Where are all the gay main characters in gaming?! It’s hard to think of ANY gay characters in videogames, which seems odd in a country that is increasingly p…
Related Posts
46 Comments on “Would it Matter if Master Chief Were Gay? | Game/Show | PBS”
Comments are closed.
There’s a difference between Gay-Rights, and being a fucking freak about
it. I doubt the lack of gay characters was due to the intentions of the
game developers. Perhaps they just thought that sexuality isn’t that
important.
This guy comes across as the sort of guy that would complain if a TV show
didn’t have an exact equal spread of white/black characters.
Do gays really think they need to be represented everywhere? The simple
fact that we allow these things to live should be good enough, and now we
are letting them get married.. This world is going to shit.
There is a problem with representing characters as homosexual or
heterosexual. People want characters to be represented realistically. I
don’t see many people just shouting their sexuality to the heavens. Who
knows which characters are gay or not? Most people just assume that the
characters are straight. Why can’t people enjoy the character for the
character instead of requiring them to have a certain sexuality?
JESUSSSSSSSS YOU PEOPLE ARE SO DUMB WITH THIS POLITICAL CORRECT BULLSHIT!
THEY DONT HAVE TO BE IN OUR GAMES! TOLERANCE IS ALLOWING THEM TO EXIST AND
PUTTING UP WITH THEM!!!!! THEY DONT HAVE TO BE MAINSTREAM! YOU LIBERAL
CUNTS NEED TO STOP FOCUSING ON GAY MARRIAGE AND FOCUS ON THE REAL FUCKING
ISSUES! OBAMA TAKES ALL YOUR MONEY AND GIVES IT TO ILLEGAL IMMGRANTS!!!!!
SO FUCKING IGNORANT PISSES ME OFF
look at mass affect, youre main charecter could choose to be gay. and that
made things even funnier and enteresintg lol
Digging this video up since (1) it’s LGBT Pride Month and (2) I’m a bit of
a gamer geek. (Duh!)
Master Cheif and Cortana are like really good freinds their not in a
relationship. That never even enters their minds when talking to eachother.
And putting Halo aside being gay, lesbian, or transsexual is NOT normal.
You are not born gay, you develop that as you get older.
I think the problem is another.
There’s no way of making a gay character without stereotyping because
there’s no way of making characters without stereotyping. And people are
more ok with stereotyping straight males.
If you make a scandalously flamboyant whorish gay main character, people
are going shout oppression, if you make an extremely reserved prude gay
character, people are going to scream oppression. So giving the option is
much more easier.
In most cases, even putting a sexuality on the character is
counter-productive.
Something you conveniently missed out was that NPCs are easily comparable
to tv show characters. Video game NPCs being gay, to me at least, is the
same level of representation as tv shows give to LGBT. You pointed out that
you’re asking the player to do something that may make them uncomfortable,
because maybe they aren’t really okay with homosexuality, which wouldn’t
make them any less tolerant [allowing something to happen rather than
oppressing its existence]. At least that’s my idea view of tolerance
because asking people to agree with every behaviour other people partake in
is kinda unreasonable ie. swingers, scat fetishists.
Anyway I think when asking for something like a playable homosexual
character you have to accept there’s a risk of having created a propaganda
game [see Extra Credits’ video on propaganda games] and rather than letting
people decide whether or not they’re okay with the reality of
homosexuality, you’re forcing them to believe it’s okay because you say so.
I would much prefer playing games that represent the even more
unrepresented minority that is asexuals, because at least that way we won’t
get pointless fanservice, just a good character that has priorities beyond
a love interest.
