Homosexuality In Gaming

One of the largest issues today in gaming, if not for the entire world is the topic of homosexuality. For years it has been seen as taboo and something to stay as far away from as possible. But in recent years we have seen a great and amazing acceptance of homosexuality in all forms of media. We see it in music, movies and especially books. But as with most times, the video game market has been dragging behind in current issues. The majority of games today involve Johnny Bulleteater, an all American man who is trying to save the world and win the girl. But finally he have seen the emergence of gay culture and gay characters in gaming.

Probably the most talked about and controversial issue with gay characters this year has been Dragon Age Origins. Bioware wishing to have players completely pulled into an experience allows the players character to do whatever they want. This even involves having your character attend a brothel and sleep with partners of either sex, regardless of your own characters sex. You can also attempt to woo several of your party members into shacking up with you, as some of them are bisexual. This is a huge step forward, as it is one of the only moments in my mind where you have the option as to your character’s preference in partners.

Then on the flip side, another game that came out this year is Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad Of Gay Tony. Grand Theft Auto has never really been known for pulling a punch, spreading out things as they see them, and often satirizing them, and this is no exception. Although you do not play as Gay Tony, you do play a business associate of his. Through cut scenes in the game we see that Tony is a very stereotypical gay man. On the surface we see that Tony’s biggest interests are men, clubbing and drugs in that order, and whenever danger is abound, he tends to scream in a very high pitch tone, ducking for cover and crying for his life. Yet at the same time, they try to show there is a bit more to Tony as he tries to take care of business owning two clubs, and fighting off parts of the mafia.

But the most overlooked homosexual character in gaming is Kanji from Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4. This to me is one of the most interesting and amazing characters in gaming. Kanji is a deeply torn teenage boy, trying to come to terms with his one sexuality. When you first meet Kanji, he is shown to us as a total badass character, with the hardcore leather jacket and shirts. But we find out that a secret Kanji holds is that he is struggling to come to terms with being gay. In the game you have to find out about his other persona, one that is extremely flamboyant and makes its home in a bath house. The point to these persona’s is that they are parts of the character that they don’t let others see out of fear, but they are still deeply a part of them. As the game progresses we see that Kanji often is teased about being gay, and shows little moments where he is outright gay. This work to make such a deep and complex character is applauded, and has really shown a change in how a gay character is portrayed as more than a stereotype. The only downside to this is that Persona 4 was a small release game, and the general public hasn’t seen this game, so coming to terms with it is still on the horizon when it comes to gaming.

Homosexuality is something that will always be a heated topic in the world, as there are many bigoted people out there. But to see that the homosexual agenda is finally making its move into video game culture is great to see, and hopefully can be used as a tool for education the public. I hope that 2010 will be the year where a major mainstream release will feature a homosexual character as more than just a stereotype.