Any Gay heroes / heroines these days

Retr0gamer

My Beautiful Laundrette - the game.

Ciaran500

But most games don't make any comment on the characters sexuality how do you know if they're straight or gay?

im...LOST

Vegeta wrote: »

A pun at its best,

I tip my hat to you, love a good pun.

Ah, he didn't come up with that. There is a Flash Cartoon on Newgrounds.com with that name and I'm sure he didn't come up with that either.

Retr0gamer

Maybe the next step for this issue is online gaming. I've heard many a person having their sexuality questioned on xboxlive by 10-15 year olds.

noodler

I swear I came up with that Queers of War gag over Xmas. I would have posted it but I was assured it was NOT funny.

Stupid little brother.

elekid

Cunny-Funt wrote: »

Ah sure gays don't play games anyways, they'd be too busy worrying about fashion and the x-factor:p

Heh, I'm gay and I do nothing but play games

It would be nice to see proper portrayals of gay characters in games but in some ways I'd prefer no portrayals at all to some of the awful stereotypes you do see in games. I honestly can't think of an example of a gay male character in a game I've played who isn't portrayed either as screamingly camp or butch, leather-clad and creepy. It would be nice to see an ordinary guy who just so happens to be gay in a game with no big deal made of it and without them having a one-note "I'm gay" personality. Rpgs would be the most likely genre for that but I do realise the audience most games are aimed at so it probably ain't gonna happen any time soon.

As Ciaran500 says, characters sexualities usually aren't specifically stated in games where it doesn't have any relevance so there's always a chance there are more out there than we think, like what happened with Dumbledore after the final Harry Potter book was released (hehe, I just realised Dumledore is probably one of the most down-to-earth portrayals of a gay man in videogames assuming he appears in the many Harry Potter tie-ins).

Apparently Zangief from Street Fighter is gay, there is a fair amount of theorising that Zell from Final Fantasy VIII is gay and, disappointingly, a male character who was in love with another male character in Wild Arms 2 was changed into a woman for the American localisation!

TheWitch06

elekid wrote: »

Heh, I'm gay and I do nothing but play games

It would be nice to see proper portrayals of gay characters in games but in some ways I'd prefer no portrayals at all to some of the awful stereotypes you do see in games. I honestly can't think of an example of a gay male character in a game I've played who isn't portrayed either as screamingly camp or butch, leather-clad and creepy. It would be nice to see an ordinary guy who just so happens to be gay in a game with no big deal made of it and without them having a one-note "I'm gay" personality. Rpgs would be the most likely genre for that but I do realise the audience most games are aimed at so it probably ain't gonna happen any time soon.

As Ciaran500 says, characters sexualities usually aren't specifically stated in games where it doesn't have any relevance so there's always a chance there are more out there than we think, like what happened with Dumbledore after the final Harry Potter book was released (hehe, I just realised Dumledore is probably one of the most down-to-earth portrayals of a gay man in videogames assuming he appears in the many Harry Potter tie-ins).

Apparently Zangief from Street Fighter is gay, there is a fair amount of theorising that Zell from Final Fantasy VIII is gay and, disappointingly, a male character who was in love with another male character in Wild Arms 2 was changed into a woman for the American localisation!

Makoto from Enchanted Arms is gay. He's madly in love with Toya, always flirting with him. So funny.

Retr0gamer

I've just found it on youtube. Quite possibly the most sensitive dealing of homosexuality in a videogame ever:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpoomycJFIQ

And this my friends along with killer poisonous chihuahuas, bend over the knee spankings, special moves including a kick to the ballox, among many others, is why God Hand is one of the greatest games ever.

GothPunk

I agree with you Ciaran500, most game characters are quite sexually ambiguous. The game narrative never really goes there or isn't really a part of the story.

