LGBTQ themes in video games

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) characters have been depicted in numerous video games since the 1980s. These characters reflect the LGBT community by displaying a wide variety of traits and serving numerous roles within their respective games, from short cameo to main character. In the history of video games, LGBT content has been subject to changing rules and regulations, yet sexual orientation and gender identity have continued to serve as important mechanisms for story telling in console and personal computer games alike.

Policies Regarding LGBT Content

The Nintendo code

In order to legally release a game for a Nintendo system a developer had first to obtain permission from Nintendo. Nintendo reserved the right to preview the games and demand changes before allowing release. They wanted to ensure that no game released for a Nintendo system had objectionable or offensive themes, as well as exercise quality control. This gave rise to a highly developed system of censorship. A game sold on a Nintendo system could not display or make reference to illicit drugs, tobacco and alcohol, violence against women, blood and graphic violence, profanity, nudity, religious symbols, political advocacy, or "sexually suggestive or explicit content."

In 1988, a creature in Nintendo's own Super Mario Bros. 2 the miniboss named Birdo was described in the original instruction manual as thinking he was a girl and wanting to be called "Birdetta". This was later censored by Nintendo of America in future appearances of the character. In 1992, Enix was ordered to remove a gay bar in Dragon Warrior III, among other content changes, before the game could be sold on a Nintendo system. The SNES version of Ultima VII also had to be substantially altered from its original computer edition to remove potentially objectionable content, like ritual murders, or the option to have a male or female "bedmate" if the player paid their fee at the buccaneer-run island.

By 1999, Nintendo had largely given up on its own censorship policies. A year later, Rare released Banjo-Tooie for the Nintendo 64 with a gay frog bartender named "Jolly Roger." The frog wanted Banjo and Kazooie to rescue his co-worker, Merry Maggie, a cross-dressing amphibian who appeared to be Jolly Roger's lover. Jolly Roger would return as a playable character in the Game Boy Advance game Banjo-Pilot (2005). Rare would also release Conker's Bad Fur Day (2001) for the Nintendo 64, featuring an alcoholic squirrel named Conker and his adventures in a world where all of the characters are foul-mouthed creatures who made various dirty jokes in reference to hangovers, homosexuality and oral sex. Enix re-released Dragon Warrior III for the Game Boy Color and was allowed to keep all the original content provided the game was given a Teen rating by the ESRB.

The Sega code

Like Nintendo, Sega policed the content of games for Sega systems. Unlike Nintendo, Sega's initial system of censorship was more liberal. The Sega content code allowed games to have blood, more graphic violence, female enemies, and more sexually suggestive themes.

Although Sega allowed LGBT themes and characters in games sold for its home console systems, Sega often chose to tone down or erase LGBT characters when porting Asian games to American markets. In Phantasy Star II, a musician's homosexuality was edited so that the only acknowledgment of his sexual orientation was the fact that he charged all male characters less money for his music lessons. In 1992, when Final Fight was released for the Sega CD and Vendetta was released for the Sega Genesis, minor transgender and homosexual enemies were censored. Likewise, Sega's Streets of Rage 3 removed a gay villain wearing Village People attire and transformed a transsexual villain into a man with long hair. It is unclear whether LGBT censorship was part of an overall censorship policy or the voluntary decision of a developer.

In 1993, Sega developed the Videogame Rating Council to give content based ratings to all games sold on a Sega system, thus reducing the need for Sega to maintain a content code for its developers. When Rise of the Dragon was developed for the Sega CD, by Dynamix, a transgender bar patron was retained from the original computer edition as was a gay joke relating to the playable character mistaking his girlfriend for a man with long hair. For this and other reasons the game was given the Council's "MA-17" rating.

Computer games

As opposed to console game developers, computer game developers have always more freedom to create LGBT characters due to the absence of any universal trade content code.

Entertainment Software Rating Board

In 1994, several top gaming publishers formed the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) as the trade association of the video game industry. Shortly after its creation, the ESA established the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) to independently assign individual games content ratings and descriptors according to a variety of factors. LGBT depictions currently fit under the content descriptors of mature humor, sexual content, or sexual themes, all of which qualify games for the restricted M (Mature) or AO (Adults Only) content ratings.

Following the establishment of the ESRB, console developers relaxed their in-house regulations in favor of ESRB ratings. In 1994, Sega dissolved its Videogame Rating Council after only one year in existence.

Casual games

The casual games market is not regulated by the ESRB and therefore has few or no official content restrictions. However, these games are generally marketed as 'family friendly' and aim for mass-market appeal, often leaving out any elements that might be considered controversial. Therefore, there are very few cases of LGBT characters in casual games. Examples include Tradewinds, which features a gay player character option.

Depictions of LGBT characters

A number of recurring tropes, themes and archetypes have developed in the gaming industry with reference to LGBT sexuality. These were often similar to how other forms of popular culture such as Hollywood movie and TV shows dealt with LGBT sexuality.

Comical gender confusion

A common way to deal with LGBT characters is to reveal their sexual orientation through gender inversion. A male character's homosexuality was often indicated by making him a sissy character with effeminate or flamboyant mannerisms, dress, and speech. The underlying assumption is that homosexuals tend also to be transsexual and therefore possess mannerisms stereotypical of the opposite sex. This technique previously had been widely used in Hollywood movies (to circumvent the Production Code's ban on "sexual perversion") and before that in Vaudeville. Although mainly used in video games for its comedic value, gender confusion has also been used as a tool to offer social commentary about sexism or homophobia. The censorship codes of Nintendo and Sega limited the usage of gender inversion to exclusion of cross-dressing until 1994.

