The 'gay button' gamg: LGBTQ+ reprentatn viogam is often hidn – shouldn't be

Contents:

• MEET THE GAYMERS: WHY QUEER REPRENTATN IS EXPLODG VIO GAM
• VIO GAME PLAYERS AVOID GAY CHARACTERS
• IS GAMG BEG GAY?
• THE ‘GAY BUTTON’: WHERE BISEXUALY AND GAMG CROSS
• BALDUR’S GATE 3 HAS A GAY BEAR SEX SCENE AND PEOPLE ARE LOVG
• VIO GAME PLAYERS AVOID GAY CHARACTERS

MEET THE GAYMERS: WHY QUEER REPRENTATN IS EXPLODG VIO GAM

This ronat wh what game signer Anna Anthropy lls “the gay button”, which is the ia that such reprentatns n be turned on or off at the whim of the player. If the player selects the rrect seri of qutns, is revealed that the hunter is gay.

Of the 2, 000 LGBTQ+ people over the age of 13 surveyed, 40% intify as gay or lbian, 50% intify as bisexual, and 10% intify as transgenr or non-bary. RELATED | Assass's Creed: Valhalla' Has a Gay Sex Scene Between Two Vikgs.

VIO GAME PLAYERS AVOID GAY CHARACTERS

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.

IS GAMG BEG GAY?

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.

”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.

THE ‘GAY BUTTON’: WHERE BISEXUALY AND GAMG CROSS

“I don’t believe ’s an overstatement to say that the gamg sector has a huge problem wh homophobia, transphobia and other forms of bigotry, but is beg tackled at all stag by publishers and velopers who don’t want their gam tated by , which is hearteng to see. Lookg around the room at the Gaymg awards, I’m surround by people whose queerns and love for vio gam are both important parts of who they are – and nowadays, they are no longer at odds. A study of gamer behavr fds they shy away om gay characters, regardls of their strengthsA person drsed as the character Genji om the vio game Overwatch durg a recent tournament.

However, backlash uld ter the pani om supportg margalized groups and disurage gay players om participatg. He wrote that Soldier: 76 had been a romantic relatnship wh another man and intified as gay. Though Soldier: 76 had prevly been assumed by most to be straight, Tracer had been openly gay sce the game was published.

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

The majory had heard about Soldier: 76 beg gay but didn’t re. They got tired of homophobic slurs and nstant harassment and temporarily swched to other characters to avoid . Some players reported the survey that they felt other players see lbians as appealg and tertg, but that the same players voice disgt toward gay men.

Caper the Castro is nsired the first-ever for homosexualy and LGBT vio gam. Set the gay district of San Francis, the ma character – a lbian – looks for her drag queen iend who has been kidnapped. Fdg Gay Vio Game CharactersOver the last ten years, the LGBT muny at Aroundmen have been reprented more and more wh the film and televisn dtry.

VIO GAME PLAYERS AVOID GAY CHARACTERS

Sports stars have supported pri, and for the first time Amerin history, an NFL player has e out as gay.