Back in 2021, it was announced that fan favorite Bridget would be joining the latest installment of the fighting game series. Guilty Gear Strive – A game with a deeper legend than this one Kingdom hearts.
Bridget's appearance was important for several reasons. The first is that this is Bridget's first appearance in a non-spinoff game since her debut. Guilty Gear XX, that was 20 years ago. But clearly the more important reason is that her reappearance did something that few games in the AAA space had ever done before. So she canonized her as a trans woman.
like the bard of Mario poison from or Street Fighter Bridget has a ton of problems in front of her, many of which stem from sheer ignorance of the text, but since when has being transgender been easy? Myself and my queer fighting game friends are obviously ridiculously excited about her arrival, and my timeline is filled with trans, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming people who say, “Oh shit, should I play this?” It seemed like it was overflowing with people, and apparently other people were doing the same. Guilty gear?'
I was intrigued by the possibility that adding a transgender character could bring queer gamers into a genre they might otherwise have been turned away from. That got me wondering. How many times have the queer gaming community brought up a game just because of its LGBTQIA+ aspects or themes, even though they have no interest in the genre? So we spoke to some queer gamers to find out more.
As a matter of course, hades has been featured many times as a game that caught people's attention simply because of its bizarre moments. Matt, editor of The Game Informer Show, said: hades They're not really big on roguelikes, they usually prefer JRPGs and platformers, so it wasn't a game they would normally pick up because it's a roguelike.
Matt is non-binary and pansexual, and the fact that the characters in the game were just being themselves without shame or judgment felt incredibly freeing for them. Not to mention how excited everyone was when this game came out, it felt like a “very strange energy” to them.
“I've been a fan of Supergiant games ever since Bastion But I was originally going to skip Hades,” Matt told me. “Then I was intrigued to see how engaging and authentic queer relationships the characters could have.”
Matt isn't the only one drawn to genres he wouldn't normally play because of his queer side. Isabel is queer She is a gamer and usually played games such as: life is strange, Gone Homeor stardew valley, a game that doesn't necessarily have a light-hearted theme, but isn't overtly violent.so The Last of Us Part 2 It was a far cry from what she normally played.
“My brother has always been a big gamer, and when I was a kid he was always playing games like: Hello, fall outand dark soul” said Isabel. “He was trying to get me to play, and when he couldn't he would get annoyed and laugh.” Isabel and her brother later bonded witcher 3There, she drew attention to her ability to play the role of Siri, a queer woman, with ease.
“Having failed in a shooting game full of buff men in the past, I felt that blockbuster action games were not for me. The Last of Us Part 2, the combination of Ellie and accessible difficulty settings made it feel like it was actually playable. ”
As Isabel says, Ellie is also a “fearless, strong, nasty” lesbian, which is a big part of why she was drawn to the character, and that Ellie “has had these relationships with women throughout the series.” He highly appreciated the fact that he was able to actually build relationships with women while having sex with women. A meaningful conflict outside of her queerness. ”
However, seeing pre-created characters isn't the only thing that can keep players interested.
A sometimes toxic community and high difficulty previously kept Twitch streamer CtrlAltQuin from playing Souls games, but elden ring Being an open world game still managed to attract them. But it was the freedom of character creation and gender expression that really pushed them to go further.
“This game felt very gender-fluid to me, and I felt like that was so highlighted,” Quinn said. “I was very surprised by the character creation aspect and how I was able to create someone in that world that perfectly represented the “maidenless” me. My character is very androgynous and I felt like she was really similar to me on the inside. ”
Quinn also said that although he had heard about the community, all the messages he found in the game were really nice and that he met so many kind and helpful members of the Souls community through streaming the game. also mentioned. The message of the Souls games is a very interesting design choice that can be used in a myriad of ways, and clearly emphasizes the importance of strong game design.
Of course, game designers are also a major part of the gaming community, like Cesca, a queer game designer and tarot-themed project leader. cartomancy anthology. When Cheska was a child, he didn't have much access to games or consoles, which, in their words, is similar to many AFABs. Therefore, the games they were attracted to were easily available online titles such as: neopets.
As a result, she became unfamiliar with violent games such as fighting games and shooters, leading her to feel that she “didn't really fit into the definition of 'gamer.'” She found herself drawn to the fandom space.
“Being a very character- and story-driven player, queer fandom and distribution have been a huge part of how I engage with the media and other players,” Ceska said. “In a gaming world that has been severely lacking in LGBTQ+ representation, this was a way for me to connect with others and approach gaming in a relatable way.” Final Fantasy I was writing fanfiction online and drawing the characters before I realized it was a game series!”
The romance aspect behind the shipment within the fandom led Cesca to games like; Science fiction series including Mass Effect Queer romance options and now Left 4 Dead 2 is one of my favorite games because of the amount of fan content surrounding the characters Nick and Ellis. These experiences have clearly influenced his design work for Cesca, stating, “I think it's really important for developers to engage with genres that they don't normally participate in as players.”
“As an advocate for player experience, we believe that the role of designers is to understand the motivations of different players and help them understand the different appeals of different content and genres. If you ask people what games they play, you'll always get very different answers that reflect their play styles and interests,'' Seska explains. “When creating content, we need to take these different interests, motivations, and player demographics into account to ensure inclusivity in the representation and play styles we offer.”
Ceska is right, and it's been proven by various players I've talked to about why they play games they don't normally play. Personally, I always find myself more interested in something when I see a queer aspect to a text. It's simply because I haven't had enough experience with queer media yet.
We all know that representation is important, but it's about how which one What matters most is what matters. Isabelle and Quinn are great examples of players who tried something new and achieved great results. So if a game features characters similar to you, but it's not the type of video game you normally play, you might find something special if you give it a try.
This article was first published in August 2022
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