Gay protagonist?

Has there ever been a homosexual main character in a video game?

Commander Shepard from Mass Effect comes to mind, provided you pursue a relationship with a team member of the same sex. Likewise with the protaganist of Dragon Age : Inquisition, Star Ocean : The Second Story

Of course that's based on wether you want your version of those characters to be homosexuals, to have it "set in stone" by developers there are some games like Fear Effect 2 : Retro Helix where two of the major female characters are heavily suggested to be lesbians, Evil Zone where 3 of the female characters are lesbian and Ellie from Last of us having romantic feelings for Riley in the DLC.

For the most part homosexuality has been more of a representation from the sidelines though NPC and Villains in games, mostly due to it not being until very recently that it's become more and more accepted in today's society. Which is evident if you look at older games and now when you get the choice to create your own protaganist you can also determine their sexuality.

Tony from the GTA 4 expansion The Ballad of Gay Tony

@mastermetal777: Although he is a main character, you can't play as him so he is not game protagoinist.

Well, many main characters could in fact be gay if no strictly heterosexual relationships are established in the game. You can just let your imagination do the work. Anyway, I don't know of any main characters that are explicitly homosexual, assuming that with main characters you mean characters the player controls...

Most of the games that have gay protagonists that you control are games like what have already been mentioned, where you are given a "blank slate" character to build and define by your playstyle. Games where you play a character who is gay as defined by the story line are less common in western and mainstream games. Typically where you'll find games like these will be "visual novel" games and other romance-type games.

-Byshop

Saint Row... Eurogamer wrote an excellent article about how organic the game is.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-10-22-saints-row-4-a-game-about-friendship-sex-and-strong-women

Those are great games and another example of the "blank slate" type games that let you choose to be gay. The web series "Hey Ash Watcha Playin?" did an amusing video on SR3 for their "Best of 2011" video. Here's the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egNGa41tRac

Note: there is censored nudity in the clip (the usual Saints Row main character running around naked sillyness) so I'm not embedding it or making it a hyperlink.

-Byshop

Well the player controlled character in Gone Home is not gay. But it could be said the game is about a gay female teenager.

I naturally assumed Sonic the Hedgehog was.

But on a serious note, the most well known one is probably Ellie in The Last of Us- Left Behind.

At anycase, not sure why it's a popular subject. Most leads never get true-love interests intentionally. Letting your imagination decide.

@RSM-HQ: Nobody really knows if Ellie was homo-sexual, bi-sexual or maybe even just bi-curious. I would go for bi-curious judging from her age. I have met a whole lot of girls in real life that has been kissing without being homo-sexual.

@ojmstr: True, but Ellie is still seen as a recent testament towards homosexual characters in gaming. Whether she is just young and curious? Only a sequel will tell.

Because of the impact it had however, I think they'll continue with it.

@RSM-HQ: Yeah probably and i don't mind, Ellie's great and cool personality don't change because of her sexual preference and that is probably the message Naughty Dog was trying to get across. Really really hoping for a sequal of Tlou with Joel and Ellie and i can perfectly wait 2-3 years for that game without a problem, it's probably gonna be hard to beat the story in The Last Of Us but i have faith in Naughty Dog that they can make Tlou2 on par with the story of Tlou1.

One thing is for sure though, Bill is gay :D

@ojmstr: Agreed, and though I look forward to the next game I just hope A.I. reacts better. It's rare I hear the complaint but I had a lot of glitches in my run with Ellie and other assisting characters.

Why does it matter? Is your goal to make straight people uncomfortable for no benefits to the game?

This was kind of my initial reaction as well. One of the writers basically responded to statements like this and said along the lines of "I thought we made it obvious that she's gay. If it were a male character who kissed another male character, nobody would have questioned whether he was gay or not".

But yeah, good suggestion. I had totally forgotten about Ellie.

-Byshop

It doesn't matter to most of us, and I don't see why it would one way or the other. Every developer has a right to make any character they want--any gender, any sexuality, any race, any religion, and consumers have the right to like it, hate it, buy it or ignore it.

Well said.

-Byshop

@RSM-HQ: They might do something about it in the next game if they make it that is, but it's probably extremly dificult to program Ellie to move around and hide at the best spots so the A.i wont see Ellie and then potentially mess up your gameplay, im pretty sure Naughty Dog has tested out numerous of alternatives and the one we got in The Last Of Us was the best solution to this problem, they pretty much sacrefied some immersion for better gameplay. If they nail the Ellie/A.i problem in Tlou2 for more immersion and continue with the same gameplay they had in Tlou that would be great.

