Topic: GLBTQI gamers unite! and of course anyone else

Like I said earlier, I think of people as people, and I don't stereotype or generalize people for any reason... it's too bad that more people can't see things that way...

I'm in the same boat here, too... mostly because the games I play don't involve any love interests at all...

Well, typical game tropes that represent the GLBTQIETC community include the campy guy, the overly feminine male, the sexy bisexual girl, the I'm-not-gay obviously gay character (Japan loves this one), etc.

In other words, typical "token" characters.

It's kinda rare when games represent them as normal people. But it happens. The Sims is a good example.

There's also the "She's a dude in Japan" thing, that includes Birdo, Vivian (Paper Mario) and other characters. It's when the character is so feminine in The source material that he becomes a she in the translation to avoid problems with the conservative public. The opposite probably exists too, but I have never seen it.

Well I'm hurt, us dead folk can't play many games that allow you to play as a dead protagonist, the only game staring a dead character that I remember is Medievil on the PS1, we got the new Smash bros game coming out, no dead character, new Super Mario bros game, no dead character unless it was a enemy, us dead guys just want to live once again but everyone is jelly and hates us for it, calls us a bunch of flesh eaters and makes movies about it and makes us evil enemies in games!, many people hurt me and my friends feelings, we just want to have fun!, too bad you guys don't think the same.

I'm still figuring things out, but I think I'm bisexual. To me, representation in media is always a good thing to see but nothing I've ever felt needed to be in. (Maybe when it comes to games especially, characters being heterosexual or having to make heterosexual choices like in FE:A never bothered me, since I'm bi so it didn't make me uncomfortable) However I understand the importance of representation but I feel like sometimes it just gets shoehorned in to make people happy or draw attention. More often than not (or at least lately in games) it feels like the attitude is, "Hey, hey! Look look! Two girls kissing! Look! We're progressive guys! We accept gay people!" even if there's only one mention of a gay person or you see two same-sex people kissing once for a second. But I know not all games are like this. Basically, I feel that if you're gonna put a gay person in, don't do it just because and make it minor or even worse, make them the butt of the joke. Do it in a way that gives that person real character and personality, yet puts their other traits above their orientation. Otherwise, people will remember that character for being "that gay guy" or "the lesbian chick", which doesn't help much at all. Hopefully there are actually instances of these games but I've just missed them.

@Squid that's basically my thought; is that it should be done in an unobtrusive way and in a way that makes sense for whatever scenario it is, not to call attention to the work or something like that. I'd like to see it well-integrated, not just thrown in.

Fire Emblem Awakening actually had romance between the child characters, who couldn't reproduce... so it's not like the romance system was only used for reproduction anyway...

I guess I belong in the Questioning group then.

I don't have a lot to add to the discussion really, other than: Yeah. I think it should become a normal thing too. I like to think we're getting there, though.

Er. Now that I think about it, I've hardly played any game that portrays them. There's just too few games that do it. I can only recall 4 games:

• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: on two player mode, two players can kiss regardless of their gender
• Mass Effect series: you can fall in love with someone with the same gender as you and start a relationship with them. I don't know if they deal with issues such as the concept of being in or out of the "closet," what other characters think, the general stance from the social environment, or ways of identifying (e.g. being feminine or simply acting heteronormative and telling people your preferences).
• Analogue: A Hate Story: without spoiling details, there is basically an affair going on between two women. And there's also a funny achievement related to this
• The Ballad of Gay Tony: I believe the main character is gay. My impression is that they portray the LGBTA folks who live in self-segregated communities in urban areas of Western-based cities. It'd be cool to hear an impression from folks who played this game.

Oh, and they are all rated for older teens (such as the ESRB M for Mature).

What's odd is that some cousins (Lucina and Owain?) could get to an S relationship

I've seen the conversations (from what I recall) for that and they sidestep it being "romance", instead talking about being partners, like a best friend relationship.

You don't need to be married or romatically involved to love another person.

...this is true...

Yeah, Disney showed this in Frozen

given the long history of intermarriage between royal cousins, if it had been an honestly romantic relationship, it wouldn't really have surprised me, lol

@theblackdragon My point was that Nintendo loves to be "politically correct"