What's Gay Identity In The Gaming Microcosm?
Kotaku has an extremely thought-provoking op-ed piece up about the representation of minorities in video games. While they don't mention LGBT characters (disappointingly) as well, the parallels they draw can easily be applied to our community too. There's a lot to be made about the lack of LGBT characters in video games, and when they are included they run the spectrum of anything from Grand Theft Auto's "Gay Tony" to Makoto from Enchanted Arms, with subjective opinions on whether or not any of those representations are accurate, fair or troublesome. Just like in regular media it's a challenge to find LGBT characters that don't just play into the stereotypes heterosexuals expect of us, and given the diversity within the LGBT community itself, it's tough to make a broad comment about whether or not those versions ring true or leave people out.
The Kotaku article asks minority gamers what they would like to see more of in video games, and pondering the same question myself I had a hard time putting a finger on it. What would be a fair archetype of a gay character to me might be considered offensive to a different gay gamer who fits into a different paradigm. It's also a juggle to come up with a character that's "realistic" without seemingly thrown in to be the token satisfaction for political correctness' sake. Even if gathered together under a common banner, we are all still distinct individuals distinctly, and it's hard to gauge what should be considered a fair presentation of that diversity. Given that conundrum, and the societal pressures on game developers and TV show writers to be more diverse in the characters they cast, it's not too hard to see why they usually opt for the cliched, time-worn tropes. (Or, more commonly, leave us out entirely.)
Given that gaming as an entertainment genre is primarily dominated by heterosexual white males, there is active hostility to more "gayness" in their games. I noticed this personally in discussion about the recent Shadow Complex drama-- where the conversation was dominated by heterosexual players, sadly the perspective was largely "I'm tired of this PC stuff ruining what I do for fun." In online environments the same attitude can be found, an issue I've lamented myself. And to be fair this is no issue relegated to just minorities or the LGBT segment of the gaming population; female gamers face the same sorts of disproportionate representation (or extremely sexist representation) as well.
On various levels I think that this sort of problem comes as a testament to how far LBGT identity has come recently; this is something that so many straight gamers take for granted, to the point that they fail to see why even the most subtle reference to a gay identity in a popular video game is a powerful affirmation to the segment of gay people playing it. These days representation for gay people is more prevalent than it's ever been, so for a lot of people it's difficult to remember a time when this was not the case.
So, coming back to the original question, I had a very hard time thinking up a concept for a gay character that wouldn't seem trite or forced; it's obviously not enough to just throw "gay!" out there or dress the character up in women's clothes (looking at you, Makoto), so I had a lot of trouble imagining something I would be happy with. It's no small feat either, given that it's hard to find game protagonists themselves that aren't contrived caricatures. What about you? What would you consider an accurate, representative framework to present a LGBT character in a positive fashion?
mixvio
Posted to Miscellany on 15 September 2009
· Comments (16)
Other stuff like this: diversity, gay identity, video games
Ever played Gun Mute? Little text adventure shooter game by Pacian. Here's the introduction from the game:
"The desert sand squirms beneath your feet, alive with mutant nanomachines. Sheriff Clayton has Elias. He's hanging him at noon.
It looks like you're going to have to shoot some people."
You're the stubbled, gun-toting, wild western hero, you solve problems with your revolver, not pansy-ass words. You shoot down foe after foe to save your sidekick, then when you finally rescue him you kiss him like it's the most natural thing in the world.
And it's a good game on top of that!
My boyfriend and I touched on this particular subject some time ago. Our debate was reignited because of this article.
We both came to a conclusion... When we play games, we role play as the lead character.
For example, when I play... oh, lets say GTA: Vice City, I'm playing as Tommy. He's the guy Rockstar shaped out for me to play as and that's who it is. However, there's games that are meant to give complete control of story and environment and the universe shifts to your actions. Games like Fable and The Sims. Wherein being gay plays a role (a minor one at that) in the game as a whole.
