Would you play a game with a gay main charater?

[Drummah]

As long as it wasn't a big part of the superficial hype machine, and more of a genuine character qualiity, I'd totally be cool with it.

I would love to see Gays better represented in gaming.

 

[Daedalus1942]

after reading the artical "not that theres anything wrong with that" I was wondering would people now adays be ready to play a game with a gay main charater? or lesbain main charater as so not to discrimnate(mispelled).

After Note: To be clear the charater is gay to being with, not rpg style where you choose the sexuall ortation(misspeled)

Makoto in Enchanted Arms didn't bother me at all (and he was as flaming as they come).
I liked Final Fantasy XII too (ba dum tish!). In all honesty, it doesn't bother me, chances are I'll buy Nier: Replicant, regardless of the leading female most likely being more well-endowed than myself.
I'd salute any studio who took this challenge upon themselves.

 

[Anarien]

Sure. As long as it weren't a gimmick of some sort.

I am off to bed and don't have time to quote them all, but I wanted to say that lovest harding had some very good comments in this thread, and brought up a few points I was going to myself.

For those who wouldn't feel like they could relate to gay characters -- sexual orientation isn't the determining factor about someone's personality. Relating to someone occurs on many levels, and comes down to complex emotions and personality characteristics.

If a character is sympathetic and well-written and I can relate to his or her motives, past, feelings, or some other aspects, it doesn't necessarily even matter what gender or sexual orientation that person might be. Love is pretty universal, for instance. Even if you haven't experienced romantic love in real life, most people can still relate to a platonic love, parental love, or any other forms.Heck, that's part of the wonderful things about gaming as a medium (and animation, IMO) - we can play as a giant space frog or something equally fantastic and still be touched emotionally somehow.

 

[Robert Yang]

Only if there's interactive male-on-male sex scenes.

 

[Noamuth]

I honestly don't give a damn. Gay, straight, bi, whatever. If the character is going to piss me off by being annoying/stupid/hateable, it isn't going to be because of it's sexual orientation.

 

[Chancie]

Yeah, sure. I don't see what the issue would be. If I have an interest in the game, a gay protagonist won't stop me.

 

[dietpeachsnapple]

Absolutely. It would be refreshing after watching the last million straight characters clumsily stomp their way into and out of romantic relationships. Instead I could watch a gay character clumsily stomp their way into and out of romantic relationships.

 

[Cyberjester]

I would, of course. Actually, I already have. (In Jade Empire, where you can follow a homosexual relationship, either sex.)

Fable as well.

On topic, depends. Is the sexuality a main thing in the game? There's a difference between "I'm gay" and "I'm gay *has sex with other gay* now join in".

Putting it much better than I have so far,

I dunno, I don't see the point of having a main character being gay for nothing other than shock value. And chances are the whole game will be just blatantly pointing out the characters homosexuality despite it adding nothing to the story or gameplay.

Say it's a shooter, which is one of the game genres I play that allows it. RTS, racing, sport don't really work, leaves FPS and RPG.

What's the point in a shooter? It's like all those feminist comments about how CoD4 should have allowed a female option. You don't see your character, you see their hands holding the gun, that's it. For all you know it could be a squid headed alien, just make comments involving traps every now and then and that's it. There is no point in making sex or sexual preference a major part of the game.

RPG: It's been done before as has been pointed out. Fable and Jade Empire both allow the option of playing as a homosexual character, no fuss, just is. Which is how it should be, IMO. What you seem to miss is that the more you hype it up, the more of an issue it is. If you just put it in the game (RPG or no point) then it's fine. Anything else is either an ad for shock value which I despise in general or useless.

Sure.

Why not? I play as the Scout, and we all know he has homosexual tendencies.

He loves his ball.

*inserts obligatory joke including reduced health and aids*

Hey, it's just one of those threads. And a possibility to be included in any game involving gays. Guys anyway, not so sure about girls.. Although there was that cancer study..

It depends. I would play as a character who happens to be gay, sure. It's not like it would effect gameplay at all or anything, although it may influence the story. But I've always prioritized gameplay over story, and on that note having a gay character by no means ruins a story.

Now I WOULD avoid such a game if the character were gay sheerly for the sake of having a gay character and making a point. Do you guys remember that Left Behind RTS a while back. I'm a dedicated Christian and that game's tenancy to put evangelism and preachyness before being a video game really started to annoy me after a while.