Sexual Predators

The theme of LGBT individuals being represented as sexual predators arose in the 1990s, providing a dark contrast to previous, more humorous depictions of the LGBT community. These sexual predators usually appear as villains or anti-heroes. These predatory characters were intended to shock their audience, making them perceive the characters and the civilization to which they belonged as scary, perverse and immoral.

Normal and well-adjusted

These are LGBT characters are not intended as comic relief or as indications of the dark and seedy underbelly of the game's environment but rather are presented in a similar manner as other characters.

Marketing to a gay audience

It is generally felt that young, white, heterosexual males are the force driving the industry forward. However, in the 1990s the industry began to make some efforts to market games to women by creating software titles with strong and independent female characters as seen in Tomb Raider and Resident Evil. Some video game companies are now moving to further expand their marketing base to include the perceived market of affluent homosexual young men, sometimes labeled the "pink dollar", by including LGBT characters and supporting LGBT rights.

Working inside the industry

Little is known about what it is like to work within the industry as a gay person. People within the industry do not want to talk about it, and gay rights organizations have been slow to pay much attention to this billion dollar industry. The result is that much of the information that does come out is in dispute. Dani Bunten, a MTF transsexual, designed some of the earliest multiplayer games. In 1996, a Maxis employee named Jacque Servin was fired when he put gay characters into the SimCopter game. Depending on the news source, Servin claims to have done it because he was upset at being grossly overworked at Maxis or as some type of political statement.

Asian gaming cultures and depictions of LGBT sexuality

Most Western games are made for a Western audience. However, Japan, Korea and Taiwan all have large gaming industries which produce for local audiences. Many video games are developed in Japan, and some effort has been made at making what could be called 'gay games.' In Japanese popular culture, LGBT men were often considered bishōnen, which translates as "beautiful boys." This was also tied to the success in Japan of comic books and animation with open and subtle LGBT characters. A select genre of adult pornographic Japanese games exist called H-games. This genre includes gay male and gay female subgenres. This material generally does not make it over to the west in English, and western reviews of the gay male video games tend to see the homosexuality as a gimmick in an otherwise mediocre game. However, homosexuality, while relatively innocuous among celebrities in Japan, can still be considered an oddity due to Japan's regimented and conservative social structure.

List of LGBT characters in video games

In 1988, LJN released the Nintendo game Beetlejuice, based on the popular movie of the same name. In the movie, Otho (Glenn Shadix) was a heavy-set interior decorator who was clearly gay. Otho makes a brief appearance in the game where the player must scare him with a mouse.

In 1991, Acclaim released the second of three Nintendo games based on the popular animated series The Simpsons. In The Simpsons: Bart vs. the World, the player controlled Bart Simpson as he traveled to various global locations to battle the evil Montgomery Burns. In the television show, Waylon Smithers was the personal aide to Burns, whose secret gay crush on his boss is a running joke throughout the entire series. Both characters appeared in the game in the opening and ending sequences, although Smithers is simply referred to as Mr. Burns' "Bootlicking Yes-Man."

Another example appears in Sierra's 1991 Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers. The main character, Roger Wilco, had to don drag in order to gain access to a bank account belonging to the "Latex Babes of Estros."

In Ultima VII: The Black Gate (1992 IBM PC) and Ultima VI: The False Prophet the player has the option to pay a fee and be entertained, off screen, by a female or male companion. Perhaps one of the first computer games that expressly allowed the playable character to select his sexual orientation. In Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle a bisexual mage will sexually proposition the player character regardless of the character's gender. The player is given a choice whether to accept or refuse.

MicroProse's 1992 game titled Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender for MS-DOS and the MAC OS requires the male hero to change his sex on a planet where women rule.

Square's 1995 SNES RPG Chrono Trigger featured a major villain who was prominently transgendered. The character Flea, a henchman of Magus, was described as looking like a girl. Flea would exclaim "Hey, I'm a guy!" and later "Male or female, what difference does it make? Power is beautiful, and I've got the power." Flea would later appear with his sidekicks in the sequel, Chrono Cross, appearing as a female with a pink wig and miniskirt. However, the battle screen in Chrono Cross displays the enemies' sex with a male or female symbol, and Flea is clearly marked as a man. It is notable that the transgendered theme of Flea appeared in the US translation of the SNES release, during Nintendo's censorship phase.

In 1995 Shannara, based on the books written by Terry Brooks, included a snotty and racist gay character, the Seneschal, who wore all purple. This character was similar to the snotty and racist elven character in Simon the Sorcerer 2 who not only had the purple attire, but a pansy flower in his hat.

In Capcom's 2004 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trials and Tribulations for the Nintendo DS, an effeminate chef called Jean Armstrong frequently confuses other characters about his gender. Although he is very effeminate in appearance, movement, and fashion style, he clearly has a beard and mustache, yet characters still become confused of his gender.

In Adventure Soft's 1993 Simon the Sorcerer series, if the title character, Simon is ordered to proposition any male characters, he reminds the player that he "prefers blondes". The games also make numerous gay jokes. For example, when two demons get stuck together with glue in the second game (from 1995), Simon remarks that their close contact looks "awfully suspicious." Simon the Sorcerer 3-D (2002) has more gay jokes, directed at a gay knight.

