First, EA BioWare’s Mass Effect 3 had an expanded gay plot line, causing gamers to give the game a 38 user rating on Metacritic, a game the actual critics gave an 89. Then the same studio got hit by a letter-writing campaign from the Florida Family Association for including gay characters in Star Wars: The Old Republic. EA and Lucasfilm responded with a Yoda-endorsed counter-campaign on Allout.org. The cynics among us might first think this is really a reaction to EA’s disastrous PR snafu in being named by the Consumerist as the worst company in the world. As far as I can tell, that result had more to do with a clunky debut of Origin, and people getting upset it’s not Amazon. EA’s PR had a nice bit of perspective about that, commenting that BP, AIG, Philip Morris, and Halliburton must have been glad they weren’t nominated. Granted, EA can’t say too much, or they come off a little sour grapes. Well, I don’t work there anymore, and I can say pretty much what I want now. And here’s what I think of all this.
Here we have a large corporation actually doing the right thing. It’s supporting its own creative talent in moving our art form forward. Casey Hudson, executive producer of Mass Effect 3, is tremendously thoughtful and eloquent in explaining the gay story line in Mass Effect 3, speaking to how the deep simulation would break down for its conspicuous absences. And with Star Wars, EA now has a slightly less eloquent but perhaps more effective response, by puppeteering Yoda into a corporate gay rights activist. While some might sigh at this, and honestly a part of me does too, I mean that’s my Yoda, there’s a far bigger issue here than the rules around manipulating a puppet.
Homophobia is alive and well in our core gamer demographic. Teenage boys still use the word “gay” as a term of derision. That’s where the Florida Family Association actually gains traction to lower the user rating of a spectacular game. They’re playing off the still-present homophobia in vocal game customers. You hear it in voice chat in console multiplayer games too. As an industry, we back off from taking too strident a position, we want to engage since they’re our customers. Well, enough of this. Making this a dialogue just legitimizes their attitudes. For example, Kotaku put out a piece yesterday, titled “Star Wars Could Only be Gayer if They Gave the Millennium Falcon a Handlebar Moustache.” It tries to argue through humor that Star Wars already features homosexual characters, so the current objection is inaccurate on the merits. There’s two problems with this. First, it perpetuates broad stereotypes, and adopts the shorthand dismissiveness of the ignorant construction around the word “gay.” Put more simply, imagine if the title were “Star Wars Could Only be Blacker if…,” and the article were supported by anachronistic black stereotypes. You would then be pandering to racists who perpetuate a suppressive social dialogue. Second, arguing the merits implies that their point of view actually has merit. It does not. We should all instead adopt a zero-tolerance policy on intolerance, and ready the banhammer for anyone misusing the word “gay” on our blogs, forums, and networks.
Homophobia is just fucking wrong. Grow up, gamers. Evolve. For your own self-interest, nobody’s going to take you seriously if you keep up this bullshit. For the rest of us, you’re making us look really ridiculous. We can’t defend this industry from political muckraking with you making this ignorant racket off to the side. You’re keeping us in the toy box.
We are supposed to be an art form. We express ideas. We present stories that you help tell. No other medium in the history of our species has enabled this communal storytelling to this extent. It’s pretty extraordinary. We can push the political envelope like Star Trek did in the 1960s, and by putting the player in control, they see different perspectives directly and personally. And you get more sex and violence. Everyone loves that.
But finally, you need to realize that homosexuality is reality. It’s not in the closet, it’s really here and valid. It deserves to be out and in front. Nobody deserves to be shut in, and the world is finally opening up to accepting homosexuality. Gay marriage will be universal, as it should be. All your giggling, bible-thumping, and generally poor argumentation is just old now. Enough. The sooner you stop saying and thinking really ignorant things, the sooner we can all put it in the past, and move forward.
SF: I’ll agree that using the term “gay” derisively doesn’t speak particularly well for the user, but I’ve just accepted it as an evolution in language (much like our use of dumb, idiot and so forth). That’s a minor point. The broader point is something I deeply agree with. More than anything, I want video games to present compelling worlds, and I really dislike the idea that these universes would lose depth for the sake of a vocal prejudiced minority. I get that there are moral attachments that a person may not be willing to forsake for a game, but I gotta be honest: why are you playing a game devoted to murderous mayhem across galaxies anyways? It always seemed like the various good books spilt a lot more ink on the crime of killing a man as opposed to banging him. Shit, they put the killing bit in stone on the mountain top.
I think this is a broader issue we have to accept as games have become “democratized.” When games became for everyone, frat bros included, we lost a bit of the nerdy outcast credibility that would have allowed things like a gay Shepard to slide by relatively unnoticed. I don’t expect the people to change any time soon, but I certainly hope games don’t buckle under the pressure and begin pandering. Thankfully, EA took the high road on this one.
Very well-said, gentlemen. I am enjoying this blog immensely.
Wow, thank you Jen! Very thoughtful of you to say. We really enjoy writing the blog, and in this case, both of us felt that something needed to be said.
I think we’re seeing a “final battle” of sorts before we see a resolution. Thankfully it’s not has violent has it has been for past issues (though I certainly don’t want to discount the terrible things that have happened).
