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“We Need To Pull Every Lever We Have” - Insomniac's Narrative Director Discusses Lack Of LGBTQ Content in Video Games

We talked to Mary Kenney, associate narrative director at Insomniac Games about the lack of LGBTQ representation in gaming.

www.dualshockers.com

Kenney echoes this evidence by saying "There are so many LGBTQ developers, and we want what players want - to design experiences that tell the player we're here, we're important, and we belong." This could become increasingly difficult as we see more and more pitches turned down amid one of the worst years ever for gaming. However, Kenney remains adamant that something has to give way to allow change to happen.

"We need to pull every lever we have," Kenney says.

 

[Represent.]

Platnium thread incoming. space reserved.

 

[realcool]

they pulled the lever and almost every npc i rescued in spiderman 2 was a gay dude. what are the chances?

 

[LordCBH]

Oh sick. We’ll get an entire act where we play as the deaf girl this time, except she’ll be referring to herself with cat1self pronouns.

 

[Rayderism]

Lack? Almost every game has some woke/gay stuff in it now. I would honestly love a LACK of that kind of stuff in modern games. They would probably sell better too if they LACKED that stuff.

 

[Vick]

This could become increasingly difficult as we see more and more pitches turned down amid one of the worst years ever for gaming.

Renaissance is coming. Hopefully.

 

[Saber]

Pulling every lever?
Oh ok, so you guys are just desperate for attention. Might as well dress with a fruit mix hat.

 

[Buggy Loop]

You're a fucking minority. To even see this much representation already in all this woke SBI shit is already too fucking much.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

At this point just make the gayest GaaS game ever and keep updating it. Leave the rest alone.

 

[Fake]

Another freak.

 

[intbal]

Marbles get velvet.
Thorough explosion.
Cereal philosophy.

 

[Musashipan]

Fuck that

 

[Topher]

 

[cash_longfellow]

"We need to pull every lever we have,"

 

[CGNoire]

and we want what players want - to design experiences that tell the player we're here, we're important, and we belong."

"What players want"
"Players want"???

WTF are they smoking?
Talk about a bunch of Meglomaniacs.

 

[CLW]

The alphabet character ratio in games is 10 fold the % of its customers and the public at large

 

[Guilty_AI]

There's little space for sexuality in games in the first place. Does Doom Guy prefer tanned tomboys or blondes with fat thighs? We don't know, and there's little reason for it to be known.

Whoever adds this stuff without meaningful context is just trying to satisfy some kink to begin with, which i'd be perfectly fine with if these people didn't try to disguise it with these holier-than-thou talks, as if they're doing some higher service to society.

 

[KimDongHwan]

They still have no clue why games are bombing and being turned down... They still have not made the math

 

[lh032]

lol how much they want to stuff this shit in video games?

I remember in spiderman 2, when you look around majority are non white npc around you, hilarious.

 

[recursive]

At this point just make the gayest GaaS game ever and keep updating it. Leave the rest alone.

And no one will play it.

 

[mitch1971]

Comment from the article :

Exactly. I just couldn't get into Helldiver 2 because I wasn't able to pork another's dude's balloon knot.

 

[hemo memo]

Lack of? Are you kidding me!

 

[Krathoon]

The problem is that they try to turn things gay. They don't just add gay characters.

Leave the established stuff alone.

This has happened with Doctor Who.

 

[kizito]

But goddammit, why are these people seeing everything through sexuality ??? Don't they have better things to focus on ?

 

[Vick]

Lack of? Are you kidding me!

Nothing's ever enough for these people.

Wolverine is problematic because he's inherently anti trans. It just keeps growing back.

 

[simpatico]

Wolverine is problematic because he's inherently anti trans. It just keeps growing back.

 

[FeralEcho]

At this point just make the gayest GaaS game ever and keep updating it. Leave the rest alone.

Problem is no one will buy that shit and they fucking know it which is why they slowly infect known IPs basing the sales on people buying it off name alone....

Not even the actual lgbtq+ community want that shit,only these mentally challenged monkeys who spend all their time snuffing whatever drugs the purple place is snuffing everyday and treating their words as gospel.

The nerve on this person to say there's not enough representation of a minority of all things when this thing has crawled its way into every known ip known to man.

This narative director can fuck right off!

 

[Alex Anderson]

Just make a WNBA game.

*edit* Looks like it's a mode in 2K already

 

[Krathoon]

It is like with Aloy in Horizon. They could not just make her a tough straight woman. No. They had to add a gay quest.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Hope they get laid off

 

[T-0800]

Was, Pacman gay? I NEED TO KNOW.

 

[Kings Field]

fuck off

 

[demonstr8]

But goddammit, why are these people seeing everything through sexuality ??? Don't they have better things to focus on ?

It's consistently a precursor to the fall of an empire. Most notably Rome. Unless we do a U turn we will continue to fall into decadence until the standards you enjoy now will be completely eroded. Weimar Germany is another good (bad) example.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

 

[Bring Back Scalebound]

So, I'm bisexual, and this is not going to be a "pick me" comment, so anyone that is expecting that, I'm not gonna give it to you.
And also, I don't speak for LGBTQ people. Just one guy.

