I voted 'more gay' but let's be reasonable with it okay? Just because a character is homosexual does not mean he talks and dresses like the most flamboyant assless chaps wearing fag around. I'm not gay, but I know gay dudes.. And even they say "your sexual orientation doesn't change how you speak, or your ability to dress like an average person"
Ballad of Gay Tony. The Avatar in Ultima (if the player chooses). Fallout 2 (see Ultima). The Fable trilogy (I'm sure it's canon that you're bisexual). Knights of the Old Republic. Dragon Age. Most dignified examples I can think of lets the player choose their sexuality. In other situations, the character simply is or is not. In other mainstream games, especially JRPGs, you aren't playing yourself, you are controlling the navigation and combat of an established character. That character is not you, but a complete creation of the story writer. There are so few homosexuals, that it shouldn't be surprising at all they are rarely seen. Besides, how many characters have you seen, especially in Japanese games, where you told yourself "Yeah, he's in the closet"? Many, is all I can say. If homosexuality was more common than 10% of the population (+-4%, it's based on poll data, it could be as low as 6% or as high as 14%, and that's including bisexuals), then of course it would be portrayed more often. Companies create to entertain, however, and the current largest market happens to be heterosexuals, primarily males. It's the same reason you rarely see games from American studios set in, say, Finland.
To ward off any potential "You're a homophobe" remarks, that'd basically mean I had an irrational fear of myself. Which I do, just for other reasons not related to genitals.
I didn't even read the OP. "More Gay" is the answer to almost any question.
OT: I think the industry should do more with non-heterosexual characters. There is a whole world out there, and it could add to the experience as well as give us an awesome gay videogame hero.
This conversation raises a point I want to expand on. There are so many games and characters that don't even raise sexuality as a character point. What if Samus is a lesbian? I could link to about a thousand DeviantArts and fanfics that seem to think so. The point is, at least I think, this topic isn't as relevant as we like to treat it. Do I need my character to have a love scene? No. Do I need a character to be the same orientation as me? No. Unless I'm playing an open-world RPG that lets me play myself and let me make every choice according to my own preferences, like a Bethesda game, I don't care. My spellthief is me. Nathan Drake, Samus Aran, and Master Chief are not. I'm playing the game to have fun, and expperience their story. If I want to be the star, as they say, there's an app for that.
Just a thought on the RPG's that 'allow' the protagonist to be homosexual: Doesn't that imply that homosexuality is a choice, which, from my understanding, is a sentiment that homosexuals don't approve of?
It allows the player to generate a character that's like him/herself. Completely different. You can also choose your skin color, does that mean the game's saying skin color is a choice? You can also choose your name, something you usually can't do without legal red tape. Oh, and you can choose your gender.
More gay in games where it would actually be relevant and enhance the experience; mainly RPGS. You don't really need to know a characters sexuality in a game that's only about shooting the terrorists.
Although I do find it strange that with the Mass Effect example that people find it worse to have same-sex intercourse than to bone an alien
I personally don't even believe, in the slightest amount what so ever, that being gay or lesbian is right, but it should be something more prevalent in games, if that game may call for it. Not all games need it because maybe its just in the character to be heterosexual, or its just something that isnt even important to the story, but just like in Mass Effect, its about creating a character who you reflect yourself in, or who you would like to see yourself as, if not playing the role of an entirely pre-determined character.
It'll come up more and more as gay rights make more of a standing and maybe more respect in society as a whole. I just don't think it has to be emphasized so very much or that others should find it too offensive that it may not include gay, serious or not, characters.
I don't know OP. I'm not saying we should not have gays in games, but we really shouldn't have gays in games.
What I mean by that completely intolerant statement is that a "well written gay character" shouldn't be any different than a straight character. If they are written to differentiate themselves from straight characters, they pretty much are going to have to be flamboyant. The thing is, what you do in video games usually has NO crossover in what you do in the bedroom (besides play more video games).
Picture this: A straight guy, a gay guy, and a transgender male (female acting male) are all in the military front lines in real life. How do you tell them apart? Well, the tranny might look a little more feminine, but they all are still shooting the bad guys. That's what they are there for, and that's what they need to do to survive.
In a video game, the only way to show these differences is have the straight guy being all "AMERICA, FUCK YEAH!" the gay guy hiding in a foxhole putting on nail polish, and the transgender doing I don't know the fuck what, because I can't even think of poorly written transgender characters right now. Maybe letting his inner chick get the best of him/her/it. See, a well written gay character wouldn't do anything different than a straight guy in the same situation. Maybe if more games were like Mass Effect where dialogue and relationships were a huge part of the game, it could work. But by far the majority of games feature sexuality-neutral situations for the player to overcome, and not for them to be concerned with who the character would bone.
