What about the queer female gamers?

[Ghengis_tron]

I'm a bit like the rest of the posters here, I honestly don't care if a gamer is straight, gay, black, white, perriwinkle, etc. if they play games they are gamers. I can see where a little recognition is nice, but then again won't we need to have recognition for all orientations and races?

As for the portrayal in games, well, sex sells and they are trying to target the vast majority of gamers. Is it right? No, but this is unfortunately the market that stands to be the most lucrative. Yay capitalism?

 

[sneakypenguin]

Heh so what if lesbians are under represented in gaming. Why do groups feel entitled to representation or respect in any medium? Maybe it's just my live and let live attitude about things

I wouldn't say that not wanting representation or respect is a 'live and let live' attitude. That's more of a 'walk all over me and see if I care' kind of attitude.

But its not something where your in anyway oppressed. Its sexuality in a game. And Oh noes they don't have mine. It's not walking all over you at all. seriously if someone is offended over lack of representation in an entertainment medium just wow. If this was something important then complain away but its really insignificant.

 

[ryuutchi]

I really think you're nit picking at this, considering the articles are just about being gay gamers.
They have excerts from guys yeah, but dear god it's not like they're ignoring the point that lesbians exist.
There is nothing in those articles to say all homosexual players are men.

No, it doesn't say that. But the arguments made in every article focus around gay men. Even Main's article on genderqueer character focused on male characters who aren't male-gender-normative. Alice Bonasio's (excellent) article focuses exclusively on male gamers and game developers. Robert Yang's (also excellent) article was, as he himself noted, coming directly from a gay male point of view.

Nothing in the article says that all gay gamers are male. Nothing in the articles, however, mention women at all, so one could be excused for inferring that all gay gamers are apparently male.

 

[Labyrinth]

But its not something where your in anyway oppressed. Its sexuality in a game. And Oh noes they don't have mine. It's not walking all over you at all. seriously if someone is offended over lack of representation in an entertainment medium just wow. If this was something important then complain away but its really insignificant.

If every character/protagonist/antagonist in say, literature was a white heterosexual male or a sexy woman for the mental imagery of white heterosexual males do you think we would complain any less?

 

[ryuutchi]

I wouldn't say that not wanting representation or respect is a 'live and let live' attitude. That's more of a 'walk all over me and see if I care' kind of attitude.

But its not something where your in anyway oppressed. Its sexuality in a game. And Oh noes they don't have mine. It's not walking all over you at all. seriously if someone is offended over lack of representation in an entertainment medium just wow. If this was something important then complain away but its really insignificant.

Let's do a thought experiment! How about you imagine that every character in every book you read, every movie you watched, every television show you watched, and every video game you played was gay. That, outside of some niche market developed specifically for those straight people, you pretty much never had a straight character you were expected to identify with. That the characters who WERE straight were so patently absurd that you were either supposed to jeer them as villain or laugh at them as comedy.

Think about how much media you consume in your life-- how many webcomics or comics you read, how many books, how much TV and movies and video games. Imagine you almost NEVER saw someone who was like you. Go on. Tell me that's insignificant.

 

[Shapsters]

As you said:

What about the gay women?

I don't understand what you're getting at here. You want people to discuss homosexual women? ...Alright, what's to discuss? That you play games, too? So does everyone else, gay, straight, men, women, black, white, asian, hispanic, martian, those with brown hair, those with green eyes, ones who like Saving Private Ryan and ones who found Scary Movie to be funny.

Should we start making threads for them too?

True, true, true.

Honestly, who gives a shit? Whether your a guy, your a girl, your gay, your black, your a fucking four legged transvestite, I don't give a shit!

You play games, whoopdie doo!

 

[grimsprice]

I'm a bit like the rest of the posters here, I honestly don't care if a gamer is straight, gay, black, white, perriwinkle, etc. if they play games they are gamers.

Apparently thats grossly inappropriate and offensive.

No, I didn't miss your point. What you miss is the fact that what you said is insulting whether you realize it or not.

And I'm curious, what aspect of your core identity is a commonly used slur on XBox Live?

I've been called a "racist, cock-head, cracker" before, But it doesn't hurt me to be reminded rather violently and offensively that i, indeed, have a penis, or that i am white. I don't care if other people hate that about me.

And about Ghengis_tron, we are on the same page, a gamer is a gamer, regardless of who or what you are. Its not the mediums fault if someone else tries to hurt you with words, and its not the mediums responsibility to reform hateful people.

Life is about dealing with what you are and enjoying that, in spite of the people who hate you for it.

 

[sneakypenguin]

I wouldn't say that not wanting representation or respect is a 'live and let live' attitude. That's more of a 'walk all over me and see if I care' kind of attitude.

But its not something where your in anyway oppressed. Its sexuality in a game. And Oh noes they don't have mine. It's not walking all over you at all. seriously if someone is offended over lack of representation in an entertainment medium just wow. If this was something important then complain away but its really insignificant.

Let's do a thought experiment! How about you imagine that every character in every book you read, every movie you watched, every television show you watched, and every video game you played was gay. That, outside of some niche market developed specifically for those straight people, you pretty much never had a straight character you were expected to identify with. That the characters who WERE straight were so patently absurd that you were either supposed to jeer them as villain or laugh at them as comedy.

Think about how much media you consume in your life-- how many webcomics or comics you read, how many books, how much TV and movies and video games. Imagine you almost NEVER saw someone who was like you. Go on. Tell me that's insignificant.

