Kevin VanOrd GuestSpotter	Now Playing: Rise of Nations, Star Wars Galaxies, Animal Crossing, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault

Gaming: The Not-So-Straight Truth

Much brouhaha has been made in recent years over women in gaming, and it's all for the better. Women have been an integral part of gaming, in no small part because of games like Pac-Man, which brought women to the arcades, and The Sims, which boasts an enormous female player contingent. Gamers should be thrilled--the more gamers, the better, and the gaming community has long ignored the fairer sex as a viable part of video and computer games.

However, in my own personal experience, hardcore gamers seem notoriously narrow-minded when it comes to issues of race, gender, and sexuality, and even limited acceptance of women into the gaming scene has been an uphill battle. However, a quick keyword search on Google will undoubtedly reveal the biggest taboo in the gaming community: gay gamers.

There are a lot of us, mind you. I have been gaming since I owned my Commodore Vic-20 and Atari 2600, and I won't be stopping anytime soon. I have several friends who happen to be gamers and gay, and their favorite games range from Counter-Strike to Morrowind and everything in between. I correspond regularly with an editor of a major gaming publication who is gay. That fact may shock some but come as no surprise to others: Gay people do the same things straight people do. Really. We eat, sleep, work, and yes, some of us play games too. Amazing, isn't it?

We can't all dance.

Yet a quick scouring of Internet message boards and forums, including GameSpot's, reveals a plethora of less-than-kind comments about gay people. From the constant use of the word "gay" as a synonym for "stupid" or "lame," to some very harsh gay-bashing using words I don't care to type here, the prevalent attitude towards gays isn't hard to find. The anonymity of the Internet certainly contributes to an individual's willingness to express these thoughts, but the fact is, the viewpoint is there. Does this bother me? Sure it does. But I like to play games, and that means I have to get over it.

But we make great games!

The games themselves are rarely the problem. Developers are smart: Gay people generally have a lot of disposable income. The Sims makes it possible for two people of the same sex to fall in love, move in together, and have a child; one of the television commercials for the Hot Date expansion had a gay theme. Clive Barker's Undying was a critical success, and it may surprise some to learn that Clive is quite out of the closet. The Longest Journey featured a lesbian character, and MGS2's Vamp is bisexual. Even so, while games rarely gay-bash, another Internet search will reveal to you that apart from the aforementioned characters (and a few Deer Hunter-type clichés), there are virtually no positive gay role-models in games. Of course, I do have my suspicions: Lara Croft drives a jeep, after all, and Tom Nook walks around with nothing on but an apron...and is it just me, or does Mario look like the missing member of The Village People?

The scene isn't likely to change soon. Ultimately, I love games for their sake and don't look for personal validation from them. But remember next time you are crushed in UT deathmatch or fall a few notches on the Warcraft III ladder: The person that defeated you may have been a gay gamer. Our wrists aren't as limp as you thought!