The question is, Why do we need gay characters? If mostly every game
character turned gay they’d become less badass and appealing. Just gay
characters wouldn’t work that well in MOST videogames, I can see games like
The Last Of Us and other story driven games work well a couple of them.
i think the main reason you dont see much gay main character is that sex
just isnt related to the plot, a lot of time, they just don`t tell you if
the avatar is in couple. if you compile all those game where the avatar as
no known partner and all of those which just use hot chick to rescue. There
not that many game which just have a main avatar which have a partner, it
reduce by that much the number of them which could happen to be gay.
eventually, its gonna happen, we just have to wait for one good idea to
flourish and eventually turn into a game
If he was gay, then it would fuck over the deeper storyline and the
emotional connection. Since he has never had a partner, yet he still
experiences emotions, his artificial companion fills the role of partner,
and he develops an emotional attachment to her. If he was gay, that
wouldn’t happen and the players emotional enrolement in the emotional
element of the story of the chief and cortana. In order to make it okay,
they would have to make cortana a male, but it is too frickin late for that.
The whole premise is bullshit. Having the option is all that is necessary,
forcing all the main characters to be gay is just unfair. This is the same
as your bullshit about feminism in games. The time has come where the
transition is already being made, and the options are becoming more and
more available. You’re a frickin pansy and you are trying to force
everybody to do something completely fucking un-necessary, I am not giving
you any more views.
I can’t think of anything stupider than not playing a game just because a
bunch of pixels representing a person is attracted to another bunch of
pixels with certain pixels in the same place. If you need to play a
character with the same traits as you then you must have a pretty shitty
imagination and zero empathy for others.
Master chief gay? HAHAHAHAH, yeah good fucking joke.
Well, there are the first three Fables games, while in the first game you
can only play as a male, you can choose to be gay. In the other two games
it will even show you the sexual preferences of the NPCs.
WHY Is the sexual orientation of fictional characters more important than
the content and quality of the characters???
It may be me reading too much into the dialogue between Rex and Spider in
Farcry 3: Blood Dragon, however I’ve always seen Rex as bi. I honestly love
that, even if it’s just head-cannon. >.>
*facepalm* thats a picture of vaan not cloud
I think that the main problem right now is the fact that the people making
and releasing games are usually old guys who only want to really make money
and not take huge risks. I think it would be a HUGE risk to release a video
game with a gay main character because almost every single person I’ve
played games with online feel really awkward when they find out I’m gay and
either leave or start telling me how I just need to try having sex with a
woman.
I personally am in the development of making a video game with some gay
characters, but it probably won’t be released for another ten years. And
even then it won’t be a AAA game. Just some random release that won’t get
any press. lol.
I’m quite shocked that a lot of the comments (from just a quick glance) are
just “WHY DO WE NEED GAY CHARACTERS GOD. WE KNOW THEY EXIST.”
Do they though?? As pointed out in this video, how many gay, playable
characters can you think of? There is hardly any! Check out Game Theory’s
video on “Are Video Games Anti-LGBT?” Really interesting video on how
characters that stray from the “hetero-normative” are evil, mentally
challenged, or even inhuman.
So, to answer your question: I would LOVE to play a game as a gay
character. I think video games could be the perfect medium to safely
explore things that may not seem “normal” to you, and increase your
understanding on people who are “different” from you.
More diverse characters in games = more understanding = more acceptance in
the long run.
I would PREFER it if games had gay main characters. The reason why is so
that people can learn that gay and straight have no differences other then
that. . . One thing. Gay people have not been accurately portrayed, and
have become this negative form of “lesser” beings in tv, movies, and games.
They are the same as all of us and just because they are attracted to
people of the same gender doesnt mean that cant wield a gun, fight for
freedom, liberate a castle, save the world, and rescue the prince/princess.
Its really not fair, and i hope hope hope that in the future there will be
a game where you spawn randomly as a boy or girl, gay straight or bisexual,
etc without the gamers control. If theyre going to force us to play as
someone we’re not (like freeman, or Laura) then they should go all out with
it. Make a random chance of spawning as either gender and either
orientation, just so gamers can learn (young or old) that there is no
difference between gays and straights, or women men or other. We’re just
human.
What if she was a girl with a voice changer and a testasterone problem
(noting for the man hands.)