I think things have been getting better in gaming, but it might just be because I’m not playing the “right” games. I haven’t played a CoD game since 2005. However, I don’t hear homophobic language very often in the games I do play, even Halo.
Shawn, I think there are a couple problems with your response. I understand your point about comparing “gay” to other words, but I don’t think it’s helpful. We’re not at all removed from meaning of “gay”, whereas I doubt most people today know the etymology of “dumb” or especially “idiot”. If you were playing a game with a group of friends, and one of them was gay, don’t you think it would at least be awkward, if not offensive, if somebody dropped the flag and someone said, “That was so gay!”? Don’t tell people this acceptable.
And then on the other hand, please don’t ever use that argument about the Bible and homosexuality and violence with an actual religious person. It sounds cute, but insults his intelligence, and you can’t have an honest discussion like that.
Also, if by “nerdy outcast credibility”, you mean that 10-20 years ago, a major game like Mass Effect could have gay character and the larger mainstream media would not take notice, maybe that would be true. If you also mean that gamers would by and large be accepting, I really don’t think so.
Oops I lost my post and had to retype it, and there’s a part I forgot to include.
The thing I was saying about the “final battle” (I know that that’s sort of a stupid way to put it) is that I think this kind of thing is necessary; it has to happen before things like gay marriage and GayShep become acceptable. It might seem stupid to put those two things in the same sentence, but in some ways, I think acceptance in cultural forms is more important than a legal right on paper.
Thanks for taking the time to write that out Olan — I hope you’ll keep commenting like this. I’m sort of spoling for a debate, so I’ve put my response below.
I’m a pragmatist on the language front. When people use the term “gay” in the midst of a game, I often think there is no thought to the broader implications on the sexuality front. It’s their short hand for “lame”. I would agree we are less removed from the meaning than in situations like “dumb” but language evolves over time and I don’t think this is a winnable fight. It’s become common parlance. Maybe it will fade, and I hope it does.
I also have to confess to some insensitivity on this front. I don’t really know what it’s like to be targeted on the basis of an immutable characteristic, so it’s tough for me to argue persuasively that this shouldn’t be a big deal. I have a general distaste for the entire behavior, but it doesn’t rise to the point of advocacy on my part. I generally reserve that for things like the right to marriage equality, which I think is a fight worth having.
I’m honestly not bothered by my view on the religion front. If someone wants to have the debate, I’d welcome it. I do think there is an inherent contradiction when a person think it’s acceptable to engage in violent warfare as a pass time but objects specifically to the depiction of a homosexual relationship. I am sure there are many reasons why this isn’t a problem, and I would like to hear them.
By nerd credibility I mean more that gamers used to be a society of outcasts. I remember my old AD&D game being populated by all manner of folks on very atypical walks through life. We once had a gay thief in one of our groups — it was commented on, but in a way that didn’t draw lines in the sand. I’m not sure if gamers of yore are of the same ilk as those I see dropping all manner of vitriol on me over XBox Live.
I can agree with the fact that neither you or I can do much about the evolving meaning of a word.
I don’t want to start a theological debate, but I do want to point out why your argument about a simple contradiction will not help in a discussion with a Christian, for example. You are basically saying, “Look, the contradiction is so obvious. You can’t see it, so you must be incredibly stupid.” Even if you do believe that, it’s not constructive. Is it your responsibilitiy to be the constructive one fostering change? Maybe not, but I would certianly like to make the world a nicer place.
The reason the homosexuality debate is a stumbling block for Christians is that the Bible is so apparently unequivocal about it. Most quoted is Leviticus 18:22, which calls homosexuality “detestable” or an “abomination”. Violence on the other hand, has more shades. That’s why I don’t think the contradiction argument works in this case. Most modern translations of the Ten Commandments read, “Though shalt not murder,” not “kill”. And of course, there are all kinds of other examples in the Bible of killing and fighting that are either presented as rightous or necessary for the situation. However, even homosexuality in the Bible is up for some liberal interpretation. I thinking getting into that though would shoot us off on a tangent. My original point is that most practicing Christians believe that the Bible is unequivocal about homosexuality never being okay. Saying that killing men and bedding men are the same sin won’t convince Christian gamers that they’re living a contradiction because that’s not what they believe.
I think the same argument about “gay” as a derisive term (that the fight has already been lost on that one) could have been made about “the n word” about 70 years ago. It was so pervasive, why bother fighting it?
Even if it takes 70 years, I think this is a fight worth having.
Shawn, I hate to say it buddy, but Olan and Wendy are right. It really is a fight worth having. If we don’t stand up and speak, we reinforce the status quo with our silence.
I’m certainly inclined to speak, but I’m pretty specific on the areas where I concentrate my advocacy. Waging a flame war with some ingrate on Xbox live isn’t going to change any minds; just alienate people. I’d prefer to focus time and resources on specific attacks on central issues. Pushing against government encroachment on marriage equality is a primary interest, battling clowns on Xbox isn’t.
I don’t second guess people who want to handle the subject differently, but they’ve made a different assessment of the value of certain fights.
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