Steam Curator: Gay Intert Gamg

Contents:

• MEET THE GAYMERS: WHY QUEER REPRENTATN IS EXPLODG VIO GAM
• GAY PORN GAM: FREE GAY SEX GAM ONLE
• VIO GAME PLAYERS AVOID GAY CHARACTERS
• BALDUR’S GATE 3 HAS A GAY BEAR SEX SCENE AND PEOPLE ARE LOVG

MEET THE GAYMERS: WHY QUEER REPRENTATN IS EXPLODG VIO GAM

Gam for those terted gay characters, storyl, and player optns. “A lightfully wholome story-driven game wh a GameBoy-spired style, about a teen 2007 wh a gay csh on his bt iend.

GAY PORN GAM: FREE GAY SEX GAM ONLE

5D platformer about a gay garner on a qut to save his boyiend atop a tall tower. “A fightg game wh a gay male playable character, Maxi, whose male lover was killed by another playable character. GGP is a leadg anizatn of lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr game dtry profsnals and enthiasts om around the world.

But this is the first -person Gaymg awards, an event that celebrat queer reprentatn vio gam, and the huge and ever-growg queer muny that plays might not be what some people would thk of as the gamg dience, but the fact is that jt about everybody plays gam now – two-thirds of all Amerins, to pluck jt one stat – and of urse, queer people have always been part of that muny. A seri like Mae Mart’s Feel Good, about a formerly straight-prentg bi woman her first relatnship wh a non-bary queer person, did not exist 1999; neher did a game like Life is Strange: Te Colors, a small-town mystery about a bisexual psychic, which picked up three aclas at the Gaymg awards.

VIO GAME PLAYERS AVOID GAY CHARACTERS

The cisn was ma durg the origal Sims’ velopment the late 90s to remove same-sex romantic teractns between characters, but they were restated by a programmer named Patrick J Barrett III – himself a gay man – who was workg om an old sign document that ma no mentn of that cisn. After two female Sims went off-script at a weddg durg a live mo of the game 1999 and started passnately makg out ont of a roomful of journalists, velopers at Maxis were wag for the sus at publisher EA to mand a change – but never happened, and so The Sims beme one of the first gam to portray homosexualy and days, the velopers workg on The Sims 4 at Maxis are much more liberately queer- and trans-clive, terg to one of the most diverse player muni vio gam.

“I’m an openly gay man workg the gam dtry, so for me I have a vted tert greater cln not jt the gam we play, but those who make gam, ” says John Faciane, associate producer at Maxis, the Sims’ veloper. “It is an art form that speaks to a lot of different people and backgrounds, and the more we clu all those people, the better is … A big reason that I felt fortable to e out when I did, even though I have a wonrful, supportive, lovg fay, was seeg reprentatn of gay men wh gam – knowg that there were other people out there like me.

BALDUR’S GATE 3 HAS A GAY BEAR SEX SCENE AND PEOPLE ARE LOVG

”Asi om reprentatn wh gam themselv, the way that muni gather around gam has also been a drivg factor changg the state of play: queer gamers – or gaymers, as many playfully intify – are more visible too.

“Weirdly, when I started streamg, I never advertised that I was gay, nor mentned on stream … I quickly realised this was foolish. ”As Ben pots out, though, gamg’s general reputatn for toxicy is not entirely unjtified, and outsi explicly LGBTQ+-iendly spac there is still a lot of homophobia around.