\Same Sex Video Game Play

[darkeyes]

First of all let me make it clear..I am not a great video game player.. certainly crash bang kill the baddie kind.. but I spotted this in the guardian this morning and although I have always been a little concerned about the plethora of violence games being concerned about what the effect is on kids as much from the amount of time they spend on them as any effects on their personality by exposure to fantasy violence, I would neither ban or restrict them.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/11/game-over-sexuality-harassment

So now we get the same sex romance scenario.. and I ask myself is this likely to help our young people to develop greater understanding of what being gay or bisexual is? Will it increase compassion or tolerance for the those of us lgbt world, and maybe even allow the young to develop into the people they really are sexually and overcome often negative indoctrination by parents, the church, the media and society as a whole? If we accept that tailoring a game to include same sex romance, maybe even sex, does this acceptance mean that some of the claimed more harmful side effects of shoot me up and other violent games has some substance? I am less interested in this latter aspect, but is such a facility on a game much different from what kids see on TV or cinema, and will the stereotypical view obtained by the young of the world of the lgbt see harmful developments as they mature and create an lgbt world which becomes stereotypical?

That the right and the anti lgbt world of the bigot is beginning to jump up and down shows they are worried.. they would ban if they could such games for reasons we all know well... potentially it further breaks down the negative prejudice they wish instilled in the young to the lgbt and same sex relationships... they wish censorship and nothing else.. as they do in all things sexual.

Even allowing for my concerns about violence in games, or on telly or the cinema, and I do think that such games have more of an adverse affect than we would would wish, it is nothing like as bad as those who would censor would claim, but do feel such a progressive and what I see as an educational feature introduced in such games can only be overall a good thing. Kids want to be adult and do adult things.. they always have in game play of all kinds throughout the history of humankind... like any game play, it has its dangers but I feel that the potential benefits not just to the lgbt, but to humanity as a whole far outweigh any threat involved. Other's, even within the lgbt will disagree.. but I think it potentially a terrific development whiuch can only help rather than hinder what we are trying to achieve.

[Long Duck Dong]

lol ok as a veteran RPGer ( Role Play Gamer ) I can tell you now that somebody has their head up their ass and its not you fran.....

LGBT characters in RPG's have existed as long as rpging has existed..... there are self styled or pre defined characters in most games, and a option of male or female...but sexuality in RPG games, is left up to the player as to how they portray their character.... and I am sorry but I am totally fuckin confused as to how they are going to have a sexuality option or gender / sex option in games......

* wheres fred ? he was creating a new character with the new gay option
* hes coming now, he said that the new gay option for characters is a right fuck up
* ahh fred... we are playing modern warfare and this is a battlefield.....*
* I know, but this is the new gay character option *
* jesus fuckin christ, fred, you have make up on, pink camo, high heels, and ..........and is that a cocktail in your hand ??? *
* yeah I know.... I am changing back to the normal character... at least he can be a straight acting gay character *

the LGBT are normally not visible in society unless they act in a way that makes them stand out, or they out themseves......so in gaming terms, you would either have to label them as LGBT, not that it makes much difference.... or make them so fuckin off the wall... that even the LGBT will not touch the characters with a 20 inch latex dildo


what the articles are refering to in the article, is the type of games where the sexuality and gender / sex of the characters is defined by the developers of the games, and believe me, there are LGBT characters in a lot more games than people think....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_themes_in_video_games

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LGBT_characters_in_video_games

while it is possible that LGBT characters in games may have a influence on the younger generation.... they have had a good 30 years to see if there is a impact... and maybe its just me... but 30 years is a long time and yes in the gaming scene, DD and I both have met more and more openly LGBT people in gaming, specially in games where there are chats where people can interact with people from around the world

does LGBT bashing go on in games, oh yes.... I used to deal with it regularly in a game I was head admin of, but equal treatment of all players was the rule on my watch... a player calling a lgbt player a offensive name, was dealt with immediately, and the same applied to any LGBT players that thought that called other players * breeders * and such like, was acceptable and not against the rules.... incidently, I rewrote the game rules from the ground up and they protected all players equally, there was no LGBT special protection in the rules....

