Christian Extremist Group Rates Games On Gay Content
With the onset of the holiday season we are greeted by numerous buyer's guides to help us find exactly which games will make the right gifts. Well, ultra-conservative group The Timothy Plan has released it's own buyer's guide to gaming, ranking over 100 games from the past couple years on a number of criteria. What kind of criteria you may ask, well let's just say that the group prides itself for being "America's first pro-life, pro-family, biblically-based mutual fund group." So of course in addition to the typical moral issues of sex, violence, and profanity we get to see games rated on their gay and lesbian content as well. The list is actually quite funny to read, so check it out for yourself (links to a pdf of the list are here and here). Let's find out what the gayest games around are, shall we?
Games are rated on a scale from 0 to 3, with 3 being the highest level of "offensive" content. Fable 2, Mass Effect, and Bully were the only games to receive a 3 grade in the gay/lesbian category due to their advocacy of gay marriage, lesbian aliens, and boy kissing. Saints Row 2 and the Sims games received a 2 grade because of crossdressing. Valkyria Chronicles also received a 2 grade, though for unspecified reasons, which only makes me more eager to play what looks to be an amazing strategy RPG. Grand Theft Auto IV received a 1 grade because you can try to solicit men through dating websites, but are always turned down. My personal favorite though was the grade given to Army of Two, which received a 1 grade because "Somewhat homo-erotic undertones between the two main characters are present."
As mad as I probably should be about their listing of homosexuality as immoral behavior, I have to admit that this is probably one of the most extensive lists of gay content in videogames outside of our own list. What I find myself more angry about is that they missed mentioning some quality gay games. Despite several indications that Sander Cohen (my personal favorite part of Bioshock) was gay, or at least bi, Bioshock gets no mention in the gay/lesbian category. Fallout 3 is also without mention even though I found the delightful lesbian couple of Carol and Gretta in the ghoul town Underworld. To me, a mention on this list is a badge of honor for these games which promote equality through the presence of gay characters. To deprive games of that recognition is just wrong.
Even beyond the rating of games for gay content, the ratings are fairly ridiculous. There's even a category for rating games based on demonic content, and yet Devil May Cry 4 only receives a 1 rating and games like Silent Hill: Homecoming, Alone in the Dark, and Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia don't get any rating at all. Meanwhile Hellgate London and Painkiller: Hell Wars earn higher demonic ratings despite comparable amount of demons and witches, presumably solely because they mention Hell in the title. You know what one of the few games to come out completely free of negative rating was? Pokemon. Even Super Mario Galaxy and Wii Play received ratings of 1 in the "cartoon violence" category. But then Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, games which focus on enslaving woodland creatures and forcing them to fight each other for your own amusement, the virtual equivalent of a cock fight, those games get a perfect moral rating across the board.
Clearly, I'm poking fun at the list, but it's really hard not to. It's clear that whoever was responsible at The Timothy Plan for creating the list never even played half of the games, and the list is so inconsistent in its ratings that it's hard to take it as anything other than a joke. But the sad and terrifying truth is that there are people out there who will take the list to heart. I can only assume that those people adhere to these misguided ideals so strongly that they may be beyond saving. But even if they can't embrace the freedom and love that their own religion teaches, it's still a shame that in their ignorance they'll be depriving themselves of some amazing games.
'Moral' group attacks violent videogames, accuses them of being gay [Destructoid]
NaviFairy
Posted to Hot Stuff, Video Games on 3 December 2008
· Comments (15)
Other stuff like this: christian extremists, crazy people, gay games, Jesus would be ashamed
Valkyria Chronicles has quite an extensive list of gay/lesbian/bisexual playable characters, at least in comparison to most games.
(It's extremist, btw.)
More posts like this, plz.
For those interested, LGBT-Superhaters Focus on the Family have been reviewing games for a while using similar guidelines of self righteousness and hilarity.
i remember Zelda TP getting a low score in a christian site somewhere because it implied many gods.
As a straight male, gamer, Christian, and avid reader of GayGamer I'm absolutely facepalming so hard right now.
Awe they took down the list, or there was so much traffic it crashed or been hacked, and now the other link is password protected. No way am I going just for a looksey.
Fable II is so gay for me right now. My roommate is convinced its the new Sims in terms of the ability to have rampant gay sex.
warning the horror game SILENT HILL IS SCARY!
I want to buy all those games now.
Yeah, Sims also had gay marriage, so it should have been a 3 as well.
Also, Persona 2 Innocent Sin? Which with a little luck I'll be playing a translated version of in a week or two.
Personally I feel there should be a very thorough in-depth list like that, but pro-gay content obviously.
This is truly sick. They have nothing better to do than to keep bashing gays and lesbians. And THAT is what they call being a "good christian"?
They give Fable II a 3 for allowing players to be gay. If you follow that logic, looks like real life needs a 3 rating as well!
Really? Some people have too much time, and money, on their hands.
However, the Timothy Plan does have a valid point: money speaks. By using these lists, conservative Christians can support products which espouse their values, and boycott those which don't. As a result, right-leaning businesses will have more capital to invest in their chosen political allies. It would behoove the LGBT and Ally community to do the same with our money.
I'd be curious to see how companies like Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft rank in their support of the LGBT community.
this could only happen in the usa,here in the uk the church can't bash gays and gays are = in the law,it's about time gay America took a stand and put a end to this,make me very sad to read storys like this on how gays 2nd class in the USA
Wow @ OH. I was amazed the site had so many straight male readers according to that Poll a while back. Apparently, we have Straight Male Christian readers too? :)