[Editor's Note: Please be aware, some very minor spoilers regarding The Last of Us: Left Behind DLC follows.]
A couple of weeks ago, Ubisoft Montreal lead writer Lucien Soulban took to the Ubisoft Blog and, in the course of a Q&A about his role at the studio, shared the view that we’re unlikely to see an LGBT character take centre stage in a triple-A game anytime soon. He explained that fears of damaging sales would be the main stumbling block in securing support for a homosexual protagonist, asserting that until publishers were convinced otherwise, a gay lead is likely to remain a pipe dream. It’s worth mentioning too that Soulban is openly gay.
It’s a thorny issue. One, in fact, we’ve covered before back in 2012. In the two years since then, there’s been both positive change and depressing stagnation. Gay characters have, for the most part, received more prominence on the periphery but the spotlight still eludes them. There’s a very notable exception, of course, but more on that later. I’m also not saying there have been no fantastic examples of LGBT characters that have surfaced in the past couple of years, and in a world where I’d always place quality above quantity, I’m pleased to say that the majority of game characters we’ve seen over the past 24 months lean towards the former.
Back in 2012, the award for including a diverse range of LGBT characters would undoubtedly have gone to BioWare, thanks to its Mass Effect and Dragon Age series offering same-sex relationships. Since then, there’ve been a few notable titles that include gay characters from other developers. There are the lesbian Sylvari couple Caithe and Faolain in Guild Wars 2, as well as Eladus and Dagdar from the same MMO. The fan-favourite Sir Hammerlock in Borderlands 2 references having a boyfriend, while Gone Home tells a truly memorable coming-of-age story of one girl falling for another.
Soulban worries companies will retcon sexuality or issue surprise reveals once they’ve already been embraced by the masses, in a similar manner to what some argue JK Rowling did with Dumbledore.
There are also playable characters that are not heterosexual: State of Decay’s Jacob Ritter for one, and also Axton in Borderlands 2. This last one is slightly troubling though. Originally a coding error, the decision was made to confirm the character’s bisexuality in the Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep DLC. The fact it wasn’t removed or retconned is admirable, but it brings to the fore another issue Soulban highlights in his blog post: the bait-and-switch.
Rather than depicting a character as gay outright, Soulban worries companies will retcon sexuality or issue surprise reveals once they’ve already been embraced by the masses, in a similar manner to what some argue JK Rowling did with Dumbledore. This arguably isn’t true progress, but rather a refusal to stick one’s head above the parapet and then turning up post-battle to collect a medal. In fairness though, I’d argue it doesn’t really matter. In fact, if anything, in many cases subtle depictions of a character’s orientation is a testament to the strength of writing; at long last we’re seeing characters that happen to be gay, rather than stereotypically gay characters. Admittedly embracing this realism comes at the cost of visibility, but for proof that it can still resonate one need look no further than The Last of Us’ Bill.
As far as I’m concerned this last year has seen Naughty Dog pick up BioWare’s baton and run with it. Bill’s homosexuality in The Last of Us was beautifully handled. It was subtle, a part of him rather than the defining part, neither obtrusive nor obscured. This sensitive handling of the man managed to create someone who was believable, with relatable emotions, even if he was living through a zombie apocalypse. Regardless of their own gender or sexuality, people connected with his experience. They shared in the pain he felt losing a loved one. Surely that, at the end of it all, is what we should be striving for? A medium that on some level manages to universalise the human experience? One that explores the concepts of love, grief, compassion, evil and doesn’t discriminate. For some, this alone is enough of a gift to be going on with, but Naughty Dog pushes the envelope even further in the Left Behind DLC with Ellie.
There’s some dispute over whether or not the feelings Ellie has for Riley make her a lesbian or just indicate a burgeoning bicuriosity. For what it’s worth, creative director Neil Druckmann has explained she was written to be gay, but that’s not the important part. What’s important is she’s a character we already happen to care for unconditionally. Does Ellie’s sexuality have elements of the bait-and-switch that Soulban laments? Of course. We’re encouraged to care for Ellie before her burgeoning sexuality is revealed to us. But frankly, who cares? It hasn’t the slimmest chance of negating all we’ve felt for her through the DLC and the main game. Ellie is a magnificent character whose sexuality is but a small part of her. In fact Druckmann’s even said that the rest of the Naughty Dog team encouraged him to be subtle when writing Left Behind, partly due to the fact that the original game was written without much thought being given to the character’s orientation.
