The just-debuted hardcore video game Grand Theft Auto IV is expected to sell 9 million copies at launch alone. The game, which hit store shelves yesterday, centers around anti-hero Niko Bellic and is stuffed with the usual mix of crime, sex, and socializing. Does this type of game appeal to Queertians? Are you the gaming types? These violence-prone titles often let players sleep with prostitutes; which games allow for guy-on-guy or girl-on-girl action?
Game Play
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Dubwise
The Game Bully has Boy on Boy kissing action. I won’t be playing GTA…to busy playing Assasins Creed.
shaun
I picked up my copy yesterday afternoon and I am already itching to get out of the office and get home and play it. It has already become video crack.
Shabaka
Oh so that’s what GTA is! A video game! God I’m so behind. I see posters all over Toronto and I thought it was some new cartoon-ish movie. Yeah I’ll pass. Once they start making x-rated video games THEN I’m game. Or that’s been made already and again I’m clueless?!?
like
naw. i’m all for world of warcraft myself….that or mario kart wiiii!!!
Z.
oh la la! gay video game!
http://www.ilovezeren.com
Noel
As Dubwise noted in Bully you can make out with the boys and if you receive 20 kisses from the gents you can earn an achievement called Over The Rainbow.
In Mass Effect if you play as a female you can romance and have sex with a woman or a female alien.
And in Fable you can even marry a person of the same sex.
Woof
Bully is a VERY fun game! Probably because you can protect the lesser liked minorities that we came to know/associate in school. Seducing Jocks is fun too! GTA4 is too mocho-straight.
Dubwise – Assasins Creed is an awesome game.
nikko
The violence,crime, immorality…why would you promote these video games??!
Dubwise
nikko:
The violence,crime, immorality…why would you promote these video games??!
um…seems the article was asking if any gay/lesbian people would play this sorta video game and what other games we might play. I see NO promotion of violence, crime or immorality.
shaun
try turning on the tv and find a show that doesn’t glorify or promote “violence, crime, or immorality” on some level. that’s why it’s a game… it’s fantasy… and if someone can’t distinguish the difference between what is real and what is fantasy, then perhaps they shouldn’t play games, watch television, read books, go to movies, etc…
Lex
Have you played the Sims or the Sims 2? All the characters in those games are bisexual. You can have them fall in love with and marry just about anyone.
There are plenty of LGBT characters in console video games, and a good portion aren’t disgusting stereotypes either. Most of these characters are in Japanese games though, particularly in the RPG (role-playing game) genre. Japanese RPGs are without a doubt the kindest video game genre to the LGBT community.
A few “LGBT” video game characters and moments off the top of my head:
In Final Fantasy 7 (one of the best selling video games of all time) you can have the main character (Cloud, a guy) stay a night at a sex hotel in the slums, where he can sleep with a man. Or even a group of men, if you choose the right room. They don’t show anything though, it’s all off-camera of course. And there are numerous “gay” moments throughout the game, none of which are insulting. You can even get Cloud to go on a date with Barret, the big muscular black guy. And at one point in the game, Cloud has to dress like a female hooker in order to infiltrate a pimp’s mansion…there’s a long quest where Cloud has to wander the slums of the city looking for things like a wig, a dress, some undergarments, some perfume, etc.
Though there are no gay kissing scenes or even openly gay characters (with one exception), the Genso Suikoden series has numerous characters that are hinted at being gay. Kasios, Rody, Etienne, Lucretia, just to name a few. And then there is Lelei (from Suikoden 5), a lesbian who is in love with Lucretia.
http://www.suikosource.com/chars/list/?char_id=413
In Chrono Trigger, one of the villains is a transgender character. His/her name is Flea. Flea is important to note because Chrono Trigger was released during the period of time when Nintendo banned any and all LGBT references in it’s American releases. Somehow the character made it through.
In Earthbound (really old school…a 1994 game) the character Jeff has a gay crush on Ness. Ness is probably familiar if you’ve ever played Smash Brothers. Both characters are young kids.
I know Wikipedia isn’t a great source for highly detailed info and such, but you should check out this link for a good start:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_characters_in_video_games
It’s unorganized and barely touches on all of the gay characters/scenes from Japanese games (which are far more numerous than in American games) but it’s a good start.
Also, Japanese games often play on the “yaoi” fanbase. Yaoi is the Japanese version of “slash”. A lot of Japanese RPGs will make references to two male characters being possibly gay because female players (particularly of the teenage variety) really enjoy it, and then they type and post bad fanfiction on-line. This is the reason there are some many pretty men and “best friend” male characters in Japanese games. Female players like it.
Bitch Republic
Games are for Geeks.
http://www.BitchRepublic.net
Jeremy
Fable and the upcoming Fable 2 by Microsoft. In the first Fable, you can marry a man, buy a house and move in with him, and then “bed” him. The screen goes dark…
(Turns out your spouse is a bottom no matter, what, though, based on the audibles that happen.)
Michael Duquette
GTA Vice City is my favorite game of all time and I cant wait to get my paws on this one! Theyre sooo addicting and fun and it doesn’t bother me that the gays arent represented, besides, how often are mafiosos gay? Like we would get blood on Prada..geez
CitizenGeek
I’m a gaymer! And I’m pretty much an all-round geek, hence the user name!
Lex is right; positive representations of gay folks in video games are mostly found in Japanese games. In Final Fantasy VIII, the lead character (Squall) can have a conversation with a person in a bar; during the conversation, it’s strongly suggested that the person is a transvestite. In Shadow Hearts, for example, one of the central characters is gay and one side-mission involves collecting pictures of attractive men for the gay couple that run a successful shop.
