Video games have a long and odd history when it comes to the topic of Gay and Transgender video game characters. From the early days when Nintendo and Sega had rules in place that prevented anyone to release games that had Gay or Transgender characters in them, because it was deemed objectionable and offensive, to their gradual inclusion as Homosexuality and Lesbianism became more widely accepted by society as a whole. While still largely ignored, Gay and Transgender video game characters have slowly become a growing and accepted aspect of video games over the few years this young industry has existed.

Unfortunately, even today characters that are Gay or Transgender are still largely being used as nothing more then joke characters to be made fun of or are included in games as nothing more then comic relief. An example that may be more well known amongst this community would be that of Kanji from Persona 4. He is picked on the entire game by his friends for being sexually confused, and many times his sexual confusion was the brunt of on going jokes throughout the entirety of the game. While no longer pretending Gay and Transgender people don't exist is obviously a good first step towards acceptance in the medium, most games still use Homosexuality, Lesbianism, Cross-Dressing and Transgender characters as nothing more then a joke to be used in stereotypical ways that could best be likened to the way minority roles from the early days of the film industry were almost always offensive stereotypes that were rarely treated as anything but comic relief to the "normal" white characters.

While my expectations to get a serious discussion on this site going are almost non-existent I'm hoping the community can show some maturity for a change and give the subject an honest discussion and have people talk about their thoughts on the matter, and to at least get a few pages in before this gets derailed and locked by the usual forum trolls.

So what are your thoughts on how Gay/Cross-Dressing/Transgender characters are portrayed in modern video games? Do you think it's fine the way it is, or does it still need some work?

Examples of Gay, Transgender or Cross Dressing Video Game Characters

• Poison -Final Fight
• Bridget- Guilty Gear
• Frank West/Chuck Greene- Dead Rising 1 & 2
• Birdo- Super Mario Brothers 2
• Kaine- Nier
• You- Saints Row 2
• Father/Mother- Zeno Clash
• Thomas - Deadly Premonition
• Zevran and Leliana- Dragon Age: Origins

The issue is just that writing in video games hasn't gotten very good yet.  Whether people are writing gay, straight or transgender characters, I just don't think that characters in video games end up being very believable overall.  That is the issue that has to be addressed first, and then how individual sexes, races and sexual identities are handled will fall in line naturally I think.

Gay Tony - GTA 4 
 
he was a serious character

Birdo. Nice. 
 

What about the King of All Cosmos? I remember hearing that he's gay, and even if that's not true (I'm not sure how that would work; the guy vomits rainbows), the gay gaming community LOVES this guy.

What about Dragon Age 1 and 2? Aren't some of the relationships you can have gay?
 
With Mass Effect 3 having shepard changing lanes to either be bi or gay, its curious to see how they will handle it will previous characters.
 
Yeah, I think their should be more gay/bi/transgendered characters in games and it all depends on the game on the heft it should have

The issue is just that writing in video games hasn't gotten very good yet.  Whether people are writing gay, straight or transgender characters, I just don't think that characters in video games end up being very believable overall.  That is the issue that has to be addressed first, and then how individual sexes, races and sexual identities are handled will fall in line naturally I think.

I don't have a problem with how they're portrayed in games and that may be a part of the problem. Gamers are an insensitive bunch and most of us don't take serious issues like this into consideration. Video games have a history of putting a lot of things-- be it race, sexuality, religious preference-- in an obtuse light. It's not only video games; movies and television do the same thing. Humanity is attracted to ignorance.

As a medium we still have a looooong road in portraying even most straight characters in a truly three dimensional way. 
 
Kanji in Persona 4 was a nice step in the right direction, because he was genuinely conflicted about these confusing feelings heaped on him atop of the angst of being a teenager. When it was played for laughs, it was usually Yosuke being an immature dick about it. I was rather disappointed about the whole denouement of it though. It was all "Oh, Naoto's a girl? I guess I'm not gay then.*shrug*". I would've enjoyed it if it was left a bit more vague that he'd come to grips with his sexuality. I mean, he's still really young, so he still had a lot of self discovery left. 
 
