Gaming In Color Documentary Explores Queerness in Games

[roseofbattle]

Gaming In Color Documentary Explores Queerness in Games

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Gaming In Color is out now for pay-what-you-want price model.

Gaming In Color is a full-length documentary that explores queerness in games, such as the LGBTQ presence within the games industry. The documentary was funded on Kickstarter [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gamingincolor/gaming-in-color] last year and is now available to purchase online for a pay-what-you-want price model.

The documentary celebrates gaymer culture and events as well as LGBTQ themes in video games. In addition to giving a voice to people who experience discrimination, Gaming In Color also speaks to people who may not consider gaymer culture to be important.

"A lot of the film's message is aimed at people who don't understand the need for queer characters or the fight against bigotry, so we'd also hope to have a lot of straight people seeking to learn in our audience," Gaming In Color director Philip Jones said to Polygon. "The queer gaming community has always existed, and it's only been getting stronger as the years go by. This film has been a long time coming. The eloquence of our cast members and the demand from our fans really shows that this film needs to be made. This is a story that deserves to be told."

Riot Games engineer George Skleres, freelance game designer Naomi Clark, and GameRevolution.com writer and video editor Jessica Vasquez are just a few of the people interviewed for the documentary. Also featured is Matt Conn, founder and CEO of MidBoss, the company that ran the GaymerX convention. He is also the creative director of MidBoss Games for its first game, Read Only Memories.

Queer themes in storylines are characters are still an anomaly in the mainstream video game community, the Gaming In Color website states. Furthermore, power dynamics in games cause mistreatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer gamers in social games.

Gaming In Color is available for purchase from its website [http://gamingincolor.vhx.tv/] for pay-what-you-want. The minimum payment is $1, and the recommendation is set at $15.

Source: Polygon [http://gamingincolor.vhx.tv/]

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[Triaed]

You're missing a U in colour

This is cool! We need game protagonists who are other than white young males... and not just in a historical context (I am looking at you AssCreed 3). Women protagonists, little girls, brown people, orientals, gays, seniors, overweight, etc. C'mon,the "white male" colour palette is quite boring in this picture

 

[Schadrach]

Good for them. I hope it's well made and insightful.

I remember this project when it was still seeking funding, they actually linked me in the OP of the original escapist thread on this kickstarter where I was examining the project for the usual markers of victimhood-for-fun-and-profit, not seeing any of them, and wishing them good luck (and betting they'd narrowly reach their goal, which happens with these kinds of projects I suspect because a lot of the potential money pool for this type of project is more people wanting to "fight bigotry on the internet" in a way that is visible and recognizable by others, because they're really more concerned about the good-guy badge of being able to say they were involved than the actual project). Yeah, maybe, no [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/519615586/yeah-maybe-no] had the same problem.

Only other thing I have to say is that of all the LGBTQ etc etc etc acronyms, my personal favorite is QUILTBAG.

 

[Deathfish15]

It's not "LGBTQ", it's just LGBT as in Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transvestite. The "Q" they try to attach means "queer" which is in incorrect, rather bile word.
Queer by definition is:

1 affected with nausea
2 different from the ordinary in a way that causes curiosity or suspicion
3 noticeably different from what is generally found or experienced
4 having extreme or relentless concern
5 being such in appearance only and made or manufactured with the intention of committing fraud
6 giving good reason for being doubted, questioned, or challenged

That word itself was placed on homosexual individuals because it's a synonym for 'weird' (#2) but in a way that was also used to demean. It's the same as calling someone a "******" to call them a "queer", just generally insulting and all around foolishly ignorant.

This videos lack of knowledge about such as simple thing leads me to believe it's nothing more than a cash-in on a subject that's rather touchy for some and very "in the now" as far as the media is concerned. I piss on the website's ignorance of such things.

 

[ayvee]

It's not "LGBTQ", it's just LGBT as in Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transvestite. The "Q" they try to attach means "queer" which is in incorrect, rather bile word.
Queer by definition is:

1 affected with nausea
2 different from the ordinary in a way that causes curiosity or suspicion
3 noticeably different from what is generally found or experienced
4 having extreme or relentless concern
5 being such in appearance only and made or manufactured with the intention of committing fraud
6 giving good reason for being doubted, questioned, or challenged

That word itself was placed on homosexual individuals because it's a synonym for 'weird' (#2) but in a way that was also used to demean. It's the same as calling someone a "******" to call them a "queer", just generally insulting and all around foolishly ignorant.