one thing I did notice a lot was the complaints about LGBT slurs by players, but a review of the logs, often revealed that it was the lgbt players that started most of the issues by using sexuality as a weapon IE, you are just hitting me cos I am LGBT, so fuck off ( offensive wording and name calling ) and that is something that is often not mentioned about in games and the gaming world...

what is ironic, is me and my offsider, are both LGBT people and our boss was anti gay.....
we became known as the most supportive, open minded, equal minded admin in the game...so again the LGBT people have been active in gaming as developers, creators and admin as well....

so yeah again... 30 years of LGBT characters in games, and only now, are people starting to realise that there are lgbt characters in the gaming world...... or should I say, the people are just starting to realise that they are losing the battle against the LGBT and their supporters on another front and they are shitting themselves as usual, while trying to stem the flow of LGBT acceptance in the gaming world....

[Gearbox]

I think it does more harm to outlaw LGBT characters than it does to include them. Because gays, lesbians, bi's and trangendered do actually exist in the 'real world', whether we like it or not. Making their appearance somehow illegal or 'not acceptable', sends a clear message to the players of games that LGBT inclusion is a BAD thing. They are a threat to the moral code of the players.LOL!

Maybe they think that little Johnny & Jenny will start to wonder about experimenting with their sexuality if they become gay and lesbian characters in a virtual world? That its a kind of indoctrination that is more likely to effect their 'real' sexual persona's than their 'crazed killer' virtual ones?
Well so fekin what? I doubt that's the games intention, but it seems that the 'Family Research Council' intends to quash any thoughts of 'veering off the hetero path' though. Ohh that hetero path is so narrow and fragile in the big bad scary dark non-hetero forest.:rolleyes:

[DuckiesDarling]

The Family Research Council is literally a pack of wankers. In this case, they are too little too late. There have been LGBT characters in games for years and there has been no direct research proving that a character who happens to be female and loves a female will make the player a homosexual. Neither is there evidence that a player who kills aliens for hours on end will blow up Roswell, NM cause they must exist at area 51.

For me, when I play a game I'm playing the game because of the storyline or the battles, not to see who wants to try and cyber and talk about sex in any of the chat rooms that are available. It's games like the Sims and Second Life where you can literally have sex with your characters that start people on the war path, but at the end of the day it comes down to a choice. Do you teach your children well and give them a foundation to make up their own minds or do you let the technology and the people opposed to technology tell your child what mind they need to make up?

[Nextyearsxmassgifts]

I have played one of the EA's title games that contain the content they are speaking of. Part one and two allowed your character to chose a lesbian relationship in the game play. The latest and supposedly last chapter of the game allowed you to chose a gay or lesbian. One of the characters is a widower who lost his husband. I will admit I am vary in the closet. Im happy with that and have no intentions of changing. (RPG) games that are pc based are geared more for adults, and thats who primarily plays them. EA releases there games for all gaming platforms. Kids do play them on ps3 and xbox. I look at this is a bold step on EA's part. They knew they were going to get heat for this but stood strong on it. One of the few good things I can say about them. I think its a great thing for the LGBT community. The games are rated "muter" and are intended by the makers to be played by people that are muter enough to understand the content. That is not always determined by age. By the response of "The Family Research Council" that is made evident....lol

My child understands the content. Because I teach him tolerance and understanding. Teaching my child that people are all different. Is my responsibility and choosing what he can experience in this world is mine as well. Not the "Family Research Council"! Those who portray them self as trying to protect us by concerning what they deem as bad or evil. Seem to always be the same people that try and limit education of our children. Teach abstinence and nothing ells, take all the controversial words out of Tom Sawyer. The scariest thing to the right wing and there organizations is "EDUCATION".

I could see that if I keep the whole scarey world away from my child. I wouldn't want them to find out that people could love someone of the same sex from a video game.