The character Doctor N. Gin is portrayed as an effeminate character in Radical's 2005 Crash Tag Team Racing game. He is shown occasionally wearing a ballerina costume to boost his self-esteem and using pink fuzzy slippers in his inventions in the same game. In the following Crash of the Titans, N. Gin reveals his desire for "chicks" over his factory's intercom but is disgusted at the thought of girls in a later cutscene.

In Rockstar North's 2004 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas the police officers in San Fierro will say various things one would expect from a comical, homosexual character such as "Drop the soap, honey!", "Lets wrestle to submission!", and "I'm on your ass, Daisy!". In this model, homosexuality is a joke, attached to gender inversion and used to denigrate the police, an enemy in the game. There is, however, both a clearly gay employee working at the counter of an athletic apparel store who makes flirty comments towards the protagonist, CJ, as well as gay-friendly decorations, including a gay-pride rainbow flag on some streets of one of the game's cities, San Fierro, the game's version of the city of San Francisco. There is also a dildo found in the police station's shower room, even though female police officers are virtually non-existent in the game. A previous installment in the series, the 2001 Grand Theft Auto III, has construction workers who look like the similarly-dressed member of the Village People, who shout quotes from the Village People songs "YMCA" and "In the Navy". Other "Grand Theft Auto" titles have references to a city park where some of the adult patrons go to engage in public homosexual sex acts.

Perhaps one of the most flagrant instances of using gay or homoerotic imagery in a comedic way is the Cho Aniki series, an unusual group of games that uses such themes in such an exaggerated way that players regard it as a parody. The games, which have been released for various systems over the last decade, most often take the form of side-scrolling shooter games starring Samson and Adon, two musclebound, phallic-looking characters who fire white globular shots from holes on top of their bald heads. The games were never released outside of Japan, with the exception of Cho Aniki on the Wii's Virtual Console service. In Japan, they are regarded as examples of the kuso-ge or "shit game" genre, which are enjoyed purely for their kitschy badness.

Sierra Online's 1990 adventure game Rise of the Dragon features a man named "Blade Hunter" on a quest to seek revenge against an Asian crime lord for the drug overdose of the mayor's daughter. His quest took him to various locations in a seedy and corrupt future similar to the one depicted in the movie Blade Runner. One such location, the "Pleasure Dome", depicts homosexuality as one of the vices catered to by the establishment. One of its patrons is a "woman posing as a man, posing as a woman", a clear nod to the 1982 movie Victor/Victoria. Like the male sissy characters that seemed to adopt the typical female gender, this woman adopts a typical male personality of being cold and unfeeling. Later in the game, Blade Hunter says sweet things to someone whom he thinks is his girlfriend and is shocked to find out that it is really a man with long hair. After this embarrassing event, the character worries that people may start to call him "Switch Blade."

In Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon, the main character, Raidou, confronts two Japanese disaster gods known as Binbogami and Yakbyougami who are both portrayed as effeminate and fiercely masochistic. Binbogami is shown to be pursuing Raidou sexually, even going so far as to encourage Raidou to "whip" him when his life bar is reduced to half during two boss fights against him. The game also includes cross dressers in the Mannen-Cho location.

Infinite Adventures produced a FMV game titled Dracula Unleashed in 1993 that included the character Alfred Horner as the 'rather odd fellow' who co-owned the bookstore. The character is explicitly homosexual, giving the playable character lecherous glances. This was the first time a homosexual character in a computer game was shown as a live actor.

In 1995 The Orion Conspiracy became the first computer game to use the word homosexual (although the 1994 Kirin Entertainment game Plumbers Don't Wear Ties does use the word 'gay'). The main character, Devlin McCormack, lives on a space station where he investigates the murder of his son and stops an alien invasion. His investigation leads him through the seedy, criminal underworld of the station, where he discovers that his son was homosexual while talking with his son's boyfriend.

In 1995 The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery features the antagonist Baron Von Glower who pursues the protagonist Gabriel Knight sexually and eventually leads him to be turned into a werewolf.

In 1996 the computer game Phantasmagoria 2: A Puzzle of Flesh featured a homosexual male character named Trevor, who was a close friend and co-worker of the player character, Curtis Craig. Despite his effeminate and flamboyant portrayal, Trevor is shown as intelligent and is very significant through the game's plot. Curtis admits to his psychiatrist that he has feelings for Trevor and might be bisexual, and later the two kiss, although Curtis is also shown as having relationships with a girlfriend and a S&M domme. Creators of the game talked about the mature sexual themes in the game during a 1997 interview.

In 1996 Vic Tokai developed the graphic adventure computer game SilverLoad for the PlayStation. Silver Load is a bizarre tale of a town cursed because their ancestors enacted genocide on an American Indian tribe. It features a gay barber who finds the cowboy hero attractive and has a sinister, decadent look about him.

In 2000 Capcom resuscitated this dormant theme with Resident Evil Code: Veronica, a survival horror game. The central antagonist is Alfred Ashford; at the game's end he is revealed as a "cross-dressing freak" who is obsessed with his dead twin sister, in this case a reference to Norman Bates from the Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho.