I like the direction most RPGs are going in that the characters are basically bisexual and you can lean them towards being gay or straight. This is something that annoyed me about Mass Effect, because I couldn't make my dude be gay. What's the point in having games where they let you be a gay female character and not a gay male? Valkyria Chronicles is also a great step in the right direction, the gay characters are a little stereotypical but it didn't really bother me considering the characters have traits that effect gameplay so every characters differences are played up a bit.

Then we have MMOs that were supposed to enable users to get married, but when gay people started asking for marriage they just got rid of marriage entirely (I think it was a Lord of the Rings MMO.) Seemed a bit childish to me.

I doubt an FPS this gen would ever have a gay character, it costs too much to make an FPS and risk having it flop because homophobes won't play as a gay character. Although with proper female characters like Alyx (Half Life 2 series) and Faith (Mirror's Edge), I'm sure there will come a time fairly soon when a main character that is gay is present in an action game and is presented in a way that it's 'just a character that happens to be gay'.

The Sims games are a great example of how gay characters should be handled. There's just no difference to what you can do whether you choose gay or straight couples. They can adopt and stuff as well which I think gives out a good message.


@Retr0: I now have another reason to get God Hand.

Kersmash wrote: »

That whole section with Cloud getting his drag costume, especially the part obtaining the Bikini Briefs from Mukki, in Final Fantasy VII.

One of my most favourite gaming moments

ProjectColossus

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I've just found it on youtube. Quite possibly the most sensitive dealing of homosexuality in a videogame ever:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpoomycJFIQ

And this my friends along with killer poisonous chihuahuas, bend over the knee spankings, special moves including a kick to the ballox, among many others, is why God Hand is one of the greatest games ever.

I've been looking for a copy of this in shops for ages now

Guess I should just pick it up online.

seraphimvc

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I've just found it on youtube. Quite possibly the most sensitive dealing of homosexuality in a videogame ever:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpoomycJFIQ

And this my friends along with killer poisonous chihuahuas, bend over the knee spankings, special moves including a kick to the ballox, among many others, is why God Hand is one of the greatest games ever.

oh lol that's another one i've totally forgotten lol

was a pain in the a** to beat them tho :(their attacks are pretty gay too.........

noodler

seraphimvc wrote: »

oh lol that's another one i've totally forgotten lol

was a pain in the a** to beat them tho :(their attacks are pretty gay too.........

Zell wasn't gay, he had a thing for a bird in the garden library.He was just an idiot.

EDIT: He did like hot dogs more than any straight man should though.

pixelburp

GothPunk wrote: »

[...] What's the point in having games where they let you be a gay female character and not a gay male? [...]

Don't fool yourself; that wasn't so much a step forward for gay characterisation in video games as it was more a case of another sop to the horny fratboys & whipping up some controversy / interest with the promise of lesbians. To be fair, they handled the romantic subplot fairly well regardless of gender, but you can be sure the gay female character was just there for the promise of a foursome of funbags.

Cunny-Funt

elekid wrote: »

Heh, I'm gay and I do nothing but play games

You must be secretly straight then. I was obviously kidding man , look at the comment before mine.

elekid wrote: »

It would be nice to see an ordinary guy who just so happens to be gay in a game with no big deal made of it and without them having a one-note "I'm gay" personality.

Thing is, if they make a character gay in a game, its gonna have to be a game where gameplay/story involves a relationship of some sort.

I can't see them making a game where they state sexual preference and then nothing else is said and the character goes on killing bad guys or whatever.

elekid wrote: »

As Ciaran500 says, characters sexualities usually aren't specifically stated in games where it doesn't have any relevance so there's always a chance there are more out there than we think

Indeed.

GothPunk wrote: »

I like the direction most RPGs are going in that the characters are basically bisexual and you can lean them towards being gay or straight. This is something that annoyed me about Mass Effect, because I couldn't make my dude be gay.

But you could make him gay! He just doenst get it on with anyone. See this is my point of them having to include a sex scene or a relationship, as otherwise he's not gay.

