Would you buy game with an LGBT playing character?

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How would an LGBT playing character affect your decision to buy a game?

I would be more inclined to buy the game
4
9%
I would be exactly as inclined to buy the game
32
74%
I would be less inclined to buy the game
1
2%
I would probably not buy the game
1
2%
I would not buy the game
5
12%
It depends on whether the playing character would be L, G, B or T. (expand below)
0
No votes
I only play games without any characters, like Tetris
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 43

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Defiant
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Would you buy game with an LGBT playing character?

Post by Defiant »

So I was having a conversation with someone and figure I would post a poll here because I was curious to see what the reaction would be in a forum like ours. Think of a game you enjoyed that featured a playing character that was defined as straight (eg, Mafia II). Now invert that game so that the playing character was gay. Not as an option, the way Mass Effect or Dragon Age has it, but that the character is a well defined character who happened to be defined as gay. So where before he might have a girlfriend, he (or she) would have a boyfriend (or girlfriend). If there was an opposite sex kiss, there would be a same sex kiss, etc. Everything else (eg, gameplay) would be identical. How would that affect your purchasing of that game? (And feel free to expand on your answer below)

Edit: Just to clarify, being less likely to buy it might mean being more likely to wait for the price to drop before buying it.
Last edited by Defiant on Fri Mar 08, 2013 4:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Teggy
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Re: Would you buy game with an LGBT playing character?

Post by Teggy »

I don't see why I should really care, so I put just as likely.

Heck, most of my female characters are lesbians ;)
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LordMortis
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Re: Would you buy game with an LGBT playing character?

Post by LordMortis »

Directly, it wouldn't influence my purchase of the game at all. Indirectly, if the game was based around the LGBT characters sexuality, I'd be less likely to be buy a game. Of course I'd also be less likely to buy a game about a character's sexuality, in general.

That said, I've played plenty of T games where the playing character can turn into someone else. The most recent of which was *Don't Starve* though I never really mastered how to switch genders. I also read the razor didn't work with female characters.
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Re: Would you buy game with an LGBT playing character?

Post by coopasonic »

Is it a relationship sim or a straight up FPS?

Some types of games I would have trouble getting into if I was playing a character I couldn't relate to or identify with. There are many other ways to relate to a character, so it wouldn't be a deal breaker by any means, but it takes one vector where I generally do relate to game characters off the table. The character and I are generally both straight.

There are also a lot of games where you never know or care. I think this would only impact a select set of games for me. If a game like Mass Effect only allowed same sex relationships I would either play a girl or be celibate.
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Re: Would you buy game with an LGBT playing character?

Post by LawBeefaroni »

I'd be equally likely. I mean I've played a lawful evil elf [or insert alignment/race here] with no problems, why can't I play a gay [character]?

A good story makes you relate to a PC even if you have nothing IRL in common with them.
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Re: Would you buy game with an LGBT playing character?

Post by Defiant »

coopasonic wrote:Is it a relationship sim or a straight up FPS?

Some types of games I would have trouble getting into if I was playing a character I couldn't relate to or identify with. There are many other ways to relate to a character, so it wouldn't be a deal breaker by any means, but it takes one vector where I generally do relate to game characters off the table. The character and I are generally both straight.

There are also a lot of games where you never know or care. I think this would only impact a select set of games for me. If a game like Mass Effect only allowed same sex relationships I would either play a girl or be celibate.
Lets say it's an adventure, FPS or RPG games (but not a relationship sims) in which the changes affect cutscenes, dialogue, descriptions of other characters, but not the choices themselves (so a character is referred to as your same-sex life partner, or there's a cutscene of a kiss).
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Defiant
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Re: Would you buy game with an LGBT playing character?

Post by Defiant »

LordMortis wrote:Directly, it wouldn't influence my purchase of the game at all. Indirectly, if the game was based around the LGBT characters sexuality, I'd be less likely to be buy a game. Of course I'd also be less likely to buy a game about a character's sexuality, in general.

That said, I've played plenty of T games where the playing character can turn into someone else. The most recent of which was *Don't Starve* though I never really mastered how to switch genders. I also read the razor didn't work with female characters.
Yeah, I'm not referring to a game based on sexuality. More of a mainstream game with a clearly identifiable LGBT playing character.

It would be interesting, though, to bring up the idea of the game addressing more serious issues. For example, what if the playing character had to deal with homophobia or being in the closet?
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Re: Would you buy game with an LGBT playing character?

Post by Blackhawk »

I already did. Quake Guy is gay.