Thomas in Deadly Premonition could've been a great sympathetic character. Here was a man who was not completely comfortable with himself, being emotionally toyed with and used. Up until he turned into a crazy harpy, I wasn't even that turned off by his stereotypical girly run and whatnot. There actually ARE people like that. The turn was just too sharp for me. 
 
Kaine's backstory in Nier is some fantastic writing. The localization team for that game did an amazing job. It's a shame it's all just presented in text format. 
And though there are only vague clues to her transgendered status, they really wrote some fantastic descriptions of her confusion, anger, sadness and acceptance as a young girl. It's a shame there isn't enough of that focused on in the game itself, but then again, it really isn't her story. 
  
Of course, a character like Poison is one dimensional no matter what. Either she's a bad-ass biker chick. Or she's a bad-ass biker chick with a dick. 
All I know is that my Haggar's gonna pick her up and piledrive her to the ground. 

When it comes down to it, a character shouldn't be defined by their sexuality in any case. I have gay and transexual friends and that's an aside when I think about them. Not their defining characteristic. Hopefully games in the future will get better as using it as an aside on characters who possess these qualities.

What about Cloud from FF7?  
If I were gay I would be pissed by the way gays are portrayed in the Shadow of the Covenant series.  Each game has the biggest gay stereotype of a sissy in leather gear that you exchange gay porno mags for power ups.  I think he also hits on the male characters. 

The other thing to think about is Final Fantasy. It would seem that even the males in the games come across as ladies. 

You can cross-dress in the Fable series.

Game writers aren't really focused on nuance or character as much as they should be, but rather the "How can we keep this game very 'game-y'". As a result, characters take less priority, sure there are the exceptions to the rule, but the rule still applies for most games. So any hope I have of getting a game portray characters well doesn't exist, so long as "Shooty shooty bang bang 76" is still in development, abandon all hope.

I probably wouldnt include frank west or chuck greene, just because they arent active cross-dressers and its down to the players judgement? rather than actual cross-dressing characters- doesnt really affect anything either-but maybe I've missed the point?  I think that while films are accepting gay/transexual characters more readily, games are kinda lagging behind a bit, and in many games the characters sexuality just doesnt come up.

My name is Mmmslash, and this is my favorite thread on the Citadel.

The Sims 2. You could hook up with whoever you felt like as i recall.  Crazy times at band camp.

Wait, Kaine is gay? I must have missed that part.

Kanji's character was more about being able to take up whatever hobbies you liked or have an interest in what you want without being labeled as gay or straight or whatever; his sexuality didn't matter. I don't think the game poked fun at him so much as Yosuke did, and that was just another one of Yosuke's flaws.

Anyway, here are the ones I know of, off the top of my head:
 
Trevor - Phantasmagoria 2
 Jun - Persona 2
Alfred - Resident Evil: Code Veronica
Vamp - Metal Gear Solid series
Hana and Rain - Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix
Doctor N. Gin - Crash Team Racing
Juhani - KotOR
Sky and Silk Fox - Jade Empire
Bully has optional homosexuality
Sander Cohen - Bioshock
De Santa - Red Dead Redemption
Veronica, Arcade, and Rose of Sharon Cassidy - New Vegas

The issue is just that writing in video games hasn't gotten very good yet.  Whether people are writing gay, straight or transgender characters, I just don't think that characters in video games end up being very believable overall.  That is the issue that has to be addressed first, and then how individual sexes, races and sexual identities are handled will fall in line naturally I think.

@crusader8463

 
Unfortunately, even today characters that are Gay or Transgender are still largely being used as nothing more then joke characters to be made fun of or are included in games as nothing more then comic relief. An example that may be more well known amongst this community would be that of  Kanji from Persona 4. He is picked on the entire game by his friends for being sexually confused, and many times his sexual confusion was the brunt of on going jokes throughout the entirety of the game. 