In the 2007 horror first-person shooter Clive Barker's Jericho, the Ancient Roman Governor Cassus Vicus claims it had been a while since "tasting" both genders after becoming aroused while confronting the Jericho Squad. Vicus is portrayed as overly perverted and morbidly obese and is said to practice cannibalism, Sadomasochism and "blood orgies". The game's author, Clive Barker, is openly homosexual and has created characters with a certain disposition towards Sadomasochism of every sexual orientation.

In 1993 Sierra Online's Police Quest: Open Season featured a gay bar as a symbol of organized homosexuality. In this game, the player is a police officer trying to track down the murder of his police partner. His quest leads him to discover that his partner had a double life as a cross-dresser at a West Hollywood transgender bar. The game also featured a Neo-Nazi who calls the main character a "mother loving faggot" if touched. Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude, released in 2004, also features a gay bar.

In 1986 Infocom released Moonmist, a text adventure mystery with several possible randomly-selected plotlines; in one of these plotlines the criminal is a female artist who is jealous because her girlfriend has gotten married.

In 1990 Infocom released Circuit's Edge, a graphic adventure game based on the science fiction writings of George Alec Effinger. One of the characters the player meets is openly gay with a boyfriend, and several other characters are transsexual.

In 1992 Sierra On-line produced Laura Bow In The Dagger of Amon Ra, which featured a woman from a small town who gets a job for a New York paper in the 1920s. Two of the women she meets are involved in a secret love affair.

In 1993 MicroProse released Return of the Phantom with a gay male character named "Charles". While he is certainly an effeminate theatre director, he is also one of the good guys that helps the playable character, a French inspector, solve the mystery of the Phantom of the Opera once and for all.

In 1997 the Sega Saturn title Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers depicted the protagnoist encounters a cross dresser by the name of Kamanari while chasing down the gambling parlor owner Tatsumi during a case. It is also implied Tatsumi himself is gay.

In the 2008 game Fallout 3, the player meets a Ghoul named Carol who is suggested to be in a romantic relationship with another female Ghoul named Greta. They have apparently adopted a son, named Gob. While it is never made clear if they are romantically involved, if the player is a Female, Greta will warn the player to stay away from Carol.

In 1994 game EarthBound, Jeff Andonuts' best friend, Tony, is hinted to have romantic feelings for him; the creator of the game has also mentioned that Tony is gay.

In the 1999 LucasArts game Full Throttle depicts a gay uncle who owned a mink factory and raised a girl when her father abandoned her.

In 1996, the adventure game Harvester had a flamboyant gay firefighter named Fireman Sparky.

In 1996, Crystal Dynamics released Blazing Dragons for the PlayStation. It was a graphic adventure game based on a British cartoon where dragons had human emotions, and real humans were obnoxious villains. Blazing Dragons was influenced by comedians such as John Cleese of Monty Python fame. This game marketed the introduction to the video game industry of the comic models that the computer game industry had been using to reference homosexuality. The game featured a dragon knight whose homosexuality was demonstrated by his effeminacy and vanity, and an entire puzzle involved dressing as the princess of the dragons in order to trick the dragon king into thinking she has not run away and been kidnapped by humans. When this fails, it falls to the court jester (who also appears to be homosexual) to wear drag; at one point he kisses one of the other dragon knights, while off camera. This game marked the first time when drag, in the comic model, was allowed to appear in video games.

In Square's 1999 title Final Fantasy VIII, an unnamed minor character can be encountered in a bar; during conversation, there is strong implication the character is a transvestite. The player character Squall Leonhart is given the option to ask if he is really a woman. If Squall asks this the character becomes paranoid and wonders how he knew.

In Square's 1997 title Final Fantasy VII, a specific puzzle involves the male protagonist, Cloud Strife, collecting various articles of female attire in order to audition as the girl that will spend the night with a male character. If the player has found enough items they are chosen as the girl and can play along with the scenario to a certain extent, although the couple is interrupted just as they are about to kiss. One of this articles, a wig, is found in a gym of gay male body builders, and the character can also enter a brothel. Depending on which room in the brothel is chosen the character may end up in a hot tub with around 10 men, including the character Mukki, who seems to proposition the main character both in this scene and when the player meets him later on in the game.

In 1997, The Last Express has the player meeting two young adult girls named Sophie and Rebecca Norton who are almost always in each other's company. While at first they appear to be merely close friends, reading the diary of one of them suggests they are lesbians, but there are no explicitly homosexual gestures beyond hand-holding.

In the 1999 game Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned, it becomes very obvious that two of the characters, Lady Howard and Estelle Stiles, are lesbians. However, nothing is ever made of this other than Gabriel noticing the one bed for two people and saying "Gee, isn't that cozy?".

In 1999 Eidos released The Incredible Hulk: The Pantheon Saga for the PlayStation, based on the Marvel comic book character of the same name. In the "Pantheon Saga", the Hulk joined with a family team of superheroes to combat global problems such as terrorism. One of the family members, named Hector, was openly gay. He appears in Eidos' game, although no mention or reference is made to his sexual orientation.

In 1998 Interplay released Fallout 2 featuring the first same-sex marriage in a game. The reaction from the family of the character the player marries is very negative.

In 1999 Funcom released the computer graphic adventure game The Longest Journey with a lesbian landlady, her long-time lover, and a gay cop. While the game used a futuristic Blade Runner type setting, the gay characters were not used to show how decadent society had become but were seen as normal and well adjusted secondary characters.

