there are two small groups of players who actually want LGBTQ/rainbow representation. One is actual LGBTQ people who want representation, and want characters that they can relate to. The other side are the gamers who are like, well Yahtzee for a lack of a better example. People who want games to take them out of them selves and show them a new experience, or at least have the option be present. The rest are a bunch of social/cultural warriors who demand things for smaller groups, who have no idea that by fighting someone else's fight they're undermining that fight. Basically by demanding it so fiercely then it get tacked on in a token matter that lets them pat themselves on the back, while leaving the group they championed feeling unsatisfied.

 

[SmallHatLogan]

I guess I haven't been playing the same games as you since I haven't seen any instances of a gay characters whose main characteristic is that they are gay and their main problem is associated with that.

And in regards to the Kung Jin thing (which I had no idea about), this is what I found in the first article when I googled him:

In the scene, Raiden tries to convince Kung Jin to join the Shaolin Monks, and follow in the footsteps of his ancestry. Kung Jin is resistant.

"I cant? They won't accept," Kung Jin says. To which Raiden replies:

"They care only of what is in your heart, not whom your heart desires."

As far as I know this is the only mention of his sexuality. Seems pretty mild, not something they go on about and not really what I would consider an LGBT hero.

I think the issue is less about the inclusion of these characters and more that some people turn them into some kind of icon to either decry or rally around. As soon as people hear "gay character" they start beating the war drums.

 

[Fappy]

Honestly, who cares? Unless the game is depicting the character in a lazy, stereotypical way then who the fuck cares what the dev's motive is? Avoid tokenism and write a solid character and it's a win/win for everyone involved.

 

[Bat Vader]

Honestly, who cares? Unless the game is depicting the character in a lazy, stereotypical way then who the fuck cares what the dev's motive is? Avoid tokenism and write a solid character and it's a win/win for everyone involved.

That's how I see it too. I thought the way Bioware handled Steve Cortez in Mass Effect 3 was pretty awesome. He wasn't in there to be a token gay character. He was a well written character that just happened to be gay. I don't really care what sexuality a character is as long as they are written well.

 

[Fappy]

Honestly, who cares? Unless the game is depicting the character in a lazy, stereotypical way then who the fuck cares what the dev's motive is? Avoid tokenism and write a solid character and it's a win/win for everyone involved.

That's how I see it too. I thought the way Bioware handled Steve Cortez in Mass Effect 3 was pretty awesome. He wasn't in there to be a token gay character. He was a well written character that just happened to be gay. I don't really care what sexuality a character is as long as they are written well.

"STEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Yeah, he was a cool dude and I think his sexuality surprisingly added a lot of depth to his character. Probably one of the best written gay characters in recent memory.

 

[The Lunatic]

The problem is how well the characters are done.

A lot of games just have a lot of stereotypes, and whilst it is true that stereotypes tend to have some basis, they tend to be more an aggregation of groups and to condense them into a single form is a little cringe worthy.

Bioware games always fall foul of this. We have characters that often don't bring much more to the plate than being "The gay one", "The Jock one" and so on.

Unless the game features a scenario in which the character's romantics interests come to light, really, there shouldn't be an awful lot to define them as an "LGB character".

 

[Knight Captain Kerr]

Anyone who cares about Social Justice is a SJW? Nice to see the threshold is so low.

Also people who aren't LGBT championing the rights of LGBT people? They have compassion for others? How horrible. People who weren't slaves or black championed the abolitionist movement in America. Men supported female suffrage. I don't see why caring for groups you aren't part of is a bad thing.

Maybe, and I know this is a crazy idea, but maybe developers include LGBT characters because they want to. Pretty sure that's the case in Bioware games. And maybe we are seeing more LGBT people in things now because they're more socially accepted than they were even a decade ago. Were there same-sex relations (including marriage) in Fallout 2 back in 1998 because they were hoping it what get lots of internet publicity or because Black Isle wanted to?

As a personal note I didn't really know what bisexuality was until my teenage years (kind of horrible that that was possible in retrospect, good job Irish education system) because nobody ever mentioned it to me and media never had bisexual characters. My favourite game as a teen (and still my favourite game today) was Fallout: New Vegas and I thought it was really neat that I could play a bisexual protagonist in that game and that all the other LGBT people were treated as people like anyone else. So as a bisexual teen media probably did impact me and help me come to terms with myself. There's probably a Trans person out there right now who's favourite game is Dragon Age: Inquisition and Krem helps them come to terms with who they are. It's not the reason people do it but I consider that a pretty good side effect.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Maybe, and I know this is a crazy idea, but maybe developers include LGBT characters because they want to.