It still have no affect on the game play. Other than trying to make a worthless point by making some uncomfortable by being disrespectful.

After seeing people get called insulted and worse for saying they were uncomfortable with how easy it was to make your character that way, I question every time that is included into a game.

I find it hard to say those things unless you want to spoil every aspect of every game which could ruin a number of games.

Now I need to make the next statement or else I could be insulted or worse:

There is a different from the pilot in Mass Effect 3 and the easy and in you face nature of what happen in Dragon Age 2.

Me in every RPG I play.

Why make a character straight other than to make people feel uncomfortable?

The very simple and obvious answer is that story matters and characters are a big part of a story.

Well, that's your right, but I don't really see why you'd think that including a certain character in a game is done to shame the people who feel uncomfortable by it. Just because people on the internet are using a character to insult the people who are uncomfortable with said character, doesn't mean that's why those characters are included in a videogame.

I mean, the fact that it has no effect on the gameplay can be applied to any narrative and character aspect in a videogame. The main character being heterosexual doesn't affect the gameplay either. That's not an argument to leave certain characters out.

Anyway, I think it's very wrong that some people resort to insults and shaming when others express their discomfort with homosexual characters, but I also think that mere personal discomfort isn't enough to question a game's motives. I could go on and on about how uncomfortable I am with boob physics and ass/crotch shots, but they're there and it's something I'll have to deal with.

I am saying is that going out of their way to make the main character gay should not be done.

It has little affect on the narration of the game and does nothing to give depth to the characters as well.

As for the boob and the like, I find that not that bad but they can push you so far in the game. I mean the boob and the like is like .5 or 1 on the uncomfortable meter. Forcing to play a gay character can be much worse and can go much higher.

Again, the same goes for heterosexual characters. The only difference is that one makes you feel uncomfortable and the other doesn't. I still don't think that's enough to assume they're trying to force certain characters into a game just to make a few individuals feel uncomfortable. Also, it rarely happens that a main character can only be played as gay (and with male characters I wonder if it happens at all). I haven't played the Dragon Age games, but as far as I know it's still an option, not something you can't avoid. And I really don't think it's going to change that much in the future. So even if I was uncomfortable with gay main characters, the instances that it's actually explicitly forced on me seem negligible.

To give a more general example, any pursuit of romance in a videogame generally makes me feel uncomfortable. I often find it awkward, especially when there are kissing or sex scenes. That's partly because I don't find it particularly necessary to see that stuff, partly because there's often little narrative basis for a meaningful relationship between characters, and partly because I think most videogames do a terrible job of animating all that stuff convincingly. I think that in many cases the whole idea of romance is forced into a videogame, part of some stupid checklist of things that somehow have to be part of the experience, even though they really don't have to be. I could totally do without it. But how often am I really forced to go through all that romance and does it really affect the overall enjoyment of the game?

Well, for you, maybe. But not for me. Every time I see boob physics and crotch shots I feel like I'm being treated like a horny teenager. It's just as unnecessary (if not more so) as a character's sexual preference. I couldn't care less about the sexual preferences of main characters, though. Anyway, we all have our personal discomforts. In my case, I either avoid them or focus on all the content surrounding the few uncomfortable bits.

Ellie is not a "protagonist" , she is a side character that got a small DLC to a main game.

Also if that writer thought it was obvious he/she clearly needs to go back to school and learn how to write , because it´s pretty ambiguous and you could wonder why. Not to mention that a kiss between 2 kids does not make them gay.

A statement like this is ridiculous. There is no such thing as "going out of their way" to make a character gay. A character is whatever the story writer dictates the character should be. If a game writer makes a game about a gay main character, that doesn't mean they are pandering or they are trying to make "you" uncomfortable. It means they made a game about a gay character, just the same as if they made a game about a straight character. Whether or not the character being gay adds anything to the story depends on the -story-, not your particular view on homosexuality. Nobody is "forcing" you to play a gay character because not every game out there is made with you specifically in mind as the player. If the game makes you uncomfortable, don't play it.

