LGBTQ people and video games

[Apteryx]

I might have already posted about this before, but I really need to get this off my chest. With all the drama surrounding Sweet Baby Inc., I want my opinion to be known. I myself am LGBTQ (I'm transgender), but I am firmly against the way writers and developers are incorporating LGBTQ characters into their stories and worlds. I'm not going to just whine without giving a solution to the problem, so I have a few ideas that will appease (hopefully) everyone.

1: KNOW YOUR DEMOGRAPHIC
A lot of dev studios seem to be adding diverse characters in games and franchises enjoyed by audiences who don't care. One game like this is Helldivers 2. The game is mostly enjoyed by players who are clearly against the idea of pride stuff, yet the minority of LGBTQ players won't stop asking for it. The game, if you didn't know, has a dark gritty artstyle and it's story teaches nothing about diversity or inclusion, and that's absolutely fine. I've said this before, but a rainbow cape would not fit into the aesthetic of the game, or the story for that matter. Helldivers is a simple, fun third person horde shooter, and it should stay that way. The devs shouldn't cave in to a tiny portion of the player base just to keep them happy, when the vast majority of their fans are fine with the game in its current state without any pride items. It's simple. When writing the story for your game, think about the people who will be playing it, and make your decision based off your intended demographic as opposed to whatever the current political trend is.

2: IF IT DOESN'T NEED IT, DON'T ADD IT
I already sort of touched on this in the last point, but I want to expand on it. Let's say you're making a Halo-inspired sci-fi FPS game. Now let's say that Sweet Baby Inc. pulls up and offers to 'assist' your writing team with the story. What would you do? Your game's story currently follows the tried-and-trusted formula of extraterrestrial beings invading a human colony, and is fine the way it is. You don't need half of the colonists to be gay. Sure, you could add like one or two LGBTQ people, but they should not be the focal point. The story is about a badass super soldier fighting aliens, not teaching diversity or inclusion. Your game doesn't need LGBTQ characters, and if you want some, they shouldn't be the focal point of the story. On the flip side, let's say you're developing a visual novel with a lesbian protagonist, with the main story focusing on her struggles against society. This would be a good time to have LGBTQ characters in the spotlight, because encouraging inclusion is the main theme.

3: DON'T CAVE IN TO THE BEGGING
According to the American Psychology Association, negative reinforcement means "removing negative outcomes as a consequence of a response", which simply means removing consequences for bad behavior, and therefore reinforcing the bad behavior. This phenomena is something I have seen firsthand in the LGBTQ community. They will go to the devs of a game, beg them for pride themed items or whatever, and harass the devs, 'cancel' them, or even send them death threats if they refuse. Because the devs caved in, this small but vocal part of the LGBTQ community think they can do it to anyone. If you are a developer and you cave in to these people, you are only inflating their ego, and they will go on to do the same thing to other devs. If you refuse and stand strong, they will eventually (hopefully. some of them can be VERY persistent) go away and leave you alone.

Now, all of the solutions I've proposed so far are against adding LGBTQ stuff into games, but as an LGBTQ person, I still believe diversity is important so here is a way to organically include diverse characters into the story of the game.

4: KNOW THE STATISTICS. DO YOUR RESEARCH.
According to Wikipedia (not the best source, I know), only about 9% of the world population is LGBTQ. This means that 9 LGBTQ characters per every 100 characters is a good ratio to aim for when making your characters. This also applies to race, with about 14.5% of the world population being black, 8% being middle eastern, 46% being Asian, and 17% being Caucasian (white). These percentages should be taken into account when deciding the diversity of your cast, but you must take another factor into account. Some areas are dominated by one race. For example, you will find that Asian people are the majority in Asian countries, and black people are the dominant race in African countries. A mixed country like the United States has mostly white people, but there should be a realistic mix of races and sexualities. Like I said, research the location you are setting your game in, and look into it's demographics. For example, a game set in Saudi Arabia would not have any openly gay characters, since homosexuality is still outlawed there. Just research your locations before making half of the characters gay.

I hope this helped someone. Idk how to really finish this off, but if you read through to the end, thank you and please share your thoughts on this.

[76561199555487730]

i completely disagree with point 1. I want to see John Halo the Master chef have gay sex with Arbiter

[Pixie]

So true ^-^

[NW/RL]

I think most people who are annoyed with diversity are primarily annoyed at how often it's shoehorned in and hamfisted instead of properly integrated

[Painkilleruk]

Publicado originalmente por LEZDUIT #KillTF2:

i completely disagree with point 1. I want to see John Halo the Master chef have gay sex with Arbiter

your freaky lol

[Xero_Daxter]

OP should write my college essays for me since he writes a lot.

[Groogo]

If they included it in-game properly proportioned it would be acceptable, currently (in many games) it is so forced that it can be annoying.

[Rio]

I remember when I couldn't marry a guy. And when the military could kick me out if they found out I had a boyfriend/husband.

It wasn't even THAT long ago, theres still family guy episodes that joke about it.

And Some Republicans still bring up from time to time turning it from marriage into civil union. As if every church is against marrying someone of the same gender. Theres more than Christianity in america. And even some Christian churches are probably fine doing it.

[ImSoCool599]

i aint reading allat

[Truth seeker]

Publicado originalmente por Apteryx:

Publicado originalmente por HermitTheToad13:

You know your right, What I cant help but wonder is when does the begging and insisting reach a line? When this stuff first came around it was equal rights with straight people, and the right to marry whomever, stuff like that. Which you know as much as I or other people disagree with it, you are entitled to be happy, and entitled to your rights just as I am. (personally I'm of the opinion of you do you, and I'll do me.) But now y'all have those rights, so when does the push end? When does the line get drawn?
(not trying to be argumentative just felt it needed to be asked)

I think the LGBTQ community doesn't realize they won. If they have realized it, they probably want to celebrate it. Instead of just saying "damn, this century-long fight for our rights is finally done", they want to rub it in by forcing themselves onto those who either are indifferent to LGBTQ people, or dislike the LGBTQ community. This starts a vicious cycle of the LGBTQ community fighting to regain its reputation, then knocking it back down because they want to rub it in that they won.

I wouldnt say that people are still pushing back hard (and very much for trans people) i say give it a few more years untill you say this again