222: Not That There's Anything Wrong With That

[Angerwing]

That's always been one of the things I don't get about homophobia: Just because they like men, doesn't mean they like YOU. Not every woman in the world is clamouring to have sex with every man, just like every gay man doesn't want to jump the bones of every other man. I liked this article a lot. Yet homophobia seems to be the most common intolerance around. A whole bunch of my WoW Guild Mates shat brix when I told them the Spartans were all homosexual, and got annoyed when I told them why. One of them even got quite hostile with me, and still won't use my name without adding some expletive.

I made this argument last night while on the phone with one of the guys I work with. Me being a bisexual female in a workplace of straight men.....I think we were talking about something different and differences between gays and straight people came up.

I loved this article.
Ignorance is bliss to some(as far as the Spartans go) and intolerance is a way of life for others. I don't agree with either but really its that persons loss to not see how amazing of a person someone else is just because of them being gay or female or what not.

Video games should incorporate female main characters and gay main characters. I fully stand by that. And make them good games not just random crap to shut people up.....

Pretty much the last paragraph. I fully support having gay main characters, but the problem is, why should they be gay when being straight changes the story in no way? Wider market from having straight protagonists, and since gaming companies are out to make money, a wider market is more important than individual rights. But in order to make a game with a gay protagonist it has to be irrelevant to the story, as mentioned in the article, otherwise it will just be a gimmick and the game will invariably be bad. But that leaves us with a regular game with a protagonist who just happens to be gay. An then we come back to my previous point; why, without any other agenda, would a video game company make a game with a gay male protagonist, when a straight male protagonist will make more money?

That is the real problem discussed I think, not the lack of gay protagonist games out there, but the lack of acceptance for gayness in games.

By the way, I am a fully straight male, under the age of 20.

 

[shMerker]

I'm a little confused as to why you post these news items about your articles. If people aren't reading them maybe it's because they don't realize that they're there. The front page of the site is kind of cluttered. Perhaps the articles would attract more attention if they were given more prominent space on the front page for a longer period of time instead of being forced down as soon as someone releases a video.

 

[Jake Lockley]

I have yet to encounter anyone online or off that is homophobic. Bigots, yes. Homophobes, no. I have also never encountered a homo online or offline that was someone to be afraid of. What's to fear? The term 'Homophobia' has simply become the new race card. I'll call it what it is - hedonism (as compared to being interested in the biological purpose of life (procreation) and a greater good (survival of the species)).

 

[Susan Arendt]

I'm a little confused as to why you post these news items about your articles. If people aren't reading them maybe it's because they don't realize that they're there.

You just answered your own question.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Not terribly long ago (in a cosmic sense) I wrote a post [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.96480?page=1] about an issue somewhat similar to this, where a talented Modder was being harassed for posting nude male models and clothing that displays male genitalia for the games Morrowind and Oblivion (for which there are literally tens of thousands of different nude female models and clothing showing off breasts and vaginas). The kicker in my tale, though, was that the Modder is female herself and yet was derided for creating "gay" Mods, as though only those works which cater to heterosexual males should be allowed.

As others have said both here and in my thread, as well as in my own experience, those who complain the loudest about this sort of thing are usually the most insecure about their own sexuality or place in society, and therefore feel the need to object the loudest when anything that might force them to react comes along. "Methinks the gentleman doth protest too much" really comes into play here.

However, another aspect that seriously bothers me is those responses from otherwise well-meaning heterosexuals that basically equate to "Well, I'm okay with how this is set up, so why does it bother you so much?". It's a distinct and disturbing lack of empathy for others who are already struggling to gain acceptance for a way of life that, in its basest aspects, HARMS NO ONE. Seriously, fellow straight guys, let's "man up" and put out a hand to give our gay friends and neighbors some help. If you're as secure in your sexuality as you should be, then Chet in Accounting being gay shouldn't matter any more than him being a Red Sox fan or a collector of prog rock albums. Real men don't let some idiot's biases keep them from doing what they know is right. Right?

On a side note- some in this thread should ask "why should the protagonist be gay?" To that, I respond "why should the protagonist be straight?" If it's some minor blurb in a character bio, then why should it matter? And if it comes up on a more visible level in the game itself... well, come on, Lara Croft flirted at one of the male characters back in the original Tomb Raider, did that bother anyone? Don't be afraid to challenge your head as much as your thumbs.

 

[domicius]

Good article. Good read. Good grief!

 

[Drakey]

I suppose If I were to make a game, the love interest of the main character would be of same sex origins. I would want them to be a gay couple only due to the fact that I understand it.

That would be why the article was written as a way of saying (to me), just going on this topic seems silly inside, because in another aire this article should have been about the success or details of the game.

cheers to the audiences cheer

 

[SomeUnregPunk]

I remember playing doom. A sexless beast of a man.
Now we get games where the sexuality of a character is considered the first and foremost important aspect of the characters. Just look at how some of these characters are dressed. If I'm going into a gun fight, I'm wearing more than shirt that barely covers my chest.

I'm waiting for the day when games will get past this and just use a character's sex or orientation as part of the character history.

I.E. You play the entire game trying to get home to your wife Jackie and when you do finally reach the final cutscene, He is as big as a tub of lard and he's eating donuts while crying over your rumored death. Prior to the ending scene, all you knew is that the character loved his wife and was willing to beat the snot out of everyone just so he go home.

 

[shMerker]

I'm a little confused as to why you post these news items about your articles. If people aren't reading them maybe it's because they don't realize that they're there.

You just answered your own question.

Yeah, it just seems like just making the articles more prominent to begin with would solve the same problem more elegantly.