In 1999 Acclaim released a racing game titled South Park Rally, the first of several games based on the popular animated series South Park for the PlayStation, Nintendo 64, and PC. Big Gay Al, a prominent character in the series, is a playable character in South Park Rally. His house is also one of the tracks.

In 1999 Activision released Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force for the PC and PlayStation 2. In the game the player could play as a male or a female, and in either case a female would flirt with them. Elite Force was notable in this regard, as the Star Trek franchise has often been criticized for its treatment of gay and lesbian characters on TV.

In 1999 tri-Ace released Star Ocean: The Second Story for the PlayStation. In the game the player could choose to play as either Claude or Rena, and they can have a Friendship and Romance level with each party member acquired. Depending on those levels, the player will get about five endings. If the player chooses Claude, there was an ending where the player will go on a "man-date" with a member of their party by the name of Ashton. The date ends with Ashton's bizarre obsession of barrels. But it still does occur. One of the other possible endings is with Noel, another male party member. He is very effeminate and certain scenes give him the possibility of being gay. If the player chooses Rena as the main character, the player could get an ending with a female member of their party, Precis, where the two would go on a date. There is also a somewhat secret scene, where a love potion gets used on the player and Celine makes advances toward you. This is completely due to magic, and is mostly a source of comedy.

2001's Shadow Hearts contained a homosexual character, a Chinese acupuncturist known as Meiyuan who improved the weapons of your characters and did so with more enthusiasm for the male characters. Shadow Hearts: Covenant in 2005 also featured gay characters: the two flamboyant Magimel brothers, who were a constant sight throughout the game. One was a tailor who would sew magical clothes when bribed with beefcake trading cards, the other was a vendor for items and weapons. In one optional scene toward the end of the game, a third major character was revealed to be gay; the ensuing offscreen anal sex was largely treated as disgusting, though one female player character called it "beautiful."Shadow Hearts: From the New World again featured Gerard, but he is with his boyfriend this time, by the name of Buigen. They both are clad in biker clothing.

In the 2001 game PaRappa the Rapper 2, the protagonist of the game, PaRappa, is trying to make himself more of a man so he can impress his crush Sunny Funny (who is a female). However, he hugs, holds hands with, and kisses his male friend PJ while they work out to (rap with) Chop Chop Master Onion's TV workout programme 'Romantic Love', leaving the latter looking uncomfortable. Clearly showing that PaRappa, is either bisexual or just quite fine with kissing males.

In 2001 Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty featured a bisexual character, Vamp. The conversation in which this was revealed (by Solid Snake himself) also explains that he was the lover of Scott Dolph, a bisexual Navy commander. The game does not dwell on this point, and accepts it simply as a factor of the character. The 2005 sequel Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater went further, featuring male bisexuality (Volgin and Major Raikov), and also some other sexual topics rarely touched upon in popular entertainment, such as sexual sadism (Volgin again), polyamory and Caesarean section. In addition to these villainous examples, many players have noted homoerotic subtext in the conversations between Solid Snake and Otacon (with the characters' respective voice actors admitting at one point to have deliberately read their lines in a way that suggested a gay relationship.) Revolver Ocelot is also hinted at being gay, such as in the final battle in Metal Gear Solid 4, where Liquid Ocelot may "attack" Solid Snake with a kiss during a fistfight.

In 2001, Maxis broke new ground with a new television commercial for its computer game The Sims. Highlighting the ability of the characters to date, the commercial featured an attractive twenty-something man in a nightclub flirting with a woman, until he is suddenly drawn to an attractive man in the club and after a brief pause agrees to date him. The games have become very popular as they allow the player to create their own simulated family, whose members could be either gay or straight and still date, make love, marry and raise children. This is perhaps the only time the industry has made any attempt to capture the gay gamer dollar. However, despite the inclusivity found on other platforms, Nintendo's Game Boy Advance and DS versions appear to have removed any same-sex romance interactions, effectively removing homo/bisexuality from the games.

In 2001 Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix had a lesbian subplot that catered to straight men between two of the major female characters.

In 2001 Fable came out for the Xbox and PC as a long RPG game that followed various characters from cradle to grave. In the game, the player could flirt with characters of the same sex, enter into same-sex marriages, and have sex with them. If the player married a female character in addition to a male NPC, the personality status screen would label them as bisexual. If the player does not get married at all, the personality status screen does not have a default sexual orientation and instead leaves that trait unlabeled. While the NPCs in the game do not treat the player with any disgust if they choose to be gay, they do not get paid "dowry" for marrying any male characters but almost all female ones give such. One quest involves finding the deeds to a bordello so the player can free the prostitutes from the male owner. Like the other quests in the game there are several ways of solving this, but one option is to dress as a woman and have sex with the owner when he's drunk. In the 2008 sequel to Fable, Fable II, it was more common for homosexuals to be seen in towns, and marriages and relationships were expounded upon, including the choice to be a female and marry a male villager and have a child, or marry a female villager. A context specific line is used in a conversation within the middle of the game, were a character, Hammer, asks if the main character was able to convince his or her partner, wife, or husband to wait for them when they must go away for a ten years. After the ten years a quest is available in which a farmer the character had the choice of helping requests that he or she help his son find a girlfriend. When the main player speaks to the farmer's son, he hints towards his homosexuality, and if the player finds a male partner for the farmer's son, the son will be happy with the choice, and he comes out to his father about his homosexuality; though they never say the words gay or bisexual, the son, upon his father's questioning says, "Yes, I'm..."