The way masseffect worked was you can have your character swing whatever way, but the other character/potential partners didn't. They were gay or straight (or in the case of the blue chick...no gender at all)

So if you picked a male character and wanted him to be 'gay' fine he was. But there just didn't happen to be other gay character for him get it on with.

elekid

Cunny-Funt wrote: »

You must be secretly straight then. I was obviously kidding man , look at the comment before mine.

No offense taken here, I found your comment quite funny actually!

That's kind of crappy about Mass Effect, it's probably kind of true to life but why include it in a game at all if nothing comes of it. I think Pixelburp is spot on about why they included it, hot lesbianz with none of the discomfort of having to watch 2 guys doing anything together.

Cunny-Funt wrote: »

I can't see them making a game where they state sexual preference and then nothing else is said and the character goes on killing bad guys or whatever.

I'm sure it could either be done subtly with little hints or as a plot point, maybe even with a discrimination angle (rpg territory?), but again I'd rather not see it done at all if it's forced and detracts from the game by pushing an agenda or just plain done badly.

Cunny-Funt

Well the thing about masseffect is. Theres this blue Alien chick that simply put..swings both ways... So if you make a male character or a female character, you can get going with her (if you play your cards right) & thats why its possible to have a lesbian aspect to the game.

But its not some feckin sex game, its just a small , tiny part of the story.

Yeah its true about the difference between the sight of 2 women together versus having to watch 2 guys doing anything together. Its not something the average gamer looks for in a game. & video games companies wanna make money so you know...

But there is always a chance of featuring a gay character in a way that your looking for . I personally can't think of an example but maybe you can?

One good example in terms of TV shows in the show The Wire. One of the best characters in the show was this gangster in the hood type guy, but who actually robbed drug dealers in a Robbin hood style way. He was also gay. And is miles away from any gay stereotype thats for sure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWbq-WgE6yo&feature=related

Stephen

^ Omar. He was awesome. Sticking up drug dealears with a shotgun and making off with their loot

Vegeta

Cunny-Funt wrote: »

One good example in terms of TV shows in the show The Wire. One of the best characters in the show was this gangster in the hood type guy, but who actually robbed drug dealers in a Robbin hood style way. He was also gay. And is miles away from any gay stereotype thats for sure.

Omar is one bad mother fcuker. Class character

GothPunk

pixelburp wrote: »

Don't fool yourself; that wasn't so much a step forward for gay characterisation in video games as it was more a case of another sop to the horny fratboys & whipping up some controversy / interest with the promise of lesbians. To be fair, they handled the romantic subplot fairly well regardless of gender, but you can be sure the gay female character was just there for the promise of a foursome of funbags.

Cunny-Funt wrote: »

But you could make him gay! He just doenst get it on with anyone. See this is my point of them having to include a sex scene or a relationship, as otherwise he's not gay.

The way masseffect worked was you can have your character swing whatever way, but the other character/potential partners didn't. They were gay or straight (or in the case of the blue chick...no gender at all)

So if you picked a male character and wanted him to be 'gay' fine he was. But there just didn't happen to be other gay character for him get it on with.

I think I should elaborate more as that's not exactly what I have a problem with, however I must admit I haven't finished Mass Effect yet but I just now did a little research on the BioWare forums on this subject to find out a bit more. Their reasoning on Mass Effect appears to be that they just wanted to tell a story about humans interacting with aliens, and a human-alien romantic subplot is I think a cool part of the game and a great way to elaborate on the human-alien interactions. Perhaps they didn't have enough time to feature well scripted human relationships and instead opted for a 'genderless' alien relationship - some of the mods on the BioWare forum said that deeper human-human relationships could be a factor in the sequels. I guess we could be cynical about the Asari relationships and say that they made the Asari look female so that people would think 'OMG, HAWT LESBO ACTIONZ!!!1', but seeing as how BioWare have featured 'equal opportunity lovin' before in Jade Empire it's not like they are necessarily afraid to feature gay relationships. However as Sha'ira has a female body and a female voice and Nelyna, refers to her as "just a generous, compassionate woman", I just felt after playing those bits that I would have liked to get it on with Kaiden.