Yeah, it's odd trying to make a Christian game analogous to a possible game about gays, but I think my point has been made.

This.

Very much so. I'm a Christian too and I disliked that game. Had potential, but ruined it. Granted, it's got to include _some_ points on religion given the setting, but when it starts getting preachy is when I tune out.

Same with any game, book, movie, tv series, etc.

So the question is, what's the setting and why are they gay? If they're gay because "My life sucked, but then I found out I liked men, now I'm a new person and everything is going great. Thanks jenny craig". Then no, I'm not going to play it.
If it's a shooter. ... No point, you don't see the character in an FPS, in a third person it's still not going to do much. Gameplay over story here.
If it's an rpg. Depends. If it's as above "press x to have explicit gay sex", includes a gay meter or anything like that, then no. If it's an option to play as... I'm still going to question the need for sexuality to be a main part of any RPG I play. Fireballs, swords, about all that's needed. Character relationships and story are fine till they start messing with the game.

 

[teijakool]

If the game is fun to play, it might make quite a nice difference from all the other games, so yeah, I'd give it a try.

 

[Cyberjester]

I was wondering would people now adays be ready to play a game with a gay main charater? or lesbain main charater as so not to discrimnate(mispelled).

I'm a gay woman and I'm writing a comic book with a lesbian main character. Her sexuality is not even a remote focus of the story, but this detail does have me wondering how the story will be received.

I don't know but just make sure your work doesn't flop because it sucks and you accuse people of being ignorant when it really is your work that needs improvement. That just worsens the gay cause. Actually, I think if most gay people did not shove their gayness into the faces of others and yell ignorant when someone asks them to stop, gays would be much much much better received in society - just as all the replies on this thread suggest.

I am pretty sure if I went and shoved my straightness in gay peoples faces and went on and on about how great it is to be straight they would as me to stop as well - and they would have every right to.

The fact that you said that is demeaning. Who's to say that she isn't 1) a good comic artist and will be received well and 2) that she is mature enough to handle criticism?
The assumption that she isn't either of those things simply because she's a gay woman, is an insult.

What is perceived as 'shoving their gayness into the faces of others' is a knee-jerk reaction.
Gays and lesbians are told to be quiet about their sexuality while everyone constantly makes fun of it and bad-mouths it. What is the natural reaction? To respond and defend.
The idea of just shutting up and down will do nothing but force millions of people into a closet that they fought to be free from.

Do you honestly, think people will accept homosexuality if it falls off the radar?
They won't. And to think otherwise is ignorant (no offense).

You seriously need some schooling:
First take a logic/reasoning course - because no one EVER said she WILL do any of those things, I just said the some other people do it and it is wrong. You have absolutely nothing in my post to deduce that from. And actually thinking I am out to insult her is what is more ignorant - which can exactly be deduced from your reply.

Second take a History course - you would know that the most openly gay society that ever existed were the ancient Greeks - where every man was pretty much expected to be bisexual - and homosexuality as a topic was not on the radar then in any sort of controversial ways it is on the radar today.

Thirdly - if someone makes fun of my sexuality I would laugh about it and move on - the fact that you bring up saying gay people are offended left an right just shows how insecure they are about their sexuality. Maybe the problem lies in building up that security without having to step all over straight people and sensor free speech, demand special treatment, and criminally disrupt church congregations. Have you thought about that???

I responded to that for someone else as well.
That was not my intent and I apologize to her if she feels that way.
My intent was to show that I inferred your words to be thinly veiled assumptions that showed what I was saying before.
I didn't intend the idea to be as confrontational as it ended up, I got carried away. I'm sorry for that.

Because it was expected. Society (in the U.S.) is religious (in a strange sense) now. The societies are completely different identities, so I'm not sure what you mean. Expand, please?

The very idea that that your sexuality is what you are is why the gay population is offended. If a person is nothing more than gay, and gay is meant to be bad/evil, then the insult is defamatory on a complete level. It's not just an insult to who someone has sex with. Society places an expectation that all a gay male or female is is gay.

Please, expand into specifics on how free speech is impaired.
And expand on what the special treatment is.

There have been instances of disrupting church congregations. There have also been instances of the religious stepping on the rights of homosexuals. These are not the majority of instances that can be used to accuse all of either side of doing one thing or another. It's a two way street.