As a medium we still have a looooong road in portraying even most straight characters in a truly three dimensional way.  Kanji in Persona 4 was a nice step in the right direction, because he was genuinely conflicted about these confusing feelings heaped on him atop of the angst of being a teenager. When it was played for laughs, it was usually Yosuke being an immature dick about it. I was rather disappointed about the whole denouement of it though. It was all "Oh, Naoto's a girl? I guess I'm not gay then.*shrug*". I would've enjoyed it if it was left a bit more vague that he'd come to grips with his sexuality. I mean, he's still really young, so he still had a lot of self discovery left. 

It is just that a lot of times being gay or straight has nothing to do with the video game.  And if it does, it is to serve as a way to show a personality trait or something your character has to work with like Gay Tony in GTA.  Japan doesn't help with their ridiculous portrayals and awkward characters.  Look at the FF series.

I agree with this. Most video game writers are barely capable of writing a believable female character, let alone someone as complex as a transgendered or intersex. Games like Nier, which not only has one of the better written women but also manages to tastefully approach her being intersex, are the minority because of that. Also, being gay and especially transgendered is still not an entirely accepted life style in our culture, so writing those characters is a risk that most companies are not interested in taking.

@TeflonBilly said:

As a medium we still have a looooong road in portraying even most straight characters in a truly three dimensional way.  Kanji in Persona 4 was a nice step in the right direction, because he was genuinely conflicted about these confusing feelings heaped on him atop of the angst of being a teenager. When it was played for laughs, it was usually Yosuke being an immature dick about it. I was rather disappointed about the whole denouement of it though. It was all "Oh, Naoto's a girl? I guess I'm not gay then.*shrug*". I would've enjoyed it if it was left a bit more vague that he'd come to grips with his sexuality. I mean, he's still really young, so he still had a lot of self discovery left. 

The developers said they intentionally left it ambigious, but by the end of the game it felt prettttyyyy onesided as to what his sexuality was.  Still, I'm willing to let it slide, because it was a very well done exploration of sexual confusion otherwise, I felt.

It'll be even better when the day arrives that no one cares if a character is gay in a video game

@mutha3 said:

@TeflonBilly said:

As a medium we still have a looooong road in portraying even most straight characters in a truly three dimensional way.  Kanji in Persona 4 was a nice step in the right direction, because he was genuinely conflicted about these confusing feelings heaped on him atop of the angst of being a teenager. When it was played for laughs, it was usually Yosuke being an immature dick about it. I was rather disappointed about the whole denouement of it though. It was all "Oh, Naoto's a girl? I guess I'm not gay then.*shrug*". I would've enjoyed it if it was left a bit more vague that he'd come to grips with his sexuality. I mean, he's still really young, so he still had a lot of self discovery left. 

The developers said they intentionally left it ambigious, but by the end of the game it felt prettttyyyy onesided as to what his sexuality was.  Still, I'm willing to let it slide, because it was a very well done exploration of sexual confusion otherwise, I felt.

 Yeah, it's more a fault of them not being good enough at making it feel ambiguous. The intent and everything throughout the game was great. As you said in your other post, the only "ridiculing" of Kanji I truly felt in P4 was Yosuke being an immature dick about it. Any other humorous moment concerning it (Usually involving Naoto or Teddy") was just innocent fun.

You've missed out Makoto from Enchanted Arms.  

Who I found incredibly poorly written considering it's a JRPG with plenty of opportunity for exploring depth of character.  All the same it was still an interesting choice that they had a male be the one with the 'wacky crush' on the main protagonist rather 
than a genre convention young ditzy female. Then again Enchanted arms had far worse problems then just it's character development, so perhaps that's a moot point?

@Dany: Bioware has always been one of the few companies to treat the subject seriously

I think it's worth noting that one of the reasons "gay" is treated differently in Japanese releases is because the american concept of "gay" is a very much a social construct.
 
