Al Yang (Resident Evil Resistance director) discusses how they went about writing for Tyrone, a gay character, in the RE series

[Neoxon]

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It's interesting to see how they handled his character. And while spin-off characters don't typically make the jump to the mainline games, I hope that Tyrone becomes the first. Or at the very least, I hope that we see more LGBTQ+ characters in the mainline games. Also, Happy Pride Month, everyone!

Source: Al Yang (Twitter)

 

[Jawmuncher]

That's really cool.

This makes Tyrone the 3rd gay character in the RE series (That we officially know of).
The other 2 being Crispin (from ORC) and Nadia (Vendetta).

 

[SirKai]

I actually played Resistance for double digit hours and never realized this was the case at all. There's "not writing sexuality to be the basis for the character" and making it literally invisible lmao.

 

[jwk94]

As someone who's not LGBTQIA+, does his sexuality being invisible help at all?? I understand not making that the focal point, but being able to tell they're gay is important isn't it?

What dialogue is he talking about?

 

[Deleted member 4494]

Sounds like he approached the character carefully and with tact. We're steadily moving (though probably haven't arrived) to a point where LGBTQIA+ characters can exist without the announcement of their sexuality being the point in-and-of itself. It was direly needed to have a loud and proud approach early on because the reality is that deep exposure is necessary to change perceptions, and if you don't know about orientations then its not contributing as much to that space. We will almost certainly see more and more instances of characters not overtly announcing their sexuality -- not because they're afraid to, but because they *choose* not to. Characters need to be allowed to be gay and be private about being gay -- peoples' sexuality isn't always our business as players, and having them be something without being overt about that thing is going to make nuanced approaches to storytelling easier. The big problem will be determining who is hiding this data because they're afraid of people seeing their characters as LGBTQIA+, vs. who is hiding it because the character doesn't want to speak to it. The former, obviously, is why we've needed to push for the loud approach in the past.

 

[Mentosrock]

Does anyone have any actual examples of dialogue which even imply the fact that he is lgbtq+? I think this is really cool (if it actually exists in game in some capacity), but it would be neat to see any in game evidence of this I guess?

 

[SubvertedTrope]

As someone who's not LGBTQIA+, does his sexuality being invisible help at all?? I understand not making that the focal point, but being able to tell they're gay is important isn't it?

What dialogue is he talking about?

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No it does not. It's like Dumbledore getting word of god-ed into being gay after the fact. Totally worthless.

If the representation only exists in the author's head, who cares? In my head everyone is gay, what does that do for representation?

 

[Rendering...]

I wonder if it would be more constructive to have visible gay representation. It's not like straight people fly totally under the radar with their attractions, lol.

You can't turn a corner without seeing straight people holding hands or gabbing about their girlfriend/boyfriend, or mentioning things that turn them on.

You could crank the gay shit up to 11 and it would still be drowned out by the 24/7 stream of hetero signaling from media and real life.

 

[Renteka-Bond]

So the character's gay, but this is indicated in absolutely 0 ways in the medium they exist in so it's completely irrelevant?

Like, good on them for trying to be tactful, but this is a whole lot of nothing, since Tyrone isn't a real person and the representation part needs to be, you know, represented.

 

[Arklite]

Today I learned my Resistance main was gay. It's an interesting detail at least but obviously not a game that lends itself well to showing character nuances.

 

[Astral]

Have Chris come out already you cowards.

 

[Beth Cyra]

I think it's super awesome that the character is gay.

However with all the Hetero shit like Leon/Ada, Claire/Steve (I still fucking hate this), and now Ethan/Mia, it's getting real old that none of the main cast is ever allowed to be Queer.

Also I ain't a gay man so I dont have a right to bitch for them, but if they pulled shit like putting Claire in a butch hair cut and a lesbian pride flag, I'd feel just as queerbaited as many Gay males felt when they stuck Chris is a damn sailor/navy dlc outfit....

Capcom, just let Chris especially after the ending of VIII come on.

 

[Hassansan]

The "It's basically impossible to tell" in the second tweet got a chuckle out of me.

 

[Naner]

Have Chris come out already you cowards.

Click to shrink...

I haven't played Village yet but, in Revelations, Jessica is constantly trying to flirt with Chris and he seems quite oblivious to it — so it wouldn't be out of character if he turned out to be gay. Would be a good step not just for the franchise, but for Japanese games in general.

But then comes back the problem of the guy being in what, 6 or 7 games? and only comes out when it's convenient to show representation.

 

[BeefTengoku]

While it sucks that it's not visible in the game, it sounds like they tried to write it in, but it all got cut because nothing sounded natural for the situation.

And I don't know much of anything about the game, but if more lines are written for these characters in the future, defining the characters this way up front gives them things to play with in the future. I guess if they did this without mentioning it now, people would complain that "oh they just changed him to being gay in the patch?!"

Also, I can't help but think that if they did make his gayness more visible, some would probably criticize it for being too on-the-nose, or over the top because either of the character's vocality, or their dialog wouldn't make sense in the context. I mean, I can't imagine a lot of people that would be happy with a gay dude shouting "YAAAAAS QUEEN!!!!" every time they kill a zombie.

I guess I feel like the two options here are "try possibly fail to deliver" and "don't bother trying," and I guess I prefer the first one.

 

[Lepi]

As someone who's not LGBTQIA+, does his sexuality being invisible help at all?? I understand not making that the focal point, but being able to tell they're gay is important isn't it?

What dialogue is he talking about?