Technically if you think about it, Master Chief isn’t really straight. He
never has relations with anything in his games except a digital women,
which, is still, digital.
on the topic of gay, (hoping not to get too much back lash) the only
problem I do have with gay is the big deal made about it, (same with
religion), I don’t care what people do in their own home.. my problem is
when its pushed in my face (not literal) this episode is pointing out Gay,
gay pride marches, my gay friend would list him self as gay if someone
asked him to describe himself… I don’t have hetero parades, I don’t feel
the need to label myself as heterosexual, I don’t want or need it being
brought up and examined in youtube videos because doing so would make it
seem strange.. I dunno, maybe its because I just accept it but others don’t
and there for a stand against bigotry is needed?
Just be gay if you want, but don’t force us to be gay or encourage us to be
gay.
I will not play with a gay character unless I have a choice to make him
striaght like Mass Effect.
Their is a quote i heard not too long ago by a person who makes “welcome to
nightvale” podcast, he said something like, “if your going to make a
charicter gay, that chariceristic needs to be explored in the story you
tell, when i made cesil (the main character) gay, i made sure that his
homosexuality had value, it affected the world around him, he wasent gay
just for the sake of being gay, it was part of his overall character that
dose has its impact on the over arching story. If your going to make a gay
character, it needs to be for a reason, if not, it will be compleatly
dismissed and irellavent to the story your trying to tell.” that is not
word for word of what he said, but close enough. He brings up a great
point, if your going to have a main playable character be gay, it him being
homosexual needs to have something to do with the story, if not, then whats
the point? He/she cant be gay just because, it has to be a trate that makes
the plot work, their needs to be a game mechanic that allows someone’s
sexuality have this type of effectiveness on the game, like saduceing other
guys/girls, but thats also a problem, if the homosexuality only focuses on
lust/love angles, it will make tons of straight players uncomfterable and
probably just avoid the game.
Im all for gay rights, but i dont see an effective way being gay will have
great responses on games like halo, mabey in diffrent genras of games, like
love games, but not action games, face it, no type of romace will really
work in games like call of duty cuz its uneeded and irrelivent in the end
where its just people killing each other.
P.S. im on my phone, so dont judge my spelling :)
Just to say if I am playing a video game and the character turns out to
be gay that does not mean I am gay or that I have connected with that
character. Also Bill’s from last of us isn’t gay he just had a partner
who worked together to save each other. Cloud isn’t gay as its pretty
clear he likes Tifa and Aeris.
im not saying they should or should not be gay representations in
video games, what I am saying is can a developer pull it off in such
a way to have still a great game, story, and deep characters.
Also if gay character does appear in game with deep character it
shouldn’t be given game of the year, especially if they are better and
more memorable games released that year.
Forcing a character to be gay, especially with it being so controversial
these days, would draw away from the plot as it is trying to hard to make a
statement. ALSO, MOST PEOPLE ARE STRAIGHT. It is the same reason why most
game protagonists are males. Its a business and its all about the money.
Pretty sure Master Chief was a chick, much like Samus. >.> Don’t really
care about Halo though.
Actually it is implied that there are plenty of gay or bi characters in
video games. It is just not directly said. All examples are in this link
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/HoYay/VideoGames
Of course with a name like that they are often either silly or creepy, but
they just can’t come out of the closet.
Huh. I play a lot of White men in video games and I’m not a White man. I
play a lot of Asians in video games and I’m not Asian. This doesn’t stop me
from caring about or identifying with these characters. I personally don’t
need someone who looks like me, or acts like me, or has my sexual
orientation to care about them. If I like them, I like them. It really
doesn’t matter what they are…I can still identify with them and care
about their struggles.
Yes
I’m a gamer who happens to be homo. I’m not a “gaymer”, because being gay
doesn’t define me as a person, nor does being a gamer. I have tons of other
interests.
Would I wanna play a gay main character? As things are now, probably not. I
know he would be totally stereotypical, androgynous and thus boring and
uninteresting. Why? Because the character would be written by a either a
really stereotypical gay developer, or by a straight developer who has no
idea of the fact that most homos go under the radar. It’s just that the
general public THINK that all homos are walking stereotypes because they
only notice those who actually are.