This videos lack of knowledge about such as simple thing leads me to believe it's nothing more than a cash-in on a subject that's rather touchy for some and very "in the now" as far as the media is concerned. I piss on the website's ignorance of such things.

Er. I'm not sure where you've been, but the word queer has long since been "reclaimed" and is an extremely common self-identifier that is used more or less interchangeably with LGBT. A lot of people do choose not to use it because of the history of the word, but your information is very outdated.

 

[scw55]

It's not "LGBTQ", it's just LGBT as in Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transvestite. The "Q" they try to attach means "queer" which is in incorrect, rather bile word.
Queer by definition is:

1 affected with nausea
2 different from the ordinary in a way that causes curiosity or suspicion
3 noticeably different from what is generally found or experienced
4 having extreme or relentless concern
5 being such in appearance only and made or manufactured with the intention of committing fraud
6 giving good reason for being doubted, questioned, or challenged

That word itself was placed on homosexual individuals because it's a synonym for 'weird' (#2) but in a way that was also used to demean. It's the same as calling someone a "******" to call them a "queer", just generally insulting and all around foolishly ignorant.

This videos lack of knowledge about such as simple thing leads me to believe it's nothing more than a cash-in on a subject that's rather touchy for some and very "in the now" as far as the media is concerned. I piss on the website's ignorance of such things.

The term "queer" has been reclaimed.
It is used by individuals who fail to see the purpose of categories such as "straight", "bisexual", "gay" etc. Their sexuality isn't defined by a catagory, so they choose the term "queer" because it implies a broad spectrum of sexuality preferences. LGB is rather black and quite categorizing, and having "phases" is homophobic.

 

[Deathfish15]

Er. I'm not sure where you've been, but the word queer has long since been "reclaimed" and is an extremely common self-identifier that is used more or less interchangeably with LGBT. A lot of people do choose not to use it because of the history of the word, but your information is very outdated.

The term "queer" has been reclaimed.
It is used by individuals who fail to see the purpose of categories such as "straight", "bisexual", "gay" etc. Their sexuality isn't defined by a catagory, so they choose the term "queer" because it implies a broad spectrum of sexuality preferences. LGB is rather black and quite categorizing, and having "phases" is homophobic.

Its actually "transgender", not "transvestite". Transgender can be used in multiple ways, but its generally used in LGBT in a way of including both transvestites (crossdressers) and transsexuals (which is very different from crossdressing). I say this because most, if not all, transsexual people take offense to being considered as crossdressers.

And yes, as it has been claimed by two other posters already, "queer" has been reclaimed, and, generally depending on the age dempgraphic, it is very, very widely accepted by the LGBT community as an identifier, at least among people under the age of thirty.

Here's a PFLAG webpage helping explain it: http://community.pflag.org/page.aspx?pid=952

Reclaimed? Are you *bleep*ing kidding me? You cannot "reclaim" something that was never claimed or wanted in the first place. The word "queer" has always had a firm definition of something ordinary, out of the normal, and weird. That's what was slapped as a label against non-heterosexual individuals because it was not within the normals of social conventions. How on Earth can it possibly be "reclaimed" as something that that is now okay? Why would people want to take a disparaging label that still retains it's English Dictionary definition as such and say "it's a good thing, we accept it"? Come on now. Am I the only one that finds it utterly stupid (as in lacking any sense at all)?


P.S. @MarsAtlas I'm sorry I incorrectly labeled the 'T' as transvestite instead of transgender. It was my incorrect understanding in that aspect. Thank you for the correction that you'd posted towards it.

 

[Vegosiux]

It's not "LGBTQ", it's just LGBT as in Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transvestite.

I like to joke how the way letters keep getting tacked on there, I wonder when they're going to decide they need an H as well, in case some herbs come along.

As for the project itself, unlike a few others I could name, this one does seem to have been done really well from what I know of it. So, good luck and all that.