Grand Theft Auto – the game series is question – deals with gayness, too. The talk radio stations you can listen to while you’re driving around regularly satirise homophobic Christians. The San Fiero city in GTA: San Andreas is modeled on San Francisio and even features a mini Catro area in which there are lots of rainbow flags 🙂
Vinman
For gay porn video games try the online game “Red Light Center” at http://www.utherverse.com free to try (but no sex unless you pay). I’m RUtuff
Paul Raposo
NERDS!
8^)
Jeremy
I’m a proud gaymer, and so far, the only game I ever played which involved Man-on-Man was Bully. I liked the game, but there weren’t that many choices amongst the boys (true to life sadly).
dubwise
Paul Raposo: NERDS!
Don’t Hate. Appreciate! =P
Meeg
I got a Wii recently after not really playing many video games since I was a teen in High School. I’ve never really found games like this (also first person shooters, war games, most sports and fighting games) all that fun. It’s not that I’m anti-violence in entertainment, it’s just that the idea of running around jacking cars or fighting the Battle of the Bulge or whatever does nothing for me (although I hear that the new GTA has an interesting story line). I prefer games more like the old school mario and zelda.
Paul Raposo
Some of my BFF’s are gaymers–Nerds need lovin’ too!
That said, dubwise, I would assume that from years of gaming, you all have some fantastic manual dexterity, which must make for some very interesting foreplay. So I definately appreciate 8^)
nikko
SHAUN, Just a fantasy? Why would you fantasize about crime, violence,etc.?! What does that say about you? Why would blowing people’s heads off be a desire one has in the first place? Where is your moral conviction? You mean being gay to you means there is no morality? Why desensitize yourself to this crap??!!
Dubwise
nikko: SHAUN, Just a fantasy? Why would you fantasize about crime, violence,etc.?! What does that say about you? Why would blowing people’s heads off be a desire one has in the first place? Where is your moral conviction? You mean being gay to you means there is no morality? Why desensitize yourself to this crap??!!
Nikko, *sigh* you are a troll that likes to over react to postings. Your straw man arguments aren’t very effective.
nikko
DUBWISE, fuck off you idiot. Troll I’m not. Overeacting?! So pretending to steal, murder,etc. should be met with a jaded “oh well” attiude??! No, seriously, you fuck off. You are as bad as your enemies, certainly no better.
Dubwise
NIKKO: First, Ouch my feelings. You certainly told me where to go…must make you feel like a big person telling someone off in a comments section. Why so quick to anger? Maybe you should look into that.
Maybe I need to help you understand what a troll is. Here is the Wikipedia definition:
“An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial and usually irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, with the intention of baiting other users into an emotional response or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.â€
The above definition seems to fit your first post in this thread neatly.
Secondly, everyone knows that video gamers or over weight hermits, who have a hard time leaving the video game behind to pee…let alone to go outside and actively commit crimes.
And YES…PRETENDING to steal, murder, etc. should be met with a jaded “oh well†attitude. It is after all, PRETENDING. When younger (and sometimes still) I pretended to have super powers…but I had enough since to NOT jump off a freakin building..because I was PRETENDING.
nikko
DUBWISE, murder, stealing,etc. these are serious sins, not make-believe- fantasy- pretending- harmless “superman” or superhero indulgences we all had growing up. Still don’t get it? Well, your lost.
Dubwise
NIKKO, this back and forth with you is sorta fun.
Comment #26 is another straw man argument.
No one is murdering, stealing, etc.. No one in this thread has advocated any such activities.
Keep up the good work. You might come off as MORE of a douche next time.
WWEEEE….I LOVE TROLL BAITING!
nikko
NOT!!!! Yes, you are murdering, stealing, etc…you’re certainly not cooking dinner! The very fact that you’d play such a game reveals a hate motive, thus not far from acting out in reality. . Douche?! Me? I’d rather know someone like me who thinks pretending to shoot people, steal cars,etc. is offensive (read:wrong)in itself, than know someone like you who thinks such entertainment is good, harmless fun. Disgusting. I’d rather we go fishing, dancing, eating, y’know?
dubwise
nikko:NOT!!!! Yes, you are murdering, stealing, etc…
You have must have a hard time determining when something is real and something is not. Do you read fiction? Do you watch fictional shows?
nikko:I’d rather we go fishing, dancing, eating, y’know?
Great! Then do those things…but don’t poopoo what other people choose as entertainment. If you don’t like it, then don’t buy it, watch it or down load it. Vote with your dollar. Your argument isn’t relevant or constructive. The game isn’t marketed or sold to children.
nikko
Adults or children, it’s morally wrong to pretend to murder, steal cars, and commit acts of violence, point finale. Relevant, you bet.
Dubwise
Nikko: You have a different world view about this subject than I do and I respect that. It doesn’t mean that my world view is wrong because you don’t agree with it. We should agree to disagree on this.
If you don’t want to agree to disagree then I am gonna pretend to steal from you and pretend to beat you down for your lack of understanding of others opinions.
nikko
Sigh…..Lord, shake up Dubwise from his stupor…better yet, throw down lightning..no, just kidding. The lightning part, that is.
Coke
Second Life is not exactly a game, but it’s a simulation. You create a character and can supply it with realistic, working private parts and have sex with other players. It can be kind of like glorified cybersex or phone sex with graphics.
You can also play any RPG that you can get enough people to participate in, and build all of your props and scenery from the ground-up.