I'm not saying that there aren't men who are attracted to other men, but everything that goes along with it in American culture and is wrapped up in the package of "gay culture" is just that. Cultural.
 
In Japan being gay and being effeminate or two entirely different concepts. Also, because many japanese men have what are typically considered female secondary sex characteristics (slight build, hairlessness, prominent eyelashes, etc), the concept of gender bending is much more in their cultural zeitgeist than it is in america.
 
It really is feasable, over there, to have a character who can't be determined to be male or female like Ferris in Final Fantasy 4 or that one guy in Tekken 6. In America that concept comes across as much more ridiculous because men and women over here have a greater disparity in secondary sexual characteristics.
 
I think it's treated as a joke in a satirical way moreso than in an american "gay bashing" kind of way.

The japanese will make gay or trans very stereotyped. The west has a better chance of making something good. 

@Beforet said:

I agree with this. Most video game writers are barely capable of writing a believable female character, let alone someone as complex as a transgendered or intersex. Games like Nier, which not only has one of the better written women but also manages to tastefully approach her being intersex, are the minority because of that. Also, being gay and especially transgendered is still not an entirely accepted life style in our culture, so writing those characters is a risk that most companies are not interested in taking.

That's actually kind of almost undone by the fact that her character design is fucking stupid.

@crusader8463 said:

@Dany: Bioware has always been one of the few companies to treat the subject seriously

Oh, I missed this.  Come on, dude. You had lady lesbian options in ME2, but none for the male and don't even get me started on that retarded elf thing in Dragon Age.

I always thought it was super weird when people question the lack of a specific type of person as a protagonist in media. Regardless, the bulk of gamers wouldn't take Halo seriously if Master Chief made it apparent he was into dudes. It's like these conversations are brought up for the sake of having a serious conversation. Good protagonists are supposed to be relatable. Gays are an extreme minority. I mean this without being disrespectful to homosexuals, but being gay is considered abnormal to most people. Abnormal behavior is easy to make comedy with. And you defiantly won't see a transgender protagonist as a serious role in the foreseeable future. I've never met anyone that accepts that lifestyle. 

There was a transgendered character in Yakuza 3 that was part of a side quest. It was the victim of Sega of America's many cuts to the game for local release which is unfortunate because it was supposed to be one of the more interesting side quests.

@mutha3 said:

@crusader8463 said:

@Dany: Bioware has always been one of the few companies to treat the subject seriously

Oh, I missed this.  Come on, dude. You had lady lesbian options in ME2, but none for the male and don't even get me started on that retarded elf thing in Dragon Age.

There will be gay male romance options for Male Shep in ME3 according to Casey Hudson. 

Kanji's character was more about being able to take up whatever hobbies you liked or have an interest in what you want without being labeled as gay or straight or whatever; his sexuality didn't matter. I don't think the game poked fun at him so much as Yosuke did, and that was just another one of Yosuke's flaws.  

@JazGalaxy: Trans-sexuality is a big thing in Japan, y'know. These ultra-flamboyant characters who look like burly men dressed in skirts with very soft voices(like circus freaks basically) is just a very disturbing dig  at the "okama" lifestyle. These people also tend to be attracted to men, or at least that's the stereotype.  No, its equally disgusting/disturbing in Japanese games most of the time

HEY! Birdo was legally proven to be a girl in captain rainbow!

That's an excellent point JazGalaxy, and not something I'd really thought of before. Awesome food for thought! 
 
[Edit]: Also, isn't there some debate as to weither Zangeif is gay or not?

Specifically, I think the concept of the "pretty man" or the "you can't tell if it's a guy or a girl" are used in anime and games frequently and have no association with homosexuality at all. They're just a cultural joke because that kind of situation presents itself more in Japan than it does in America.

