/svidya/ - Strict /v/

The only gripe I have with that approach is that, because homosexuality is such a politically charged topic, it tends to devolve into the author ejaculating their personal moral philosophy into the story. If the author can keep the focus of the narrative on the character and story rather than the righteousness of their version of tolerance, I would agree that it is an acceptable approach.

>Arcade Gannon

That's a bit false, and I can say that since I'm playing New Vegas for the first time right now. Both he, and Veronica, mention they're gay when you ask them to tell you about themselves, or about their pasts. They both shoehorn their gayness into it. It's just Arcade doesn't get flak because he's actually a good character beyond that, and has a good VA. Unlike Veronica.

Keep in mind that any portrayal of homosexuality in vidya is going to be put under far more scrutiny by virtue of being a hot topic.

Homosexuality isn't a compelling topic for most people.

Video games are gratuitous: they are a virtual space where you can do whatever you want, and if you have no interest in homosexuality, you won't pursue interaction with a character defined by their homosexuality. If you are railroaded into having to talk about their homosexuality or make decisions regarding their homosexuality, the player will resent the game and the character for it.

I love Metal Gear with all of its homoeroticism, and a lot of its characters are canonically gay or at least bisexual; but that doesn't bother me at all because their characterization isn't centered around it.

>>11960
From what I've heard, that's what happened with Inquisition, where Dorian's dad is just this bigoted monstrosity for no real reason other than to show that only evil people hate the gays.

We could have explored why his father did the things he did, portray them both as the victims of the Tevinter society, but nope, apparently not.

>>11961
I have to admit, it's been a while since I played NV, but I don't recall that. All I remember is Victoria rejecting you if you hit on her.

>>11970
I know too well.

>>11973
> if you have no interest in homosexuality, you won't pursue interaction with a character defined by their homosexuality
I raise you the following question: When is a character defined by their homosexuality and can you give me an example?

>If you are railroaded into having to talk about their homosexuality or make decisions regarding their homosexuality, the player will resent the game and the character for it.
I don't think this is necessarily true, at least if you're not anti-gay yourself. Let's take a hypothetical character who is all-around likeable and doesn't make a big deal about his sexuality, but his personal quest or backstory revolves around him somehow. You think the player would still resent that character if he is confronted with it during a quest?

>>11977
>I raise you the following question: When is a character defined by their homosexuality and can you give me an example?

New 52 Batwoman I guess off the top of my head.

>I don't think this is necessarily true, at least if you're not anti-gay yourself.
You don't have to be anti-anything to find no pleasure in it. If there's a character whose only defining trait in a game were stamp-collecting, for instance, and you write a whole plot line about stamp collecting that has nothing to do with the main plot, and no relation to the gameplay, the player will resent the author for moralizing about stamp-collecting.

>Let's take a hypothetical character who is all-around likeable and doesn't make a big deal about his sexuality, but his personal quest or backstory revolves around him somehow. You think the player would still resent that character if he is confronted with it during a quest?
Enthusiasts are receptive to well-written characters of any type; and also flavor text. If a male character just happens to have a boyfriend and it's treated like it's no big deal, I don't think many people would feel like it was out of place depending on the setting. If he asks Spiderman to save his boyfriend from the Sandman, no one will care either.

But if the character is basically "boo hoo I'm so misunderstood", you can almost hear the writer saying "Yeah, I know you're trying to play a game right now, but you should probably by checking your privilege instead. Thanks for the $60, shitlord."

>>11952

Homosexuality isn't (or at least shouldn't be) an actual character trait; the problem with homosexual characters in vidya is that it's essentially always treated like it is, and made a major or at least significant portion of who the character is, treating homosexuality as a substitute for actual traits that flesh out their personality.

The problem isn't homosexuality is general, it's that it's used as a so progressive substitute for actual content. That's why Arcade is constantly used as the go-to reference for how to do well-done fags: he has actual character traits as well; if he weren't gay, or if his sexuality simply wasn't mentioned at all, he would still have a full range of human characterization and a recognizable personality.
Plots, imo, should work in the same way. If the plot thread would lose significant content or coherency if homosexual elements were changed to heterosexual ones or were not present at all then the plot thread is shit.

There's also, as already said in this thread, the fact that homosexuality really isn't a compelling topic. This is even more so in the world of vidya, where typically you're dealing with things a lot worse than the personal distaste of others. This makes the potential conflicts created by homosexuality extremely unimpressive, to the point of being insulting to the consumer if they're made out to be on or near the level of other sources of conflict in the game.

>>11977
I would like to explore the uselessness of you talking about games you haven't played, but I'm not sure if there is much to talk about.

>>11991
>The problem isn't homosexuality is general, it's that it's used as a so progressive substitute for actual content.
That is pretty much it right there.

Counter to this, you can have a single mind make a character that is compelling and fits with the rest of the story, but more often you end up with a team make a character that is pandering, and not pandering to the kind of gay that plays vidya. Most often it's a cookie cutter anti-stereotype that is more offensive and less relatable than a good old fashioned stereotype.

>>11976
>Chew
My nigga.

There's actually a lot you can do with a character being gay that is central to being gay. If it's in the medieval time period, especially in the aftermath of a large epidemic or natural disaster, then being gay is literally damaging to the community trying to rebuild and replace its numbers, which can set up really interesting philosophical discussions of personal desires against community wishes for example.

The problem with how homosexuality is presented in modern video games is they take homosexuality in the modern era, where really no one cares who you fuck so long as you don't do it on them (barring religious exceptions, and even then, they really don't care except in a few areas) or they stereotype them into being JUST gay. As in every response to an issue is "I suck cocks" or "I eat muff". That type of characterization is really lazy and I'd honestly not be surprised if it is considered bigoted and close minded in the future (in the way blackface is now despite it being accepted at the time).

Furthermore, and this goes back to the first point, homosexuality isn't always a big deal in the setting just by the setting's very nature. For example, you mentioned Arcade Gannon, who's a member of a society trying to pull itself back up from a nuclear apocalypse yet ultimately fails to do so due to internal conflicts. No one in that setting is going to care if you sleep with someone of the same or different sex due to more pressing matters being an issue.

TL;DR it's perfectly fine if handled well, like any other character trait.