Any gamers around here?

[Munch]

Huh.  I sorta figured it'd be Zarya.  Though I suppose a butch-looking lesbian would be a bit cliche.

Yeah, lesbianism is definitely the less controversial option.  As an aside, I always found it weird that when gay marriage was still the hot button issue of the day, its detractors would point almost exclusively at male homosexuality as this horrible scourge upon society.

Still, I guess it's good that Blizzard introduced any gay characters at all.  Big companies usually are reluctant to wade into those waters and piss off some of their fans, even if it's just the hardcore religious people.

If it makes you feel any better, Hanzo is gay in my headcanon.  Also, Bastion is asexual.

Tell me about it, every single time I brought up on wow forums how the game needed more LGBTQ characters, it was always met with scorn, unless it were lesbian night elves or blood elves. The same arguments "WHY DO YOU NEED SEXUALITY IN A GAME, IT MEANS NOTHING" as if claiming sex didn't exist in the game, despite characters having children, dressing in skimpy outfits, flirt emotes, and even older stories suggesting rape leading to half breeds, so by 'no sex' they mean nothing out of the heteronormative.

[Shiranu]

Now that I think about it, are there any AAA titles featuring a gay male lead?

Only open-world, open-choice games where that's a choice.

Which to be fair, I think is how sexuality generally should be in games. I don't want a forced hetero, homosexual or apachesexual plot put on me simply because, "Look! We have sex in our game!".

Edit: Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force by Raven back in 1999 featured very soft MM and FF flirtation, if not open sexuality... and that is just flirtation with you and not them.


Yeah, I cant find any. Props to Bioware though, they have been including LGBT choices in their games for nearly 20 years now.

As a whole, I would say gamers are not "ready" for a gay character (which doesn't mean I  think it shouldn't happen, I am all for it... just the backlash will be overwhelming). As a group, I think gamers are still a few decades behind the average Joe in terms of social awareness... in large part because of the anonymity factor of the internet.

[Hijiri Byakuren]

Only open-world, open-choice games where that's a choice.

Which to be fair, I think is how sexuality generally should be in games. I don't want a forced hetero, homosexual or apachesexual plot put on me simply because, "Look! We have sex in our game!".

That's what I figured, but I wanted to be sure.

In fairness, I like that the comic itself didn't make a big deal out of Tracer having a girlfriend. I've always felt that the best way to help LGBT folks gain acceptance in wider society is to normalize them. (i.e. "This is normal, no need to comment on it.")

[Hydra009]

Now that I think about it, are there any AAA titles featuring a gay male lead?

Legend of Zelda.  Zing!

[Hydra009]

As a group, I think gamers are still a few decades behind the average Joe in terms of social awareness... in large part because of the anonymity factor of the internet.

You and I must hang out with completely different gamers, because in my experience, they're slightly ahead of the curve.  It's a pretty strange sort of conservative who's also up on the latest and greatest tech and wants to boldly go to strange new worlds and new civilizations but can't handle the slightest deviation from a Leave it to Beaver society.

[Shiranu]

You and I must hang out with completely different gamers, because in my experience, they're slightly ahead of the curve.  It's a pretty strange sort of conservative who's also up on the latest and greatest tech and wants to boldly go to strange new worlds and new civilizations but can't handle the slightest deviation from a Leave it to Beaver society.

I'll be honest, I don't hang out with gamers in the real world. The few I do know (who identify as gamers as part of their "them-ness") though are all conservative Christians, some Baptist and some just... weird. Nor do my experiences with gamers online, be it in game or the various over-reactions to the smallest "sjw invading our games!", paint a pretty picture. Sure, they may be tech smart... but being tech smart, book smart does not translate to a high EQ or social awareness. Only know one who isn't like that... but even then, he is not "normal" by any stretch (super misogynistic).

[Mike Cl]

Dragon's Age, Origins allows a male (your character) to romance a male.  Or a female character (your character) to romance a female.

[Hydra009]

I don't want to be Mr Anecdotal, so I looked up some data to verify/falsify what I'm saying about gamers' politics.

I mainly play scifi/fantasy games and I've been on a single-player kick lately, so I could very easily have the wrong impression because my little archipelago differs from the wider gamer world.

The ESA numbers are 38% conservative and 38% liberal, which is slightly more liberal than the general public, which identifies as 37% conservative and 24% liberal.

Also, there are interesting but unscientific (so take this with a shaker of salt) numbers from a dev of Democracy 3, a political simulation game.  There was a very pronounced clustering in the liberal and libertarian quadrant of the political compass, but it operates under the assumption that you play the game according to your political beliefs (which may or may not be true), not all players' data was available, liberal policies are more effective than conservative policies (*mock surprise*), the political compass itself might skew towards the liberal and libertarian quadrant, etc, etc.

[Hijiri Byakuren]

Dragon's Age, Origins allows a male (your character) to romance a male.  Or a female character (your character) to romance a female.

Eh, I don't really think it counts if it's multiple-choice.

[Shiranu]

I don't want to be Mr Anecdotal, so I looked up some data to verify/falsify what I'm saying about gamers' politics.

I mainly play scifi/fantasy games and I've been on a single-player kick lately, so I could very easily have the wrong impression because my little archipelago differs from the wider gamer world.

The ESA numbers are 38% conservative and 38% liberal, which is slightly more liberal than the general public, which identifies as 37% conservative and 24% liberal.

Also, there are interesting but unscientific (so take this with a shaker of salt) numbers from a dev of Democracy 3, a political simulation game.  There was a very pronounced clustering in the liberal and libertarian quadrant of the political compass, but it operates under the assumption that you play the game according to your political beliefs (which may or may not be true), not all players' data was available, liberal policies are more effective than conservative policies (*mock surprise*), the political compass itself might skew towards the liberal and libertarian quadrant, etc, etc.

Alright. Given those numbers then, I would guess it is more the conservatives are more vocal given the anonymity of the Internet, which makes them seem more numerous than they really are.

[Hydra009]

Alright. Given those numbers then, I would guess it is more the conservatives are more vocal given the anonymity of the Internet, which makes them seem more numerous than they really are.

Pretty much.  In my multiplayer games, there's an unspoken rule that talking about politics in general chat is verboten (though the forums are filled with political arguments).  People breaking that rule are generally either super zealous, idiots, or trolls.  Not exactly a representative sample.

[Shiranu]

Pretty much.  In my multiplayer games, there's an unspoken rule that talking about politics in general chat is verboten (though the forums are filled with political arguments).  People breaking that rule are generally either super zealous, idiots, or trolls.  Not exactly a representative sample.

Eh, meant more video game forums than games themselves. I don't take anything in /general or /trade ( or even guild) seriously.

[Mike Cl]

Eh, I don't really think it counts if it's multiple-choice.

Okay

[Munch]

Don't care what anyone says, Iron Bull is mine! /Canon

[drunkenshoe]

Some evil men take extreme pleasure in driving innocent women slightly insane by making them play puzzle games.