I personally don’t understand the whole thing of a fictional character in a video game where there is absolutely no romance anywhere having a preference. I don’t care whether my character in a game like Borderlands is straight, gay, lesbian, or anything in between so long as I can pop the heads off my enemies.
Because a lot of games have a story of some sort and traits can help flesh out a character?
Okay, but then leave it ambiguous and let people think of the character whatever they want. It doesn’t matter if doomguy was gay, it matters that he slays
And then of the characters significant other is important? Like they complained about Spimer-Man 2, despite the playable characters not even being gay. We know that because we know who they are after.
It Takes Two. Me and my boyfriend played it. Beautiful game. Loved it. Plan to wait a few years and play it with him again. It’s about a straight couple. I can’t imagine how that game would work if we didn’t know that. Like I guess we could keep stretching the argument to “Well they could be bi”, I guess. We don’t need to know that. But it kind of helps to know they’re married to know the story. Otherwise it’s gonna get weird with the kid involved.
We don’t have to try and out progressive everyone for everything. A story can have a romance and we can see the romance and we can know who they’re dating and we can know they’re sexuality. None of this is the issue.
Your example would make sense in Doom. Sure. I’ve literally never seen anyone ask for it in doom. It’s a terrible example because it’s not that kind of game.
But for many games where the story is actually a big part, and not for games like Doom where the story really doesn’t matter, it’s fine. We can still celebrate love in really any shape or form(thats not harmful). If a game wants to avoid it, thats also fine. Once again, not arguing every game needs it. But if that’s the story, that’s the story, and it seems pointless to be angry that you know who a character is dating.
The movement for queer acceptance isn’t for people to be hush hush and for us to make the closet bigger to invite straight people in. It’s to get people out.
That’s an interesting one because I actually always headcannon doom guy as gay ever since I was a kid and it was just being silly, always pictured him as a badass marine that loves sucking cock and he’s fighting his way to hell because his bf died and was sent there.
Duke Nukem on the other hand was explicitly hetro which is fun, I would have also enjoyed in a different game a character like the duke who was aggressively homosexual or even better a good representation of a ego obsessed badass power bottom that has all sorts of fun quips like ‘I’m here to suck cock and kick ass, and I already drained everyone’s balls…’ it would be silly, fun, and we could have lots of shots of his toned butt and stuff… But no, thirty years later and people are still scared of fun. Sad.
:::
Couldn’t he slay more fabulously though, if he was gay?
He killed demons with a chainsaw, the man has style
There’s 2 problems with that
LGBT people deserve explicit representation as much as cishet people do, and cishet representation is all over media
Even if there’s a LGBT coded character people will fight to death to say that they’re actually very straight and that the degenerates are attacking them personally
Don’t call them gamers, that gives them credence and insults actual gamers. Call them what they are: insecure babies. There are many, many insecure babies with the exact same opinion that do not play games. They are worse than the gamer bros, because they’re out harassing people face to face.
The problem isn’t games or gamers or gamer culture. It’s ignorant bigots. (yes, I know it’s still fun to make fun of gamergate crap, that’s why I still upvoted the joke)
The meme is drawing a difference between lowercase g gamers, who are normal people who play video games, and capital G Gamers™, who are insecure manchildren who tend to make up a vocal majority among gaming communities. If you disagree, spend some time in a CoD lobby, or on /v/, or in real life with men who spend their time playing video games. There are a lot more Azs than you think.
I really don’t see it much and I’ve been online gaming since the 90s. I think drawing attention to it like this meme creates more problems than it fixes.
Just ignore any trolls you come across. Don’t engage. The silence is more painful to the bigots than whatever logic or empathy you try to throw at them.
Same here. It’s most definitely gotten much better nowadays. There has definitely been a culture shift to where those kind of people stick to their own private discord calls now. The fact that almost every game has a report button for that kind of behavior has definitely helped.
“… or in real life around men who play video games.”
Yea, that’s me and all my friends, and we’re not toxic bigots. Thank you for proving that this spreads prejudice and not awareness.
I shouldn’t have generalized it. Some groups are actually good. Many, many groups are not.
No real scotsman!
Not that I don’t deny it, but are these things people think/care about? It’s a video game, I can be anything depending on the game I am playing. I don’t get mad or wonder why I have to play as a woman in some, hell I was perfectly fine playing last of us 2 which was a woman and gay. I can be a spirit or an alien and that’s why games are so great.
I grew up with plenty, I still know a few through mutual friends. Every opportunity to complain about how “woke” games are these days is taken. If an lgbtq+ character is in any way involved, they immediately change any reviews to 1 star, start massively shittalking the game, and continue to play it while bitching to everyone and anyone about it the whole time, and for weeks after they finish.
In games that let me choose, I play a woman most of the time. Been mocked for it. Cool Bro, you play your way I play mine. Only I don’t spend my time thinking of ways to try and make you feel bad for it.
When you can play as a mining ship captain in the year 3300 , a green plumber turned Ghost-buster in a world with kidnapping turtles , and a dinosaur all on the same day, like you said, who gives a fuck
There are definitely people who think about this. I bet this guy would. For context, this poor man can’t get immersed into Starfield because it asks him for his character’s pronouns. =(
Picking pronouns is like picking height/weight/any other customization, just how you want to be seen or what text to put in the lines NPCs say to your character.
What an idiot.
I spent 50 hours in starfield and honestly I don’t even remember the gender selector. I’m pretty sure it’s just a little toggle in the character creator that switches from fella to lady to neither, which… Isn’t that exactly the immersion this little guy wants? People referring to him as a him instead of a them? It’s not exactly staring you in the face throughout the entire game. Makes me sad to think this rant probably got famous because this kid has people who value his opinion.
