GDC: Looking at the Gay "non-troversy"

Posted Mar 12, 2007 at 4:33AM by QJ Staff Listed in: News Tags: GDC, IGDA
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Gaymer? - Image 1It seems gay characters are fast becoming a non-issue, at least in the minds of game developers. On the other hand, while this "non-troversy," as Designer Jeb Havens put it, is more or less a sort of plot issue for games, it's doubtless going to be something that many outside the games community might grit their teeth at.

That being said, part of this year's Game Developers' Conference (GDC) was devoted to tackling the issues related to homosexuality and gaming. As Joystiq reports, issues in various game-related fields were discussed, from an International Game Developers Association (IGDA) special interest group to establishing Human Rights Campaign corporate equality index numbers for all game companies.

At the same time, one of the more notable portions of the videogame homosexuality controversy is that it doesn't truly exist. As Joystiq mentions,

 As the roster of gay characters increases, which according to a recent study are wanted much more in RPGs, could gay characters become non-troversies in games like a Gears of War sequel?


All signs, whether to your delight or annoyance, definitely point to "yes." For us, we wouldn't mind seeing more diverse character types in games. It may just bring something new to game stories that no one's thought of yet.

Via Joystiq

 
 
 

Comments [refresh]

by Destroyer - 2007-03-11 23:50
» Boom head shot!!!

The only good homosexual in a game is one that I can shoot and kill, otherwise homosexuals need to stay out of games and stick to their mardi gra, cause it's the only thing their good for.

by Blade - 2007-03-11 23:53
» Agreed...

I'm sorry but I will never purchase a game that has homosexual characters in it. God Adam & Eve. Not Adam & Steve.

by Blade - 2007-03-11 23:58
» Knock this post down as much as you want.

I have nothing against the people. I'm against their actions.

by sigh - 2007-03-12 00:48
» wtf

***** off gay people



that is all

by pspfanboy - 2007-03-12 00:50
» ugh

who in the hell cares?

it's NOT a race! or a gender!



plus if you want gays,go play smackdown vs raw 2007 online,everyone makes at least one gay wrestler.





this is just a marketing ploy "gay games for gay gamers" and just another market to cash in on,no different then nintendo going after girls,parents,g randparents and any non-gamer.

the video game industry should be above this,and not sink to some lowball hollywood PR crap.

by BurNThaM - 2007-03-12 00:54
» Leviticus

Leviticus 18:23 "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination" enough said I will not support gayness... I will not buy the game.

by Truth - 2007-03-12 01:41
» Nuff Said

This thing is getting out of hand

by Manny151 - 2007-03-12 02:02
» I agree with BurNThaM

Well put. I mean wasn't Broke Back Mountain enough punishment. I do not want gay video games and I will not buy them.

by gaymer - 2007-03-12 02:03
» I'm not gay

nor do I want to participate in gay situations.



Obviously being straight, I would persue love interested in RPGs which are in line with my own sexuality. Something like The Sims works well because gays can seek gay relationships and straights can seek straight relationships. On the other hand if a game forced me into being a gay character, I would simply not play the game as I wouldn't be able to empathise with whomever I was playing as.



Or I would force them to commit suicide over and over again until I rolled a save for "straight".

by FreePlay - 2007-03-12 02:06
» Dear Bubba

Your sister is waiting in your bed.

by lol - 2007-03-12 02:19
» l0l

screw gayass gmaes, iwont buy em either, end of story..

by FreePlay - 2007-03-12 02:25
» Ahh, good ol' Leviticus.

Oh, so you want to play the Bible card? Here, let me show you where it says to kill children who say bad things about their parents:

Leviticus 20:9

If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother, and his blood will be on his own head.



Or where it says that a man that sleeps with a woman on her period must be exiled, along with the woman:

Leviticus 20:18

If a man lies with a woman during her monthly period and has sexual relations with her, he has exposed the source of her flow, and she has also uncovered it. Both of them must be cut off from their people.



Or where it says that you should kill everyone who so much as says "Oh my God":

Leviticus 24:14-16

Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him. Say to them: "If anyone curses his God, he will be held responsible; anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD must be put to death."



