After reading Kenji Yoshino piece called Covering: the Hidden Assault on Our Civil
Rights, watching the video on sexual diversity on PennyArcade.com, and pondering the questions set forth by these
pieces I am at a loss to find a game that truly speaks to issues that arise in
the LGBT community. In order to complete this post I had to actually search for
games I may have heard of that MIGHT have some reference to the LGBT community
but unfortunately after researching I came to the conclusion that there is a
surprising lack of LGBT representation in games. One argument I read was that
games are for fun not to expound on critical world issues or personal issues
facing a certain demographic of the world. This is the laziest response I found
and I was personally offended that someone would play down how important games
can be to facilitating conversations, actions, and responses to LGBT issues
that could be highlighted within the confines of game.
I thought long and hard as to why this segment of society
has been left with no true representation not only in gaming but in many other
aspects of society. Yoshino’s piece helped to bring into focus a crucial
element that is a huge stumbling block for the LGBT, the act of “covering.”
“Covering,” according to Yoshino “. . . is to tone down a disfavored identity
to fit into the mainstream,” and it clear that “covering” has been a large part
of the life of someone living within any part of society but especially in the
LGBT community. It is this act of hiding a part of oneself, projecting instead
an idealized identity based on societal constraints that protects game creators
from being highly criticized for ignoring issues in the LGBT simply because it
doesn’t fit into the mainstream idea of what a game character is. And even if a
game does place a focus on a LGBT character it is mostly for a romancing option
like in the Elder Scrolls: Oblivion game
in which the RPG can enter into a same sex marriage or like in Dragon Age or Fable series which allow sexual relationships between like gendered characters. None
of these romancing options actually progress the game character or provide an alternate
storyline incorporating LGBT issues, themes, etc into the game.
PennyArcade.com does
explore an LGBT game in the webisode called Extra Credit: Sexual Diversity in Games.
This game I never heard of and since it is so highly LGBT centric I doubt I will
ever come into contact with it in the mainstream gaming market. The game explored
is Persona 4, in which the main character,
Kanji, is a young male gay teenager who explores his place in society as such a
person. The game explores societal constructs and also delves into actual issues
that arise within the LGBT community. Unfortunately, this game went through a process
of “covering” when distributed in the United States, as the creators felt that the
outright LGBT context might alienate a large sections of society that play video
games. Yet again society manages to suffocate anything considered outside the mainstream.
I would like to add a link here to a website article I found
that brought up a lot of interesting points in regards to LGBT issues and gaming.
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