Wait, what? You're allowed to have LGBT characters in something without trying to cash in on the evil SJW caring about bigotry? Is this a new rule?

As a personal note I didn't really know what bisexuality was until my teenage years (kind of horrible that that was possible in retrospect, good job Irish education system) because nobody ever mentioned it to me and media never had bisexual characters. My favourite game as a teen (and still my favourite game today) was Fallout: New Vegas and I thought it was really neat that I could play a bisexual protagonist in that game and that all the other LGBT people were treated as people like anyone else. So as a bisexual teen media probably did impact me and help me come to terms with myself. There's probably a Trans person out there right now who's favourite game is Dragon Age: Inquisition and Krem helps them come to terms with who they are. It's not the reason people do it but I consider that a pretty good side effect.

Very much this, lots of people from various minorities keep saying much the same thing. First African American female astronaut inspired by Uhura from Star Trek, for example.

 

[JoJo]

Anyone who cares about Social Justice is a SJW? Nice to see the threshold is so low.

Also people who aren't LGBT championing the rights of LGBT people? They have compassion for others? How horrible. People who weren't slaves or black championed the abolitionist movement in America. Men supported female suffrage. I don't see why caring for groups you aren't part of is a bad thing.

Maybe, and I know this is a crazy idea, but maybe developers include LGBT characters because they want to. Pretty sure that's the case in Bioware games. And maybe we are seeing more LGBT people in things now because they're more socially accepted than they were even a decade ago. Were there same-sex relations (including marriage) in Fallout 2 back in 1998 because they were hoping it what get lots of internet publicity or because Black Isle wanted to?

As a personal note I didn't really know what bisexuality was until my teenage years (kind of horrible that that was possible in retrospect, good job Irish education system) because nobody ever mentioned it to me and media never had bisexual characters. My favourite game as a teen (and still my favourite game today) was Fallout: New Vegas and I thought it was really neat that I could play a bisexual protagonist in that game and that all the other LGBT people were treated as people like anyone else. So as a bisexual teen media probably did impact me and help me come to terms with myself. There's probably a Trans person out there right now who's favourite game is Dragon Age: Inquisition and Krem helps them come to terms with who they are. It's not the reason people do it but I consider that a pretty good side effect.

Funnily enough I had a similar experience, when I was a young teenager I thought a bisexual was something more similar to what is actually bigender, in my case it took good old Captain Jack of Torchwood make me realise I was barking up the wrong tree there, and that in turn let to self-reflection on my own sexuality. It can't be underestimated how important good LGBT characters can be to kids trying to find their identity, people often seem to forget that.

Anyhow, to the topic in general, I see no reason why gaming can't have room for both characters whose struggles are defined by their sexuality, and also characters who are incidentally gay or bi or whatever. If anything I would disagree with the OP and suggest that in most games that do have LBGT characters it's incidental rather than the whole focus of the character. Depends on the genre more than anything though and what would fit with the game in question. In most action games it wouldn't make sense to put any relationship in the foreground, in a dating sim on the other hand the opposite is true.

 

[Charli]

...I...Honestly don't know what to say to you. No matter the underhanded uses, are you implying that having more diverse casts of characters in anything and progressing on that as time passes by is somehow a bad thing? I some how don't think that's what you mean but it comes off as confusing.

Because in my experience that's the very opposite of what one should expect.

I really don't understand what your issue is exactly...Yes improvements have to be made to include LGBT characters that are not merely defined by their 'tokenism' but you have to look at the previous 'breakthroughs' in character development for women, black characters, hell any 'not default' characters in video games or media. This goes through a phase, where eventually the tokenism will be glaringly obvious for all to see and reconsideration and effort will start to win out.

But the fact that they're included now is a necessary step forward. Weak as it is. Representation is good, Good representation is great. And it will come as more in the industry broaden their horizons and get a feel for what the public is truly aware of and receptive to. It's just slow going because as a mass conglomerate of opinions and people you can't expect change as rapidly as we're all gunning for regarding equal representation. That goes for all... we have to keep pushing and letting them know what we want. Individuals can change fast, groups, large groups, millions are slow changers.

My advice is to not get frustrated with it and keep pushing forward.

 

[briankoontz]

The problem is how well the characters are done.

Really? Because I don't see anyone saying white male characters shouldn't be in games unless they are well written. Suddenly when other types of characters become protagonists there's a surge in interest in the quality of the writing.

A badly written character is just a badly written character. It isn't made *worse* by being other than a white man.