Then there's the completely illogical next verse, seeing how we've just taken the lives of human beings as punishment, and this one tells us we have to die, too:

Leviticus 24:17

If anyone takes the life of a human being, he must be put to death.



Also, just so you know, the ENTIRE BOOK OF LEVITICUS was nothing more than a set of rules designed to put the Israelites apart from the people in the lands where they were moving:

Leviticus 20:23

You must not live according to the customs of the nations I am going to drive out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.



And here's some more great stuff: the other abominations! Leviticus 10:10-46 lists a bunch:

Aquatic animals without fins and scales, eagles, vultures, buzzards, kites (the bird), falcons, ravens, ostriches, short-eared owls, seagulls, hawks, little owls, fisher owls, screech owls, white owls, jackdaws, carrion vultures, storks, herons, hoopoes, bats, "flying insects that creep on all fours" (which, you know... don't EXIST, since all insects have six legs by definition), flying insects with four feet that don't have jointed legs for jumping, animals with divided non-cloven hooves that chew cud, four-legged animals with paws, moles, mice, large lizards, geckoes, monitor lizards, sand reptiles, sand lizards, chameleons, "every creeping thing that creeps on the earth", whatever crawls on its belly, whatever goes on all fours, and whatever has "many feet"



ALL OF THESE THINGS ARE CALLED ABOMINATIONS, ON EQUAL MORAL FOOTING WITH HOMOSEXUALITY!!



So if you hate homosexuality, but don't hate all those OTHER THINGS with equal moral outrage, you're an opportunist hypocrite who uses Leviticus as nothing more than an excuse for your bigotry.



I mean, come on. There's two full chapters about what to do with skin infections and mildew. The book is nonsense.

by ... - 2007-03-12 02:25
» ....

The day Final Fantasy gives me a game with a gay character in it is the day I put my money elsewhere or just give up on gaming.



And not just final fantasy, any game for that matter. I dont see why something that is NOT the norm should be forced upon the mass majority.



If homosexuals want to play games, let them, know that I don't want to play any game including them, and I can put money on it that most gamers feel this same way.





Picture this, you are Johnny a race car driver in the new NFSU, your goal? To win Daves heart by winning the race...



GAME OVER

by billy - 2007-03-12 02:36
» No Gays for Me!!!!!!

I will never, ever buy a game with a gay character....all the more reason I won't buy Enchanted Arms when it hits the ps3. It's morally wrong, disgusting, and and sign of a major mental retardation to say the least.

by Yuck! - 2007-03-12 02:37
» No Gays for Me!!!!!!

I will never, ever buy a game with a gay character....all the more reason I won't buy Enchanted Arms when it hits the ps3. It's morally wrong, disgusting, and and sign of a major mental retardation to say the least.

by Reality - 2007-03-12 02:50
» The Bible

Bible thumpers never put their favorite quoted scriptures into context. My guess is BurNThaM has no idea what the rest of Leviticus says. They like to quote scriptures, and comfortable phrases, such as the "Adam and Steve" nonsense. Things passed down to them by their redneck parents and fellow church goers who still think millions of people choose to be gay every day.



I'm glad to see this working it's way into games. Television and movies are flooded with it, and before long, even within my lifetime, I believe it will become so common place, that religious hatred will have to focus on something else. Hating gay people will just not be the thing to do much longer. We will look at you just as curiously as the rest of the world now does to some grand dragon KKK member out of Vidor, Texas.



Leviticus, based on its own neighboring scriptures makes for a bad example of the bible vs homosexuality. The rules weren't written to pick and choose from. Either you follow them all, or none.



Of course, the reality is that anyone who has posted here with hate towards homosexuality based on rediculous childrens stories, and foolish beliefs has little chance of changing, and will probably raise more hate filled children. The good thing is the numbers are dwindling. You guys are on the way out.

by pspfanboy316 - 2007-03-12 02:56
» uh huh

Anoyone who refuses to play an RPG because you might play the role of a gay charactor is a hypocrite.





under that logic,you refuse to play as a woman in video games too.



tomb raider,street fighter, final fantasy X-2,XIII among a whole ton of games where you play as nonhetrosexual males.



so i guess it's wrong to play as a gay charactor but it's okay to pretned to be a woman in a fantasy world trying to find the man you love?



that's worse,isn't it?

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