It's not like I hate the game over it, I love Mass Effect (must finish it!), but like it said it just kind of annoyed me that I couldn't go there. It's not a big deal really as human romance isn't really part of the story (at least up to where I am in the game), but in terms of a discussion about gay characters in games, I think it's a fair point to make that for all intents and purposes most people view the Asari as female.

Although I am bisexual, I'd rather watch two dudes go at it than two women :pac: Anyway, I'm sure we can all agree that developers of RPGs are no longer afraid to offer 'equal opportunities' realtionship wise in their games (like the Fable series), but what about other genres?

pixelburp

GothPunk wrote: »

I think I should elaborate more as that's not exactly what I have a problem with, however I must admit I haven't finished Mass Effect yet but I just now did a little research on the BioWare forums on this subject to find out a bit more. Their reasoning on Mass Effect appears to be that they just wanted to tell a story about humans interacting with aliens, and a human-alien romantic subplot is I think a cool part of the game and a great way to elaborate on the human-alien interactions. [...]

Which is fair enough & a great part of Mass Effect was the story of tension between humanity & the rest of the galaxy's races. But you can also establish a lesbian relationship with the human female crew member, so in my eyes it lessens the impact of the alien themes & just reinforces my own view it was there was a deliberate bait to boost exposure. As it were.

GothPunk wrote: »

Although I am bisexual, I'd rather watch two dudes go at it than two women :pac: Anyway, I'm sure we can all agree that developers of RPGs are no longer afraid to offer 'equal opportunities' realtionship wise in their games (like the Fable series), but what about other genres?

Perhaps they do, but RPG games are still guilty (and to my mind, the most guilty in gaming) of the D-cup-slut misogyny that's rife throughout gaming, which is the first hurdle you have to get over before you even consider "legitimate" gay characters. You only have to look at the RPG game covers to see what I mean (though my fav RTS at the mo, RA3, takes it to another level).

GothPunk

pixelburp wrote: »

Which is fair enough & a great part of Mass Effect was the story of tension between humanity & the rest of the galaxy's races. But you can also establish a lesbian relationship with the human female crew member, so in my eyes it lessens the impact of the alien themes & just reinforces my own view it was there was a deliberate bait to boost exposure. As it were.

Wait, really? I didn't know that. I'm not very far at all in my female save but from what I read on the BioWare forum no-one said you could have a relationship with Ashley (it's with Ashley, right?) as female Sheperd.

pixelburp wrote: »

Perhaps they do, but RPG games are still guilty (and to my mind, the most guilty in gaming) of the D-cup-slut misogyny that's rife throughout gaming, which is the first hurdle you have to get over before you even consider "legitimate" gay characters. You only have to look at the RPG game covers to see what I mean (though my fav RTS at the mo, RA3, takes it to another level).

Well RPG games are a very big genre, that's why I mentioned a specific type of open-ended RPG (like Fable) that is not mysogynistic and allows you to make your character gay, straight or bi. Sure lot's of games are still have horrible attitudes towards women, but Alyx Vance, Faith and Lightning are hardly presented as 'D-cup sluts'. There is some progress being made I feel, although perhaps too slowly.

pixelburp

GothPunk wrote: »

Wait, really? I didn't know that. I'm not very far at all in my female save but from what I read on the BioWare forum no-one said you could have a relationship with Ashley (it's with Ashley, right?) as female Sheperd.

Fairly sure, though open to correction of course. In any case, I never really bought this idea of a genderless race that just all happened to look like curvy women (who also like eyeliner, but then who doesn't! ).

Cunny-Funt

GothPunk wrote: »

It's not like I hate the game over it, I love Mass Effect (must finish it!), but like it said it just kind of annoyed me that I couldn't go there. It's not a big deal really as human romance isn't really part of the story (at least up to where I am in the game), but in terms of a discussion about gay characters in games, I think it's a fair point to make that for all intents and purposes most people view the Asari as female.