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No. There is no point in stealth representation at all. I think what most queer people want to see is someone relatable or someone who is a fully fleshed out character plus gay or whatever.

presenting your gay character with the audience not knowing at all makes it look like to me they want it both ways. Acting inclusively but not upsetting the homophobes. Pretty poor effort I think.

 

[Firmus_Anguis]

Their intent seems innocent enough. Trying not to make it the focal point of the character in order to try and normalise it, isn't bad per say.

But I'm a fan of subtle hints i.e. Bill from The Last of Us. I think this achieves said goal way better. Bill isn't the typical portrayal of gay men in ficition/media, which helps combat stereotypes (which I imagine was the goal here as well).

But if there are hints, then that's pretty cool! :)

 

[Messofanego]

Feels like that Twitter thread ended abruptly itself, where it was going somewhere up til the 6th tweet, then went on a tangent about another game, and then some general advice about consultation. All I got about Tyrone is it's difficult to bring up his sexuality in a PVP game with no transmedia stuff to flesh it out, his dialogue wasn't natural so then what happened after?

 

[SirKai]

The excuse of the in-game dialog in a PvP game not being conducive to reveal this is especially hilarious considering the dialog in the game. ALL of the survivor dialog is hilariously bad and unnatural, so it's especially side-eyeing that they draw their line at this. Hmm.

 

[Gradon]

I'm really kind of over the stealth gay writing that people like to employ and then drop it on social media randomly like "did you know this person is gay, wild i know, so cool". It's the Dumbledore effect.

I'm of mixed minds, I like it but I also hate it. Being queer is instrumental to your lived experiences as a gay man, you can't just get through life and being gay not have a huge impact on your development as a person. That's why I really reject this kind of "Oh I don't want being gay to be a characters defining trait", because being gay is a defining trait whether people want to admit it or not.

Heck, even a rainbow animal skin (when they did the animal skins) or rainbow recolour, or a rainbow bracelet or even a one off single flirtatious voice line with a guy (considering the dialogue in the game already) would've been better than nothing. I'm probably being too harsh on a free add-on to RE3, and maybe the devs themselves hit some walls, but this kind of representation is really frustrating. It's not representation.

 

[Zero-ELEC]

That's really cool.

This makes Tyrone the 3rd gay character in the RE series (That we officially know of).
The other 2 being Crispin (from ORC) and Nadia (Vendetta).

Click to shrink...

Hilariously, all three's sexual orientations were revealed outside of their materiels.

(at least Crispin's codename is a reference to it, but then again, "Dee-Ay" is short for "Don't Ask", because he's a member of the US Military in the 90s and... you know)

 

[IneptEMP]

So they made a gay character when it's hardly supported by the script and no one who played the game knew about it...and the directed revealed this during pride month for, what, kudos?

Side note what black dude in their twenties is named Tyrone? That's like naming a white kid Rudolph.

You get no points for this character. Zero.

 

[Xils]

So, the only reference to him being gay is from this twitter thread?

I've never played Resistance or know about this character before so I'm interested to know how they went about it but left disappointed by the end of the thread because it started pretty promising with how they decided to approach this character but then they decided to remove any reference of him being gay from the game and kinda just gave up and explain with a twitter thread instead.
This feels more like they were afraid of the backlash from having a gay character being represented in-game than because his line were unnatural.

I'm sure if they can find some way to acknowledge him being gay in-game while still keeping the direction they were going for if they really listen to the community. It's not like it's too late to do anything now, right? They should still be able to update the game to include something. This being pride month is the perfect time to do something.

Also, I can't help but think that if they did make his gayness more visible, some would probably criticize it for being too on-the-nose, or over the top because either of the character's vocality, or their dialog wouldn't make sense in the context. I mean, I can't imagine a lot of people that would be happy with a gay dude shouting "YAAAAAS QUEEN!!!!" every time they kill a zombie.

Click to shrink...

His current visibility in-game regarding him being gay is pratically 0 at this point so being a bit more visible shouldn't hurt. It's not like it has to be either nothing or him shouting YAAAAS QUEEN like what you said. There are plenty more steps they can take in-between.

 

[Z-Beat]

That's really cool.

This makes Tyrone the 3rd gay character in the RE series (That we officially know of).
The other 2 being Crispin (from ORC) and Nadia (Vendetta).

Click to shrink...

Hopefully one day we'll get one in RE material that people like

 

[Klappdrachen]

Give us Chris.

 

[ket]

This is like when Disney decided to announce that Lando was pansexual lmfao

 

[LelouchViBritannia]

Very cool. I like the approach.

Would be cool to see that play out with a main resident evil character. Drop some hints in a game or two and let the player naturally figure it out, so by the 3rd game, the reveal is extra awesome

 

[ArgyleReptile]

They definitely could've done a bit more to increase his visibility. It could've easily been in his back story synopsis. Just say that his boyfriend pushed for his search after he went missing or something like that. Or even just reference it in his personal sprays.

Because I sure as shit wouldn't have known otherwise and I still play the game from time to time.

That said, it's an attempt. This is also a major reason I wanted Resistance to continue. It introduced new, distinct, and (decently) diverse characters who weren't the normal crew. We could've gotten even more new and diverse characters by this point who could've potentially been folded into future games.

I don't care for Ethan, but I would greatly like to see any of the Resistance folks in another game.

I think it'd be really cool if they did a Mercs/Outbreak game that had vignettes with different characters trying to escape Racoon City. They have plenty of resources to do so going by Resistance.