I always thought it was super weird when people question the lack of a specific type of person as a protagonist in media. Regardless, the bulk of gamers wouldn't take Halo seriously if Master Chief made it apparent he was into dudes. It's like these conversations are brought up for the sake of having a serious conversation. Good protagonists are supposed to be relatable. Gays are an extreme minority. 

@TeflonBilly said:

@mutha3 said:

@TeflonBilly said:

As a medium we still have a looooong road in portraying even most straight characters in a truly three dimensional way.  Kanji in Persona 4 was a nice step in the right direction, because he was genuinely conflicted about these confusing feelings heaped on him atop of the angst of being a teenager. When it was played for laughs, it was usually Yosuke being an immature dick about it. I was rather disappointed about the whole denouement of it though. It was all "Oh, Naoto's a girl? I guess I'm not gay then.*shrug*". I would've enjoyed it if it was left a bit more vague that he'd come to grips with his sexuality. I mean, he's still really young, so he still had a lot of self discovery left. 

The developers said they intentionally left it ambigious, but by the end of the game it felt prettttyyyy onesided as to what his sexuality was.  Still, I'm willing to let it slide, because it was a very well done exploration of sexual confusion otherwise, I felt.

 Yeah, it's more a fault of them not being good enough at making it feel ambiguous. The intent and everything throughout the game was great. As you said in your other post, the only "ridiculing" of Kanji I truly felt in P4 was Yosuke being an immature dick about it. Any other humorous moment concerning it (Usually involving Naoto or Teddy") was just innocent fun.

And to add to that:   I remember a couple of scenes mid through the game (after the camping trip, somewhere) where Yosuke was making fun of Kanji's bathouse escapades and Kanji snapping at him and running off, which led to the part where Chie reprimanded Yosuke(Something along the lines of"Yosuke, cut that out! you know he doesn't like being reminded of that").  Unfortunatly, they never seemed to build on that after that scene. Always felt a little odd. Maybe they were originally going to address Yosuke's dickishnes it and that dialogue was left in? He became less of a dick towards Kanji as time went on, and it just felt a little odd without a scene to accompany how that change came to be.

@mutha3 said:

@crusader8463 said:

@Dany: Bioware has always been one of the few companies to treat the subject seriously

Oh, I missed this.  Come on, dude. You had lady lesbian options in ME2, but none for the male and don't even get me started on that retarded elf thing in Dragon Age.

There will be gay male romance options for Male Shep in ME3 according to Casey Hudson. 

I get what you are saying about it just being immature characters being immature for their age, but I seem to recall everyone acting weird about it and making fun of him about it when he wasn't around and the topic came up. It's been a long time since I seen P4, but I seem to recall several scenes where people other then Yosuke made fun of him because of his sexual confusion. I think it might have been during the camping scene, but I can't recall.  
 
 

I was kind of let down later on when it just became about guys can like stuff only girls "should" be into too, and that the only reason he was confused was because Naoto was dressed like a guy and he was into her. Kanji was one of my favourite characters of the entire game because at the start he looked like he was going to have some depth to him, but they kind of white washed it away by the end. 

I feel like bioware gets undeserved crap for this. They had gay characters in Jade Empire, but because nobody played that one and just started playing with Mass Effect, they're holding Bioware to a fire they invented for themselves.

I always thought it was super weird when people question the lack of a specific type of person as a protagonist in media. Regardless, the bulk of gamers wouldn't take Halo seriously if Master Chief made it apparent he was into dudes. It's like these conversations are brought up for the sake of having a serious conversation. Good protagonists are supposed to be relatable. Gays are an extreme minority. I mean this without being disrespectful to homosexuals, but being gay is considered abnormal to most people. Abnormal behavior is easy to make comedy with. And you defiantly won't see a transgender protagonist as a serious role in the foreseeable future. I've never met anyone that accepts that lifestyle.   

I think it's implied that Mr. Gold and Mr. Silver from God Hand are gay.  Really flaming, too in that oblivious Japanese way.