Would you still play a game if the main character was gay?

[Split Moon]

Yeah i'd play it even if the main/ favorite character was gay. I mean it doesn't really effect how the game plays. The only poblem i'd have with it is whether the game was marcketed as "The game with the gay Protagonist!!" that's about it.
It'd be kinda intersting though to see how it would affect the story though.

 

[GodofCider]

I'm male, but mostly prefer to play as a female in games. However my sexual preferences do not change in games where it matters; so make of it what you will. Most of my characters are 'physically' homosexual.

Also, I don't understand this thread.

What game would I possibly be playing, where the lead characters sexual preferences are so prominent, that the s/he is identified as a character preferring sexual partners of the same gender.

What a pointless thread...

This just wreaks of 'what is a topic I can make that will cause a stir'.

As opposed to your comment.

 

[Dr. Whiggs]

Being gay doesn't change how well you fire a gun in an COD does it.

Obvious Gay Joke you are cleared for landing on runway 3. Touchdown in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

"I would say having limp wrists greatly effects how you handle your weapon!"

Obvious Gay Joke has landed, please taxi to Gate 7.

 

[megaraccoon]

sure would after all im gay i could finally relate to a character

 

[Dys]

Absolutely not. I don't play games based on the sexual orientation of the playable character, especially if it is both insignificant and irrelevant to player choices, and I see no reason for a game to specify that the protagonist is gay other than to pander to people who whine about the lack of gay protagonists, and that whole argument bores me....

Seriously, how would it help, say, super mario brothers if the character was gay and princess peach was instead prince potato? It's a stupid change to make and any game that relies on such a 'controversial' theme to get some attention is almost definitely a too poor of a game to draw attention based on the merits of its game play. I mean, sure, if it was a fantastic game other than that then I'd probably play it, but I just find that somehow hard to see how that kind of stunt would risked on a legitimately good game, and I see no reason to hurt the classic series with this no age, equality bullshit. If you want to play as a gay dude/chick, go ahead, I don't give a shit, just don't force it on already established games...And for the record, I'd far prefer a generic space marine blowing the crap out of things than a romance driven (gay or straight) FPS where I'm supposed to be more motivated by my love of some anonymous digital character than I am for my love of blowing shit up.

 

[Jonluw]

Sorry if that sounds Hetronormative, but by the same logic i also don't play sports games, because i have no interest in televised sports.

I think you're missing the point here. The fact that the main character is gay doesn't mean that the game will revolve around engaging in "gay activities"
In other words, the game doesn't have to be about being gay for the main character to be gay; in the same way that other games games with heterosexual main characters aren't necessarily about being heterosexual or engaging in "straight activities".

Sure it will, otherwise there would have been no point making him gay to start with... Game developers aren't exactly well known for subtlety.

We're not asked to assume that developers would act realistically. The only condition is that the main character is gay. Not that the main character is gay, and the developers base the game around this.
Like someone else said, for all you know, Marcus Fenix is gay.

It's not about whether the way game developers handle sexuality would ruin the game for you. It's about whether the main character's sexuality would ruin the game for you.
Imagine that someone took your favourite game and changed it so that, at one point, it is mentioned that the main character is gay. Would this mean that you would now dislike that game?

 

[Jonluw]

Imagine that someone took your favourite game and changed it so that, at one point, it is mentioned that the main character is gay. Would this mean that you would now dislike that game?

I'm sorry but there is more to having a gay character, then having someone say, "oh by the way did you you know Luigi likes to take it in the pipe."

Lets be honest, there was a reason i didn't play Persona 4 & thats because the main character was gay as a rainbow, shinning over a pride parade. Nothing personal, like i said i'm also not interested in playing a sports game for exactly the same reason.

-M

p.s I have no idea who Marcus Fenix is?

He's the main character of Gears of war.

The thing is that from your post I inferred that you would not be able to like a game if it at some point mentioned that the main character was gay. Regardless of whether he acts upon it in the game or not.

You say you wouldn't play a game if the main chracter is gay for the same reason that you won't play sports games.
Well, that's fine and dandy, I don't like sports games myself, and I wouldn't play a gay dating simulator. However, not wanting to play a game because the main character happens to be gay is like not wanting to play a game - not because it's a game about sports - but because the main character happens to be a football fan.

In this day and age it is of course unlikely that a main character will be gay without the developers making a big deal out of it; but that's not the issue.
If I could prove to you right here and now that Luigi likes to take it up the pipe, would you no longer be able to play super mario brothers?

I'm not asking you to consider a realistic scenario. I'm asking you to consider the prinicple of the thing.

Because, apparently, there's not more to having a heterosexual character in a game than to merely say he is straight, so it shouldn't be different with homosexuals.

 

[VanillaBean]

I don't see why not but it would be kinda difficult with my hardcore conservative parents. So I guess I would just wait until I moved out.

 

[The Illusive Man]

I would play a game like that yeah, it does not really bother me what sexuality the main character has.

 

[Morgue13-2]

People who wouldn't disgust me. I play games where the main character is a straight blonde man, when I am none of those things, so why shouldn't others?

 

[Jonluw]

The thing is that from your post I inferred that you would not be able to like a game if it at some point mentioned that the main character was gay. Regardless of whether he acts upon it in the game or not.

