When Interplay’s Fallout 2 was released in 1998, it made history and smashed through boundaries in a way no other game had ever done before. No, not through gameplay or plot, but because it allowed players to make a conscious choice to marry someone of the same sex – something that was praised as highly inclusive at the time.
Remember, same-sex marriage wasn’t legal in the UK until 2014 and so an open-world role-playing game offering players oodles of freedom was way ahead of the real-life curve.
It was a much-needed breakthrough. Let’s face it, if you were gay and a gamer in the 1980s or ’90s, who were your heroes and heroines? Which characters reflected your feelings, thoughts and desires? What stories chimed with your own?
During the dawn of the industry, in the 1980s, LGBTQ+ characters were all but invisible. When they were depicted, as in Infocom’s 1986 release Moonmist, such themes were brushed over and ‘suggested’, rather than showcased and celebrated, and often characters were lazily portrayed as mainstream stereotypes or comedy fodder for the heteronormative plot lines and players.
According to the LGBTQ Video Game Archive, a collection documenting LGBTQ+ content in video games from the 1980s through to the present day, the earliest-known computer game with a specific focus on portraying LGBTQ+ themes honestly and holistically was Caper In The Castro, a murder mystery released in 1989, in part to raise funds for Aids charities.
More than 30 years later and the depiction of LGBTQ+ characters is far healthier.
The GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Video Game is an annual award that celebrates positive and accurate portrayals of LGBTQ+ characters.
The 32nd ceremony in 2021 honoured both The Last Of Us Part II, developed by Naughty Dog, and Tell Me Why, developed by Dontnod Entertainment. The former, in particular, is considered one of the greatest games of all time, with Ellie, the lesbian protagonist, one of gaming culture’s iconic characters.
Of note, both games were written with queer characters as the central protagonists and the player must play from the point of view of the LGBTQ+ character.
This differs from character creation, where gender, sexuality and so on are selections made by the player when ‘building’ their character. The argument being that while the former focuses on nuanced characters and encourages emotional engagement, the latter’s more two-dimensional approach lacks the human complexity found in real life.
While the GLAAD awards recognise representation in Triple-A titles, the indie gaming scene has its own level of inclusivity. Thankfully, such indie games are also celebrated.
In April, the Gayming Awards returned for its second year, highlighting indie games as well as other titles. Nominees included Boyfriend Dungeon, Lake and Unpacking, each one a brilliant and successful game in its own right.
Glance through the nominations of these awards and it’s clear to see that representation in gaming is getting better and that studios and developers are no longer leaning on outdated and often pernicious stereotypical representations.
As Dr Jo Twist, of Ukie (UK Interactive Entertainment), said when launching the #RaiseTheGame campaign to get games businesses of all sizes to pledge to improve diversity: ‘Diversity isn’t a nicety. It’s a necessity.’
Census STATS According to this year’s UK Games Industry Census, 24% of the UK games workforce is bisexual, lesbian, gay or another sexuality other than heterosexual.
That’s significantly higher than the percentage of LGBTQ+ people in the UK adult population, which was estimated at 3.1% by the Office for National Statistics in 2020.
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