Subtlety in writing should always be praised and it’s more representative of real LGBT people. Sexuality is a spectrum and should be depicted as such, avoiding the pitfalls of stereotypes.
Of course, this admission from Druckmann re-opens that earlier can of worms over whether it is preferable to have characters that are gay rather than gay characters. Ellie is the former not because Naughty Dog set out to write a nuanced gay character, but rather because her orientation wasn’t even discussed until the DLC was created. But this approach has as many positives as it does problems. On the one hand, subtlety in writing should always be praised and it’s more representative of real LGBT people. Sexuality is a spectrum and should be depicted as such, avoiding the pitfalls of stereotypes.
Having said that, another blog post, this time from BioWare's Dragon Age lead writer David Gaider, similarly an openly homosexual man working in the game industry, notes how few games incorporate LGBT figures. Does this necessitate the creation of an overtly gay character, just to give those players who feel ostracised during their day to day lives a beacon of hope and the knowledge they are not alone? Is it really progress if sexuality is buried not celebrated? It’s a tightrope, in truth, one that is impossibly tricky to walk. The only way games will learn to do so, however, is by trying. Not by shirking away from the issue at hand.
This, then, is the true reason such a discussion is needed. It’s not about when we’ll see an LGBT protagonist. It’s about why we need one. A cursory glance at the old guard of Western game developers that are still working today confirms that the video game industry at its outset was traditionally run by and for white, middle class males. As both Gaider and Soulban prove though, the people making the games no longer exclusively fall into that category. What’s even more crucial to note, however, is the fact that the people playing them don’t either. Gaming is one of the youngest entertainment mediums but it threatens to stunt its growth without acknowledging that there are many people who play games. Our world and other entertainment forms are more inclusive than ever, and it’s time games caught up.
The argument that hits home for me most strongly is Gaider’s. As he rationalises, “There are people out there for whom the presence of any gay content will automatically render it 'the gay game'. The presence of two bisexual male followers in Dragon Age II, only one of whom made advances on a male player without first being flirted with, means 'every man in Thedas is gay and wants my man-meat'. These are the same people for whom the mere existence of a gay character, or a plot that deals with gay subject matter, really anything that forces them to acknowledge that homosexuality so much as exists, is going to be a personal insult.
I remind myself that it's not that much to include, and really it's very little in comparison to the entire rest of the game.
"I remind myself that it's not that much to include, and really it's very little in comparison to the entire rest of the game and thus, considering what it means to those fans who receive that validation almost nowhere else, it's not too much to demand a bit of tolerance and compassion from the portion of the audience for whom this content is not even intended."
Growing up is hard. Growing up in a world where you find it nigh on impossible to catch sight of someone you can relate to is harder. The inclusion of gay characters in games leads some to believe that one day there will be no heterosexual characters they can choose to play as, that this is a slippery slope that will inevitably cause entire entries in popular franchises to be populated exclusively by LGBT characters. Such a premise is ludicrous. It’s also the exact reverse of what’s facing young lesbian, gay, bisexual and especially transgender gamers - who are represented even more poorly still - in most titles today.
Irrefutably the past 24 months have seen progress made, but problems still remain. For one, gay males are far harder to find in games than lesbians. Is this because some execs think they can appear progressive while also tapping into a common fetish of the straight male? Perhaps. Is it also because, in many ways, female sexuality is trivialised and less threatening to the white male demographic that still comprises the majority of gamers? Almost definitely. But compared to where we were even a year ago, the progress is earth-shattering. We are where we are. There can be no going back and I hope, desperately with all my might, that Soulban is wrong, and this is a taste of the imminent things to come.
Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Junior Editor. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on Twitter.
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