The second reason why I think a game with a gay main character would be
really bad, is because regardless of developer, the corporation behind the
game would make only make such a game if they saw big money in it. They
would insist that the character should be totally over the top, noticeably
gay so that the target audience (gaymers) would see it and buy it.
But, let’s say in a perfect world, a homo main character emerged… I think
if it was a good game in general, that focused on his homosexuality as much
as other games focuses on the main character’s heterosexuality (essentially
very little, or not at all) then yes… I think anybody could get into
playing that character. That is, again, if the game devs refrain from all
the pandering. A game where every cut scene has shirtless muscle-bois would
be as cheesy as most gay themed movies. Take a causionary lesson from
those, because most of the time they’re all kinds of bad.
I don’t care if a character is gay if the game is fun and has a good story
I could care less. I also think we need more girl leads.
So because being gay is normal (which it is), non gay persons should be
forced to play as gay characters ingame…. Don’t like that idea at all.
I like games where I can decide what kind of character I play, so I can
identify better with it.
The idea of Mass Effect all the way.
I’d be perfectly ok with playing as a gay character. If you can’t delineate
between yourself and a video game, that’s a serious problem and you need a
mental health professional (seriously).
My only problem would be if once it got established that gay characters are
acceptable developers only portray them in a positive fashion with no flaws
and certainly never a villian. I feel like that has happened with minority
and female characters. Black people always have to be positive role models
and women always have to be strong and independent. Not saying that’s
wrong, but it portrays a false reality and makes the medium unbelievable.
I kind of think this overly sensitive characterization of non traditional
characters polarizes people. Some people In real life have a mentality of
pushing back on stuff like that just to make a point. Moderate people start
to feel like the political correctness gets shoved in their face and turns
them off. I think everyone should be portrayed equally for good or bad.
We haven’t seen it because its not normal and should not be acceptable. And
to answer your first question, if master chief were gay I would not buy the
game.
In Fallout New Vegas, your character can choose to have sex with men,
women, both, or even a sex robot! There are two gay side kicks that can
tag along with you, and there are multiple gay characters you can flirt
with throughout the game. You can choose your gender, race, customize your
face, and determine your sexual orientation through choices in game.
Gay Is Okay
The question isn’t are GAMES ready but are PLAYERS ready? I’m guessing no.
I do actually think it would matter with master chief specifically. my
reasoning being the same as the reason he keeps his face always hidden and
says very little. he’s an avatar made to be able to have as many people as
possible project themselves on to him. admittedly if they had added the
choice to play as a female which wouldn’t have been too hard I’m sure then
it would have been even better, but back when the 1st Halo came out it was
still the dominant idea that almost all gamers where guys I think. it’s
more recently that the female gamers have started to be acknowledged.
this is a bit of a tangent, but if say they did want to make him even more
flexible they would have to do some pretty drastic things that would
probably cost more than they would want to spend such as branching
storylines, customizable voices, and more customizable appearances
including under the helmet. honestly, even being able to choose the name
causes more problems than most people realize due to stuff like how to work
it into voice acting and how it takes out another thing that can be used in
the plot.
I actually realized something strange about myself from this episode. I’m
fine playing a white character, a black character, asian, hispanic, etc,
and even fine playing a female protagonist, but before perhaps now, i
would’ve been pretty uncomfortable playing a gay character. It really is a
social difference, of thinking a gay person would do x action in a game,
and thinking this person would do x action in a game, and they happen to be
gay. looking at who people would play as can be a good signifier of what
they find acceptable for a “normal” person.
Master Chief can pork whatever he damn well wants. You know why? BECAUSE
HE’S THE MASTER. MOTHERFUCKIN. CHIEF.
DEAL WITH IT BITCHES. MASTER CHIEF, WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
(NOTE: I’m not a hardcore Halo fanboy, I just like Master Chief.)
Last of us you play as Ellie (albeit secondary protagonist) and she is gay.
But yeah, it’s rare.
*Narrator*: If you choose to be gay you start out on a different planet
from the straight players.
*Me*: I feel like I should be horrified by this instead of laughing at it,
but I can do that later.