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Can we pinpoint to a game/franchise that has helped expand gaming to LGBT+ and Minorities audience like we did for women and casuals? Is it Necessary?

Believe me I tried to convey a shorter question. Here we go. Let's keep it civil of course.


Tetris and Animal Crossing. It is quite known that these 2 franchises, though not specifically designed for, have helped bring women to gaming. On the contrary, we do have games like Candy Crush that were designed to target a female audience. Bare with me here..

We also have games like Wii Sport and Brain Age that till this day still have elderly people play in retirement home. These games helped expanded gaming to a 65+ causal market.

But today in gaming there is a new "metric", a market that wants diversity, acceptance of sexuality and gender well beyond male and female.

So with that, has there been a game, franchise or series that has appealed to LGBT+ and or Minorities..:
  1. without being specifically designed for (this new market audience)? or
  2. ...designed to target these market directly?

And If not, are we as gamers and developers still trying to find and build such a game?

And if all of this is irrelevant, is it even..... Necessary? Though I feel there should be more diversity in gaming narrative, I don't think the gaming industry needs an "Animal Crossing for LGBT+" or "Black Tetris" but it sometimes feels like the industry is pursuing that.
 

Tschumi

Member
I guess TLOU2 could be said to have helped the cause of such groups. I mean, in certain places opprobrium has been practically universal about that uppity lezzo who hijacked the plot and killed off hunky mchunkerhunk etc, but what the game has achieved is a degree of discussion not before seen. It's in the minds of people now, granted heaps of those people are rabidly against it~ that's a start.

Look back in time. There was a time when this kind of stuff happened for all sorts of initially awkward social phenomena that are now mainstream. Things take time, but i guess this time 5 years from now the OSFRH (outrage squad for the rights of heteros) will have morphed to fit a new controversy.

I for one don't give a poodle if the 3d sprites entertaining me match or mismatch my sexual orientation. I don't feel like some invisible hand is trying to gay me up. I mean, come on, this whole narrative has happened in the public realm already, decades ago.. gaming will catch up.
 
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Woo-Fu

Banned
If you like to game you like to game. You don't need a game featuring your life story to suddenly figure that out.

Every fighting game tournament I see is populated predominantly by persons of color. Is it because some fighting game back in the 8-bit era had one or more characters that weren't heterosexual white males? I somehow doubt it.

As far as female gaming goes, society has been telling them forever that they have better/more important things to do with their time. That's why they're under-represented. It is culture, not the games themselves.
 

Nymphae

Banned
I can see trying to appeal to older people and minorities to a degree, but why would such a small percentage of people (LGBT) need to be catered to? Doesn't seem like much of a market to expand into, despite the percentage of tweets and media coverage they take up. Make good gameplay and people who like games should be interested.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
packshot-1abc95bbe0f589bb4d9a4d86f05ec14c.jpg
 

Umbral

Member
Sex is binary and is so highly correlated with gender that it’s damn near causal. To chase “gender” outside of male and female is to chase a mirage.

Make a good game that you want to make. Market it.

Less concern about conveying a message, more concern about moving units.
 

ACESHIGH

Banned
This thread would be better on the other forum. I don't think that such a small and loud minority needs to be catered to. Why don't they try to cater to low income regions such as Latam or Africa? Sony could offer regional prices for a start.
 
I don't understand your post at all. Video games are for all people. Are you saying that games should pander to specific crowds? If so, bleh.
OP you are gonna find out shortly GAF is not the place to post this lol. May i suggest Reddit or reset era :)
This thread would be better on the other forum. I don't think that such a small and loud minority needs to be catered to. Why don't they try to cater to low income regions such as Latam or Africa? Sony could offer regional prices for a start.
I really wish people would go to resetera for this kind of bs.


I'm with you all and I get it ...which is why im posting it here. In my opinion, I feel that there IS a pandering going on in gaming and that there is this growing agenda to build a metrics that isn't necessary. I'm more so asking, if this is the case, to pursue this, what examples do we have if any.

How would Black Tetris play OP?


Gentrified
 

Ten_Fold

Member
TLOUS2 probably is the one that comes to mind and that volcano high game. Black people like me play games that’s fun first I don’t care what the character look like as long as the game is fun. Honestly why do people care what race or gender a character is? Seems silly.
 
ANY GOOD GAME

BECAUSE good games don't need to hold a fucking flag for anything. They just need to be FUN.

This idea that it needs to be "pro this" or "pro that" is just SJW bullshit coming from people that don't even play games.


Exactly! This is the correct answer! However, we play in an industry that wants to pander to a selective few... many in fact. Because making good games isn't enough for some reason.
 
Its very simple. If you are gay/lesbian, LGBT, minority and whatever else. Go to school, study hard, learn to code and make your own game company and game that you think is missing. So many studios proudly present their LGBT developers etc but all it comes down to is "this is a safe palce for you to work at" but i never see all those developers trying to make those games, instead its still about violence and action and guns blazing. You can not complain why someone else didnt make the game you wanted. For example im a straight white male, im never gonna make a game about a black gay protagonist. Not because im against any of those but just my life, my thought process is not down that road. Thast why I found it laughable when Kingdom Come was getting flack for not having black people in the game. Its a game made at a specific time period from a specific region, THERE WERE NO BLACK PEOPLE there. To this day in my country I can maybe count on both of my hands how many african americans I see walking down the street.
 
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If you want more diversity in genre then proliferate more genre diversity. More simulation games, more "weird" games like LSD: Dream Simulator or Cosmology of Kyoto, more rhythm games, more point-and-click adventure games, more 4X games etc. at the AA and AAA level.
Just talking in general regardless of scale or budget there's more diversity in gaming today than there's ever been, both in terms of genre diversity (which is what I care about) and player diversity along personality, gender and racial definitions. Especially once you factor in mobile gaming, too.