Seriously, though, unless it was a porn game, I can't see why it would make any real difference.
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Re: Would you buy game with an LGBT playing character?

Post by El Guapo »

Yeah, I don't see it making a difference. Well, unless we're talking hot lesbians, in which case I'd say "more likely."
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Re: Would you buy game with an LGBT playing character?

Post by Jag »

Playing the character? Not an issue. Seeing a bunch of hot steamy male on male cutscenes? Not so much.
Last edited by Jag on Fri Mar 08, 2013 8:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Would you buy game with an LGBT playing character?

Post by TiLT »

Quite honestly, I might be more inclined to pick up such a game unless it was exploitative. If a developer/publisher was willing to tell a story with such an "unsellable" character and it wasn't just for shock factor, that would show me that they really, truly believe in their game and the story it tells. I wouldn't want to watch gay romance, but that's exactly why it'd be so interesting. It'd challenge me in a way that games very rarely do.
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Re: Would you buy game with an LGBT playing character?

Post by AWS260 »

I boiled the question down to "Would I want to play The Witcher, complete with sexxay cut scenes, if Geralt were gay?" To which I found myself answering, "Yes, absolutely."
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Re: Would you buy game with an LGBT playing character?

Post by Holman »

I voted that an LGBT character wouldn't change my opinion, although (if done well) it might intrigue me more than most games. If nothing else, it shows a creative team willing to reach for something different. A game exploring gay identity with Planescape-level storytelling values could be something really special.
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Re: Would you buy game with an LGBT playing character?

Post by silverjon »

More likely, because I think there'd be interesting storytelling possibilities, etc.

Romances outside of my usual orientation are a bonus feature in games/mods, not a deterrent.
wot?

To be fair, adolescent power fantasy tripe is way easier to write than absurd existential horror, and every community has got to start somewhere... right?

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Re: Would you buy game with an LGBT playing character?

Post by Zarathud »

My wife teases me for always choosing the female PCs anyway. As long as the gameplay mechanic is fun and the story interesting, I see no difference. The peril would be self-consciousness in the development of the LGBT storyline.

But I'm a knave who sees no problem with making the movie Oz from the world of a feminist writer who deliberately downplayed the role of men in his books.
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Re: Would you buy game with an LGBT playing character?

Post by Archinerd »

Where's the choice that says, "It doesn't matter as long as it's a good game"?

Edit: Nvm, I'm dumb.
Last edited by Archinerd on Mon Mar 11, 2013 2:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Would you buy game with an LGBT playing character?

Post by YellowKing »

I'd base my decision on the gameplay and reviews, not the sexual orientation of the main character. So I'd be neither more or less inclined.

Some of the funniest, best people I've met in my many years of gaming have been LGBT. If I can play with them in real life, it certainly doesn't bother me to play a virtual one. :D
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Re: Would you buy game with an LGBT playing character?

Post by The Rocketman »

It would make no difference. I'd applaud them for doing it.
By the way, is this a common description in the US? I didn't know what "LGBT" character meant until I visited this thread.
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Re: Would you buy game with an LGBT playing character?

Post by LordMortis »

The Rocketman wrote:It would make no difference. I'd applaud them for doing it.
By the way, is this a common description in the US? I didn't know what "LGBT" character meant until I visited this thread.
Variations on it are common enough that their all recognized and would only get confusing is you were in a sandwich shop, where you be going I" got one Lettuce, Bacon, Tomato, and... What's a G?"
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Re: Would you buy game with an LGBT playing character?

Post by Blackhawk »

Yeah, it's common. Sometimes folks trying to push political correctness to absurd levels will toss in a 'Q' or an 'A', but LGBT is the standard.
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Re: Would you buy game with an LGBT playing character?

Post by Isgrimnur »

My first year of college (1993). the on-campus organization was BGALA.
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Re: Would you buy game with an LGBT playing character?

Post by LordMortis »

Isgrimnur wrote:My first year of college (1993). the on-campus organization was BGALA.
The were LAGA and GLAAD here.
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Re: Would you buy game with an LGBT playing character?

Post by Hipolito »

silverjon wrote:More likely, because I think there'd be interesting storytelling possibilities, etc.

Romances outside of my usual orientation are a bonus feature in games/mods, not a deterrent.
I totally agree.

I was looking at Wikipedia's list of LGBT characters in video games and was surprised that the earliest entry is Moonmist, a text adventure from the 1980s. I played it a few years ago and hated it, but somehow missed, or simply forgot, the implication of a same-sex relationship in it.
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