Don't know if you guys have any issues with reviving two-week-old threads or anything (obviously I'm not a regular poster), but I found this thread because the podcast I co-host (Cartridge Blowers) was mentioned at some point, and I felt like putting in my two cents.
The hooplah over this question is exactly *why* more minority viewpoints need to be heard. While I've seen some legitimately good and thoughtful responses, most of the names given here were either cringeworthy jokes or kneejerk WHY WOULD WE NEED THAT SULLYING OUR COMMUNITY nonsense--apparently it seems that, at 27, I'm a good 15 years older than many of the posters here.
Podcasting, as I see it, is opinion and personality. Makes sense--unless you're doing hard-and-fast facts, your podcast is by definition going to be you and a friend or two talking games, condemning decisions that Sony makes that YOU disagree with, expressing excitement over games that YOU want to play, and giving YOUR own spin to news items. Being told, "Why would you want to shove your sexuality in our faces on a podcast" is saying, essentially, "There's no place for gay guys in the videogame community." It is saying, "We don't want to hear your voice." It is saying, "I don't want you to exist."
Shame on you.
A few weeks ago I wrote a relatively lengthy blog post about why, exactly, we choose to forefront our sexuality. If you're interested, you can find it at http://cartridgeblowers.com/2010/06/04/why-we-blow/. Essentially, it's an issue of visibility. Gamer culture is so often faceless. It takes place under helmets, behind avatars, beneath screennames. The internet has helped gamer culture explode, and that's a good thing--but one thing many gamers cannot seem to handle is Opinion, is a multiplicity of viewpoints. (I dare you to tell me it's not--look at the controversy over what happens if a game is scored lower than it "deserves".) Rather than using that anonymity constructively, as a means to experiment with identity and opinions and all of that, it's used as a powerful normative force. It is used so that many gamers can become bullies, so that they can socially sanction anyone who acts "wrong". Congratulations: You've become the kids who beat you up in high school.
Michel Foucault wrote extensively about how power is exercised. He talks about the Panopticon, which was a model for a prison. The cells were created in a central ring, with the inner wall open, all facing a central tower. From this tower, it was possible for guards to view any cell, to keep an eye on any possible mischief the prisoners could be getting into. It was unlikely if not impossible to view every single prisoner at once--odds are that most prisoners would go unnoticed for long stretches. However, what was important wasn't the fact of whether or not a certain prisoner was being watched; what was important was the fact that observation was *possible*. In the face of possible observation, a prisoner would behave--better to not risk it.
The lesson of the Panopticon is this: Power does not always come from without--from an external authority figure physically imposing his will--but rather often comes from within--from someone acting in a certain way because he knows those in authority prefer it that way. Read 1984 if you haven't already--though Orwell wrote before Foucault came on the scene, that novel gives one of the most chillingly clear demonstrations of Foucauldian power I've ever read. (It's also excellent and damn terrifying.)
Ask yourselves this: Do you know any gay people? Have you been threatened by any? Attacked by any? Is your fear of gay people based on any actual reason, or is it because you're simply expected to hate them? Do you have any reasons for your opinions, or are you just parroting your parents, your teachers, your community? Are your beliefs and viewpoints so shaky that you can't handle an opposing or different one for fear you might question it?
Because as I see it, we're a vast, vast community. The gamer subculture draws from a wide variety of ages, races, sexualities, regions. I've talked games with people in all different countries, of all different backgrounds. I've talked games with 11-year-old kids who saw me with my DS and asked me what game I'm playing, with college professors interested in helping me connect videogames to philosophical concepts, with my 86-year-old grandmother who, due to a bad hip, has found her senior center's copy of Wii Bowling to be an excellent substitute. These people are no threat to you. These people live in the same world as you do. If you listen to what they have to say, maybe you'll learn something more about your own thoughts. Maybe you'll get some new ideas. Changing your mind isn't scary. But if you can't handle it, well the typical advice fits: Don't listen to it. Many of you probably didn't even know Cartridge Blowers existed before today. It didn't hurt you then; if you don't like gay guys, then hey--the internet is a big place. I doubt we'll run into each other much if you don't seek us out.
As for the original poster, if your idea ever goes beyond theoretical, let me know. After all, I'd be interested in your unique viewpoint.
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