Garrett Hawke
Member
Mild, tagged spoilers for one of last years "big" games
follows.
From the impressions, it seems like Far Cry 4's villain might be gay. Horribly stereotypical judgement, but he dresses, looks and sounds like a gay stereotype. And that worries me.
As a member of the LGBT community myself, I long for better diversity and representation in today's games. Outside of games that let you choose your sexuality, there are very few - if any - examples of well written, likeable LGBT characters.
. Yet, at the moment, LGBT characters are met with a lot of hostility. When it was revealed during the
that
was not straight, there was a lot of internet backlash, with many saying that they felt that they had been tricked, or that it somehow worsened
as a character. Obviously there was also a lot of positivity, which was great, but it was soured by the fact that there was so much negativity too.
When a character in Dragon Age II, who was male, would come onto your male character, many players complained that homosexuality was being "shoved down their throats" and that the unwanted attention made them "uncomfortable". All they had to do to stop his advances was say that they weren't interested, and that was it. Female characters would also come onto your character - to no issue. Yet the unwanted male attention led into enough of an issue on the internet that Bioware and EA had to address it, and thankfully they stuck to their ideals on representation and diversity. Every single article any gaming news site runs on LGBT representation in video games will be met with either homophobic remarks or "aggressive apathy" (i.e. I don't care about a character's sexuality, stop trying to talk to me about it - unless they're straight, because that fits the story).
Obviously, as a member of the LGBT community myself, it makes me incredibly sad and uncomfortable to read the horrible reactions people have to such things. Which is why I'm worried about Far Cry 4. If the antagonist of Far Cry 4 is gay, I'm concerned that the "average gamer" - the target audience for FC4 - will just view the antagonist's sexuality as another reason to hate him. I don't think this is a great position to place a gay character, when even LGBT characters portrayed as "likeable" (i.e. protagonists or companions) are already met with a shit-ton of hostility. Hell, even in Watch Dogs, where the NPCs are just mindless polygons that wander about, there were videos and reports of people seeking out and killing minorities just for the hell of it. So I think that putting a gay character in a role where they are supposed to be hated anyway is a bad idea.
Now this seems to run counter to my desire for better representation and diversity in AAA games. However, I just don't think that the wide gaming community will accept an LGBT villain if they won't accept LGBT protagonists or companions. I don't think it'll be like Skyfall, where an LGBT villain was accepted and regarded generally as a "good" villain, because the film industry has been around a lot longer than the gaming industry and as such has a much wider, much more diverse audience. Films are already well established as an artistic medium. The gaming industry meanwhile features a large percentage of younger boys/men and is not viewed by the general public as an artistic medium. Therefore it's harder for stuff like an LGBT villain to fly.
To give an example, if you were watching a film from the 50s, and all of the "good guys" were white men and women, but the villain was a stereotypical black man, would you consider that racism? If you would, then by the same logic, if you're playing a game in 2014 and all of the "good guys" are straight men and women but the villain is a stereotypical gay man, then it should be considered homophobia. And judging by Far Cry 3, which had some of the most stereotypical characters and elements in recent years, I doubt Far Cry 4's characters would be written with the subtlety and care seen in the likes of the Last of Us.
I would love to be proven wrong, but from here it looks like the villain is going to be a stereotype of a gay man. Into fashion and pink, dyes his hair blonde, is flamboyant etc. And that worries me, because instead of fleshing him out as a realistic character, I feel like it will become another reason for the "average gamer" to hate him. If he is gay, I can already bet that there will be a sequence where he uses his sexuality to make the player uncomfortable - which would never happen if the villain was straight. I feel like we need better diversity and representation in games but I think we need to start by having LGBT characters in likeable, or playable roles. That way the audience will get accustomed to them and start viewing that as less of a label and more of just a small facet of their personality, so that when a villain is gay they can be treated with the care and reception that a straight one would get.
(The Last of Us)
From the impressions, it seems like Far Cry 4's villain might be gay. Horribly stereotypical judgement, but he dresses, looks and sounds like a gay stereotype. And that worries me.
As a member of the LGBT community myself, I long for better diversity and representation in today's games. Outside of games that let you choose your sexuality, there are very few - if any - examples of well written, likeable LGBT characters.
Barring The Last of Us - and I applaud Druckmann for that
Left Behind DLC
Ellie
Ellie
When a character in Dragon Age II, who was male, would come onto your male character, many players complained that homosexuality was being "shoved down their throats" and that the unwanted attention made them "uncomfortable". All they had to do to stop his advances was say that they weren't interested, and that was it. Female characters would also come onto your character - to no issue. Yet the unwanted male attention led into enough of an issue on the internet that Bioware and EA had to address it, and thankfully they stuck to their ideals on representation and diversity. Every single article any gaming news site runs on LGBT representation in video games will be met with either homophobic remarks or "aggressive apathy" (i.e. I don't care about a character's sexuality, stop trying to talk to me about it - unless they're straight, because that fits the story).
Obviously, as a member of the LGBT community myself, it makes me incredibly sad and uncomfortable to read the horrible reactions people have to such things. Which is why I'm worried about Far Cry 4. If the antagonist of Far Cry 4 is gay, I'm concerned that the "average gamer" - the target audience for FC4 - will just view the antagonist's sexuality as another reason to hate him. I don't think this is a great position to place a gay character, when even LGBT characters portrayed as "likeable" (i.e. protagonists or companions) are already met with a shit-ton of hostility. Hell, even in Watch Dogs, where the NPCs are just mindless polygons that wander about, there were videos and reports of people seeking out and killing minorities just for the hell of it. So I think that putting a gay character in a role where they are supposed to be hated anyway is a bad idea.
Now this seems to run counter to my desire for better representation and diversity in AAA games. However, I just don't think that the wide gaming community will accept an LGBT villain if they won't accept LGBT protagonists or companions. I don't think it'll be like Skyfall, where an LGBT villain was accepted and regarded generally as a "good" villain, because the film industry has been around a lot longer than the gaming industry and as such has a much wider, much more diverse audience. Films are already well established as an artistic medium. The gaming industry meanwhile features a large percentage of younger boys/men and is not viewed by the general public as an artistic medium. Therefore it's harder for stuff like an LGBT villain to fly.
To give an example, if you were watching a film from the 50s, and all of the "good guys" were white men and women, but the villain was a stereotypical black man, would you consider that racism? If you would, then by the same logic, if you're playing a game in 2014 and all of the "good guys" are straight men and women but the villain is a stereotypical gay man, then it should be considered homophobia. And judging by Far Cry 3, which had some of the most stereotypical characters and elements in recent years, I doubt Far Cry 4's characters would be written with the subtlety and care seen in the likes of the Last of Us.
I would love to be proven wrong, but from here it looks like the villain is going to be a stereotype of a gay man. Into fashion and pink, dyes his hair blonde, is flamboyant etc. And that worries me, because instead of fleshing him out as a realistic character, I feel like it will become another reason for the "average gamer" to hate him. If he is gay, I can already bet that there will be a sequence where he uses his sexuality to make the player uncomfortable - which would never happen if the villain was straight. I feel like we need better diversity and representation in games but I think we need to start by having LGBT characters in likeable, or playable roles. That way the audience will get accustomed to them and start viewing that as less of a label and more of just a small facet of their personality, so that when a villain is gay they can be treated with the care and reception that a straight one would get.
