[MUD-Dev] Gay Characters in Videogames

[Tess Snider]

On Mon, 12 Apr 2004, Michael Tresca wrote:

> A comprehensive overview of gay roles in gaming with definite
> application to player roles in online games.

I went into this article expecting an overview of historical cases
of gay characters appearing in games, and found both more and less
than that.

I recall, specifically, in the Serpent Isle expansion for Ultima VII
(which I would consider to be at least as mainstream as the author's
example), there was a female character who made a pass at my female
Avatar.  My immediate reaction was, "Oh, COOL!"  I thought for a
moment that the programmers had goofed up, and forgotten that I was
playing a female character, but no, it was quite deliberate.  I was
quite delighted that it made it into the game.

Portrayals of gay male characters are popular with female
viewers/gamers in Japan -- so much so that there is an entire genre
built around it.  This fondness has manifested in new and rather
amusing ways.  A friend of mine tells me on a nearly daily basis now
of the travails of her female friends who play Final Fantasy XI,
trying to make the prettiest male avatars that they can.  Today, she
proclaimed to me, in happy shock, that the male avatars can wear
midriff-baring outfits.

So, what do you call the male equivalent of lipstick lesbians,
anyway?

Tess
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