Actually, if you want to think of The Kid in Bastion as gay, go ahead, it doesn't change a damn thing about the game. That's really what this problem comes down to, just mindset. Hell, most "damsels in distress" could be saved by the "gay" hero just because she's a really good friend, or he needs fashion tips. That could explain a lot about Mario actually. Since the majority of game characters don't have sex, or are never implied to have sex, you could think of all of them as gay.
You... you even put Arcanum in there! That is, to me, the best written video-game of all time, and exactly before reading your list I told myself I won't find it on there. But I did.
You, sir, deserve a cookie. A lot of them.
OT: I don't know about this. I choose Bengay! The thing is that I don't really care about homosexuality. You can put it in if you want (hurr-hurr), but as it has been said before, I think it would be badly written, as is the case with heterosexual relationships.
I myself prefer hetero relationships in games, as I am heterosexual. But I would find nothing wrong with a homosexual one, provided it was well-written.
In Persona 2: Innocent Sin, you can choose between 2 girls and a guy as your love interest. The gay male party member is very effeminite, but a deep and interesting character none the less.
And as a straight guy(or so he SAYS,) I agree. I wanna see more gays. Cool gays, funny gays, badass gays, sissy gays, guy gays, girl gays. No need for it to make up the majority of the population, but one or two in most games would be nice, with varying characterization and roles. Same for any race that fits the setting, women and what the hell, little people... Which, to me, sounds even more condescending than "midgets," but whatever.
I don't think it matters, because sexuality is a spectrum. Also, to have a good homosexual character, you would need a good homosexual author. Short of affirmative action in video games, the situation will not change unless more homosexuals arbitrarily decide to become video game writers.
If you are designing a game that ISN'T a VN or something similar and you place a huge importance on sexuality, you're doing it ABSOLUTELY wrong. Sexuality should not affect the character in the slightest.
what about a game set in a futureistic christian theocracy where (obviously) Homosexuality is outlawed? and the consequences are awful (imprisonment/torture)
what if your charachter is say...part of the "thourght police" but also a closeted homosexual who dances around it with mental logic (its just god testing me!...so what if your gay!? that doesnt mean you should give into headonistic pleasures! that makes you weak!) and then one of the "moral choices" you make in the game is weather or not to embrace or fight thst part, it could add somthing to the charachter and their motivations...
never say never is all I'm saying
Havegun said:
Just a thought on the RPG's that 'allow' the protagonist to be homosexual: Doesn't that imply that homosexuality is a choice, which, from my understanding, is a sentiment that homosexuals don't approve of?
He was? I had no idea, I always figured he was Mansheps bro and a possible Femshep romance. I guess they really did things right then if it slipped past me that he was bi. Kudos to them for making it possible but not just blatantly noticeable. Always romanced Garrus on my Femshep and always thought it was one of the most endearing stories of love ever told.
...why do I keep playing females and romancing men...
Sexual orientation only affects the gender/mix of genders you get sexually and romantically aroused by. The only way to include such characters in any meaningful sense would be in a game who's story revolves around romance or sexual relationships.
Most games aren't about such things. As a result, a character's sexuality is a tertiary trait. It's not really important enough to be worth exploring aside from a passing mention or an inclusion in a sub-story like what BioWare has been doing for 13 Years.
It is going to be difficult to represent a psychological trait that affects something so separated from what many games are about (conflict, battle, hero's journey, ect).
There are no personality traits associated with gay people. We've only fooled ourselves into thinking there are. Personality and Sexuality operate independently of eachother and have a hard time meshing in a character as far as solid character design goes.
Because if you try really hard to do it, your character ends up being a pandering, token stereotype.
Homosexuality doesn't define a character. If you describe your character with "She's gay" then congratulations: You've told your audience nothing about your character. We have to get off this mindset that homosexuality is some massive difference in human beings. I can understand why we have this mindset. Western Culture is largely defined by the United States. And the United States has quite a lot of dumbfucks misguided people who think that gay people are some kind of alien species.
They're not. They differ from straight people in the most minute way possible.
BioWare's handling of gay characters is about as close as you're going to get to an inclusive and non-stereotypical representation of homosexuality. It's there. That's it. It isn't used to define a character. It isn't shoehorned in as part of the main plot. And it pretty much stays in the only area it can fit: Romance Options.
To be fair, we don't just have poorly written gay guys, we have poorly written everything right now. Hell, forget gay guys, we can't write good female characters. We can't even write good straight white males, it's that bad!
Anywho, I do agree there should be more representation of gay characters in games. Unfortunately, games have yet to even get into proper representation minorities and females. It has lots of work to do so I'm not expecting it to suddenly get fixed anytime soon.
I think it is definitely something to be considered, as long as it's available to avoid all sexual scenarios in the game, i don't think it should be a problem with developers trying out different balances/blends of homo/bi/heterosexual combinations in games. I know i'd be open to playing the game.
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
