I'm going to be completely honest and just say it outright: I know absolutely no gay video game characters. I rarely play roleplaying games (except for Warcraft) and I think that's limited my knowledge on the subject. Now, maybe that leaves me to talk about the subject in a separate way than the rest of the class. Maybe I can look at the games I do play and have a discussion concerning this subject using them as the medium.
The only gay character I can think of off the top of my head would be the male character i just played in Closed World. However, I found the Covering read very interesting, and I think it makes a lot of sense. People, myself included, have a true self, the one that we hide, and a false self, I'll just refer to it as the "socially acceptable" self. I'll look at Madden, because that's my conference game as well. Madden doesn't offer up sexuality in it's gameplay or mechanics (not out of prejudice, more likely due to the fact that it doesn't have a large hold on gameplay, but still). Perhaps that's because Madden as looked at as a game for guys. It's hyper masculine. It's a game that's recreating what could be considered a modern day gladiator sport. It's all about toughness, big men, and hard hits. It's not even marketed as anything but that. That's a lack of sexual diversity in a sense.
Or maybe I should look at other mediums and try my hand there. White Collar is a television show that plays on USA. Matthew Bomer is one of the lead characters, Neil Caffrey. He's a very handsome, highly sexual character who constantly is able to use his charm and looks to woo girls to further the plans set in place in the show. Matthew Bomer is gay in real life. Neil Patrick Harris is Barney on How I Met Your Mother, pretty much the epitome of womanizer. NPH is gay in real life. My question is, wouldn't it be more interesting to have these characters as gay characters? Would Neil Caffrey be able to pull of the elaborate set ups and heists in the show if he was a gay man? Would Barney still play as an emotionally stunted sex addict if his character were written gay? I think there's opportunity in all of these shows to flip the script. To add that kind of depth to a character. Not only that, it would add a new take on these shows. Why are all handsome, muscular men in television and film straight? Is it because it's the easy way out? I love the show Modern Family, don't get me wrong, and the premise is great. It's taking what the American family archetype is and blowing it all to hell. But the two gay father characters on the show don't tend to add any sort of insight or intrigue, they're more for comedic relief.
I think that's the problem I'm getting at. Homosexuality is either used as a joke or it's completely assimilated in the sense that it's just like every other relationship. That worries me, just as Yoshino pointed out. Assimilation is fine, but it shouldn't be done to an extreme. That's a crippling move to the human race. Yes, accept everyone, give equal rights, all of that is fine. But at the same time, recognize that there are differences, and celebrate those differences, explore them in fields and mediums that generally stick to the straight and narrow (no pun intended.)
I'll take a game like Fable and point out how it failed me as as sexually diverse game. You can choose a female or male character and then proceed to find a lover, whether in a straight relationship or homosexual one. You can have/adopt children no matter what orientation you choose. Yet, it all plays like a big joke. I'm not saying the straight relationships hold any depth unless you marry your child hood friend from the beginning, but there's no emphasis placed on being in a "gay" couple. Again, that's probably just so no one gets mad, but why not shake things up? Tackle real issues? Have people on the street either commend you or reject you. That's real life, and it would've been interesting to see a game known for it's nonchalance and humor to tackle such a weighty subject.
I'm just saying, even though I have a limited knowledge, games aren't a great bastion of any sort of diversity yet, let alone sexual diversity. Hopefully one day we'll get there, but it's not today.
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