222: Not That There's Anything Wrong With That

[tehwalrus]

As a white male bisexual from Canada, who has spent alot of time at 4chan(where every insult is appended with -fag, and gay people have to be insulted as gayfags) I really cannot understand why this is something that matters so much to gay people, but the author of the article definately has the right idea: if you really think there should be more games with gay protagonists, go out and write some. Break the ice so the big companies can do it after all the stigmatism is gone, because if that sort of hatemail he's getting for his mod is what to expect, they're right for sticking to straight protags and not losing the sales.


As a sidenote, why is it that everyone's okay with being hateful to ignorant people? They can't help it, it's just how they are.

 

[MrJohnson]

Man I feel bad know. I use the "f" word all the time, and I'm bisexual. Actually, I've been using it less since it lost it's originality. I suppose I should move to somewhere more tolerant too though. Not that Iowa is bad.

 

[UnSub]

because we need to evolve past the same male power fantasies, those same damn games with big-muscled, half-naked men shooting their big thick ... railguns ... all over each other's faces.

I understand the correct response in this situation would be BOOM! HEADSHOT!

An interesting article - hopefully the situation will change over time (not that I'm thinking GTgAy: The Adventures of Gay Tony, Who Is Totally Gay is going to improve gamer perceptions in the US about gay characters).

Off the top of my head I can only think of one lesbian character - from the Fear Effect games on the Playstation. That's a while back too.

 

[Sypher2]

Has anyone else noticed this is NOT a counter strike mod?

It REQUIRES HL2:E2.

The magazine on the table in the little room you start in is very phallic. (Not that there's anything wrong with that)

As I was playing I noticed my characters name was James and that the person I was in therapy with was a male, But I didn't really care, I was busy being inside a mind trying to store memory's and learning that I get paid shit wages as a worker in James' brain.

The Therapist gives negative responses to the events that end the game with James and Their partner remaining married
and Positive responses when you destroy a memory create and you end up getting divorced

Yes I thought he was gay, no I'm not gay, but I enjoyed this game Regardless, What are the real messages anyway?
The ones we decide we've received

 

[srpilha]

The sex would be awful.

why on earth?? seems unfair to assume I couldn't get any better through practice...

great article, and a good issue of the newsletter altogether

 

[Hulyen]

Marcus Fenix could easily be gay and have a picture of his partner in his wallet that he shows to someone just to dare the plot gods to try and kill his invincible badass self.

*That* would make me play Gears.

I can only imagine the shock to the average tough guy when he finds that out. Would he, in fact, cease playing immediately?

Happily, it seems that "Noob" is far more pervasive that "Gay" or "******" in all the online shooters I play now. I suspect it's because, for the most part, teens could really care less about someone's sexuality. Judging by the people my daughter knows, somewhere around 70% of high school kids identify as gay or bi. But then again, they still have pride rallies and put up posters, so mebbe it's just who she hangs with.

I've found saying things like "No, I'm straight, but thanks for asking!" confuses the hell out of the people that throw out gay as a random word.

Same way people responded when they found out that Samus Aran was *gasp* a GIRL!

....huh. There's some interesting allegories to females in gaming and gays in gaming to be made there (hurrah, people think they're still minorities!) but I'm not talented or sleep....filled enough to do it.

 

[Fullforce]

Fantastic read. Really enjoyed reading it, and I always love a bit of self-deprecation!

The argument about the lack of gay guys in videogames comes with the implication that there are an overwhelming amount of straight guys in videogames. I disagree with this. For example, at no point (that I can recall!) in Gears of War was it ever established or made a point that Marcus Fenix is straight. Or gay. Or anything. It's irrelevant to the storyline. It's a game about cutting people up with chainsaws, so it doesn't really matter. But of course it's assumed he's straight, which I suppose is fair enough.

And of course, more relevantly, Gordon Freeman. Freeman's never shown as gay or straight and like James, he doesn't talk. So what's the real difference?

I suppose my point is that there isn't a majority of straight characters in videogames, just an implied majority. The only games I can think of that go out of their way to establish the sexuality of the characters involved is GTA (Notably GTAIV, The Ballad of Gay Tony) which helps flesh out the characters and give them a more convincing aura.

By including a LGBT character, you are making a point about that character and your videogame. But by including a straight character, surely you are making the same point?

