Why LGBT Representation Is Important In Gaming.

Garbage article but the devs spoke well.

I do think that not mocking someone in any medium for their sexuality is important, meaning representation is good, but that's about it.... I don't remember ever playing a game that mocked non heterosexual people, maybe GTA? I wish he listed some games that mocked gay people etc, since he said there were so many.

Quoting: "actually written as gay" - this makes absolutely no sense. The sexuality does not make the personality, or it shouldn't, that's why "playersexual" games work well enough. Unless the writer wants the character to constantly remind the player that they are gay by bitching all the time or overgesticulating or talking like "thiiiiiiiiiis" which are gay stereotypes.

"Sigzy05;c-17853234" wrote:
Garbage article but the devs spoke well.

I do think that not mocking someone in any medium for their sexuality is important, meaning representation is good, but that's about it.... I don't remember ever playing a game that mocked non heterosexual people, maybe GTA? I wish he listed some games that mocked gay people etc, since he said there were so many.

Quoting: "actually written as gay" - this makes absolutely no sense. The sexuality does not make the personality, or it shouldn't, that's why "playersexual" games work well enough. Unless the writer wants the character to constantly remind the player that they are gay by ❤️❤️❤️❤️ all the time or overgesticulating or talking like "thiiiiiiiiiis" which are gay stereotypes.

To expand on some things, it was rather hypocritical for the author to make a point about asking the reader to name characters "actually written as gay" then have half the bulk of his article be about The Sims, where there is no narrative story and the characters are mostly "playersexual" as he called it, where you make up your character and their sexuality. Sure, Morgyn Ember, the Heckings, and Greenburgs exist, but the majority of Sims players want to first and foremost create their own characters to play. It was a really off-putting point he was trying to make and the Sims is almost the ultimate antithesis of it.

If he really wanted to drive the point home, the game Hades actually accomplishes LGBTQ representation far better than I've seen in almost any game, and it does it fluidly, without making it an agenda, and while also being a highly acclaimed game. A few major characters are in LGBTQ relationships, and Orpheus is so femininely presented that I believe he's intended to be trans. Then there's one of the entities who can help you who identifies as non-binary, and none of this is really thrust upon you as something they're trying to signal virtue. These things are just accepted as is in the game, and it was extremely refreshing to see. That game has also gotten a lot more attention than other indy games.

The article was very vague and with an unclear direction, and considering that it was written for a gaming community, it was less about games, and more about morality. I of course think that representation matter, but a specific topic of why it is important in games, could be answered differently than with a generalized misch-masch of sentimentality.

I liked the person Carter's attitude though, to represent what needs representation; not to fit all in one mold. I don't think TS4 does this very clearly though, with a few exceptions.

The game have binary gender as default in CAS. A game that doesn't have that is Call of Duty. I have not played it.
I see a lot of players asking for pronouns to be changed, and it is rather silly to have the opportunity to gender-bend in CAS, and then be polarized in game.
Non-heterosexuals are not a small minority in the world; yet the premades make it look that way.
Most premades look similar to each other.

I get very happy seeing all the positive features of representation, or shall we call it just life for once, in the sims games; but the article is too lyrical about it. Perhaps because it was written for the same reason as games are made, for profit, not politics or art, especially when produced by a large company like Electronic Arts. But maybe the SimGuru posting about it was just happy their collegue was represented.

I don't want sexuality. I love that the game makes no difference between sims at all. A husband and wife are no different from a husband and husband, which is positive representation to me.

Saw a petition this other day. They wanted transgender sims to have different options. I try to understand transgender, as my brother is openly this FTM. But me and him agree, it is annoying to hear "trans male" "trans female," and downright trying to do a positive difference, when no difference is the most positive. Open to hear other opinions, no argument please, I like seeing a broader picture.

NOTE: I.D.K. Enough about non binary to have an opinion on it. Please inform me in the comments if you are knowledgeable.

"BettyNewbie1;c-17861482" wrote:
I don't want sexuality. I love that the game makes no difference between sims at all. A husband and wife are no different from a husband and husband, which is positive representation to me.

Saw a petition this other day. They wanted transgender sims to have different options. I try to understand transgender, as my brother is openly this FTM. But me and him agree, it is annoying to hear "trans male" "trans female," and downright trying to do a positive difference, when no difference is the most positive. Open to hear other opinions, no argument please, I like seeing a broader picture.

NOTE: I.D.K. Enough about non binary to have an opinion on it. Please inform me in the comments if you are knowledgeable.

This is what i believe in. Trying so hard to include everyone to the point of listing every difference is not good.

If we're going to talk LGBT, I know for a fact that games still have issue with trans rights and some franchises are still stuck in the 2000's regarding it. For example, the UK translations for Super Mario Party and Mario Tennis Aces (relatively recent games, mind you) gleefully misgenders Birdo as a "he" and it's JUST the UK localization that does this, every other localization refers to her as the appropriate gender. Also, I'm going to remind people that the trans "joke" in Pillars of Eternity is still only 7 years ago and that that type of humor is even considered acceptable in the first place is alarming.

Call of Duty only recently gave out an "unclassified" gender to refer to the player character, and while that should be seen as a nonissue, perhaps even supportive that NB's get representation in the first place, there still has been an alarming amount of pushback and mocking such an option in Gamer(TM) feeds. NB is practically still invisible in gaming, even in The Sims to an extent (genderfluids could mess around in CAS even if it's extremely inconvenient for them because their gender identity is more fluid than typical transgenders while bigenders would be very pleased at the amount of options CAS has to create the perfect bigender Sim).

"comicsforlife;c-17863206" wrote:
aren't all yoshi both male and female they do all lay eggs so isn't birdo both they already said toads have no gender so maybe they are the same @Ray_Trace

Depends on how the Yoshi identifies as. THE Yoshi identifies as a male, Octacon in Super Smash Bros. Brawl even said that's what Yoshi calls himself. In the games I mentioned, it's specifically referring to the Birdo character, whom we know is a she because that's the pronouns she prefers.

The Toads having no gender thing is a myth. Basically, what the interview said was that the developers didn't go out of their way to gender these guys, they're just an indiscernible mob of NPCs, similar to how they don't go out of their way to gender Koopas and Goombas.

The Sims is popular because it gives people the ability to create lives that are either similar to the ones they are living in real life, or the exact opposite. It's hard enough for LGBT people to cope with living in a society that constantly demands we censor ourselves out of fear that we may make someone uncomfortable. I'm gay so I know how that feels.

I'm not a huge fan of the article itself. There's something about it that just rubs me the wrong way, but the interview itself was pretty interesting! I completely agree with the Sims developers and their perspective on the franchise. The Sims was a huge step forward in gaming, very progressive for its time, and I'm glad to see that trend continue into the Sims 4.

I am going to add this no matter how we are as humans we all deserve to respect each other as human as well as players of the sims