 

[DayDark]

I think we need more gay in gaming, I'm totally straight, but come on, gay people are always under fire, for unfair reasons. Most games are about fighting back, put me inside a gay character (no pun intended), and then hand me a shotgun, let me put down some discriminating pricks. At least it will be original.

 

[Kwatsu]

Homophobia = FEAR of gay people.
Some kid called me gay on Xbox live, I asked him how he knew (I'm not really gay), he said because he fucked my mom. This lead me to the conclusion that he is my father who left when I was a kid. Man he sounds young, but I was so glad to see him I sent him tons of messages asking him to come back home and he never replies ;_;

Kudos to you, sir.

 

[cobra_ky]

I suppose If I were to make a game, the love interest of the main character would be of same sex origins. I would want them to be a gay couple only due to the fact that I understand it.

that's why it would be great if games were designed by a more diverse group of people.

 

[boholikeu]

I enjoyed Yang's mod, and I definitely agree with him that there need to be more gay protagonists in video games, but I still don't think that making the player character in Handle With Care gay was a good idea. I realize that part of what Yang is trying to do here is show how little that detail matters, and how it should be a "non issue" when we encounter a gay character in video games. Unfortunately though, the very nature of Yang's medium (small scale first person mod) coupled with his chosen setting (couple's therapy) MAKES it a big deal. Players inevitably want to know as much as possible about the character they are playing, and since the mod gives us very little information about James' background aside from his homosexuality it's only natural for players to assume that that is what the game is going to be "about". If Yang really wanted to play down the importance of his protagonist's sexuality he really shouldn't have included it in one of the first lines of dialogue.

 

[wonkify]

I'm not sure you're asking for too much. With the majority of hetero interaction in games seemingly locked at the level of sniggering, horny 13 year old boys, getting things right with homosexual relationships seems a little advanced.
Here's hoping for more maturity in the future in all aspects of gaming. Fun and smart go together every time, maturity should make gaming better yet.

 

[Robert Yang]

If Yang really wanted to play down the importance of his protagonist's sexuality he really shouldn't have included it in one of the first lines of dialogue.

Well, one of the weird paradoxes I talk about in the article is about how "playing down" the importance was my way of "playing it up." It was an important detail to me, obviously, but still just a detail.

Which is why it disturbed me when people critique the "gayness" as the main "flaw," when (a) my mod is riddled with much more substantial flaws, and (b) there isn't even much of this stereotypical "gayness" to speak of, and (c) it's almost like saying casting Lara Croft as a white woman is a design flaw.

PS: what happens when I "play it down" completely, as in Polaris, is that I get accused of tricking people, so I guess I just can't win with some people (though I think of the narrator in Polaris as more of an ambiguous gendered character rather than a man)

 

[lostbuthappy]

I always wanted to make a game about two men falling in love (oh wait, I didnt mention the word gay in the sentence), and then go on a crowbar-swinging monster-killing ride to brokeba... city 17 where Jimmy T. saves his ex-boyfriend Gordon F. from Alyx V. I obviously never made it.
Now Rockstar Games does it and they don't fuck around: WARNING, this game contains at least one GAY character! GAY TONY! Discuss it in the forums you stupid nerds and do like it cause we define what's cool, got it? (What was I talking about? Oh yes!) Of course this is the real topic as even The Escapist did not only accept but even asked for THE GAY. Yay, thank you so much for a chance to speak out. If you don't mind I'll be going somewhere else now.

{

that's why it would be great if games were designed by a more diverse group of people.

It would help tremendously if they chose to design games FOR a more diverse group of people.
}

 

[Sporky111]

I think we need more gay in gaming, I'm totally straight, but come on, gay people are always under fire, for unfair reasons. Most games are about fighting back, put me inside a gay character (no pun intended), and then hand me a shotgun, let me put down some discriminating pricks. At least it will be original.

I'd play that.

Really well written article. It sucks how the editor actually made the author edit out his sexual orientation in an earlier issue. Even worse, is that it would have largely gone unnoticed anyway. This is just a great issue for breaking down some barriers, because I know that some of those ignorant, loudmouthed pricks are on this site.

 

[Necrofudge]

I just find it horrible that it was a big deal.

 

[boholikeu]

Well, one of the weird paradoxes I talk about in the article is about how "playing down" the importance was my way of "playing it up." It was an important detail to me, obviously, but still just a detail.

Which is why it disturbed me when people critique the "gayness" as the main "flaw," when (a) my mod is riddled with much more substantial flaws, and (b) there isn't even much of this stereotypical "gayness" to speak of, and (c) it's almost like saying casting Lara Croft as a white woman is a design flaw.

PS: what happens when I "play it down" completely, as in Polaris, is that I get accused of tricking people, so I guess I just can't win with some people (though I think of the narrator in Polaris as more of an ambiguous gendered character rather than a man)

Thanks for the reply.

Actually, thematically speaking I do think the "gayness" is the game's main flaw, but only because it acts as a sort of red herring for what the focus of the game is going to be. Due to the political nature of the whole issue, making your main character gay isn't so much like making Lara Croft a woman as it is like making your protagonist a Tibetan monk and setting the game in China. James' homosexuality is going to stand out even to people that aren't necessarily homophobic, and when the story of Handle With Care doesn't "follow through" with that detail it can all seem a little distracting.

Anyway, that's just my ivory tower critique of it. I realize that the complaints on your forums (especially the one quoted in your article) are based on discrimination, which is why people complained about Polaris too. Thanks for writing such a great article about this on the Escapist, and I can't wait for your next mod!

 

[snownd]

Thank you for this view point. I honestly have been trying to use gay phrases less when I play video games because I know that there are people out there that dislike it,mabey even loath it, when people like me do such things. So in short I want to say that your thoughts words and actions, I believe, are a step in the right direction.