-Byshop

I'm not actually sure why we need the sexual orientation of characters unless it's a sex sim.

@LJS9502_basic: But its not just sex. Its spending your life with your loved one and the challenges that presents.

It's easy to say "well, sexual orientation of the characters shouldn't make any difference to the game" but how many games out there have a heterosexual romance that's a huge part of the story, if not some love triangle between a male lead and two women?

Nearly every Final Fantasy game before 12 did as does nearly every other JRPG out there. It's such a staple of that genre that people actually notice when it's absent. The story in Uncharted focused heavily on the flirtatious relationship between Nolan North and Emliy Rose (and later Claudia Black as well). Every Quantic Dream game (Heavy Rain, Indigo Prophecy, Beyond: Two Souls) has a hetero relationship you can engage in and in some cases isn't optional.

Love interests are as common in games as they are in movies and tv shows. If you happen to be gay, then the vast majority of games force you down a particular story path that has you engage in a relationship that's the opposite of your orientation.

Put yourself in their shoes. Imagine if 95% of the games out there forced you down a homosexual relationship path with only a handful of those games even giving you an option for a heterosexual relationship, and every time a game comes out that -does- have a hetero lead then everyone goes mad on the forums yelling about how "SJWs are ruining gaming" and that the inclusion of a hetero character is just "pandering to the heterosexual demographic".

-Byshop

Damn dude you want to play romance sim?

Can't you be all gay in the sims?

@Jacanuk: Don't know why you continued a conversation that already met a conclusion_

1) My original post already acknowledged Ellie was the protagonist of "Left Behind"

2) You highlight quoted what me and @ojmstr posted and your response wasn't all that different from his. It's all speculation at this point on, if Ellie will continue to like girls in a sequel (already discussed)

An emotional kiss may mean very little in real life (to some) but in gaming and movies it's intended as character development by writers and creative staff. It's intented to show a characters sexuality. If this is considered invalid because they're kids? Then I guess the same can be said for any teenage videogame character that has kissed in general. Tidus and Yuna are young teenagers so that would be a good example.

My point being is, Ellies portrayal would be; she likes her own gender and has showed no interest in liking boys or men. Up until a sequel or other canon media indicates otherwise I will factually state Ellie is gay. Anything else is speculation. Just as Final Fantasy fans will state Tidus is straight.

She and Joel are the protagonists of TLoU by any definition of the term "protagonist". It literally means the main characters of the story who the audience is intended to be behind. Even if you're going by "playable" characters, she's playable for a significant chunk of the main campaign plus the DLC you mentioned.

-Byshop

Sjw's at it again!

If the game gives me the option my character is always gay / lesbian.

Sex and romance adds character depth and connection. It's good, it's why it's in so many movies. If we cut all romance from movies and focus only on the action bits, that'll be a bit rubbish wouldn't it. Games are catching up is all. I like it, I welcome it. 12 year old Call of Duty and Modern Warfare players might find it uncomfortable but they are still trying to come to terms with why they have just sprouted hair in their underpants.

Many characters in Front mission series was homosexual,some even has a crush on protagonists.

It really creep me out,was still a teenager back than.

Max Payne.

The relationship between him & Vlad was rather ambiguous

Alright, I will put myself in their shoes and then into the shoes of people that are uncomfortable with it which is a reasonable reaction to it. After reading a large number of comment insulting or other attack on people that find it uncomfortable with it, I think it is better and more respectful to just leave it as the most common type of relationship or not include it form the start.

AS for the story about male and female romance: "If the game makes <them> uncomfortable, don't play it."

Here's 50 lols, keep the change.

Probably half the male characters in final fantasy games are gay. And Cecil in FF4 was straight for half the game but became gay when he became a white knight, possibly gay with Kain.

I think Luigi from super mario is gay. I never seen him rescue any of his own princesses.

Why do you get uncomfortable playing as a gay character? Shouldn't we then be considerate of gay people who would feel uncomfortable playing as straight characters?

I thought it was Joel from The Last of Us who was gay, maybe im misinformed.

That is a poor question since it does not matter and no answer will not be good enough to stop other from attack a person until she is in tears.

I did not know that being considerate to gay that are uncomfortable playing as straight people to tell straight to shut up because they lesser humans.

Link from The Legend of Zelda. He never seems to want Zelda's fine ass.

(I'm joking. Don't kill me, plz.)