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On Gay Characters In Videogames
Thanks to Armchair Arcade for its feature discussing the portrayal of gay characters in videogames past and present. The article starts by pointing out: "In Troika Games' computer role playing game The Temple of Elemental Evil (2003)... the player is asked to rescue, and given the option to marry, an openly gay character", and ends by arguing: "Gay avatars are an inevitable development in the evolution of the videogame that will take place with or without this article. If we already see such possibilities opening up in even mainstream titles like The Temple of Elemental Evil, I doubt it will be long before even the idea of a fantasy role-playing game featuring only one white male avatar will seem a strange, misguided aspect of our distant past."
...the fabulous portrayal of gay people in Grand Theft Auto.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
I for one believe there should be more crossdressing in video games. I still remember I think it was Space Quest 3 where you cross-dressed in the mall.
The issue of gays in videogames will get a lot more mainstream soon, one example is that the website for "The Sims 2" says that members of the same gender will be able to marry each other.
http://thesims2.ea.com/about_faq.php
Do they have to wander around the United States until they find a city offering marriage licenses? That sounds like a pretty extensive side-quest.
Given the option to marry?
I never thought I'd see the day that first person shooters would be more tolerant of social differences the the general U.S. population.
Let's not forget the original gay character....from Nintendo no less...Birdo in Super Mario Bros 2. Yes, that pink thing that shot eggs and wore a bow...was a dude.
Gamers are some of the most homophobic people out there. Using "gay" to mean "stupid" or "cheap" is clear homophobia, I don't care what kind of way people try to construe it.
"That's so GAY!" is heard almost every round of Counterstrike. "God, why does that fag have to keep cheating?" If you're a real gamer, you know what I'm talking about.
The worst part is that most of them think it's okay, because either a) They don't *really* mean Gay people, it's just a word, or b) they think gay people deserve it.
Its really a problem that needs to go away. It makes online gaming less fun, and it makes otherwise intelligent people act like assholes.
For once, the GNAA would be slightly on-topic, and they are nowhere to be found. Trolls are so damn unreliable.
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
It always pissed me off that my female avatar couldn't get any lesbian lovin at that whorehouse/tavern in act 1. I had her strip her armor and all, but neither of the women would go for her, told her to go talk to the guy. And the Token was non-refundable too if I remember correctly. So I just killed everyone in the building (except for that fat bitch, she wouldn't die, vital part of the story or some shit), but it wasn't as filling.
(Score:0, Interesting)
Eagle from Capcom vs SNK 2 (who was a character in the original Street Fighter) came out of the closet in that game as an openly gay character. Many of his winning quotes in the Japanese version of the game show this. The American version, however, had the quotes changed to not show his sexuality.
Considering gamers still use the words 'fag', 'gay' and 'homo' in order to insult each other online, it'll be a while until homosexual characters are implemented more into games.
Yes, they should be using "lame" or "retard" or "bastard".
May we never see th
The best traumatizing-to-fragile-heterosexual-identities videogame characters was GGXX's Bridget - a gender-confused boy who fights with a yo-yo and was raised as, dresses as and acts like a girl. A pretty hot girl. as cel-shaded Japanese fighters go.
Bridget probably sent more than one fanboy to therapy.
To me the best gay character in a game is great, because it was completely unintentional. The character is Crassius Curio in the game Morrowind. He was intended to be a very lecherous, but straight character. However, there was a bug that caused him to give the dialogue for female players regardless of the character's actual gender. The result: he comes across as absolutely, flamingly gay.
For great justice.
Why is it that people insist upon focusing upon a single facet of their being rather than the entirety?
In the specific case of homosexuality, too many people focus upon the fact that they are gay to the exclusion of all else. Should the person be famous and be on a talkshow, that's the whole of their discussion - their homosexuality.
Now, consider somebody like Elton John. Queer as a three dollar bill, and has made no bones about it for years. Yet, that is only a small part of the man - yes, if he is on a talk show and the subject comes up he may discuss (briefly) his S.O., but then he moves on. He treats his relationship like any polite person should - it is his private life, and he trys to keep it such. I don't want to hear about Elton's bedroom, but then again, I really don't want to hear about Ahnold's bedroom, either.
Which brings me to the subject of "Gay characters in (games|movies|TV)" - in most such cases that is ALL the character is - gay. No other character development, just "Look at Fred. He's gay."
How about having a character who is, among other things, gay? Buffy the Vampire Slayer did pretty well with Willow - the fact she was gay was only a small facet of her character.
So why must the fact that some character in this video game is gay be the main facet of the game, or the character? Why not just have the fact come out (pun intended) during the normal course of the game, and make it just another part of the character?
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