Over the past few decades, support for the LGBT community has been rapidly increasing as more and more people come to understand that a person’s sexual preference isn’t restricted to just whether they can make babies or not, and love is something that transcends the physical form. And yet despite this, mainstream media and even our very governments continue to refuse to acknowledge them on a wider scale. Yes, there are many examples where the gay community is welcomed, and even those where they are treated equally to heterosexuals (ie. without having to make a big deal of, “We’re gay!” and putting them at the center of attention). Though with recent anti-gay laws coming from Russia (with public support) Uganda, and Australia’s attempt to bring in same-sex marriage being shut down by the High Court for being ‘unconstitutional’, it seems the world still isn’t ready to get behind this – and video games are no exception.
Ubisoft Montreal lead writer, Lucien Soulban, responded to a question in the company’s blog about the presence of gays in the video game industry, asking, “…what do you think the odds are that we’ll get a mid-30s stubbly-bearded brown-haired white guy with a raspy voice who is gay as a lead character in a AAA title?”
Soulban’s response can be interpreted as rather cynical… and unfortunately just as accurate. “I think the real question is, When are going to get a gay/lesbian AAA hero(ine) who isn’t a one-off joke? … Not for a while, I suspect, because of fears that it’ll impact sales.” The lead writer also brings up issues in Hollywood, specifically the 2012 film Skyfall, using the scene where James Bond and the antagonist Raoul Silva briefly flirt with each other as an example of how little respect potentially gay characters are given. “You look at Javier Bardem in Skyfall, his character’s sexuality was total shtick to satisfy one scene. Otherwise, he was a narcissist with mommy issues, and a pedophile to boot. His “seduction” of Bond was nothing more than vanity…”
Despite this cautious approach, several recent triple-A games have included notable gay characters. Every game in the Mass Effect trilogy offers the chance for homosexual relations (though it wasn’t until the third game that males were given the opportunity), and Grand Theft Auto IV’s The Ballad of Gay Tony episode… well it’s right there in the title. But these are still just a few examples in an ocean of video games and other media, and with recent criticism coming from indie developer Jonathan Blow (creator of Braid) over the industry’s reluctance to invest in new IPs, perhaps the greater issue is just that the industry heads are no longer willing to take risks.