Here's an idea - it's fine to have any type of person (or non-person) as a protagonist in a video game, regardless of the quality of the writing.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Here's the thing though, you say you don't want LGBT characters to wear their LGBT-ness on their sleeve, because then it's just gonna be about the political statement and not the character. But that's pretty much the case with nearly all game characters regardless of orientation (minus the political statement). There's very few game characters that don't suffer from some hefty stereotypes. It seems your issue has more to do with writing than with sexual orientation.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

Anyone who cares about Social Justice is a SJW? Nice to see the threshold is so low.

Also people who aren't LGBT championing the rights of LGBT people? They have compassion for others? How horrible. People who weren't slaves or black championed the abolitionist movement in America. Men supported female suffrage. I don't see why caring for groups you aren't part of is a bad thing.

Maybe, and I know this is a crazy idea, but maybe developers include LGBT characters because they want to. Pretty sure that's the case in Bioware games. And maybe we are seeing more LGBT people in things now because they're more socially accepted than they were even a decade ago. Were there same-sex relations (including marriage) in Fallout 2 back in 1998 because they were hoping it what get lots of internet publicity or because Black Isle wanted to?

As a personal note I didn't really know what bisexuality was until my teenage years (kind of horrible that that was possible in retrospect, good job Irish education system) because nobody ever mentioned it to me and media never had bisexual characters. My favourite game as a teen (and still my favourite game today) was Fallout: New Vegas and I thought it was really neat that I could play a bisexual protagonist in that game and that all the other LGBT people were treated as people like anyone else. So as a bisexual teen media probably did impact me and help me come to terms with myself. There's probably a Trans person out there right now who's favourite game is Dragon Age: Inquisition and Krem helps them come to terms with who they are. It's not the reason people do it but I consider that a pretty good side effect.

That's all well and good. The difference in one key argument is that abolitionist whites were the only people with actual rights to protest, even the free blacks barely had a voice. Slavery wasn't going to stop without white people actively working against it. I'm not against straight people supporting LGBTQ causes, I'm against the people who use it wholly to make themselves look good. People who say something, or do the bare minimum just so they can pat themselves on the back socially and politically.

Now then some developers do just include characters of different races and LGBTQ because they want to, but now devs are doing it to look good. Even back in Fallout 2 the gay/lesbian characters were token, and used in a token way. Oh how cute a shotgun wedding after some fooling around, an action that sticks you with literally one of the two most useless companions. Then you have to go to New Reno to get a divorce or kill off the companion. That's a great portrayal...

Tokenism can be used to reinforce negative stereotypes, which in turn homophobic/transphobic/racist people can use as justification for bad behaviour. They can use tokenism as reasons to justify discriminatory treatment, beatings, and even killings. While this doesn't hold water in court, assuming they get caught, it does make a looney fringe even more dangerous. So while a well written character can help, cashing in on social justice to have a token character is harmful.

Besides that, while it can help people come to terms, it can also insult huge swaths of a community like the LGBTQ community. There are plenty of gay and trans characters around in media... The problem is that they're used as token. There is nothing wrong with asking for better representation in this case. Especially because of how LGBTQ characters have been portrayed since movies were using white actors to play Chinese roles. Most races have gotten far better portrayals where as the LGBTQ community has to claw and beg for even a half decent character.

The problem is how well the characters are done.

Really? Because I don't see anyone saying white male characters shouldn't be in games unless they are well written. Suddenly when other types of characters become protagonists there's a surge in interest in the quality of the writing.

A badly written character is just a badly written character. It isn't made *worse* by being other than a white man.

Here's an idea - it's fine to have any type of person (or non-person) as a protagonist in a video game, regardless of the quality of the writing.

The problem is that a token poorly written white male character doesn't tend to get white males beaten and murdered because some crazy had justification that white people as a whole are terrible. Where as this sort of thing historically gets LGBTQ and non-white people beaten and killed. Bad portrayals can often cause fringe elements to feel justified in doing terrible things in the name of homophobia/transphobia and racism.

Besides that there is still a glut of badly done, token, and stereotypical LGBTQ characters that are insulting to the community. It's justifiable to be upset when game devs cash in on this to look good, rather than to have good characters in general.

 

[cikame]

The reason these characters are starting to show up is precisely because people are making such a fuss about it, if enough people shout that they want to see a movie where the main character is candy floss, someone will make a movie where the main character is candy floss.
Looking at what people want and caving in to their demands instead of having total creative freedom is a bit of a shame, but at least people are getting what they want right?

