How are gays portrayed in modern video games? Johnny takes a look at what gays look like to game designers, and the hows and whys of their use in the games we play. We check out the Just Us Guys store owners in Aruze's Shadow Hearts: From the New World, Makoto from FROM SOFTWARE's Enchanted Arms, Jann from SEGA's Valkyria Chronicles, and Bernie and Brucie from Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV. How do they stack up? Are gaymers going to enjoy their video game counterparts? Are any of them big burly bear men? Don't get your hopes up.
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Next time: The Top Five Gayest 16-Bit Games That Aren't Cho Aniki!
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5 comments:
WOW... some of these are pretty sad, eh - preening leatherman, lisping queens, etc. Anything with a date that starts with 20-- and relies on outdated sterotypes is a little sick. And unless Stevie Nicks is banging a tamboreen somewhere, using "enchanted" in the title is gayer than the characters! :o) Good - however dismaying - epispode :o)
Thanks! I think the biggest character that I missed out on is Volgin from Metal Gear Solid 3, which was released in 2005. He's one of the big villains of the game, and is fairly openly bisexual. As is another re-occurring villain of the Metal Gear series, Vamp, who may or may not be a vampire. Both of those characters are treated as strong, if evil, men, rather than the stereotypical mincing queens. Probably worth a look as well, at another point in time. Other than them, and perhaps Zangief, whose sexuality is hinted at, and is a big, manly, burly wrestler, the only other really positive gay character I can think of is the neighbor in a game called Indigo Prophecy. But that guy is pretty much just a reincarnation of the gay neighbor from Single White Female, not really anything special, just a run of the mill Hollywood gay guy. Still better than the negative stereotypes on display here.
Now this by far isn't a main stream character. However there is this tough as nails cop in the game called "The Longest Journey". When your character (April Ryan) tries to seduce him, he simply says in a tough cop voice "Sorry ma'am but I am gay". April's landlord was a lesbian who was not shy talking about her relationship, even the fact that the her partner was much older.
Sorry for the Links, Thanks for the making the video.
The Engineer, I will have to check that out. I know it's shameful that I haven't played it, especially considering that Dreamfall was probably my favorite original XBox game.
Though apparently those who love The Longest Journey hate Dreamfall, so maybe I shouldn't... hm.
I would suggest that you take a look at it for sure. Warning, it is old fashion point and click adventure game. So you may or may not like it.
I do like how April Ryan's narrates her observations. I think one of my favorites is, "Whats with evil magicians sounding like Richard the III on crack".
But I feel kinda bad that I can't find any other examples really of gay characters asides from ones even more minor then other ones.
Hope to see more bears in games soon :).
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