Are we ready for games starring queer/trans heroes? Mainstream and Indie

[grassgremlin]

Are we ready starring queer/trans heroes?

Can a game star the cross-dresser, the transgender, the overtly gay lead and be accepted?
Could it cause an uproar of mass proportions.

The games I'm referring to are beyond simple niche. I'm talking games gone mainstream. A fighting game full of queer/trans characters, jrpg, action rpg, the skies the limits.


I'm hitting all spectrum of Queer. From the cross-dresser, Otokonoko, transvestite, the gay bear, to the twink, from the transgender of either gender.

I'm not talking about an aside reference or mainstream representation either. I'm saying all the way queer, just about as much of it as there is of heterosexuality in games.

Just how comfortable are you with it. Just how queer can a game be before it reaches the threshold you have in place.

I find this topic intriguing for various reasons. With all the recent conversation of diversity in gaming culture, I wonder just how ready we are for something on that level.


Related Story: My brother lamented discomfort in playing the video game Jojo's Bizarre Adventure All Star Battle. Despite the majority of the cast being straight, it was a fighting game far too queer for him due to the vogue-like poses and the fabulous 80s style clothing.

 

[carnex]

You can count fighting games out of the equation, there are cross dressers in fighting games. Samurai Shodown (not a typo, that's how the series is called) had 2, Guilty Gear had 1 etc. Japanese games as a rule have shown much more freedom in that department. But it was always just a quirk or for kicks and laughs.
Western games? Well... if publisher presses it in public appearances there will be backlash but I do think it will be backlash from loud minority. That it's something that could and should be weathered out. You want to have Monty Python Lumberjack in game, I say go for it, and stay on the course since what would seem like a raging storm actually is more like to summer wild gust that dies and gets forgotten 10 minutes later.

 

[Random Gamer]

I think the key element, as a brilliant author once wrote, is that "Normalcy is a majority concept, the standard of many and not the concept of just one man".
Considering that trans is a far more recent phenomenon - for obvious technical reasons - than homosexuality, and considering the proportion of the global population directly involved is smaller, I'd say gay protagonists will be more easily accepted - or less vehemently bashed. Case in point, we already have main characters having homosexual romances available in RPGs since a few years. Acceptance takes time, and for most people requires familiarity.
Obviously, indie games have more specific demographics and it'll be far easier there, without risking backlash from intended player-base.

Then, for me, it all depends on the setting, for instance if you use a historical context - far trickier to have gay characters in a society that violently represses them, but having characters with obvious homosexual leanings wouldn't be a problem in Ancient Greece (assuming the devs understand the whole context was quite different from 2014 Western countries). Historical setting, apart from the last few decades, makes it practically impossible to have trans characters - unless there's some divine intervention behind it; in a fantasy context, it might work without trouble, and of course if it's a futuristic / sci-fi setting, then anything goes.
But that part was about consistency, historical consistency or consistency within your invented worl, and not acceptance - because that's for me a far more crucial element when judging if a game/story makes sense.

 

[Irick]

Yes.
I choose to believe that Sheik is transgender.
Venom from Guilty Gear is a badass.
Bridget from Guilty Gear is awesome.
Anji Mito and Baiken are also awesome, though I'm not entirely sure if they are genderqueer. In either case, they certaintly do subvert the norms of masculinity and femininity.
Poison from final fight/streetfighter.
Dawn Star, Silk Fox, and Sky from Jade empire

I'm pretty sure that the new Walking Dead has a same sex couple, but I haven't been able to play season 2 so at this point it's hearsay...

So, yes.
Gaming is entirely ready for queer/trans heros.

Is gaming ready to focus on LGBT lifestyle and subculture?
.... probably not in the AAAs. They can't even get hackers down right, I don't want to see how horribly they'd bungle trying to represent the cultural immersion into LGBT

 

[Zhukov]

I'm sure an indie game could pull it off and get away with the developers only receiving one death threat per day.

Don't see it happening in a mainstream game any time soon. Remember how pissed off people got with Anders hitting on Male Hawke in DA2?

Maybe, maaaaaaybe a mainstream game could manage a openly gay protagonist, but I don't see it happening any time soon. Gotta placate those dudebros man.

I would be hugely shocked to see a openly transexual protagonist in a mainstream game. I mean, can you imagine the reaction? I would love to be proven wrong, but I can't imagine it happening in the current climate. After all, we're talking about an industry that still gets antsy about a protagonist with tits and putting chicks on the cover.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Depends what you mean.