That's not to say Kung Jin isn't totally the designers vision, i'm just putting out an opinion.

 

[Erttheking]

This is something that makes me tilt my head. Every LGBT character in recent years wasn't because devs wanted to make them? Uh. How do you know? How do you know that the devs didn't just make Kung gay because they wanted to? And SJWs hate heterosexual white men? Yeah, no.

You know, I think we all need to respect devs just a smidgen more. Not all devs completely cave and throw out their artistic vision the second they get criticized, they edit and adjust their work based on criticism and alternate perspective, which in turn gives them new ideas and shows them things work. It's how all art works. I really wish people could understand that instead of constantly going on about how devs are "caving", sacrificing their artistic vision or "appeasing the SJWs." It's being a tad bit insulting to devs really, implying that the choice they made wasn't a real choice or that they are so emotionally fragile that they need to be coddled.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

This is something that makes me tilt my head. Every LGBT character in recent years wasn't because devs wanted to make them? Uh. How do you know? How do you know that the devs didn't just make Kung gay because they wanted to? And SJWs hate heterosexual white men? Yeah, no.

You know, I think we all need to respect devs just a smidgen more. Not all devs completely cave and throw out their artistic vision the second they get criticized, they edit and adjust their work based on criticism and alternate perspective, which in turn gives them new ideas and shows them things work. It's how all art works. I really wish people could understand that instead of constantly going on about how devs are "caving", sacrificing their artistic vision or "appeasing the SJWs." It's being a tad bit insulting to devs really, implying that the choice they made wasn't a real choice or that they are so emotionally fragile that they need to be coddled.

Unless we're talking about indie devs, anymore the publisher tells them what to put in, what to leave out, and what they can, and can't do. Then there's the deadlines, the budget, the money hungry nature of the games industry at current. A lot of devs who work for companies like EA, Activision, and etc... will tell you they don't get all the creative say that they want. A lot of them get things forced on them to make the publisher look good, to make the game more "accessible," or friendly to the core audience. There is a lot of shoehorning and pigeonholing going on due to the fact that publishers will demand things that devs don't want. This is especially true when a social media movement gets going and demands something. Publishers will hammer on devs to get the social media demands satisfied, which in turn leads to lower quality content. Partly because the publishers do this as a cash in and not actually in support of the argument.

 

[Erttheking]

This is something that makes me tilt my head. Every LGBT character in recent years wasn't because devs wanted to make them? Uh. How do you know? How do you know that the devs didn't just make Kung gay because they wanted to? And SJWs hate heterosexual white men? Yeah, no.

You know, I think we all need to respect devs just a smidgen more. Not all devs completely cave and throw out their artistic vision the second they get criticized, they edit and adjust their work based on criticism and alternate perspective, which in turn gives them new ideas and shows them things work. It's how all art works. I really wish people could understand that instead of constantly going on about how devs are "caving", sacrificing their artistic vision or "appeasing the SJWs." It's being a tad bit insulting to devs really, implying that the choice they made wasn't a real choice or that they are so emotionally fragile that they need to be coddled.

Unless we're talking about indie devs, anymore the publisher tells them what to put in, what to leave out, and what they can, and can't do. Then there's the deadlines, the budget, the money hungry nature of the games industry at current. A lot of devs who work for companies like EA, Activision, and etc... will tell you they don't get all the creative say that they want. A lot of them get things forced on them to make the publisher look good, to make the game more "accessible," or friendly to the core audience. There is a lot of shoehorning and pigeonholing going on due to the fact that publishers will demand things that devs don't want. This is especially true when a social media movement gets going and demands something. Publishers will hammer on devs to get the social media demands satisfied, which in turn leads to lower quality content. Partly because the publishers do this as a cash in and not actually in support of the argument.

This is true, no real way to get around that. The problem is that we don't really know exactly what the publisher demands of the dev. A lot of times that happens behind closed doors. Heck, three years later and we don't exactly know if ME3's shit ending was because of EA or not (They say it was Casey Husdon but the BY MOAR DLC thing at the end makes me question if they're being honest with me). So we have no idea if there's a gay mandate, but personally I kinda doubt that. Publishers are the reason so many games a getting homogenized today, making so many games look a wee bit similar, and gay characters in gaming are still too few for it to strike me as something publishers would look at and say "Yeah this is a real money maker!" especially considering the most recent example, Mortal Kombat, is so subtle plenty of people played through the game without realizing he was gay. If the death of survival horror in the AAA market is anything to go by, publishers aren't very good at being subtle, so I doubt this was just a corporate mandate.