 

[irishda]

It's not "LGBTQ", it's just LGBT as in Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transvestite. The "Q" they try to attach means "queer" which is in incorrect, rather bile word.
Queer by definition is:

1 affected with nausea
2 different from the ordinary in a way that causes curiosity or suspicion
3 noticeably different from what is generally found or experienced
4 having extreme or relentless concern
5 being such in appearance only and made or manufactured with the intention of committing fraud
6 giving good reason for being doubted, questioned, or challenged

That word itself was placed on homosexual individuals because it's a synonym for 'weird' (#2) but in a way that was also used to demean. It's the same as calling someone a "******" to call them a "queer", just generally insulting and all around foolishly ignorant.

This videos lack of knowledge about such as simple thing leads me to believe it's nothing more than a cash-in on a subject that's rather touchy for some and very "in the now" as far as the media is concerned. I piss on the website's ignorance of such things.

Er. I'm not sure where you've been, but the word queer has long since been "reclaimed" and is an extremely common self-identifier that is used more or less interchangeably with LGBT. A lot of people do choose not to use it because of the history of the word, but your information is very outdated.

Just seems redundant really. If queer is interchangeable with LGBT, then why does it needed to be added to the acronym? Isn't it just shorthand?

 

[maxben]

Er. I'm not sure where you've been, but the word queer has long since been "reclaimed" and is an extremely common self-identifier that is used more or less interchangeably with LGBT. A lot of people do choose not to use it because of the history of the word, but your information is very outdated.

The term "queer" has been reclaimed.
It is used by individuals who fail to see the purpose of categories such as "straight", "bisexual", "gay" etc. Their sexuality isn't defined by a catagory, so they choose the term "queer" because it implies a broad spectrum of sexuality preferences. LGB is rather black and quite categorizing, and having "phases" is homophobic.

Its actually "transgender", not "transvestite". Transgender can be used in multiple ways, but its generally used in LGBT in a way of including both transvestites (crossdressers) and transsexuals (which is very different from crossdressing). I say this because most, if not all, transsexual people take offense to being considered as crossdressers.

And yes, as it has been claimed by two other posters already, "queer" has been reclaimed, and, generally depending on the age dempgraphic, it is very, very widely accepted by the LGBT community as an identifier, at least among people under the age of thirty.

Here's a PFLAG webpage helping explain it: http://community.pflag.org/page.aspx?pid=952

Reclaimed? Are you *bleep*ing kidding me? You cannot "reclaim" something that was never claimed or wanted in the first place. The word "queer" has always had a firm definition of something ordinary, out of the normal, and weird. That's what was slapped as a label against non-heterosexual individuals because it was not within the normals of social conventions. How on Earth can it possibly be "reclaimed" as something that that is now okay? Why would people want to take a disparaging label that still retains it's English Dictionary definition as such and say "it's a good thing, we accept it"? Come on now. Am I the only one that finds it utterly stupid (as in lacking any sense at all)?


P.S. @MarsAtlas I'm sorry I incorrectly labeled the 'T' as transvestite instead of transgender. It was my incorrect understanding in that aspect. Thank you for the correction that you'd posted towards it.

The fact that you are wrong really isn't deterring you, eh? Reclaimed means that a minority takes a word that was used against them and spin it into a positive one. I don't approve of it, but that is why black people use the N Word and the LGBT has used queer the way back to the 90s with Queer Nation. It now has a very specific definition, having been embraced by the "labeless" crowd

Just seems redundant really. If queer is interchangeable with LGBT, then why does it needed to be added to the acronym? Isn't it just shorthand?

That's not what it means, queer today is for those who do not label themselves and see their sexuality as a complex mish mash. It's for the people who are not comfortable with any of the LGBT designations.

 

[ChristopherT]

Question : Has anyone watched the documentary yet? And, I having no real idea what this is about, do they spend a large amount of time talking and discussing queer video game characters and themes? I'd be interested to hear some thoughts on video game characters whom are different than the rugged perfectly straight guy characters - like Kanji (persona4), or even Ash or Benimaru (King of Fighters, even though I'm pretty sure they're both straight, but Ash is "girlly" and Beni wears tube tops), or Guilty Gears' Bridget, or the ones I don't know anything about and haven't heard of, but could be fun to learn about.

 

[Strazdas]

I have always been gaming in color, i my monitor is not in black and white.

It's not "LGBTQ", it's just LGBT as in Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transvestite.

I like to joke how the way letters keep getting tacked on there, I wonder when they're going to decide they need an H as well, in case some herbs come along.

