Where Are We Coming From?

We can draw a similar (but hardly identical) parallel to the evolution of gay marketing in the mainstream press; far from being an abrupt change from a marginalized community to a relatively wealthy, targeted audience, the shift occurred in baby steps and small adjustments in attitude. More significantly for this discussion, the development wasn't necessarily obvious at the time. Much of the change revolved around a slow awakening of the senses of the advertising world and its clients, and for us, the ground shifting under our feet as we found ourselves being spoken to directly, being taken seriously as consumers and as people with differing sexual orientations.

In 1997, Volkswagon ran the infamous "Da, Da, Da" commercial during the coming-out episode of "Ellen," and (supposedly inadvertently) sparked a trend of metasexual advertisements as well as contributing to what would become a new concept in the marketing world: appealing directly to gay and lesbian consumers through mainstream advertisements. VW claimed that it didn't intend for the ad to be gay, but also said that it didn't mind one bit if the ad was read that way.

A year later the company began officially sponsoring gay events.

Five years later, Volkswagon began targeting the gay community with print ads in Out and The Advocate and continued the trend of metasexual television commercials with offerings such as the 2002 "Roasted" ad, featuring two men with asymmetrical suntans and a lingering, understanding look.

And with the 2005 launch of the LGBT television channel, Logo, Subaru began running overtly gay television ads. Three years later, despite a fracas between Ford and the American Family Association over Jaguar and Land Rover ads in gay publications (that ultimately ended in our favor), Subaru still puts new gay-targeted ads onto the network. Watch a little Logo and you'll likely see them, or check out a sweet one on YouTube.

Where Are We Headed?

In a roundabout way, I'm suggesting that there may be something similar happening in the world of video games. Much of it may emerge from 3D, near-photorealistic graphics and the resultant development of lifelike characters, but it's the underlying element of style and the creative decisions behind the styles of today's games that I think bears closer examination.

On one hand we have the flamboyant, metrosexual acrobatics of Devil May Cry's red-coated Dante, whose romantic gay appeal is obvious. Similarly, most of the recent Final Fantasy heroes have had a decidedly fey design. (RPG heroes have long had a tendency to be designed closer to the "Emo" end of the spectrum...Arc the Lad and Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, to name just a few.) Final Fantasy VIII's Squall Leonheart was even rumored to have been based on the sexually "ambiguous" Japanese musician Gackt - as was Castlevania: Symphony of the Night's Alucard. Just take a look at this picture to see why.

On the other hand we have the probably unintentional side effect of the super-mega-hotness of hyper-macho game figures such as Gears of War's Marcus Fenix and his buddy, Dom, whose rugged good looks and intimate teamwork inspired some rumors that the two might be closer than close. Dead Rising added fuel to the unconscious fire: Frank West's too-too-macho persona is belied by a panoply of unlockable cross-dressing, shirtlessness, and spandex...all of which has an underlying wink-and-nudge homoeroticism. Not to mention Kratos, the shirtless juggernaut who flexes and grunts his way through God of War: none of these men would look the least bit out of place on the cover of the latest Titan DVD. In fact, I'd wager a Kratos/Marcus/Frank sexcapade would sell like hotcakes. Hot beefcake, that is.

Both of these lists, "metrosexual" game characters and testosterone-dripping muscle men, could be elaborated upon, but the examples suffice. Both sets also reflect an overlap in the Venn diagram of game and character design that appeal to both straight gamers and gay gamers: one man's idol is another man's eye candy.

I suppose the heart of the matter is that I'm rethinking my position on the nature of what a "gay game" might look like. It's not that I'm rescinding my hope for an all-out responsibly designed gay main character or gay-targeted game; rather, I'm asking myself if in our anticipation we might be overlooking a culturally relevant subliminal and transitional period similar to the sea-change that's taken place in gay-targeted print and TV ads. A period during which artistic decisions are being made with either (or both) so-called "metrosexual" artistic values and the ironic gay-attractive spillover from ultra-macho manly-man design. (In other words, I wonder if CliffyB's self-aware trendy fauxhawk might not be influencing his creative values?) It mightn't be a deliberate trend, and most of the effect is surely accidental...yet happy accidents have helped change industries before, merely by virtue of being profitable. Just ask Volkswagon. And Subaru.

And if the $10 billion gaming industry can begin to surreptitiously carve off portions from the juicy tenderloin that is the $690 billion gay market...well, that certainly smells like profit to me.