(On a side note, I find it interesting that in GoW, Marcus Fenix's sexuality is never defined but Dom's is. And while Dom isn't the main playable character, of course if you're playing co-op, he becomes that main playable character for one of you.)

 

[Patrick O'Leary]

'When a gay person hears "******," they hear it as a question'

E-fucking-xactly. I've recently been trying to describe the source of that burning sensation I feel when it's said, and this the perfect phrasing. Great article.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

Bizarrely enough I think Star Trek summarised the problem of homoesexuality in any media a while ago. They were criticised for not including any homosexual characters in ST: TNG, and their response was 'the only characters we showed in relationships just happened to be straight, and what do want the background gay characters to do? Should we have them prance around the ship?'

Maybe the first bit is a bit of a copout, but seriously, if a character's sexuality isn't either being overblown (Will and Grace) largely ignored (Dumbledore) or being used as the central point of a developing relationship in which the homosexuality is the entire point of the story (can't think of a well known example), then what exactly is a gay character supposed to do to make the audience very aware that 'THIS ONE RIGHT HERE IS GAY!'

People don't go around loudly announcing that they're heterosexual or homosexual in real life (except for a few examples, but there's nutjobs everywhere in life so...) but for some reason we expect for homosexual characters to be very clearly identified, and if not then a whole host of moral conservatives crawl from the woodwork declaring they were tricked into watching/reading/playing a gay character.

If only we could treat homosexuality in media the way it is in real life, some people live utterly normal lives and go home to a partner of the opposite gender, some people live utterly normal lives and go home to a partner of the same gender, and it's no one's business or concern which group you fall into.

 

[DoomyMcDoom]

it is interesting how some people can be so senselessly hateful in this world, of course where I live, I've never seen such hatred for the most part against homosexual people outside highschool, and about a year after I left that god forsaken hellhole, they started expelling people for hatespeech and all sorts of stuff... it's actually harder to go through school here as an average heterosexual white male than it is anyone else... but hey, I'm a heterosexual white male, but I also have friends from all walks of life, from all sorts of cultural backgrounds all different colours, all sorts of sexual alignments, I'm not one to judge, of course I also react the same way to ALL forms of unwanted advances, be it from a guy or a girl who I ain't into, I've been called everything from gay to homophobic in so many situations I must be the gayest homophobe in existence! but seriously, intolerant people will be intolerant, haters gonna hate if you will... I was picked on bullied and treated like shit by everyone around me including my family until I nearly killed myself to escape it, and was medicated to hell and back then story of my life blah blah blah... you get the picture.

AND I'M THE AVERAGE one, I'm white, I'm average height, lil hefty but almost average weight, I'm smart and stuff, but I don't think much of it, and I get shit on by people for it, and they're white and hetero too, so if yer gay, join the club friend, people would hate on you either way, you don't even gotta give em a reason.

 

[Grey Day for Elcia]

I wish people would stop talking about homosexuality in games like it's a big deal. Who gives a shit? I have yet to see an article about the sexuality of Link from The Legend of Zelda. Or are we just going to assume he is straight and pour on the hetero-guilt? I'm bi, I guess (it's a long story) and I couldn't give a flying turd who or what the people in video games want to love and/or get under the covers with. If you're spending enough time thinking about it, you're the one with the problem--the rest of us are busy not caring.

It seems the more people pretend it's an issue, the more it becomes on. We go out of our ways to invent sexuality where there isn't one. It's a video game, for Christ sake. How many times do we have to hear people say "Oh but there aren't any gay characters in video games." Says who? Crash Bandicoot from the game of the same name is now gay. There you go.

P-lease.

The article wasn't about that and it was actually well written. But I wanted to get that out there. So there you go, lol.

 

[Grey Day for Elcia]

'When a gay person hears "******," they hear it as a question'

E-fucking-xactly. I've recently been trying to describe the source of that burning sensation I feel when it's said, and this the perfect phrasing. Great article.

It's entirely misplaced anger. ****** doesn't refer to a homosexual in any way and if you let it, you've only yourself to blame. It sounds absurd, but hear this out: klihobop--I invented that word just now and it means heterosexual person, especially in a negative context. From now on, I will shout it at straight people and try to make them feel bad about it. Do you think they will care? Of course not. You know why? Because who gives a shit what I think and who cares what words I want to use to express my thoughts.

If you get angry over a sound, you let them define a word and have power over you. In other words (/pun) they succeed at getting you down because you let them.