Yes, a game could be made, and it could sell, but there'd be an almighty backlash.

 

[Cazza]

We're not there yet. I believe when we see a larger rise of female protagonists/heroes then we'll see queer/trans heroes. I'm sure some indie team will make something first. I can't see a AAA company "risking profit" as they put it when they use that excuse for female protagonists. I do support the idea.

 

[Irick]

Depends what you mean.

Yes, a game could be made, and it could sell, but there'd be an almighty backlash.

I really don't think there would be all that much backlash. We've had gay set characters since forever, there is actually a pretty long history of LGBT in gaming, and we've had recent hits like the ballad of Gay Tony in GTA IV as well as Trever (Maybe) from GTA V.

Gone Home was well accepted, even if it did challenge the common definitions of game as well.

 

[Akjosch]

I think the time was never better. There's already a lot of queer/trans/... characters in games coming from Japan as well as small indie ones, so people - at least those who play more than the nth iteration of an AAA series - are rather used to them being there.

As an anecdote, I designed a species for a friend's (tabletop) RPG world where, within their typical cultures, non-hermaphrodites were seen as the freaky, unusual ones. The whole species consisted of chimeras with multiple sets of chromosomes each and nearly every single one of them had more than one fully functional primary sexual organ. They were even capable of impregnating themselves, though that rarely happened. And they could cross-breed with a huge range of other humanoid species ... and some non-humanoid as well if they cared.

Nobody in the group found that in any way revolting, mostly "cool" and "neat" (as well as "Where can I get the drugs you've been using?").

I might re-use them for some small computer game one day.

 

[Thaluikhain]

As an anecdote, I designed a species for a friend's (tabletop) RPG world where, within their typical cultures, non-hermaphrodites were seen as the freaky, unusual ones. The whole species consisted of chimeras with multiple sets of chromosomes each and nearly every single one of them had more than one fully functional primary sexual organ. They were even capable of impregnating themselves, though that rarely happened. And they could cross-breed with a huge range of other humanoid species ... and some non-humanoid as well if they cared.

Nobody in the group found that in any way revolting, mostly "cool" and "neat" (as well as "Where can I get the drugs you've been using?").

I might re-use them for some small computer game one day.

Sure, but you can get away with all sorts of things when you've got aliens. Kirk kissed a bunch of aliens before he kissed a black human woman, and that was under mind control.

Inhuman creatures are more palatable than human minorities to many.

 

[Akjosch]

As an anecdote, I designed a species for a friend's (tabletop) RPG world where, within their typical cultures, non-hermaphrodites were seen as the freaky, unusual ones. The whole species consisted of chimeras with multiple sets of chromosomes each and nearly every single one of them had more than one fully functional primary sexual organ. They were even capable of impregnating themselves, though that rarely happened. And they could cross-breed with a huge range of other humanoid species ... and some non-humanoid as well if they cared.

Nobody in the group found that in any way revolting, mostly "cool" and "neat" (as well as "Where can I get the drugs you've been using?").

I might re-use them for some small computer game one day.

Sure, but you can get away with all sorts of things when you've got aliens. Kirk kissed a bunch of aliens before he kissed a black human woman, and that was under mind control.

Inhuman creatures are more palatable than human minorities to many.

Well, the world in questions had almost no humans. They were a minority - basically, asylum seekers from the doomed Earth - and players weren't really expected to play as any of them.

The same species would have worked in a human-only setting if they simply possessed an unspecified conditions which made chimerism the default state for their children. I'll probably do that if I go through with my game idea, since I prefer more down-to-earth settings and not ones where you typically play part-humanoid birds of prey, shapeshifting dragons and carnivorous unicorns.

 

[Silvanus]

I think the time was never better. There's already a lot of queer/trans/... characters in games coming from Japan as well as small indie ones, so people - at least those who play more than the nth iteration of an AAA series - are rather used to them being there.

Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places-- my efforts to find a game in which i play a gay character have come up blank. Any suggestions?

 

[Akjosch]

I think the time was never better. There's already a lot of queer/trans/... characters in games coming from Japan as well as small indie ones, so people - at least those who play more than the nth iteration of an AAA series - are rather used to them being there.

Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places-- my efforts to find a game in which i play a gay character have come up blank. Any suggestions?

