Romance in gaming

[searanox]

I don't mind romance, but in games where it's optional, I don't like the fact that heterosexism is treated as default, normal, and is often the only option available; in games where homosexuality occurs, it's pretty much always limited to "more acceptable" lesbian relationships. Why can't I have a male/male relationship if I want to? Even then, the binary homo/hetero thinking gets in the way of other representation and serves to reinforce gender as a set of categories rather than a fluid identity that is performed and experienced differently for everybody. Any reason why I can't be a post-op female-to-male who identifies as homosexual? What about an intersexed person? Obviously for the average game, this is a lot of work, but at the same time, with gender increasingly being recognised as a construction, we need to think about how our media is still portraying it.

Take World of Warcraft or The Sims - I can create avatars, virtual people, who I am supposed to identify (and even use to represent myself in the game world), yet I am pigeonholed into categories that I may not necessarily agree to. Although I do identify as heterosexual and male, I can see it as an incredibly frustrating barrier for a lot of people. Sadly, since videogames are a mainstream business (and fairly conservative in their depictions of anything controversial compared to other media), I doubt they'll be one of the last to truly challenge our preconceptions of gender and sexuality, at least in games that are made for large audiences.

 

[Neosage]

Was I the only one that found the red mage and fighter joke funny? Dammnit Neo fails once again at the mystery that is humour.

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

when done right, its good

when done wrong its glaringly obvious and annoying

 

[SecretTacoNinja]

I'm a sucker for romance... I never seem to find it in games though. It came close in Twilight Princess with Link & Llia but that seemed rather flat...

I've got a romantic thing going on in my game story (being 15 and obsessed with this shit...) and I'm trying my best not to hit any of the stupid cliches that you're all talking about.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

Silent Hill 2 gets my vote for the most romantic game ever, with Ico as a close second.

I know all that manequin rape in SH2 really says romance to me! And what about the major revelation in it? Moving and heartrending, yes; but romantic? I would have thought not. I'm not sure any of the women I've dated would have appreciated me doing what James did to his wife.

I can't believe no one has mentioned The Darkness yet. The intimacy between the main character Jackie and his girlfriend Jennifer was palpable. She's so nice. Note to GLaDOS, she even buys him cake.

 

[videot76]

Baldur's Gate II still did it the best (except for the occasional romance-stopping bug), but it's been done nicely since as well. The Prince of Persia series (well, 1 & 3 at least) springs to mind. They seem to be onto something like that in the new game, although it is mainly (good) banter up to the point where the prince does something either exceedingly romantic, or exceedingly stupid, or quite possible both. As it says "to be continued" at the end, it remains to be seen where it goes.

The Mass Effect ones could certainly have been less straightforward and longer, but they were well written (like the rest of the game) and some of the lines were very good indeed. And they kept it simple in the right places - one of Shepard's possible post-coital replies to Liara's "That was amazing" is just "You were amazing"...which I felt was perfect in both length and sweetness. I also liked that as a male, you were allowed to say some really stupid things when Ashley demands that you choose between them (like "Catfight! Catfight!" and "Can't I have you both?") which allowed you a bit more roleplay than usual. Granted, BGII had similar situations, but not quite as direct.

What am I saying? Wasn't BGII the game where you could (among MANY other things) tell Aerie that the scars on her back are too much of a turn-off, or get her pregnant and ditch her with the line "Take a hike, 'mommy'"? Never used those myself, but it proves that BGII was WAY ahead of its time. Still hoping for another game to match it in depth AND enjoyment factor!(been done separately, but no game has beaten both aspects at the same time in my opinion)

EDIT: Oh, oh, oh! I just remembered - Yakuza 2 has a really good romance plot as well, though it's not exactly interactive...it just happens along the way. Still, it is nicely written and even nicelier directed - the moment when they both realize how much they mean to each other is (due to the circumstances) so intense and happy and heartwrenching and sad all at once...and tender beyond anything I had expected from that kind of game. I forgot about it because I keep forgetting that Yakuza 1 & 2 are games - they are so cinematic my memory keeps sorting them as "movies"...