Girls Kissing Guys is .. Gay?

[DaytonaUSA]

Well, according to publishers. This is a good read, and a sad one to be honest. We wonder why so many current generation games feel "samey". This is why:

 

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-03-19-why-publishers-refuse-games-such-as-remember-me-because-of-their-female-protagonists

[+Gemintronic]

It's no wonder stereotypes and story lines are one dimensional. Game producers can't step outside of themselves and into the narrative.

[xg4bx]

Whenever I have a choice I always play as a female character and I will go out of my way to buy games with a female lead, if only for eye candy purposes .

[cimerians]

Same here. I play a female a lot in games. Especially third person games....I'd rather not stare at a guys ass for the entire game. It only makes sense.

 

Dragon Age does it right...play a female character and you have the option of female character "companions".

[Algus]

I don't think this is just with women characters, I remember people going crazy about Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas because CJ was black Maybe I just hung out at forums with lots of trolls or something back in 2003-2004 but some of the complaints were just insane.

 

Man, woman, white, black, space monster...as long as the game is good I'm happy. I think its fun to be thrown into roles that are completely different from myself.

[raskar42]

Metroid?

[+Gemintronic]

I don't think this is just with women characters, I remember people going crazy about Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas because CJ was black Maybe I just hung out at forums with lots of trolls or something back in 2003-2004 but some of the complaints were just insane.

 

Man, woman, white, black, space monster...as long as the game is good I'm happy. I think its fun to be thrown into roles that are completely different from myself.

 

You know, I almost forgot the racism that surrounds video games.. then I heard a teen on teamspeak during a Call of Doody session. sigh.

[Hyper_Eye]

 

 

You know, I almost forgot the racism that surrounds video games.. then I heard a teen on teamspeak during a Call of Doody session. sigh.

 

Well, in defense of the average gamer, you're pretty much scraping the bottom of the barrel there.

[roland p]

"You can't make the player kiss another dude in the game, that's going to feel awkward."

Most of the times, kind of 'actions' are cutscenes right? I don't do much modern gaming but I've never encountered a game where I could control a 'dudes' mouth and actually place it on a 'dudettes' body part That would feel a bit awkward too, would I be cheating on my girlfriend then?

[+GroovyBee]

That would feel a bit awkward too, would I be cheating on my girlfriend then?

 

Not unless your girlfriend has an on/off switch.

[Vic George 2K3]

When every sort of taboo is allowed to be published as a video game without society so much as blinking an eye, then you know something is wrong.

[Ninjabba]

Luckily Japan kicks those kind of taboos in the nuts. Pity that they also don't mind creating lead male characters into these female hybrids

[DaytonaUSA]

I always choose female characters as well. Usually for two reasons:

 

Usually they're quicker and nimbler (such as in fighting games) which is how I like to play, rather than with a slow, strong hulking mass that can't move quick.

 

Secondly, and I hate to sound crass, but if I'm forced to play a 3rd person action/shooter game where I'm stuck looking at the player's ass for 8-40 hours straight, it might as well be one that's nice to look at, haha.

 

But seriously, it's very sad that this is their idea of what gamers want. It really woke me up as to why we have so many generic FPS games right now. Publishers probably demand devs make them as similar to other games as possible.

[JamesD]

Just let the player have the option of making her a lesbian, problem solved.

People would buy the game just to watch chicks making out.

[Vic George 2K3]

I mean, when the WHOLE WORLD, WHICH INCLUDES US, embraces every sort of taboo and features it in a video game. But I guess you don't give a crap, in which case my words are wasted.

[Hyper_Eye]

I mean, when the WHOLE WORLD, WHICH INCLUDES US, embraces every sort of taboo and features it in a video game. But I guess you don't give a crap, in which case my words are wasted.

 

Or maybe nobody knows what you are really trying to get at. Art has always delved into things that are taboo for the time. Video games, as an art form, should push the limits in whatever ways the creator feels is necessary to express themselves. You, as a consumer, can express your distaste for any particular game's subject matter by choosing to not buy it. If taboo subjects were off-limits to authors some of the greatest books ever written would not exist.

[+wood_jl]

Only if one of them is a transvestite.

[JamesD]

Or maybe nobody knows what you are really trying to get at. Art has always delved into things that are taboo for the time. Video games, as an art form, should push the limits in whatever ways the creator feels is necessary to express themselves. You, as a consumer, can express your distaste for any particular game's subject matter by choosing to not buy it. If taboo subjects were off-limits to authors some of the greatest books ever written would not exist.

Visit his web page. That might help you understand. http://www.vicgeorge419.net/

[Schizophretard]

When every sort of taboo is allowed to be published as a video game without society so much as blinking an eye, then you know something is wrong.

 

That's how I know something is right. It's when society wants to ban things that I know something is wrong. Besides, if you think a girl kissing a guy is taboo then it shouldn't be the first image I see when I click on your website.

[NE146]

Seems like a bunch of crap. It's a videogame. Just change the graphic to a walking carrot for all it matters.