I can understand where your coming from alright. Its deffo a fun aspect of the game to try at see if you can develop relationships with character by acting a certain way or saying the right things. & something gay males wouldnt get to do in ME. Where as straight guys get two options, pick a male and try ash or Sha'ira...or both and start a love triangle. Or pick a female and go for Sha'ira.

I'll admit I played a female character in the game, but no it was not cause "zomg LESBOSSS" it was cause I wanted to play the game different to how I played KOTOR. And I thought the voice actress was much better. However I also knew I would still have an option to develop a relationship with a 'female'. Where as if my only option was with a guy I probably woulda have played a male then.

So yeah I can totally understand how it'd be annoying not having the option in the game for gay guys.

& yeah while Sha'ira is meant to be 'genderless' they still have babies and thus will end up looking female anyway.

Although StarTrek TNG had an interesting episode about a genderless race. & if I remember they appeared more like feminine men, then just 100% female. Although one of them was obviously played by a female and Riker ended up scoring 'her' as far as I remember lol.

GothPunk wrote: »

Anyway, I'm sure we can all agree that developers of RPGs are no longer afraid to offer 'equal opportunities' realtionship wise in their games (like the Fable series), but what about other genres?

Well I dunno man I just can't see it 'working' in an other genre , as I've been saying in this thread, if they're gonna have a gay guy in a game, it'd have to be a game involving relationships. I can't see random generic shooter 50023 randomly featuring a gay guy with nothing else said about it.

Unless you can think of any ideas? Can you give any examples? Come up with anything?


Oh and on a final note. No, Ash is straight, so you can't score her as Female Shepard.

jill_valentine

I think Fable's pretty much yer only man - so to speak - at the minute.

Was Vamp way back in MGS2 gay or bi or something? God, he was a terrible character.

seanybiker

Mr Trade In wrote: »

bit weird as it is a game rated E rather than M.

I dont think people been gay in a game is reason enough to make it mature

jill_valentine

Anyway, the immature gamers are all too busy with Xbox live.

jill_valentine

Worth mentioning - although frankly I'll take any excuse to mention him, because he's one of the best musicians working today - Owen Pallett aka Final Fantasy explains why he picked the name:

Owen Pallett Interview wrote:

"I like the idea of it, this big gay thing. The games are ridiculously overwrought and convoluted emotionally," which he admits also applies to his music.

His last album was structured around the schools of magic in Dungeons and Dragons. It was infinitely better than that makes it sound.

DarkJager

I personally don't think I would ever play a game where your character was gay, it just isn't right in terms of context. How are you supposed to believe in or relate to an action character that's off kissing fellas in a pub one minute, then shooting his way through the bad guys the next? It would probably be tolerable in games that aren't story focused (e.g racing games where you could fly around the place in your ford ka without really taking any notice of the character thats driving it) but anything that requires a bit of violence is definitely not territory for that sort of thing.

Nevyn

So gay men can't be soliders or kick ass in your opinion ?
/shakes head

Personally I like games that give you the option like fable 2.

GothPunk

DarkJager wrote: »

I personally don't think I would ever play a game where your character was gay, it just isn't right in terms of context. How are you supposed to believe in or relate to an action character that's off kissing fellas in a pub one minute, then shooting his way through the bad guys the next? It would probably be tolerable in games that aren't story focused (e.g racing games where you could fly around the place in your ford ka without really taking any notice of the character thats driving it) but anything that requires a bit of violence is definitely not territory for that sort of thing.

So a gay man is incapable of commiting violent acts against another person now? Perhaps playing as a woman (who could just as easily be "kissing fellas in a pub") is equally 'unbelievable' in an action game? Because we all know Lara Croft, Faith and Alyx Vance should be at home making you a sammich?

You have a lot of growing up to do.