There's no real way you can necessarily develop games that appeal to specific gender or racial groups of people. Even if you think you can, you will always have a big range of exceptions. Some girl gamers may be more inclined to puzzle games than guys, but not all girls are. In fact a lot of JRPG fans tend to be women, same was the case for point-and-click games back in the day.

How exactly do you even try making a game supposedly aimed at black people? Black Panther? A lot of black people didn't even really like the movie (or didn't worship it as the second coming anyway). GTA? Well you can certainly design a game like that around hood culture but hood culture only applies to some black people, not all. Even then it differs from place to place and some would argue you wouldn't be developing a game reflective of any legitimate culture in that case (as in, "hood" culture is probably something that's been explicitly Americanized; a Jamaican, Guyanese or Somalian person would refer to their own ethnic nationality as their culture, not some monolithic Americanized grouping term that carries its own bulk of negative connotations not reflective of their specific cultures).

All the same, how do you design a game aimed at Asians? Some would probably say Ghosts of Tsushima is such a game, but that's specifically Japanese. So maybe it connects with Japanese players but Vietnamese or Filipino players won't care for it in that way because their culture's not the same as Japan's. Again, it's not really something you can do because you end up generalizing way too broadly.

Games should just focus on the natural things that are universally shared among various cultures around the world, which are almost always morals and values that you'd find being consistent among most any culture on the planet. As long as those make up the core of you game's narrative story themes then you have a good chance of your game appealing to anyone whose personality meshes with thematic elements of the game, regardless of that person's gender or ethnicity or religion, or sexuality.

I get that there are some types of games that just seem to tend attracting some folks moreso than others (fighting games drawing in more guys than girls naturally, for example), but these are things seen at most on gender lines and not even as reliable absolutes. It's probably best to not try designing games to appeal specifically to some type of group based on immutable traits because that doesn't get you anywhere. If on the other hand you wanted to make a metal-themed game (like Guilty Gear) or some hip-hop themed action-sports game (NBA Street), then you'd be doing yourself a much better favor and not potentially shutting out people simply because they have or don't have certain genitalia, or have a certain skin color.
 
CyberPunk says, olla Amigos muchachos.

This game will reach all kinds of heights in the media world. I just want this joint uncut and rated M in 🇺🇸 🙏🤝

GOAT of the Decade.
 

Aladin

Member
There were gay, lesbian, transgender, bi-racial people in the ancient world. It is not quite visible in recorded history. Whether it is sci-fi or historical set-piece game, diversity should be there.
 

Sgt.Asher

Member
No it's not necessary. If LGBT or minorities want a game they'll buy it regardless of diversity. Just look at the absurd sales for GTAV, a game with an all white hetero cast. Just make a good product.
 

NikuNashi

Member
Simple answer, even if a game developer was crazy enough to tailor a game to an absolutely tiny minority of people the publisher or whoever was funding it wouldn't be stupid enough to. It would be financial suicide.
 

Shmunter

Member
Race, sexual preference, height, weight, hair cut, etc, have nothing to do with enjoying video games. Or any entertainment.

Identify politics be a scam for political power.
 

tsumake

Member
I can see trying to appeal to older people and minorities to a degree, but why would such a small percentage of people (LGBT) need to be catered to? Doesn't seem like much of a market to expand into, despite the percentage of tweets and media coverage they take up. Make good gameplay and people who like games should be interested.


AWfDRSj.jpg
 

93xfan

Banned
As someone who identifies as a 500 ton lizard, I feel Godzilla games have gotten pretty close. If it wasn’t for Rampage, I might never have gotten into gaming.
 

DogofWar

Member
Doom was a great game that really helped highlight the fragility of white masculinity in how Doomguy treats all demon-aliens bad. He never even speaks to them, definitely calling out white toxic alienphobic masculinity.

So I'd say that was the first one. Also how the two Barons of Hell in the first episode lived together showed that hell had no heteronormative family-norms. Id was really ahead of their time.
 

ShinNL

Member
I didn't know current games were gated for LGBT and minorities.

Anyone who has been to any fighting tournaments will notice that color has no meaning when it comes to games. It's probably already relatively more popular for minorities (providing an escape) than non-minorities.

This is like trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist.
 

Damigos

Member
Stupid thread.
I am tired of listening about LGBTQ politics problems in gaming.
Gaming is a MEDIUM, like books and movies. You will see LGBTQ-friendly games, or men macho macho or girl friendly games.
And everyone can play whatever..I enjoy playing DOOM as well as Life is Strange (gay friendly etc).
The problem nowadays is when trying to make a game specifically FOR LGBTQ or whatever.
Taking art and vision away JUST to having another political tick.
Make good games, follow your visions developers. Ignore everything else. You are making art and good art sells. Trying to include "everyone" doesnt sell to anyone
 

ExKing

says GAF is a racist board but still wants to be a part of it...
Not sure I get your point OP ? I don't think the issue is games that attract people from the LGBT community or minorities .

The issue is the lack of representation of those people in gaming. For example the lack of people of colour as main is a problem. That's why to see to see black main character in Deathloop is refreshing but still not enough...
 

brap

Banned
Not sure I get your point OP ? I don't think the issue is games that attract people from the LGBT community or minorities .

The issue is the lack of representation of those people in gaming. For example the lack of people of colour as main is a problem. That's why to see to see black main character in Deathloop is refreshing but still not enough...
Nothing will ever be enough for you people.
 
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