Making this thread for fellow junior member P-Tux7, here's his post:
In my last thread about "Proportional or Equal LGBT Representation in Gaming", I got corrected as instead of wanting more LGBT+ representation in games, I should want the freedom of creators and writers to put those themes in games without fear of rejection or punishment. This is a sort of manifesto about what I'm trying to make happen in gaming.
My goals:
1. To not only end corporate- or capital-caused retooling or changing of LGBT+ characters, relationships, themes, or mentions into cishet ones, but also to end the culture that prevents those ideas from being brought up and changed in the first place because the people who think of the LGBT+ ideas "won't even bother suggesting something that will get shot down by my boss". This entails not only allowing more queer developers to share their ideas and put them into production, but also to empower cishet allies to be able to put this kind of supportive content in their games.
2. To let these ideas be expressed in AAA games (think the scale of Nintendo, Square-Enix, Bamco, etc.). While the previous and current freeware, indie, and small-studio games with LGBT+ themes will always be on the right side of history for broaching these topics first (either as a serious examination of LGBT+ themes, or lighter "fluff" material that is not targeted towards mature audiences), I am stating this to point out that I want ANY scale of game project to be able to use LGBT+ ideas without fear of cancellation or rejection. Having "gAy gAmEs" be regarded as only for small or non-mainstream audiences, to be "ghettoized" in a sense by being corraled outside of the more bourgeoise studios and audiences, is something that I wish for the industry leaders to steer away from.
3. To campaign for the freedom to put LGBT+ themes in games *now*. I don't want the LGBT community to have to wait 10 years, get what we want, and pretend like we weren't asking for it 10 years ago.
Also, I'd just like to address something before it happens. "Creators don't decide what to put in their games! Quit acting like they're artists who will listen to you!" Whether this is true or not, I am speaking of all people. Designers should be able to feel free to suggest LGBT+ themes, their managers should feel free to suggest games with these themes to their bosses, writers should feel free to put in overarching queer themes or merely random NPCs being queer, and above all, their bosses should NEVER AGAIN worry about the market not wanting to buy games with LGBT+ themes. Every gamer, even the stereotypical white, cisgender, heterosexual male in their mid-twenties, plays games to get at least mildly challenged. Even the most "cookie-cutter" or "dumbed-down" games are made to make the player feel excited, a little tense, and for their fingers to sweat. I think that just playing as a gay character who kisses a dude in the ending will not be a challenge too daunting after having beaten the final battle.
As long as you, the bosses, continue to add these explicit queer themes in games, even the most closed-minded game purchasers will find themselves more tolerant of playing as and empathizing with the victories of the characters, queer or not. It's a curious thing how many Christians I've seen online got the pacifist ending of Undertale... one that requires you to hook up two same-sex couples. These players were able to forgive Undertale encouraging this "behavior that I wouldn't agree with or do in real life" because not only was the game good enough for them to look past it, but they found themselves being happy anyways for well-written characters like Undyne and Alphys whose relationship was understandable - Alphys worrying if she was the person that Undyne deserved is a theme that both straight and gay people can understand. In addition, the reason to add gay relationships and transgender themes instead of staying at cishet stuff to "appeal to everybody" is because of all the good press it will get by the professional and grassroots/word-of-mouth media... and the young people who will forever remember your company standing up for them.
If you're too scared to stand up for allowance of LGBT+ themes to your bosses or your purchasing audience... don't be. Like I said, as long as you keep pushing, you will become more successful every time. Audiences will become more tolerant if you CHALLENGE them to become tolerant, and you will also gain the loyalty of the queer people who want to see the hopes and struggles that they have in real life, mirrored in the games they play.
In my last thread about "Proportional or Equal LGBT Representation in Gaming", I got corrected as instead of wanting more LGBT+ representation in games, I should want the freedom of creators and writers to put those themes in games without fear of rejection or punishment. This is a sort of manifesto about what I'm trying to make happen in gaming.
My goals:
1. To not only end corporate- or capital-caused retooling or changing of LGBT+ characters, relationships, themes, or mentions into cishet ones, but also to end the culture that prevents those ideas from being brought up and changed in the first place because the people who think of the LGBT+ ideas "won't even bother suggesting something that will get shot down by my boss". This entails not only allowing more queer developers to share their ideas and put them into production, but also to empower cishet allies to be able to put this kind of supportive content in their games.
2. To let these ideas be expressed in AAA games (think the scale of Nintendo, Square-Enix, Bamco, etc.). While the previous and current freeware, indie, and small-studio games with LGBT+ themes will always be on the right side of history for broaching these topics first (either as a serious examination of LGBT+ themes, or lighter "fluff" material that is not targeted towards mature audiences), I am stating this to point out that I want ANY scale of game project to be able to use LGBT+ ideas without fear of cancellation or rejection. Having "gAy gAmEs" be regarded as only for small or non-mainstream audiences, to be "ghettoized" in a sense by being corraled outside of the more bourgeoise studios and audiences, is something that I wish for the industry leaders to steer away from.
3. To campaign for the freedom to put LGBT+ themes in games *now*. I don't want the LGBT community to have to wait 10 years, get what we want, and pretend like we weren't asking for it 10 years ago.
Also, I'd just like to address something before it happens. "Creators don't decide what to put in their games! Quit acting like they're artists who will listen to you!" Whether this is true or not, I am speaking of all people. Designers should be able to feel free to suggest LGBT+ themes, their managers should feel free to suggest games with these themes to their bosses, writers should feel free to put in overarching queer themes or merely random NPCs being queer, and above all, their bosses should NEVER AGAIN worry about the market not wanting to buy games with LGBT+ themes. Every gamer, even the stereotypical white, cisgender, heterosexual male in their mid-twenties, plays games to get at least mildly challenged. Even the most "cookie-cutter" or "dumbed-down" games are made to make the player feel excited, a little tense, and for their fingers to sweat. I think that just playing as a gay character who kisses a dude in the ending will not be a challenge too daunting after having beaten the final battle.
As long as you, the bosses, continue to add these explicit queer themes in games, even the most closed-minded game purchasers will find themselves more tolerant of playing as and empathizing with the victories of the characters, queer or not. It's a curious thing how many Christians I've seen online got the pacifist ending of Undertale... one that requires you to hook up two same-sex couples. These players were able to forgive Undertale encouraging this "behavior that I wouldn't agree with or do in real life" because not only was the game good enough for them to look past it, but they found themselves being happy anyways for well-written characters like Undyne and Alphys whose relationship was understandable - Alphys worrying if she was the person that Undyne deserved is a theme that both straight and gay people can understand. In addition, the reason to add gay relationships and transgender themes instead of staying at cishet stuff to "appeal to everybody" is because of all the good press it will get by the professional and grassroots/word-of-mouth media... and the young people who will forever remember your company standing up for them.
If you're too scared to stand up for allowance of LGBT+ themes to your bosses or your purchasing audience... don't be. Like I said, as long as you keep pushing, you will become more successful every time. Audiences will become more tolerant if you CHALLENGE them to become tolerant, and you will also gain the loyalty of the queer people who want to see the hopes and struggles that they have in real life, mirrored in the games they play.