In the 2003 game Summon Night: Swordcraft Story, if the player chooses a female character and picks Sugar as their summon beast, lesbian innuendo occur. There are other girls, named Razzy and Sanary who also shares lesbian undertones when conversing with Pratty, the female main character. Though, less apparent in the sequel, Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2, one of the female characters, Lynn,continuously tries to kiss the main character, whether they be male or female. The female playable character, "Aera", shows the same romantic behavior that shows when the player play as "Edgar", the male playable character, with some dialogue changes.

The 2004 Atari computer game The Temple of Elemental Evil made news headlines when it was revealed that the game has an optional story line where the player can rescue a gay pirate and see him marry one of the male player characters.

In 2004 the computer game Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, the player is able to play a female character and have implied (off screen) sexual relations with Jeanette, another female character. Also there is generally the possibility to flirt with same sex partners throughout the game and additionally there are also some more hints, that different characters have been involved in same-sex-activities. There is also a vampiress character who briefly mentions a relationship she had long ago with a female named Pisha.

In Eidos Interactive's 2005 sequel to Deus Ex, Deus Ex: Invisible War. One of the manners which the character can gain access to the apartment of Seattle's Minister of Culture is to flirt with the Minister of Culture at Club Vox (he will give the character his key). Although there is a gender choice available in the game, this method works only if the character is male.

In Bioware's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, the party member Juhani was written as lesbian, though bugged coding on the initial release allowed her to be attracted to the player character regardless of gender. In subsequent patches, she reverts to homosexual preferences. She and another female Jedi were also heavily implied to be lovers. (It is worth noting that this would make Juhani the first known gay character in the Star Wars universe).

In Bioware's 2005-released Xbox RPG Jade Empire, the main character can be either male or female. If the player chooses a male character, he can have a romantic relationship with the female characters Dawn Star or Silk Fox, or the male character Sky; a female character can romance either Sky or Silk Fox. Also, if the main character is male, it is possible for Dawn Star and Silk Fox to end up in a relationship with each other.

The computer and console game Indigo Prophecy from 2005 includes a gay stock market follower named Tommy. One of the game's protagonists is good friends with him and Tommy's knowledge of the stock trade is essential in progressing in the game. If asked, the character makes comments about homophobia in the workplace and gay acceptance.

In the 2003 title Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, a flamboyant mannequin is shown as the owner of the junk shop and makes frequent but comical references to his sexuality.

In Persona 2: Innocent Sin, released in 1999 for the PlayStation, one of the playable characters was Kurosu Jun, a schoolboy with a connection to the game's main villain. Jun is a homosexual, and it is revealed through flashbacks that he and the main character, Suou Tatsuya, exchanged gifts as children and promised to always be together. Both Tatsuya and Jun have kept these gifts, and Tatsuya is often seen playing with the lighter he received from Jun. Through the actions of the player, Tatsuya could end up in a relationship with one of three romantic interests; one of these was Kurosu Jun. If Tatsuya and Jun are in a relationship, they receive a special "lovers" contact combo. The game has several references to Jun's femininity: his main weapons are flowers; there is a contact combo where another love interest, Lisa Silverman, puts makeup on Jun and then complains that he looks prettier than she does; and he apparently discovered his ability to use Personae when he was being picked on by bullies for his effeminate looks. In the second part, Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, Jun appears under the name Jun Kashihara, but his role in the story is extremely tangential. Tatsuya Suou also appears in the game, but though there are many references to the homoerotic content of the first game, the storyline focuses around a love triangle between him, his brother, and Maya Amano, a female love interest from Innocent Sin. Eternal Punishment also featured a female athlete named Anna, whose relationship with her obsessive admirer Noriko contains lesbian overtones.

In the 2006 title Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3, there is an unnamed female student NPC who has an intense lesbian crush on Mitsuru Kirijo, one of the main female characters. This crush goes as far as her having romantic fantasies about her as well as threatening the main character with revenge (if he's lying) after he tells her that he has pictures of her in a bathing suit.

In the 2008 title Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4, Kanji, a playable character, has a Shadow Self that rants about how he hates girls and likes boys. Cross-dressing and the questioning of one's gender are also featured in the game.

The 2006 adventure game Broken Sword: The Angel of Death includes Brother Mark, a Catholic priest who is strongly hinted to be homosexual, although he denies this. Nintendo-published Baten Kaitos Origins for the Nintendo GameCube also features a transgendered character, of sorts. One of the three main characters, Guillo, speaks simultaneously with the voice of both a man and a woman, and is gender neutral throughout the entire storyline. Even though Guillo is a "puppet", Guillo has a very masculine personality, yet also is clad in high heels and has breasts. Guillo is also part of a bitter love "quadrangle" for Sagi, the main character, between Guillo, Milly, and Lolo.

Squaresoft's 2000 title Final Fantasy IX features a playable character called Quina Quen who belongs to an apparently ungendered race called the Qu. Referred to by the pronoun "s/he" throughout, the Qu's bizarre appearance offers little clue as to any intended orientation. At one stage in the game, it is possible for Quina and Vivi, an apparently juvenile Black Mage, to be married. While this scene is optional and treated very much as a light-hearted comic scene with no implication of sexual attraction, it nevertheless treats the topic of pansexuality and same-sex marriage sympathetically.