Well, the Trait: Homosexual [http://vndb.org/i748] list on VNDB would be where I'd start.

 

[Dragonlayer]

Honestly, I think there wouldn't be *that* much backlash to a game with such a protagonist. I'd happily bet money on the usual vocal minority of outraged citizens expressing their disgust, much the same way they reacted to gay romances in Bioware games but I extremely doubt the great masses would be that fussed.

 

[Irick]

I think the time was never better. There's already a lot of queer/trans/... characters in games coming from Japan as well as small indie ones, so people - at least those who play more than the nth iteration of an AAA series - are rather used to them being there.

Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places-- my efforts to find a game in which i play a gay character have come up blank. Any suggestions?

Hmm...
The Last of Us

Spoiler

(Ellie)

Borderlands 2 (Axton)
Uh... The ones above I mentioned...
I mean, there are obviously the bioware RPGs and such where you get to basically romance whoever too.

A lot of fighting games, Guilty Gear in particular as referenced above.

 

[Mikeybb]

I'm pretty sure that the new Walking Dead has a same sex couple, but I haven't been able to play season 2 so at this point it's hearsay...

It did.

I won't spoil any aspect by talking about it though.

 

[Silence]

I think it is related 1=1 to the real world. As soon as there is more acceptance in the real world, the sooner it will get accepted in gaming. Probably even sooner, because younger generations tend to be much more open.

Addition: It depends on the story. If there is a huge portion of romance, I don't think that many would play the game. Not because of homophobia. Just because it is not for heterosexuals. There is nothing wrong with that. It just never will be mainstream.

Otherwise, if it is just a trait of many, I think you can get the figures of, for example, Tomb Raider.

But there are things I don't know about and I think this is crucial to understand the type and size of the backlash: For example: How does Anders hit on Hawke in DA2? How can you react? If he did it once, can you say "Please stop, it makes me uncomfortable"? Does he do it constantly?

 

[Dragonlayer]

I'm pretty sure that the new Walking Dead has a same sex couple, but I haven't been able to play season 2 so at this point it's hearsay...

It did.

I won't spoil any aspect by talking about it though.

It did? Because I am absolutely wracking my exhausted brain to remember them and I'm coming up with zilch here.

 

[Irick]

I think the time was never better. There's already a lot of queer/trans/... characters in games coming from Japan as well as small indie ones, so people - at least those who play more than the nth iteration of an AAA series - are rather used to them being there.

As an anecdote, I designed a species for a friend's (tabletop) RPG world where, within their typical cultures, non-hermaphrodites were seen as the freaky, unusual ones. The whole species consisted of chimeras with multiple sets of chromosomes each and nearly every single one of them had more than one fully functional primary sexual organ. They were even capable of impregnating themselves, though that rarely happened. And they could cross-breed with a huge range of other humanoid species ... and some non-humanoid as well if they cared.

Nobody in the group found that in any way revolting, mostly "cool" and "neat" (as well as "Where can I get the drugs you've been using?").

I might re-use them for some small computer game one day.

*narrows eyes at*
Not sure if Chakat or just topically similar. :3

Either way, sounds like your playgroup had a blast. I know that mine usually takes to issues of identity pretty well. I've used a few of my Eclipse Phase sessions to highlight these sort of issues, but mostly in a post-cyberpunk sort of setting. I can rarely do the anthropomorphic animal race settings with them.

You know...
It might be interesting to do a critique of games as vehicles of exploration when it comes to these sort of issues. I mean, we know that science fiction got away with a lot of social critique by framing what it did as in the future while still tackling the mindset of today.

Games might provide enough of an abstraction for a player to really consider the mindset and situation of an LGBT individual. I am rather curious as to if anyone has had any experiences like that with the current crop of characters and games out there.

 

[Orphan81]

If the game is fun, than it's all that matters in the end. If you set out specifically saying you want to tell a Queer Story, and have Queer elements in your game, better make sure the game is actually fun.

Very few videogames actually tell memorable good stories, or seem to be poignant emotionally. Dark Souls is my favorite game of all time, and while I love the Lore in it, I understand it's not changing the world or shaking any ground that hasn't been tread before. It's still my favorite game of all time, because it has the Best Mechanics tied into it's story. I have more fun playing it, than I have any other game.

So what's more important is making sure the game is fun first. If your game is a blast to play, than having Queer characters in it or making it entirely Queer focused will never be a problem.