Indeed it fascinates me that there is even a discussion about LGBT video games. Not because there shouldn’t be. But because there even can be one.
When I was a teenager, video games consisted of things like Atari football, where all the the characters -- three per team -- were basically androgynous blocks. I seem to remember in some Smurf-related game there was something you could do to make Smurfette take off her clothes. Very erotic those 4 pixels per square inch.
And those were the good old days. My first video game was pong. The closest thing you could say about gender issues in those games was that the paddle and ball were male sex parts, assuming said organs had corners.
Today, of course, video games allow you to simulate all of Earth’s environments, and any other place you can imagine. From a technology standpoint, if you can have Darth Vader turn into a scorpion (really) you can probably have LGBT people do normal video game things, like fly airplanes, vanquish aliens and murder half of Los Angeles.(1)
So when one of my students asked me what the deal was with LGBT people in videogames, I scrunched a meaningful look on my face and said “I have no idea.” An intentionally and delightfully vague all-knowing response, he took it to mean I agreed, when in reality I was just being literal.
As so many of these LGBT questions do, it got me diving into cyberspace. The first thing I found was a link from respected PBS journalist Jamin Warren called: “Why Aren’t There Any Gay Video Game Characters?”(2) A six-minute video it went greatly into depth about how even though video games had LGBT characters, there were really none that were playable. This I understood.
In role-playing games, there are -- I think -- basically two types of characters: Ones you can become and those you just interact with. The first type -- called “playable” -- are the ones that allow you to basically become someone else. I can see why as an LGBT person if you couldn’t actually “become” any of these characters in a video game that would be at best annoying, at worst discriminatory.
The problem is, the argument doesn’t seem to be true. In Wikipedia’s “List of LGBT characters in video games” there is undeniable proof of two things:
1) Wikipedia really does have an entry for EVERYTHING.(3)
2) In the history of video games there have been about 15 different playable characters exhibiting LGBT behaviors and characteristics in the last 25 years.(4) Is this almost non-existence compared to the literally thousands of video game characters? Yes, but it’s not none, as the video seemed to argue.
As I began to thoroughly examine Wikipedia’s list, however, I did notice something: I’ve never heard of any of these characters or games. Again, I’m no video game expert. But I’m not an expert on rap music, either, and I could still tell you who the most famous names in the business are. (At least I can this week; I’ve been singing Ryan & Macklemore a lot.) I can do the same with video games.
“Halo,” “Mass Effect,” “Assassin’s Creed,” “Grand Theft Auto”: These I’ve heard of. As much ESPN as I watch, I’m surprised I’m not legally obligated to own them. And while some of these games have LGBT characters in them, none are playable. The playable characters are limited to titles like “Borderlands 2” and “Animal Crossing: New Leaf.”(3) Fine games, I’m sure, but they lack what one might call ubiquity: “the state of being everywhere at once (or seeming to be everywhere at once).”(5) Or, to put it a simpler way: No one who’s not a gamer has ever heard of these games.
This brought me to the Metro Weekly piece, “Game Change: The State of LGBT Gaming,”(6) which argues: “LGBT characters have played roles in three decades of gaming, but have never managed to reach ubiquity.”(7)
“Make a list of all the games you've played or know of that feature gay characters, or openly discuss LGBT issues,” it suggests. “How many can you name?”
Fortunately, the article goes on to suggest, things are getting better, with indie titles like “My Ex-Boyfriend the Space Tyrant,” leading the way with a gay protagonist.
Major game developers may not be too far behind. In 2009 Rockstar Games had an add-on to its mega-hit -- ESPN said so -- Grand Theft Auto 4 called “The Ballad of Gay Tony.”(8) Mass Effect III has two gay-male romance options.(8)
And this is just the beginning of the list of what gamers call the “Gay Option,” where “the main character (can choose) to pursue a romantic relationship with some other character.”(9) In an article on the subject, TVTropes.com lists nearly 100 gaming titles with the option.
Does this mean Jamin Warren was wrong? It’s not for me to say. For one thing, he makes a lot more money being a lot more famous than me. I don’t presume he got that way being stupid. Secondly, even after all this reading about video games, I still think Q-bert is the coolest game ever.(10) I’m not even close to an expert on these things.
Clearly, however, the video game community is changing faster than the ships that warp through it. Better, it seems to be going in the right direction.
Now that’s what I’d like to see on ESPN.
References:
1) IGN: The Most Awesomely Weird Moments in Video Game History
http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/11/20/the-most-awesomely-weird-moments-in-video-game-history
2) BuzzFeed FWD: Why Aren’t There Any Gay Videogame Characters?
http://www.buzzfeed.com/josephbernstein/why-arent-there-any-gay-videogame-characters
3) Wikipedia: List of LGBT characters in video games
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LGBT_characters_in_video_games
4) I say “about” because I’m pretty sure that’s what I read. Remember, when I started playing video games a playable character was a moving rectangle.
5) Google Definition: Ubiquity
https://www.google.com/search?q=ubiquity&oq=ubiquity&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.1843j0j1&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=119&ie=UTF-8#q=definition+ubiquity&safe=active
6) Metro Weekly: Game Change: The State of LGBT Gaming
http://www.metroweekly.com/feature/?ak=8707
7) I KNEW that was a good word. Thank you Mrs. Taylor for teaching me vocab in 11th grade English.
8) Slate.com: The Gaying of Video Games
http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2013/11/12/video_games_embrace_gay_romance_from_the_ballad_of_gay_tony_to_the_last.html
9) TVTropes.Org: Gay Option
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GayOption
10) Not coincidentally it was the only one I was ever any good at.