See thats where your view of the gaming industry & mine go seperate ways. The gaming industry does subtlty in the same way that mac donalds does healthy food...

Don't get me wrong, I never implied that the gaming industry would handle it with any grace. Like I said - at least the way I look at the issue - it's not about how the gaming industry handles such issues, but about how you handle it. In the hypothetical scenario of a game having a gay character - the way I read it - OP is asking you to consider if you would be comfortable playing as a gay character in a game that is otherwise indistinguishable from a "normal" game.

From what I see the thread is about your stance on homosexuality, and as such variables such as how other people (game developers) handle it need to be removed from the equation in order to get a meaningful answer.
That's what I was trying to get at in the first post I made way back there.

 

[Alpha Centauri]

Yeah sure I don't care either way

 

[Tanner The Monotone]

Would you still play a game if the protagonist, antagonist or favourite character in the game was gay?
State the game, the character and a yes or no.
The character could be lesbain also but don't say yes because you think it would be hot if the main character lesbain.

For me yes infact it would maybe make it more reason to play the game because then atleast the character would be interesting instead of generic spacemarine.

I wouldn't mind. Now, if they were making out or doing it, then yeah, I wouldn't want to play it.

A lot of games such as uncharted 2 i think show the characters making out then the screen blacks out you just know they are having sex.

What if that happened? Two men kissing, they fall onto the bed and then take off their shirts and then the screen blacks out. What would you do? I would find it very erosing i mean im getting hard thinking about it but would you put down the controller if you knew i could happen again?

If it was a good game, no, but I would keep an eye out to make sure Id have enough time to cover my eyes before it happens (I'm not gay, so it doesn't really do much for me )

 

[Hiphophippo]

I wouldn't play Duke Nukem if he was gay. It defeats the purpose of a proudly misogynistic protagonist.

That's an interesting example. It'd be a totally different game if Duke was gay wouldn't it? I'd probably play that game but I think we can all agree it'd be quite different.

 

[Aetera]

I definitely would, but I'm gay, so I don't know if I'm the right person to ask. That said, I'd hate it if it was just a gimmick. "Look, he/she's GAY! Like, SUPER gay! Aren't we different?!" I'd really like to see a game where the character just happens to be gay, and it's just one aspect of their character. Finding well-developed, three dimensional, non-stereotypical/gimmicky gay characters is fairly rare, even outside of video games. Bioware usually does a pretty good job, Zevran as a Depraved Bisexual notwithstanding. The best example that I can think of right now, in any form of media, is Agent Smecker from Boondock Saints.

 

[Taranaich]

When it comes to antagonists, let's just say that if you have ever played a game about Conan that has featured characters from the books, a few of them were "boy lovers". Conan was before political correctness when it was written, and while it was never a focus, Conan has a major amount of contempt for gays and "boy lovers", and while never descriptive a number of his enemies were supposed to have been weakened by such "civilized decadence". Of course in the video games they rarely even go as far as the stories (both canon, and very old non-canon) did, which wasn't very far. Like most heroes a lot of his enemies "almost get him" in one way or another (a trap or spell, if not a straight fight) so you really can't call them impotent (so to speak) for their orientation irregardless of what Conan might think.

Having read every single Conan story by Robert E. Howard, I really have to ask what story you're talking about where any of this comes up. I don't even think there are any overt references to homosexuality in all the stories. The most I can think of are subtle sado-masochistic lesbian overtones in "Xuthal of the Dusk" and "Red Nails," and *one* reference to naked slave boys in "The Scarlet Citadel" that says nothing about them save the fact that they were naked, but certainly nothing as profound as saying that Conan definitively has a "major amount of contempt for gays and "boy lovers.""

You must be talking about the stories by other authors, and the earliest of those was written in 1957, a good two decades after Howard died. That's not even getting into the fact that few of the enemies Conan faces in any of the games appear *at all.* The only major antagonist I can think of is Thoth-Amon, and I sure can't remember any reference to his alleged homosexuality.

 

[Silent Biohazard Solid]

As long as it isn't revolving around romance, sure I would. I don't really enjoy watching man on man affections. But if it's like... Here's a guy who's stuck in a nasty situation, umm.. surrounded by zombies or something, having to survive and make it to safety. Oh, and he also happens to be gay. Then sure, I'd play that. The only problem with that is, that I hate it when they make a character gay just for the sake of making them gay and not playing any part in the storyline. So it's a difficult balance.
So maybe if he gets scrutinized in the storyline because of his sexuality, and as a result, homophobic side characters don't want to team up with him, which leads him to more danger, or something of the sort, that could be interesting.

As an example... I'd play Silent Hill 1 if Harry was gay. A gay man, taking care of his daughter, would actually be more fitting, I think.

 

[Irony's Acolyte]

I wouldn't turn down a game based on the fact that the main character was gay, if that's what you're getting at. Now I might not play it for other reasons (story sucks, games sucks, too expensive, whatever) but the sexual orientation of the main character doesn't really factor into why I do or don't play a game.

Even if there was a gay romance sub-plot in the game, I still would play it. Sure I might be a bit odded out, but then of course being a white mostly straight male, I think I can deal with it considering how often game romances are targeted towards me.