Wait, so does he want the game to force all players to be non binary? I’m not watching that video and giving him views.
The video is of a grown man losing his mind over an option that is not mandatory to set. It’s there, but it doesn’t pop up and you are not required to choose anything.
That reminds me of people saying that The Sims 4 has “gone woke” when introducing romantic preferences a few years ago.
That was completely stupid on so many aspects (including the fact that this meant that Sims used to be pan, so they were complaining about the possibility to make a straight character?)
The sims also used to be bugged so that it was more common for sims to get with sims of the same sex. If anything the preference actually made straight couples more common.
Me when I’m forced to play as a bishop even though I’m clearly a rook.
Why be a king when you could be a queen.
If you wanted everything in the video game to mimic your real life, just go outside. Video games have always existed as an escape, to put ourselves into a situation we’d normally never find ourselves in, to live a life we can’t in the real world. If pretending to be gay for a few hours threatens your sexuality in a way that pretending to be a superhero for a few hours doesn’t threaten your abilities, maybe that says more about your sexuality than it does about the game?
Are most video games protagonists straight? Cuz I have played way more games where the protagonist is mute and doesn’t show sexual interest in anything at all.
Like… Is Gordon Freeman straight? Doom guy? Kirby? Capt. Olimar? Red? The Prince of All Cosmos? 🤔
I’d say that video games have the most asexual representation of all forms of media.
Kirby sucks like a nanny goat.
The prince of all cosmos will fuck anyone who wishes to fuck him.
Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.
The generic white muscled male, who can do anything the plot throws at him (with only a bit of fake struggle), and gets the girl at the end, is so damn overdone in every media. People talk about characters being Mary Sue when John Sue is way more common.
I want variations in my fiction! All kinds of genders, preferences, cultures, opinions, and species. The only rule I have is for the fiction never to encourage cruel acts IRL.
Avatar TLA is pretty good at diversity
I’d say the avatar series in general is good at having diverse characters who are complex. I know Korra gets a lot of shit but I personally really liked that they tried to have an avatar actually suffering from mental illness.
That was a coincidence, I’ve just started watching it! Season 2 now. Love it so far. But Sokka don’t deserve being such a buttmonkey, considering how often he is right.
Furries when they’re forced to play as a human 99.99% of the time.
You’ve obviously never played FFXIV or been to Balmung and it shows
Y… Yeah.
Touche!
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Never heard of it xD
How’s it run on Steam Deck?
So many non-plumber people who were forced to play as plumber in Super Mario games. So many humans were forced to play as undead and orcs in WoW. Imagine the torture!!!
Oh, the game where you could choose between the furry-suiter plumber, or his occasionally crossdressing brother. Thats pretty diverse, right?
I don’t understand people who complain about things like this.
Just don’t play it. Easy as that. No conversation needed. Go play something else. There’s only an infinite number of other options that you can spend your time on.
Representation matters.
The more it’s shown, the more it becomes socially acceptable.
Totally fine.
The person you replied to didn’t disagree though. If someone doesn’t want to consume something, no problem. Ideally they just shut up about it.
Imagine being forced to game. What a world that would be.
Other than RPGs that let you choose, what games have you play as a gay protagonist?
The Last of Us, Life is Strange, Tell Me Why, and Celeste come to mind.
I honestly find it more awkward when you play a woman who has to have sex with a man. It seems to be the default that female protagonist are lesbian or just never fuck at all.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was especially jarring. Cutscene, suddenly you’ve had a kid. What?
If you can believe it, Super Lesbian Animal RPG
I was thinking the same thing, I imagine there’s an indie game or two out there but the dude bros probably aren’t playing those. Celeste came to mind but that’s not a gay protagonist so much as a trans one.
Celeste is also one of those games where the story has nothing to do with the character’s sexuality, and you wouldn’t know if you didn’t look it up.
In Hades on the other hand, Zagreus is as bi as… an ancient Greek demigod, I suppose. You can romance a female Fury who loves strappy leather and whips, or the literal God of Death. Or both at the same time, even.
However I feel like those who could have judged it may have given it a free pass because, well, it is ancient Greece.
Last of Us 2? I think? I never played it, don’t have a PS
Ah! I feel so dumb I didn’t think of that one, one of the best games ever.
First one as well. Ellie is gay. Confirmed in the dlc for the first game, the last of us 2 has Ellie in a relationship with a bi woman and there’s also a trans character in it.
You do. Don’t play it, though, it ain’t good.
Obligatory mention of New Vegas making sexuality a set of perks, just like in real life.
But you can only choose one. That isn’t very realistic. 😄
You haven’t played New Vegas, have you? You can pick both. Bisexuals do +10% damage to men and women, just like in real life.
B.bbbb-but if I see it then I might catch The Gay! We all know that the moment you see or hear anything even remotely related to lgbtq+, you checks flash cards immediately burst into dance while singing Queen and waving a pride flag.
I play a woman named Vala (Mal Doran) or Adria in 99% of the games that let me customize. Because every other game I’ve played is always a generic male character doing generic action things.
“I’ve
seen that movieplayed that game before” - Jordan Peele, if he were a gamer.if i’m exposed to lgbt content i might be forced to confront that my repressed attraction to hairy man ass actually means i’m gay, and that’s much too frightening a prospect
I don’t give a shit who or what I play as, as long as they’re bad-ass
Idk, I don’t feel like I can relate to some bad-ass. /s
In a large portion of games I’ve played, there is no mention of the main character’s sexuality at all.
