Gaymers

Right so for a laugh I am doing an online Gaymers survey now, so far the test has been quite innocent, aside from the making me feel guilty for clicking “never” for things like “actively playing a part in your (offline) community” or “Contacting a local MP”. I have now reached page 2 and things are hotting up!

“In Western societies, our culture tends to try to impose a binary categorization of gender, a socially constructed notion of what is feminine and what is masculine. Where would you place yourself on this continuum?”

I won’t get bogged down in the semantics of “imposing a binary categorisation of gender” as I can’t really be bothered with the ambiguity of the statement! But what a brilliant question, needlessly wordy, might I suggest, “Do you consider yourself:” as an alternative to that question. The answers are almost as fantastic as the question e.g. “My concept of my own gender is not on this continuum.”

Oh crap… “Have you ever been romantically or sexually attracted to a video game character?”…moving swiftly on…

Ok we got another one:“Which of the following forms of homophobia have you seen in the gaming community, either online or off?”
Ok the first answer is: “Players use the phrase, “That’s so gay.”” - Yep, it’s standard practice nowadays for gamers to exclaim gay (or if a filter is on, ghey) hell this site has said it a million times already, not something to be proud of.

Right well, I think this guy/girl/gender is not on this continuum has TOTALLY missed the point! I lost faith when I hit this question “To what degree would you like to see gay or lesbian content in the following gaming genres?” and the answers included Puzzle, Music/Rhythm, Classic/Retro, and Childrens. I mean perhaps this question was a subtle way of asking if you are gay, what games do you play? But clearly it isn’t going to work! Especially for Classic/retro, that would involve some kind of time travelling device…

Richie’s Standpoint
Ok just to clarify my opinion is that games should stay away from romance entirely. Personally I find any references to romance in games cringe-worthy whether it be straight, bi-sexual, or gay. I find marriages in MMORPGs deeply sad, and any CG’ed Kiss/Sex scene laughable.
For now I think these issues should be left open to interpretation, if someone wants to believe that Link is gay then so-be-it, there is no proof either way, aside from his “never-ending quest to save his girlfriend” (Sic Re: Drawn together) however we don’t ever really know his motivation for trying to save her.
The same goes for an infinite amount of game characters! Most characters are genderless and it should stay that way. As for games with linear plot lines such as the Final Fantasies (RE: Tifa/Cloud, Aries/Cloud, Rinoa/Squall, Quistis/Squall, Titus/Yuna, Wakka/Lulu) nearly all of these games have included characters which have not been interested in the same or the other sex (Cid, Sephiroth, Yuffie, Red XIII [umm] Zell, Seifer, Rikku, Auron, Sin) hell you could even get Cloud on a date with Barret. AND in FFX-2 it was all girls, highly enjoyable game, if a little girly, and almost no references to boys (except Yuna and her whininess for Tidus) in fact Paine and Rikkus sexuality is never clarified, so again, leave it to interpretation.

So in conclusion, don’t make the characters outwardly sexual, in most cases it is not necessary, or appropriate for games.

Comments

  1. Anonymous13:56

    Hmm, I think generally games do not evoke emotion apart from frustration/elation of the game itself, there are exceptions, ICO (yeah, yeah I know but it IS fucking great), and I think you could argue that game is all about romance (for paedos, but still each to there own).

    For whatever reason there seems to be a kind of mental block when it comes to making characters emote in a believable way, or is it that the audience will not accept Bill Rizer breaking down half-way through slaughtering thousands of aliens and screaming "WWWHHHYYYYY!!!"

    Whatever, all I know is I don’t want to see the guy from Doom fucking the guy from Quake.

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