As for the project itself, unlike a few others I could name, this one does seem to have been done really well from what I know of it. So, good luck and all that.

LGBTQSBBQ? they do keep attacking the letters, there is 7 now according to some people. i dare not try to say it out loud.

Reclaimed means that a minority takes a word that was used against them and spin it into a positive one.

re-claim
verb (used with object)
1. to claim or demand the return or restoration of, as a right, possession, etc.
2. to claim again.

No, it does not mean what you think it means. And no, you cannot reclaim something that never was there.

 

[ChorltontheDragon]

@roseofbattle - thanks for the link and information. I was not aware of the documentary.

 

[maxben]

I have always been gaming in color, i my monitor is not in black and white.

It's not "LGBTQ", it's just LGBT as in Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transvestite.

I like to joke how the way letters keep getting tacked on there, I wonder when they're going to decide they need an H as well, in case some herbs come along.

As for the project itself, unlike a few others I could name, this one does seem to have been done really well from what I know of it. So, good luck and all that.

LGBTQSBBQ? they do keep attacking the letters, there is 7 now according to some people. i dare not try to say it out loud.

Reclaimed means that a minority takes a word that was used against them and spin it into a positive one.

re-claim
verb (used with object)
1. to claim or demand the return or restoration of, as a right, possession, etc.
2. to claim again.

No, it does not mean what you think it means. And no, you cannot reclaim something that never was there.

That is just the laziest argument I've ever seen. Dictionaries are not up to date, they do not represent words as they are used until way after the fact. The other term used for it is "taking ownership" which I am sure will make you happier as it is correct dictionary English.

 

[Strazdas]

That is just the laziest argument I've ever seen. Dictionaries are not up to date, they do not represent words as they are used until way after the fact. The other term used for it is "taking ownership" which I am sure will make you happier as it is correct dictionary English.

im pretty sure the word "Reclaim" has been used for quite some time and dictionaries have caught up. we also have them for a reason. the reason is that people dont go around making their own meanings of the word, like you did.

Now, taking ownership i can see fitting. reclaiming, i do not.

 

[VVThoughtBox]

Question : Has anyone watched the documentary yet? And, I having no real idea what this is about, do they spend a large amount of time talking and discussing queer video game characters and themes? I'd be interested to hear some thoughts on video game characters whom are different than the rugged perfectly straight guy characters - like Kanji (persona4), or even Ash or Benimaru (King of Fighters, even though I'm pretty sure they're both straight, but Ash is "girlly" and Beni wears tube tops), or Guilty Gears' Bridget, or the ones I don't know anything about and haven't heard of, but could be fun to learn about.

Kanji from Persona 4 was never gay. He was just a boy who liked to make arts and crafts, and got picked on by the other kids for not taking up traditional masculine hobbies like sports. A good chunk of his Social Link revolves around showing Kanji that there's nothing wrong with him making arts and crafts, and he shouldn't really care about what people think about him. If you play the game, you'll notice that he gets really angry and pissed off when someone (usually Yosuke) goes out of their way to imply that he's gay.

 

[ChristopherT]

Kanji from Persona 4 was never gay. He was just a boy who liked to make arts and crafts, and got picked on by the other kids for not taking up traditional masculine hobbies like sports. A good chunk of his Social Link revolves around showing Kanji that there's nothing wrong with him making arts and crafts, and he shouldn't really care about what people think about him. If you play the game, you'll notice that he gets really angry and pissed off when someone (usually Yosuke) goes out of their way to imply that he's gay.

I know, but he does go through a small sexual identity crisis, how he feels about Naoto, mixed with his hobbies, has him question his sexual identity, something I would consider to be a LGBT theme and idea, and fits into the topic at hand. The other three on my list are straight as well, so no, they're not the best examples, however I think they can fall into the category for discussion as defining where the line is, and where it should be drawn, and how even straight characters can be used (perhaps for safety reasons) to examine LGBT themes and fringe ideas I think should be a part of it as well. 'Course I thought of a better character, that fits directly into the lettering, since that post (Erica from Catherine), but I still believe Kanji fits the bill for examination, and Ash, Benimaru, and Bridget can be worth talking about for other beneficial reasons.

