What do so few gay gamers play FPS games?

[Cat Cloud]

There's a lot of guys that casually play FPS games. So they might "be gamers" but they play primarily socially and only one or two games. I know a lot of guys who only own CoD and Football games. So there's a bunch of overly masculine "straight guy" culture that's associated with FPS games.

In my social circles this makes many of my other female friends avoid the genre like the plague: its associated with muscle-headed, gun crazy douschbags and assholes. This isn't completely fair, but it is how the genre has been presented.

Perhaps this also turns off many members of the gay community? Two gay guys I knew in high school were really into old school JRPG's (which is fine, but they told me I was wrong when I said grinding was boring...).

Try showing your friends how fun the games can be. Try to convince them to play Left 4 Dead or CoD with you sometime. I use to be one of those RPG gamers who hated the genre, but then my cousins let me play with them. Now I have no particular feeling towards the genre: it isn't anywhere near my favorite but I wouldn't mind playing it.

 

[Chasing-The-Light]

I doubt it counts, but I'm a lesbian and I'm a gamer. Yeah, the majority of what I play are RPGs, but that's mainly because I suck at shooters. .... And because I'm a people pleaser. I always take what people say to me in game personally. The only 'shooter' I play is TF2 (It's a hat simulator with guns, but I'm putting it anyway). And when people are like, "Wow, you suck" Or anything like that, it really gets to me. I've stopped playing classes because of it.

.... Anyway... now that I've completely strayed from the point......

 

[shrimpcel]

Well the only "gay gamer" I ever knew was indeed a gamer who abhorred shooters, or in fact any other type of violent game. That's a single case though, and I'm at a loss as for how to explain the lack of love for FPS in the "gay gaming community". Probably has something to do with the reason they play games in the first place.

 

[MammothBlade]

It wouldn't be too surprising if a lot of gay male gamers don't want to fight or compete with other guys, or go off FPS fast because of the amount of people who use "fag" and gay as insults. It's also possible that being gay orients you towards more co-operative and non-confrontational gameplay. Just speculation, none of that is a negative.

I'm bi and none of that really puts me off, I'm just not very good at at competitive multiplayer FPS.

 

[Fiad]

Honestly it may just be the group has a bias to those types of games.


For all you know every game you play online you might be with at least one other gay guy. Do you announce that you are gay when you come on a server? Most likely not, neither do others.

 

[Strazdas]

PC audience acts more maturely for any genre usually because it is more mature.

Something to do with a higher cost of entry, I think. People spend hundreds of dollars on a high end PC, they just wanna play video games, not sit around and insult each other.

PC gaming is cheaper, because the games themselves are cheaper and the costs of PC itself gets back very quickly.
ALso, the same power in PC than like an xbox can be bought for similar price, so when you buy high end pc you get a much powerful machine.

 

[distortedreality]

It's not about what he says, it's what he says about himself. If there's one thing I know about first person shooters: you never, EVER let anyone in the game know that you're gay. What comes next is always a deluge of awful "jokes", homophobic slurs, and most likely a surge of terrible gameplay etiquette (teamkilling and such). It's not right, that's just what happens.
Here's a video showing what happens in shooters if you show even the slightest hint of being homosexual:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6alOnuN-wCY

I can't think of any reason why a person would be discussing their sexuality with randoms in an online shooting game in the first place.

 

[piinyouri]

It's not about what he says, it's what he says about himself. If there's one thing I know about first person shooters: you never, EVER let anyone in the game know that you're gay. What comes next is always a deluge of awful "jokes", homophobic slurs, and most likely a surge of terrible gameplay etiquette (teamkilling and such). It's not right, that's just what happens.
Here's a video showing what happens in shooters if you show even the slightest hint of being homosexual:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6alOnuN-wCY

I can't think of any reason why a person would be discussing their sexuality with randoms in an online shooting game in the first place.

Bingo.
It really doesn't apply in that scenario, nor have any importance or relevance.

 

[Slayer_2]

So I'm a gay gamer (Refuse to use the term "gaymer" because it's fucking retarded)

I love you. The term "gaymer" is so stupid.

Maybe it's because the constant yelling of "******" turns them off such games with a generally immature, idiotic audience? Depends how sensitive you are.

Although, I'm curious why sexuality really matters in CoD, or how you find out the sexuality of fellow players.

Also your username, dare I ask?

 

[thongurf]

Why should gays get special privileges?

 

[surg3n]

Sounds to me like it's only a problem when your playing with idiots, remember that there are people who could give less than 1 fuck about your sexuality when playing a videogame. It sounds a bit like your saying that your're the only gay in the village (sorry if you don't get that reference). I mean, what games do gay people prefer to play?

The chances are that theres thousands of gay gamers out there playing FPS games, it's just such a wide spectrum of people that you might not find them very easily... they might even keep their mic's off to avoid trolling. Maybe you should consider picking a FPS and starting a clan for people who don't necesserily fit into the usual clan. I guess, if someone is sick of being trolled because of their sexuality, or even just the way they speak, their accent even - well it might be nice to have a clan to back em up - it might even ecourage more gay gamers to play these games.

 

[wabbbit]

I think that it comes down to what-ever game community you have joined? I may seem ignorant here, but what is the difference between a gaming site and a gay gaming site. Seems elitist in a way - Unless it's somehow hooked into a meet-someone-new sort of forum? (Or just a gaming section of a site rather than a dedicated gaming site?)
I don't mean this in a horrible way, I just think it's weird - I've never felt the need to discriminate against a fellow gamer because of their sexual preference.


As for the FPS thing, I agree with a lot of people above - There are a lot of RPG snobs who look down on any FPS.Just standard gaming community!!

 

[mgirl]

it's extremely rare to find another gay dude who likes shooters

Oh, so you're specifically talking about gay men? Since considering all the gay women I know who play games like left 4 dead, borderlands, gears of war, etc, myself included, and I have never seen what you're talking about. Then again, my sample is limited to people I know in real life, and most of the gay men I've spoken to don't have an interest in gaming full stop.

 

[Violator[xL]]

'I have never encountered people more judgmental and homophobic than say the typical CoD player.'

Oh come on, this is a sad generalisation. I know around 10 people in my gaming community who play or have played CoD, and not one comes close to this description.

To the original poster:
Does it matter? I played shooters, RPG's, RTS and lots of different genres over the years, and I rarely came upon the subject of sexual preference. In the end you need a partner, party or opponents to play with and against, not people to date with?