 

Edited March 21, 2013 by NE146

[karokoenig]

Video games, as an art form,

Thank you for that link. An interesting read. What made me most happy about it is that while reading, I thought "What about Grim Fandango?" all the time, only to find it mentioned in the list of computer game art at the end of the article. The cited reference for Grim Fandango sums up what I always thought but was never eloquent enough to formulate:

 

"From beginning to end, Grim Fandango is a feast of imaginative imagery, clever puzzles, and absorbing narrative. A legendary work of exemplary craftsmanship, the game bursts with more creativity than every Tim Burton and Pixar film combined. The days of Adventure games are not over and they never will be. As long as video games are still created with this kind of passion and aspirations of excellence, no genre will ever truly die." (source)

 

Had to be said. I'll be silent now, please excuse the off-topic rant.

 

 

(edit) Come to think of it... maybe it isn't as off-topic as it seems. In that game, dead kiss the dead.

Edited March 21, 2013 by karokoenig

[Vic George 2K3]

Anyway, the comment "girls kissing guys is gay" is just utterly stupid. What really seems to be said behind the statement is that they don't want girls as lead characters kissing anything but other girls if they have to kiss anything or anyone, because, you know, "every guy is into watching lesbians going at each other" (which is utterly false BS). Never mind that there may be girl gamers who would want to play as the female lead character kissing a guy if that's their preference.

[Schizophretard]

Anyway, the comment "girls kissing guys is gay" is just utterly stupid. What really seems to be said behind the statement is that they don't want girls as lead characters kissing anything but other girls if they have to kiss anything or anyone, because, you know, "every guy is into watching lesbians going at each other" (which is utterly false BS). Never mind that there may be girl gamers who would want to play as the female lead character kissing a guy if that's their preference.

 

I can kind of see why someone may see it as gay. If you are a male playing a female character that gets kissed by a guy then in a sense you are playing in drag and kissing a guy. People pretend they are the character they are playing. They get caught up in the game.

 

For an example, I loved the first few Resident Evil games but I have never played them through without cheat codes. I got so much into the games that I had a genuine fear of my character dying and felt like I really was fighting for my survival. When my character would die it didn't feel like the frustration from losing a life in a game like Super Mario Bros. It felt like I was actually dying. I'm sure that is the point of the games but it is scary enough as it is without the constant fear of death. I just wanted to solve the puzzles, watch the story unravel, and just have the fear of a zombie coming through a window or something like a haunted house experience.

 

So, I used cheat codes. The cheat codes made it feel like the type of haunted houses where no one can touch you but can jump out at you. But without the cheat codes feels like this haunted house I went to when I was 10. As we were going through the haunted house a door to outside opened up. We could see the field. This woman with a leather jacket busted in and aimed a real gun at all of us. She said,"Give me all your purses and wallets!" Everyone started handing over their purses and wallets and then BANG!!! BANG!!! BANG!!! We all screamed and started to check where we got shot. As we looked she laughed and said,"It was all blanks. Enjoy the rest of the show." Then we went into a room of mazes and doors. You could hear a chainsaw and screams. This guy dressed up like leather face would come through one of the random doors, grab one of us, pull them behind the closed door, and then we would hear the screams and see the blood pouring out from under the door. I don't know if the person grabbed was a part of it but that mixed with getting shot at made it the scariest haunted house I've been to. That type of fear is a little too extreme. I could probably handle it again in a haunted house but for hours of Resident Evil feeling kind of like that is not fun for me. I rather be the invincible badass that the zombies fear.

 

Anyway, if my fear of zombies killing my character made it feel like I'm getting killed then I could see how it may feel kind of gay to play a girl kissing a guy because it would feel kind of like the guy kissing you. But I don't really see a problem with that. It is acting. The same type of guys that would be uncomfortable with getting kissed by a guy in a game would be like the type of actors who would be uncomfortable with playing a gay part in a movie and kissing another actor. There would be nothing wrong with the game or the movie. The problem would be homophobia. If someone can't play a girl kissing a guy then they have issues they need to deal with in the real world before they play the game.

[+Gemintronic]

I still don't get how game producers could be so ignorant as to believe their customers can't recognize a heterosexual display of affection and yet can magically launch themselves body and soul into the character of the opposite sex..

[Vic George 2K3]

Just to give personal context to this, I played Dragon Age II as female Hawks simply out of preference. Not because of that "if I have to look at someone's ass all day, I'd rather look at a pretty ass" reason. And not because I really want to be a female either. And for romances, I prefered playing them straight, because I still think heterosexual kissing is a big turn-on. I have no interest in having my female Hawks be lesbians even if I wanted to play the game over as a female Hawk with a different body and skill sets. That may be what some guys would do with their female Hawks, but I'm not one of them and I wouldn't assume that every man born on this earth is programmed to have interest in any lesbian activity. Fortunately this is an option when it comes to romance, even as bizarre as to have four of the main love interests of Dragon Age II be adaptable to either sex. But to just limit a game to a female protagonist kissing a female character of any sort in a sexual/romantic context simply out of fear of "leading lady hero games don't sell to guys" or based on the "wisdom" that "(lesbian) sex sells a game to guys"? You can have that sort of game if that's your desire. I refuse to buy it.