In the 2006 title Enchanted Arms features Makoto an openly gay character, who actually identifies himself as a lady. In an optional scene, the main character Atsuma can also question Raigar's sexuality explaining that he didn't think that Raigar was into women, Raigar is quickly embarrassed as other members of the party also begin to question. This is not treated as mean spirited and his quite comical.

In 2007 first-person shooter BioShock, it is hinted throughout the game that the character Sander Cohen, a temperamental artist gone mad through genetic experimentation, is homosexual and was deeply in love with the game's antagonist, Andrew Ryan, before the events in the game take place. This is hinted both through audio logs where various people refer to him as "old fruit" and such as well as through radio messages where even Sander Cohen himself refers to Andrew Ryan as the "man I once loved".

The 2008 tactical RPG Valkyria Chronicles has several optional squad members whose profiles indicate they fancy individuals of the same gender. For example, a male squad member named Jann has strong feelings for muscular men, particularly Largo. He wears makeup, has an effeminate voice and is flirty towards men, including the player character who is his commanding officer. Similarly, Dallas is a female squad member whose profile states that she "fancies women" and "hates men". Dallas has a crush on Alicia, the game's heroine.

The 2006 Rockstar Games title Bully (Canis Canem Edit in Europe) features optional homosexual content. The game's central character Jimmy Hopkins can kiss various characters, male and female, in order to regain health. Neither Jimmy nor any of the other six bisexual/homosexual male characters show any outward signs of overt femininity or other stereotypically homosexual traits, with the possible exception of the gay member of the "preppy" clique who is depicted as being suave and somewhat effeminate. All of these characters will, if romanced, assist Jimmy in fighting if necessary. It is perhaps noteworthy, however, that, while taking English classes will allow Jimmy to kiss certain female characters without offering them gifts, the same is not true of the male characters. One of the female characters in the game alludes to Jimmy's "experimentation" with the other boys in a cutscene in which she states, "I'm like Helen of Troy, but you seem more interested in boys named Troy". In Bully: Scholarship Edition, developers added an achievement (an in-game award) called "Over the Rainbow", which the player unlocks by kissing a boy twenty times.

In the 2007 title Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, there is a character named Heather the player can get on their team who is implied to be a lesbian, who claims to have joined the army to 'meet all the pretty girls'.

In the 2007 game Mass Effect, the player can play as a male or female character. In both cases, there is an option for a subplot romance and sexual encounter with the alien Liara, a member of a truly unengendered (though they resemble females) race that mates with any sex of any race. The game received a lot of criticism for the "sex scene", although it was hardly explicit, showing only brief, blurred shots of Liara's buttocks twice in a thirty-second scene.

Abu'l Nuquod, one of the assassination targets in the historically-based game released in 2007,Assassin's Creed, is strongly implied to be gay. He believes the people hate him because he is "different", is shown caressing the cheek of one of his male guards during his angry tirade, and claims that he cannot serve the cause of a god who calls him an abomination.

In the 2009 game "Dragon Age: Origins". the player may choose a male or female character from the start of the game. The main character has an opportunity to have sexual encounters with one party member of the same sex. There are also opportunities to have sexual encounters with NPCs of the same gender throughout the game and notably within the first 30 minutes of game play. Like its spiritual successor, "Mass Effect", there are brief sex scenes (about 30 seconds); however there is no visible nudity. It should be noted that the two party members who will have a same-sex sexual encounter with the main character identify (through innuendo or descriptions experiences) that they are bisexual; therefore making the main character the only potentially gay character (excluding NPCs). One example of gay NPC's in the game is the effeminate Wade and Herren. The couple own a armor shop in the games capital and give a quest to the main character. In a Downloadable Content episode released by Bioware it is possible to chase them from the shop to a back alley where Herren teleport himself and Wade to safety. The game designers admitted Herren and Wade were lovers after the release of said DLC.

In the 2005 game "Castlevania: Curse of Darkness", the Devil Forge Master Issac is a secondary villain who is depicted as a very flamboyant character. Nothing is ever mentioned in the game to confirm that he is gay but his over acting and high squeaky voise make a heavy emphasis on his sexuality.

In the 2010 video game "Red Dead Redemption", one of the minor characters,Quique Montemayor acts and moves flamboyantly. He appears to be in love with Captain De Santa.

In the 2010 video game "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game", based on the graphic novel series, Kim Pine can perform a special move in which Knives Chau appears and kisses her, giving her health whilst damaging enemies. Kim's ending in the game also implies she gets together with Knives. Like in the graphic novel series, the character Roxanne Richter is a lesbian who had previously dated Ramona Flowers.

Transgender characters in video games

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Poison from Final Fight (arcade version).

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Roxy from Final Fight (Sega CD version).

The Super Mario Bros. 2 character Birdo was described as thinking he was a girl and wanting to be called Birdetta in early editions of the instruction manual. The character was changed to simply female until Smash Bros. Brawl reintroduced the concept of Birdo's gender being "indeterminate". Likewise, the Infocom game titled Circuit's Edge features several transsexual characters.