It's unfortunate that there are still a couple games out there that don't let you have that freedom when creating your avatar, but it isn't really anyone's fault. Animal Crossing could be used as an example. But, in it's and the developer's defense, it doesn't really allow you to be "Straight" either. Not act on it at least.
Really, it all comes down to perception. You can go your merry way knowing your Animal Crossing toon fancies other boys and that makes it so. You can go on believing Tingle is a big 'Mo despite any hard evidence *cough*.
If a developer slips in that a certain character was gay, it wouldn't only ruin my perception of wondering and guessing, but it would also seem... forced... unless somehow it played a huge role in the story.
Last thing... I thought I should throw this out there... I'm Mexican. I have no problem playing as CJ in GTA: San Andreas, Or Playing Nathan Drake... Or hell, The Prince of Persia for that matter (Partly but not fully because they're all hot). Just like how I don't have a problem occasionally marrying and impregnating women in The Sims, Fable II, and Harvest Moon.
Heh I'm one of those female gamers you're talking about. I also happen to be bisexual, an admission I can almost never ever make online because of the heavy implications (ie being told I'm dabbling, selfish, attention whoring, faking it, just in it to please men, etc.)
I think for all minority characters: LGBT, POC, women, the best thing for our representation in games is to just BE. And let them just write the character as they would, without worrying if it was "true" enough to their sexual identity or not. Gay men in video games don't have to have a lisp and a limp wrist. Women don't need to have exaggerated boobs and jiggle physics. Minorities don't need to talk jive. We need just normal video game characters who just happen to be gay, or female, or a POC. Because we're all people, who just happen to be gay, women, or POC.
We need more characters like Alyx from Half Life 2.
For me a gay character should be just like any other character. They can have their oddities (like being a bit hyper or something), but they shouldn't be centered around what straight people presume to be gay (like Makoto's near-crossdressing) as that'll only lead to stereotypes.
Let me give an example using FF8. I wouldn't mind a gay main character that is exactly like Squall. The only diference would be that the Rinoa character (who should also be exactly the same personality wise) would be a guy. It's that simple.
Lastly, unlike Zepher66 I would quite like a confirmed gay character. As long as that character isn't forced into a stereotypical role (as I outlined earlier).
Oh God...Makoto...I hate Makoto so much. I may just have to write a rant article some day all about Makoto and how he is a worse representative of gay characters in gaming than if there were no gay characters at all.
So far I'd say the best and most accurate representation of a gay character was in the game Indigo Prophecy (or Fahrenheit for those in Europe) with the character Tommy. He has a very small part, but it's a realistic one.
I was also very impressed with the representation of homosexuality in Valkyria Chronicles. It perhaps wasn't the most realistic depiction (certain characters gained a stat boost when in the company of the same sex) but it integrated homosexuality into the gameplay so that there was an in-game incentive to care about their sexual orientation. Also, and maybe I'm reading a little too much into it, but it made for a nice social commentary on the whole "Don't ask, don't tell" military policy since in the game gay characters often were better soldiers.
All good arguments but at the same time, writers/designers have to consider the genre of the game.
Rockstar isn't a shining example of upholding proper representation of minorities but they equally lambaste all like a good comedian should. I wasn't offended by any of the gay references in Bully because they fit the story. However, I'm holding my opinion on The Ballad of Gay Tony (there seems to be some mincing in one scene).
It seems to be that if a game is more comical, more unreal, then the characters are caricatures, regardless of their ethnicity or orientation.
Yeah I found Makoto incredibly offensive as well. Not because of the effeminacy, but because the way it was presented was designed simply to have people poke fun and laugh. Especially if you stick with the game and actually play more than a minute or so: he starts out annoying and lispy and sexually harassing the heterosexual lead and everyone dislikes him, and then at a certain point "dies" only to come back dark and grizzled, sans lisp, and totally the cool character to all the others because there's no reference to him being gay any longer.