This is really not going to help, but the modern day gay rights movement really does try to convert everyone, which is the main reason I realllllllly hate them. I don't care if you fk a pig, when you say I have to as well is when I'm going to get pissed.

Put it like this, the gay rights movement (which funnily enough was often against the bi movement because they were "closet gays", way to mess up your ally here) has been trying to get a test into schools which will determine whether or not the child is gay, if they are, then they will be treated differently from the rest of the children. That's special treatment as schools don't preach either straight, bi or gay, they simply show them how to use a condom in yr9 and let them choose.

Special treatment like demanding government subsidized IV kids. Like really..

Historically, the gay rights movement has done more damage to itself than anyone else ever could have. Same with feminists btw, although that's off topic.

I don't know anyone who goes around telling people they have to be straight. I _have_ had people come up to me (random conversion, happens in unis and cities a lot) and tell me I should ditch girls because I'm secretly gay even if I don't know it.

Guess who isn't going to join your rally. =P

Same as in another thread, I'm happy to give monkeys rights, expect me to fling sh!t around as well and it just isn't going to happen.

If you're gay or straight, who needs to know? Pick a side, be comfortable in what you picked, and don't try to convert others in an attempt to convince yourself you picked the right side. Which sadly enough is all I ever see. Atheists vs Christians, homosexual vs bi vs straight, liberal vs labor. No-one these days can stand up by themselves. Which makes you all a bunch of "lilly livered bow legged varmits".

 

[Sccye]

To be frank, it depends on what the game designers are trying to do with it. Homosexuality isn't something I have a problem with on any level. What I might have a problem with is a game's idea of what a 'gay person' is like. If there was a conscious decision to say 'okay, we're making this particular character GAY' then there'd almost certainly question of 'so... what do gays do?' - which could lead to the construction of a character is construed as essentially different from a straight protagonist. When the gayness becomes a sole determinant of the character's identity, then I have an issue, because it's saying that that's the most important thing about that character. When there's one hell of a lot more to gay people than what they like to do in bed.

Assuming that we're looking at pre-defined characters and not a Mass Effect stylee freedom of choice thing, it could go either wonderfully well or awfully badly. If used as a vessel for exploring an identity different to a majority of gamers (who I'm assuming are straight) it could be an illuminating and fascinating thing. If we were looking at a protagonist who happened to be gay instead of a GAY protagonist then I'd be happy.

I think gaming as a medium for representing and exploring different identities could be an extremely powerful emancipatory tool. It's just a question of making it sensitive and intelligent without being preachy or annoying. Still, obviously no a priori reason why a gay character would make any difference to a game whatever. It depends how that character is constructed and what role they play.

 

[L-J-F]

Wow, there are so seriously homophobic people on here ...

I wouldn't care one bit, why should I? Unless you played as a lesbian of course, then it would be just awesome

And if you think about it, if you've ever played a female character as a straight man then you've played as a lesbian

 

[similar.squirrel]

What, a real homosexual or the videogame kind? Because there's not a chance in hell I would play for more than 2 hours with somebody like Bernie from GTAIV.

 

[traceur_]

Lesbian? Totally.

Gay bloke? No, too creepy.

 

[jamesworkshop]

never really understood this topic since so few games ever deal with sex or orientation because they aren't key in storys the involve saving the world from aliens or shooting Nazi's

 

[nYuknYuknYuk]

And one person said that being gay makes a hero not as badass:
Let's say Master Chief was gay (I'm gonna get murdered for that) and that not once in the game did it ever mention he was gay. But then the creators came out (a la J.K. Rowling and Dumbledore) and said he was. Would that make him any less badass?
If a character is badass, they're badass. Whether they end up kissing their female or male interest in the end is irrelevant to that.

So he wasn't looking at Cortana ... you know.. that way, at ALL? Come on.. not even once?


OT: It wouldn't STOP me from playing it, but I would prefer the character to be heterosexual. Getting in a romance with a guy would be creepy( And I would expect a game with a gay protagonist to have a romance with another guy because of the media attention it would get).

 

[thiosk]

I almost initiated the romance option with Zevran in Dragon Age.

That counts as gay, easy.

 

[Robby Foxfur]

I would, but if its not really necessary to game play then I don't think it matters.

 

[Booze Zombie]

So long as the game doesn't revolve around me making my gay character explicity fuck people.

In a video game the sexuallity of the main character shouldn't really matter unless you're playing a porno game, because very few non-porn games actually care about what their main character does with their wang/vagina.