For once, I would like to go back to days of Mortal Kombat X, when Kung Jin was introduced, and the fact that he was gay wasn't like this huge deal? There weren't a billion articles written about how progressive Mortal Kombat/Warner/Netherrealm are (Like Baldur's Gate 3), there weren't a bunch of obnoxious "Horny = personality/funny" shit everywhere (Hades 2).

It was REALLY well made, well included, and everyone treated like it was normal.

Which is exactly what I want more of.

The next Dragon Quest game could have a trans-man and a trans-woman as party members, and not only will I be okay with it, I want other people to see it as such as well. I want it to be seen as normal.

That includes the writers and activists that obnoxiously grand stand and make a huge deal about these things being super huper mega important.

Please. Include LGBTQ people in your games. And PLEASE, shut the fuck up. Let your actions and your art speak louder then you.

Normalize these things. Don't put a bright-as-the-sun spotlight on it, and pat yourselves on the fucking back. And MAYBE, you will get somewhere.

Being obnoxious will get you nowhere.

Make a trans woman, put her in your game, and treat her like any other character in the game.

Done and done.

 

[T4keD0wN]

Interesting highlights from the article:

Gaming industry is worth more than film and music combined, Only 2% of games feature an openly LGBTQ+ character, in comparison with 28% of films released in 2022, and 11% of primetime TV characters in 2022 and 2023.

Wonder what it could mean......

 

[Ev1L AuRoN]

Insomniac is long gone now, Wolverine will be queer.

 

[Krathoon]

I remember in Dragon Age the witch character I was romancing thought my character was gay just because I was polite to the gay elf.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Kenney echoes this evidence by saying "There are so many LGBTQ developers, and we want what players want - to design experiences that tell the player we're here, we're important, and we belong." This could become increasingly difficult as we see more and more pitches turned down amid one of the worst years ever for gaming. However, Kenney remains adamant that something has to give way to allow change to happen.

"We need to pull every lever we have," Kenney says.

Who knew people across the globe were all begging to want LGBTQ characters allowed in video games.

 

[Gambit2483]

Wtf is wrong with Western gaming industry??? They are seriously more concerned with using games to advance political agendas than just making FUN games!

What the actual fuck?

 

[MagnesD3]

Remember Spyro, I remember spyro, its been a long time...

 

[StreetsofBeige]

lol how much they want to stuff this shit in video games?

I remember in spiderman 2, when you look around majority are non white npc around you, hilarious.

But according to Kenney, every gamer wants to know LBGTQ people are here and belong in video games.

 

[Gameplay Gods Bless]

“We Need To Pull Every Lever We Have” - Insomniac's Narrative Director Discusses Lack Of LGBTQ Content in Video Games

We talked to Mary Kenney, associate narrative director at Insomniac Games about the lack of LGBTQ representation in gaming.

www.dualshockers.com

Kenney echoes this evidence by saying "There are so many LGBTQ developers, and we want what players want - to design experiences that tell the player we're here, we're important, and we belong." This could become increasingly difficult as we see more and more pitches turned down amid one of the worst years ever for gaming. However, Kenney remains adamant that something has to give way to allow change to happen.

"We need to pull every lever we have," Kenney says.

>Only 2% of games feature an openly LGBTQ+ character, in comparison with 28% of films released in 2022, and 11% of primetime TV characters in 2022 and 2023. Surely it makes better sense for gaming studios to want to include the queer community into their games due to 1–5 players identifying as LGBTQ+, since, at the very least, the financial pull is there, so what is the issue here?

According to them 2% of games have openly LGBT characters and 20% of gamers identify as LGBT therefore 10 times as many games need to have LGBT in them than currently do.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

2% of the LGTBQs cause 90% of the DEI in games

 

[Dr. Claus]

Wtf is wrong with Western gaming industry??? They are seriously more concerned with using games to advance political agendas than just making FUN games!

What the actual fuck?

This is the west in general. Hell, we still have retards that pop up around here to accuse anyone who dislikes [movie] or [game] as being a bigot because the movie/game has an LGBT character - completely ignoring any actual argument ongoing. Its all these types care about. Immutable characteristics are the only thing that is important to them and the hierarchy of victim-hood and oppression.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

In most games sexuality is not a thing, so hetero or gay doesn't matter. This concern for everything being sexual or racial is a mental condition. Such a shame that a great studio like Insomniac might go down the drain only because their focus isn't on being profitable, the only thing that matters.

 

[Feel Like I'm On 42]

The studio head, Ted Price, should fire this fucking clown. It's YOUR responsibility not to allow your games to be ruined by p3ople like this. You already allowed Spiderman 2 to become a clown show with all the wokeness. Wake up!

 

[Gambit2483]

lol how much they want to stuff this shit in video games?

I remember in spiderman 2, when you look around majority are non white npc around you, hilarious.

Seriously, finding white npcs in Spider-Man 2 is almost like a game of Where's Waldo

 

[feynoob]

How much pandering do we need? They literally want everyone to turn against each other.

 

[Krathoon]

Remember Enchanted Arms? Totally had a gay character and everyone was fine with it because it was a JRPG.