Capcom created Final Fight for the arcade in 1989. The beat 'em up involved the player picking among three fighters on a quest to save the mayor's daughter who was kidnapped by a criminal gang known as Mad Gear. In 1990, Capcom presented Nintendo with a version of the game for the 16-bit Super Nintendo Entertainment System. According to David Sheffs' book Game Over, Nintendo stated that Capcom could not have a female enemy as that violated Nintendo's ban on violence against women. Capcom countered that there were no female enemies in the game, revealing that the female characters Roxy and Poison were also in fact transsexuals. The characters were nevertheless removed from the international versions of the SNES port (the Japanese Super Famicom version retained the characters). However, in 1993, Sega obtained the rights to release the game for their Sega CD. In a sign of Sega's more liberal polices, Poison and Roxy could remain in the international versions, but with less-provocative clothing; also there could be no indication of their supposed transgendered status (Sega of America later removed a homosexual boss from the international versions of Streets of Rage 3).

Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle featured a futuristic beauty contest that featured oddly-dressed humans. A person the player can interact with is some Harold who is dressed like a woman and expresses homosexual attraction. The sprite of the character is based on the one of George Washington, who also appears in the game.

Gay characters in fighting games

Many fighting games have characters who are either confirmed or thought to be gay. Having gay male characters in these fighting games can challenge the traditional perception of homosexuals as weak. Nevertheless, hints about a particular character's sexual orientation in a fighting game often take the form of effeminate features, in an otherwise tough and stereotypically masculine character.

In 1994, Sega of America would make various changes to the beat 'em up Streets of Rage 3 from its original Japanese counterpart called Bare Knuckle 3. Among the changes was the removal of the boss named Ash (with a straight character named Shiva replacing him) whose homosexuality was explicitly established by the "Village People" attire that he wore. Ash was taken out of the western edition of the game, but remained a playable character with the aid of the Game Genie. Thus, Sega unintentionally became the first major video game company in the west to give the player the option of choosing a gay character.

In Darkstalkers 3, the character Demitri Maximoff has a move called the Midnight Bliss, which, among its effects, turns any male character he uses it on into a woman.

The Street Fighter character Zangief has long been thought of as being homosexual, although this was disputed in Capcom Fighting Evolution, where it was stated that he had a girlfriend. The Street Fighter character Eagle, who appears in the original Street Fighter as well as in Capcom vs. SNK 2, has however been confirmed to be gay, as a tribute to Queen singer Freddie Mercury, although several of Eagle's quotes obviously displaying his orientation were censored in the North American version of the game. In the more recent Super Street Fighter IV, the prologue of the fighter Abel hints that his character maybe homosexual due to "settling down" with a fellow French mercenary. Also from Super Street Fighter IV, Juri Han is hinted of being possibly a lesbian, or even a bisexual female. It is especially evidenced in Chun-Li and Cammy's rival cutscenes where Juri has the audacity to ask them out for less than pure reasons before proceeding to kill them.

In the Guilty Gear series the character Venom is most clearly in love with his deceased leader, Zato-1, although his feelings do not seem to have been returned. The character Bridget, the effeminate crossdresser bountyhunter, is maybe shown to have strong homosexual tendencies, though nothing is known about it.

Being succubi, Lilith Aensland and Morrigan Aensland in Capcom's Darkstalkers series have been long portrayed as being rather openly bisexual.

An obscure game known as Groove on Fight is currently the only known fighting game featuring an openly gay couple, the somewhat stereotypical characters Rudolph Gartheimer and Damian Shade.

The character Rasputin in the World Heroes series is implied to be homosexual. One of his win poses has him trying to hold his robes down while wind blows them up, similar to the famous Marilyn Monroe pose. He has a special move in World Heroes Perfect called "The Secret Garden" in which he pulls characters into bushes and presumably has his way with them while hearts float skyward. This move only works on male characters.

See also

• LGBT rights by country or territory
• List of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender-related films
• Motion Picture Production Code
• Entertainment Software Rating Board
• List of television shows with LGBT characters
• Nintendo Seal of Quality
• Sega Seal of Quality

References

• Russo, Vito (1987). The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies. Harper Paperbacks. ISBN 0-06-096132-5.
• Sheff, David (1993). Game Over: How Nintendo Zapped an American Industry, Captured Your Dollars, and Enslaved Your Children. Random House. ISBN 0-679-40469-4.
• Street Fighter Alpha 2 Strategy Guide. Versus Books. 1996.
• Edwards, Blake (1982). Victor/Victoria (Film). USA: MGM.
• Howe, Scott L. (Jul/Aug 2001). "Gaystation". XY: 78. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Thompson, Clive (April 7, 2004). "The Game Of Wife - Gay Marriage Comes To Video Games". Slate. 61 (3): 573–83. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2958.2006.05270.x. PMID 16803593. Retrieved 2009-08-04.

External links

Gender and sexual orientation

• GayNerds
• LesbianGamers
• GayGamer
• Gaymer
• Gay Characters in Video Games
• Gay Marriage Comes to Video Games
• Sexual Moments in Video Game History
• Megalixir guide to cross dressing in Final Fantasy VII
• Sexuality in Video Games

General information on video and computer games

• Video Game Museum
• GameFAQs
• MobyGames
• Lost Levels

Nintendo's censorship polices

• Censorship of Maniac Mansion
• Nintendo's 1988 Official Video Game Content Guidelines