Okay i'm a hardcore christian, imagine every entertainment medium going against something you believe. Every movie has sex, drugs, language and whatnot. Do I care that I'm in no way catered to? not really. SO what if every guy in gaming is a foul mouthed killing machine. If the world was gay and straight was a minority I would accept exclusion as long as it wasn't oppressive. If its a big deal for representation in gaming then get your millions of gays and put in some cash to make one. Like I said if there's a market it will be made, just look at the movie industry.


EDIT: screwed up postage, might fix later

 

[sneakypenguin]

also claiming cause there's "no gay option" doesn't make the game homophobic. it could be that people don't want things like that in the game. also there is the fact that gay people aren't that common, under 10% of the population and i doubt that changes when translated over to the gamer crowd. so what good reason do developers have to actually make "the gay option" when they wouldn't sell enough to even cover the cost of replication let alone development

Agreed 100% Its the same with any minority. If i'm making a game (a business) I'm not going to cater to the 10-15 percent I'm going to make it for the majority. And in gaming this is the white straight male. I fail to see why people would view that as racists, homophobic or whatnot.

What seems racist and heterophobic and whatnot is that you think we white straight males aren't interested in playing things other than white straight males so that the only way to cater to us is to give us people who are exactly like us ;-D

But its still a minority though

 

[ryuutchi]

I've been called a "racist, cock-head, cracker" before, But it doesn't hurt me to be reminded rather violently and offensively that i, indeed, have a penis, or that i am white. I don't care if other people hate that about me.

Life is about dealing with what you are and enjoying that, in spite of the people who hate you for it.

Because white men are so discriminated against. Yeah, life is about dealing with what you are in spite of people who hate you for it. It's a lot easier to do that when, you know, you can walk down a street holding your partner's hand without worrying you'll get beaten. Or making 70 cents to someone else's dollar because of what they have in their pants.

I enjoy who and what I am. That doesn't mean I'm going to stop calling out douchebag attitudes about it. Because I'll like myself a hell of a lot better when I know that I'm actually speaking up for who and what I am, and pointing out when people are being hateful about said personal identity.

The point about the X-Box Live insults is that when it comes down to it, the things that you get called are not things that remind of actual, real life discriminations. You can't say the same about the things I, or Mr Yang, or other people on this thread get called.

 

[ZombieVictor]

What do I have to do to get rid of this entire thread? What does a persons sexual preference have to do with playing video games?
Do homosexual men that play WoW use male avatars so they can look at a guys butt the entire time that they play?
Does it matter?

 

[sneakypenguin]

also claiming cause there's "no gay option" doesn't make the game homophobic. it could be that people don't want things like that in the game. also there is the fact that gay people aren't that common, under 10% of the population and i doubt that changes when translated over to the gamer crowd. so what good reason do developers have to actually make "the gay option" when they wouldn't sell enough to even cover the cost of replication let alone development

Agreed 100% Its the same with any minority. If i'm making a game (a business) I'm not going to cater to the 10-15 percent I'm going to make it for the majority. And in gaming this is the white straight male. I fail to see why people would view that as racists, homophobic or whatnot.

What seems racist and heterophobic and whatnot is that you think we white straight males aren't interested in playing things other than white straight males so that the only way to cater to us is to give us people who are exactly like us ;-D

But its still a minority though

Hmm?

Should have clarified, I don't deny that there are white straight males that would like to play gay/lesbian/midget/different characters, but that those people are still in the minority.

 

[Firia]

I'm a gay gamer girl. Sadly, this isn't the place I expect to see alot of input on the topic.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

as for being "forced" to play a straight person, well the developers are NOT putting a gun to your head and saying "you must play this game" you can go play other games. you have that choice as a consumer.

WELL SHIVER ME TIMBERS, I HAVE A CHOICE? Oh yeah, my choice is "play as a straight person or don't play anything at all."

really cause EVERY game has a guy in it? sorry but no and most of the time they don't walk around with the neon sign saying "HEY EVERYBODY I'M STRAIGHT A STRAIGHT GUY AND I LOVE THE PUSSY"

the fact is that most of the time they do NOT even deal with the sexuality of the character in the game because frankly it doesn't matter

Okay, I'll go play another game.

What games are there where I can play a respectable, not-slutty bisexual female?

...What's that? None? Oh look, to play videogames at all, I guess I DO have to play as a straight character.

EDIT: Obviously, I could play an MMO and design myself a gay female character, but the articles referenced are generally referring to single-player games, as is this topic. Just cutting off some arguments before they begin.

or conversely does it really matter? there's tons of games where the sexuality of the character isn't even brought up. i mean look at games like tombraider, the main character is female but what if you want to play the game as a male? you can't do that

both of you are trying to force on a choice that's not needed or frankly desired by 95% of the population and by most good estimates, the gay population is only 5% or so of the entire human population.

if you really want to make a change then do it yourself instead of complaining that someone else should do it and i suggest you start here [http://www.amazon.com/Art-Computer-Programming-Volumes-Boxed/dp/0201485419/]

 

[sneakypenguin]

Or making70 cents to someone else's dollar because of what they have in their pants.

Jus to point this out equally skilled woman make about what males do. The 70% is as a whole, and because women typically go into lower paying fields that number is bound to be lower. Nothing sexist about it.