 

[VVThoughtBox]

Kanji from Persona 4 was never gay. He was just a boy who liked to make arts and crafts, and got picked on by the other kids for not taking up traditional masculine hobbies like sports. A good chunk of his Social Link revolves around showing Kanji that there's nothing wrong with him making arts and crafts, and he shouldn't really care about what people think about him. If you play the game, you'll notice that he gets really angry and pissed off when someone (usually Yosuke) goes out of their way to imply that he's gay.

I know, but he does go through a small sexual identity crisis, how he feels about Naoto, mixed with his hobbies, has him question his sexual identity, something I would consider to be a LGBT theme and idea, and fits into the topic at hand. The other three on my list are straight as well, so no, they're not the best examples, however I think they can fall into the category for discussion as defining where the line is, and where it should be drawn, and how even straight characters can be used (perhaps for safety reasons) to examine LGBT themes and fringe ideas I think should be a part of it as well. 'Course I thought of a better character, that fits directly into the lettering, since that post (Erica from Catherine), but I still believe Kanji fits the bill for examination, and Ash, Benimaru, and Bridget can be worth talking about for other beneficial reasons.

I don't think that Kanji fits the bill for examination since it would break the message of the game: Be Yourself, not what other people want you to be. Kanji just wants to make arts and crafts without being ridiculed; nothing more and nothing less. He never had any sexual identity crisis, and his relationship with Naoto and girls are complicated. Just like Akihiko from Persona 3, Kanji can talk to girls on the Investigation Team, but has trouble with women he doesn't know very well. Unlike Akihiko, Kanji is afraid of girls because they were the ones who bullied him, and mocked him for sewing. He sees Naoto as a friend that he can trust, I don't think he cared too much about her gender.

The discussion on color and LGBT in gaming seems unnecessary. It feels like people are trying to apply American Sexual Politics onto a Japanese game with mixed results.

 

[scw55]

Er. I'm not sure where you've been, but the word queer has long since been "reclaimed" and is an extremely common self-identifier that is used more or less interchangeably with LGBT. A lot of people do choose not to use it because of the history of the word, but your information is very outdated.

The term "queer" has been reclaimed.
It is used by individuals who fail to see the purpose of categories such as "straight", "bisexual", "gay" etc. Their sexuality isn't defined by a catagory, so they choose the term "queer" because it implies a broad spectrum of sexuality preferences. LGB is rather black and quite categorizing, and having "phases" is homophobic.

Its actually "transgender", not "transvestite". Transgender can be used in multiple ways, but its generally used in LGBT in a way of including both transvestites (crossdressers) and transsexuals (which is very different from crossdressing). I say this because most, if not all, transsexual people take offense to being considered as crossdressers.

And yes, as it has been claimed by two other posters already, "queer" has been reclaimed, and, generally depending on the age dempgraphic, it is very, very widely accepted by the LGBT community as an identifier, at least among people under the age of thirty.

Here's a PFLAG webpage helping explain it: http://community.pflag.org/page.aspx?pid=952

Reclaimed? Are you *bleep*ing kidding me? You cannot "reclaim" something that was never claimed or wanted in the first place. The word "queer" has always had a firm definition of something ordinary, out of the normal, and weird. That's what was slapped as a label against non-heterosexual individuals because it was not within the normals of social conventions. How on Earth can it possibly be "reclaimed" as something that that is now okay? Why would people want to take a disparaging label that still retains it's English Dictionary definition as such and say "it's a good thing, we accept it"? Come on now. Am I the only one that finds it utterly stupid (as in lacking any sense at all)?


P.S. @MarsAtlas I'm sorry I incorrectly labeled the 'T' as transvestite instead of transgender. It was my incorrect understanding in that aspect. Thank you for the correction that you'd posted towards it.

I suppose when a well known comic artist who originally thought she was a Lesbian and ended up happily marrying a man uses queer to describe herself in a positive way, then it is reclaimed.

Language and words is interesting. You can say words but mean a completely different thing. At the end of the day, words are hollow and empty. What has meaning is intent.

Queer isn't a bad word by itself. It's a word. It's a sound. It's other people who make it bad.

Must be hard for you to accept that people are reclaiming the word. It says a lot that people will take a word that has historically had a negative connotation and will wield it as a positive word. They don't care what it used to mean. They decide what the word means to them.