It was like a video game designer making something around coming up with fat jokes for twelve hours, then trying to pass that off as a fair representation because "Look, we had a fat character!"
Thank you for bringing up this question. I largely agree with Zepher66 in that what I am looking for is options for gayness (and other minorities) in games. Admittedly, I mostly play role-playing games or others with role-playing aspects, but I really feel that the gaming medium is about providing that immersive experience. Games are not just movies that you push buttons along with--they should give a heightened sense to players of being IN CONTROL. So give me control to be gay! And for that matter, let me choose my sex, my skin tone, my clothing, and other features as well. Let me have gay relationships and don't assume heterosexuality. Let me make the choices and it will make your game better as a result. Technology should not hold developers back on this issue. This allows people to find in games what they want, and may even encourage some experimenting. Perhaps that's too optimistic, but hey.
I realize, though, that there will inevitably need to be non-controlled characters in games. I appreciate the calls for non-stereotypical examples, yet I would also caution that even "stereotypical" characters can be ok if they are handled well and with compassion. After all, every single gay man is not a super tough gunslinger, either, and making all gay characters hypermasculine does nothing to allow the acceptance of non-gender-conforming people. Just create characters of all types, colors, sizes, genders, and orientations, and treat them all with respect, not as jokes. That is what would make me happy.
Great comments all around.
I also really respected Valkyria Chronicle's inclusion of LGBT characters. My favorite was Jann, he was big, burly, and super camp ("You got it, Hon!"). But, he was also a very useful character, much better than the game's main Lancer Largo, IMHO.
I think that should be a key part of including LGBT characters in gaming, make them useful. I don't just want an NPC that stands around doing nothing but represents our community in a good light, I want a character who you'd want to play as or want to have on your team/party because they kick ass.
Games are about interactivity, so playing as (or using) an LGBT character in a game and feeling that they are not just there as a token shout-out ("Here's our gay, where's our GLAAD award??"), but as a key part of the game play, is what I think needs to be a next step. That, and Mass Effect 2 better have some boy-on-boy love.
It's a toughie. What constitutes a character can vary a lot, even within the same game. It makes it hard to construct specific archetypes. An NPC has to have a strong, distinct personality, whereas player characters are often simply cyphers and avatars for the player.
A well made NPC makes a memorable impression on a player, so extremes can sometimes work well for them. A well made player character needs to be someone that the entire potential audience will like and relate to enough that they're happy to spend hours in their company, making extreme traits undesireable.
Then different genres of game require different things of a character. The heroes of 'open-ended' games like Fallout 3 and Fable are entirely blank slates to be moulded as the player sees fit, whereas more narrative driven games like the Final Fantasies benefit from having definite, non-customisable characters as they give a solid foundation for more complicated plots and character relationships. Then there are puzzle games and beat 'em ups where characterisation is all inferred by handling, animation and art design.
You can't just pull a succesful character of any sort out of thin air. What works and doesn't is tightly defined by the context of the game you're trying to fit them into. They have to be specifically tailored to their environment.
And, let's be frank, character, like storytelling, is an area where games remain pretty weak, even for that majority market of straight white males. For every likeable success, like Nathan Drake or the Prince of PoP: Sands of Time, there are a dozen dull, generic, surly, interchangeable anti-heroes, like Alex Mercer and the Prince of PoP: Warrior Within.
But, without a defined context for these gay characters, I would just ask that they be as strong and useful, and treated as respectfully, as their straight counterparts, and that the gay is made unavoidable without being gratuitous or exploitative.
I wholly agree with JRN. And further elaborating what I meant earlier, I would very much like to see a gay character in a video game. However, like schmorge, I wouldn't want him/her to simply be gay just for the sake of being gay. I think it would have to be a little bit more involved and deeper than that.
To put it into perspective, how much different would it be if we found out Vincent from FFVII were gay or if Sylvanas Windrunner from Warcraft swung both ways?
