Topic: GLBTQI gamers unite! and of course anyone else

You know, maybe this has already been addressed earlier in the thread, but I'd be very curious to see a list of major games (I'd include proper indie releases, but not one-man Newgrounds stuff) that do allow same-sex relationships, or feature them as part of the characterization.

The wouldn't have to be comprehensive...I'm just curious as to what's out there.

It's the support convos. She is VERY stalker-esque, it's so creepy and adorable. When I proposed to her, she threatened to kill me if I ever left her.

I think someone posted that list a page or two ago, actually...

Ah, thank you muchly.

...not many games on that list. I'm sure we can think of a few more.

The only thing coming to me right now, though, is the most recent chapter of The Walking Dead. (Season 2, Chapter 2.) It's not a spoiler to say that much, but it does feature a same-sex couple.

And Fallout: New Vegas had a "Confirmed Bachelor" perk, which meant that your character was gay. I didn't realize that until I picked it and the context gave it away. I don't know if there was an equivalent perk for female characters.

So I guess that's two I can add to the list.

The Fallout wiki says the female equivalent to "Confirmed Bachelor" is "Cherchez La Femme".

What I'm looking most forward to in the future of gaming is to have a main character who just happens to be gay, but nothing stereotypical. I would love the hints of the character's orientation to be there, but nothing out right says it until some off-hand comment at the end that make you go over all the little hints scattered throughout and say, "Yeah, I can see that." Just basically a character that doesn't have the developers shoving every stereotype down their throat.

I'm personally tired of a lot of the cliché gay characters that are put into games as mainly a joke character for cheap laughs.

Couldn't agree more, this is very important.

All I want to know is if Bailey Jay is a gamer.

Now this is straying a bit from gaming, but I thought a great portrayal of gay characters was done in a couple of Karen Traviss's Star Wars novels — she focuses on the Mandalorians (Jango Fett's people, who are semi-nomadic and have a strong tradition of adoption); there are a couple of characters that she had appear who are both male and married with a family. And it's basically presented as "not a big deal" to the extent that if you happened to be reading quickly and not really paying attention to who was who, you wouldn't even have noticed.

That, to me, is the pinnacle of what should be sought — where a gay (or bi/trans/whatever) relationship is not treated, presented or viewed as anything "different " or "unusual". It just is.

Is there much of this, though? Certainly film and television are flooded with examples, and it's problematic to be sure, but is there much of this in video games? I'm having more trouble thinking of examples of this than I am examples of neutral / positive portrayal.

@Philip_J_Reed he's most likely thinking of characters like Ghirahim from Skyward Sword or Excellus from Fire Emblem Awakening. The very cliche effeminate characters that are very common in Japanese games. Those types of characters irk me too, I know there are men who act that way and that perfectly fine and they deserve to be represented in games to, but they don't represent the entire gay community.

I doubt these characters are made to represent the gay community at all.

And let's remember being fabulous or girly does not mean the character is gay. Specially the ones like Ghirahim who are not even gendered.

Hades from Kid Icarus Uprising comes to mind as an example for the 'camp gay' trope, as it's known, that I know of... he hits on the ladies, yes, but he fits that trope perfectly... those characters are a little over-done, honestly, as some of the rest of you have noted... I, too, would like to see gay characters that do not fit the usual trope be used...

...and @Moorpheel ninja'd me on that, I guess that trope does not always mean 'gay', either... like Hades, I guess.

Exactly, and this is an important distinction. Flamboyancy is a perfectly acceptable character trait on its own. It can — not always, but commonly — become problematic when it's the defining trait of a homosexual character. But if the character is not gay — and to my knowledge neither of those characters are, but feel free to correct me — then it's not really a fair comparison.

Hades is a good example of a character who embodies a lot of the traits that are often associated (in pop culture) with homosexual males...but he isn't gay. So, you know. There's that.

It would be like creating a standard nerd character who is really good at math. It wouldn't be fair to suggest that that was perpetuating the stereotype that Asians are good at math unless the character was actually Asian. If he's not, then it's just a character trait.

While not important, Wallace Wells is a playable character in the Scott Pilgrim game, and in the books he is one of the coolest, most love able characters I've ever seen. He's blatantly gay and the game expresses this as well. I'm honestly not sure if Wallace is seen as a stereotype of homosexuals because I'm a straight male and have only known one gay man in my life, nice guy, didn't get many chances to talk with him, but I highly doubt Wallace is. I think he's a pretty great representation that doesn't feel shoehorned. Some people may claim his antics feel forced but I think they're entirely natural to hai character and never feel out of place even in the comics.

I have a feeling that in Japan flamboyant straight male characters are common so they don't look at it as a big deal. In the west though, people usually equate flamboyancy to being gay, which bugs the heck out of me. I guess that's why I normally see these types of characters as cliche gay characters.

Also since I saw none video game related LGBT characters being mentioned in some posts, I will say that my favorite representation so far has been Captain Jack Harkness from Doctor Who/Torchwood. Yes he could sometimes be a stereotype but he was also very masculine, funny and didn't let his sexuality dictate his life. It was just a part of his character rather then his character as a whole. A shame that Torchwood season 4 was so bad, I would have loved to have seen the show continue.

My main, and most impactful experience with LGBT characters in anything, were from the Marvel comic series Runaways.

It's been awhile since I read the series, so I'll try my best to remember how it worked... one of the main characters was a girl, who found out she was an alien. Later in the series, a Skrull character is introduced. Skrulls are shapeshifters (in case you didn't know), and he falls in love with her. But she announces she's a lesbian. Not to be discouraged, he becomes a woman, and they proceed to have a relationship. I read this series at a pivotal, formative point in my life, too... it had a profound, positive impact on the way I view the world today.

_{*both of the mentioned characters are on the cover of the issue I posted.}

See I understand why flamboyancy equally gay bugs you. Despite growing up in the US, I never make that connection. So, I'll mention that I find so-and-so amusing, and they'll be like, "You mean the gay character?" and I'll get confused and say, "wait, he's gay?" I'll assume there was somewhere in the story that I seemed to miss that revealed that and not put together that they think that because of the flamboyancy. I just don't understand why that automatically makes them "gay".

I honestly feel like the stereotype-free gay character is a rarity in TV and movies as well, so it being a rare thing in gaming doesn't strike me as odd. When you have the gay slacker slob uype character like Max from the show Happy Endings, or the super normal, cool gay and lesbian characters of Doctor Who show up more, it will trickle down to other forms of media.

I believe it's important to have GLBT represented in video games,with the prerequisite that they should be interesting characters and have some traits other than 'flamboyantly gay', or similar stereotype. GLBT-characters shouldn't also all be goody-good and lifted on a pedestal like some demigods: some ought to be greedy, hateful, angry, scornful etc. just like all people.

If I remember correctly, I've only played two games with at least hinted homo sexuality: Mass Effect 3 and Ace Attorney Dual Destinies. There was also a woman dressed as a man in DD, but I can't remember her reason for doing so.

Except neither one was meant to represent the community. Excellus especially cannot since...well...he's missing some pieces