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MEET THE GAYMERS: WHY QUEER REPRENTATN IS EXPLODG VIO GAM
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.
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.
THEGAYGAMER
”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. “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. First, the "gay guy" qutn is Peter Bartholow, CEO of Los Angel-based Lab Zero Gam. If you're still on the fence as to whether or not to hand over some of your own hard-earned sh for this trigug effort, the followg tête-à-tête--about Indivisible's origs as well as the gay ntent mentned the hear above--wh Bartholow may help nudge you toward the "y" si of the equatn.
The Gay Gamer: Indivisible's Indiegogo page scrib the game as beg spired by Valkyrie Profile and Super Metroid.
DONATN GOAL FOR GAY GAM 11
The Gay Gamer: You've also brought up Chrono Trigger past terviews about Indivisible.
The Gay Gamer: Will people need to have played--and enjoyed--all of those gam to like Indivisible? The Gay Gamer: You mentned your ial e-mail to me that Indivisible will have some sort of gay ntent. Are we talkg about a major element of the game--the protagonist Ajna beg gay or disverg she's gay--or somethg a ltle ls major, like a si character beg open about beg LGBT?