It wouldn't change anything in the grand scale of the games they appear in because their sexuality probably plays the same role the clothes they wear do.
A character like Raikov in MGS3 though? His sexuality plays a minor role in the story, and similarly outed (in the MGS Database) in a very minor way. And That, I'm 100% OK with.
I guess in a sense... give me a gay character, when sexuality plays a grander role than "Here's this guy, he's a hero. Oh and by the way, he's a little lavender."
As a lesbian, I'd like more lesbian characters in video games. As much as there are the blank slate type characters like JRN mentioned, and as much as I love working with those types, some more lesbians would be great. It may just be my own luck, but I encounter far more gay guys in media, even just blatant stereotypes, than I do gay girls. Sure, we have innuendo and hints every now and again (Mitsuru/Yukari in Persona 3, anyone?) but mostly we're reduced to "Oh, your feelings aren't real, you really do like guys after all, so all you need is a hot dicking and life will be okay!" type scenarios, because girl on girl gets high ratings, whether it's fake or real.
If they're gonna dyke it up, go all the way. Don't be afraid. You did it with guys, go ahead and let us gay girls have the spotlight for a moment. Hell, even in Japan, yaoi outnumbers yuri in any form, quality or otherwise.
Maybe I'm just not looking hard enough.
I'm not saying gay guys should be cut back on. That'd be hypocritical of me. I support all forms of gay and such, but would it hurt to let some girls kiss other girls and like it beyond one scene? It can't be THAT hard to write.
Atma's quite right about the lack of lesbian characters, too, and I can't decide whether I'm surprised by their meagre representation or not.
Cynicism tells me that gay female characters should be an easier sell to the Assumed Audience, but that probably scares the game makers off, too, in case they're accused of misogyny and pandering to male sexual fantasies to shift units, or following stereotypes if the tough, kick-ass heroine happens to dig chicks. There aren't even many straight female characters that escape accusations of being digital sex dolls.
It doesn't help that the industry is so male dominated, I guess. I somehow managed to befriend a lot of girl gamers, and nearly all of those turned out to be gay (or bi), and even I'm so busy thinking about abs and muscley arms that the dearth of lesbian characters doesn't often occur to me. I feel embarassed to admit that. Sorry lesbians.
While agree with you Atma, you do realise though that yaoi is predominantly aimed at straight women, right? It's not like they're catering to gay men. Although I, as a gay man, still enjoy it quite a lot.
As for Persona, I recently found out that the gay character in the 4th game appearantly is made to not be gay afterall either. So pretty much the same situation you mentioned for gay female characters.
Excellent points, all!
I think that one of the main hurdles in "gayme" developing is simply that in order for LGBT folks to be 'accurately' portrayed, there has to be a large enough sampling of said characters, as a single gay character can be taken out of context, or perceived as a stereotype. If there are more gay characters or a representation of a gay community, we can overlook the mincing fops and the bull dykes, because they're part of the group as a whole, as much as the non-stereotypical folks.
I think it'd be great for there to be a partial or whole game, say a Hotel Dusk type adventure, set in San Fran or Vancouver, where the player character interacts with all walks of life, flamingly gay, narrowly straight and everything in between and beyond. If a developer could pull that off (and make it a good game), it'd be a huge step in the right direction.
HD
Atma is actually quite correct. Lesbian character don't have it better at all. Sure, girl girl eyecandy is liked, but women not liking men? That's incredibly disliked.
Some companies even advertise making sure there's no misperception, like Atlus did for Izuna (with an ad that coupled a suggestive girl/girl image with text that pretty much amounted to "don't worry, this isn't really lesbian") or the Fear Effect people did (no, no, she's really not a lesbian, she digs men too!!!)
A woman not liking men is hated by most of these fans, because there'd be "no chance for the fan to get her". Insane, sure, but if you remember all the female fans crying when a male actor turns out to be gay because "now they have no chance to get him", you'll notice that people really, really are that stupid.