Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) characters have been depicted in video games since the 1980s. Throughout the history of video games, LGBTQ characters have been almost nonexistent for a long time, reflecting the overall heteronormativity of the medium. While there has been a trend towards greater representation of LGBTQ people in video games, they are frequently identified as LGBTQ in secondary material, such as comics, rather than in the games themselves. Often, LGBTQ characters and themes, when they are included, are underrepresented, minimized, or watered down. Queer games and characters have also often found themselves being the subjects of cultural crossfires or moral panics. In 2018, Sam Greer of GamesRadar+ found only 179 games commercially released games with any LGBTQ representation, only 83 of which have queer characters who are playable characters, and only 8 of those games feature a main character who is pre-written as queer as opposed to them being queer as an option.
LGBT stereotypes are stereotypes about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ) people based on their sexual orientations, gender identities, or gender expressions. Stereotypical perceptions may be acquired through interactions with parents, teachers, peers and mass media, or, more generally, through a lack of firsthand familiarity, resulting in an increased reliance on generalizations.
Homophobia in ethnic minority communities is any negative prejudice or form of discrimination in ethnic minority communities worldwide towards people who identify as–or are perceived as being–lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT), known as homophobia. This may be expressed as antipathy, contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, irrational fear, and is sometimes related to religious beliefs. A 2006 study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in the UK found that while religion can have a positive function in many LGB Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities, it can also play a role in supporting homophobia.
Yandere Simulator is an in-development stealth action video game by American game developer Alex Mahan, better known online as YandereDev. The game centers upon an obsessively lovesick schoolgirl named Ayano Aishi, nicknamed "Yandere-chan", who has taken it upon herself to eliminate anyone she believes is attracting her "senpai's" attention.
itch.io is a website for users to host, sell and download indie video games, indie role-playing games, game assets, comics, zines and music. Launched in March 2013 by Leaf Corcoran, the service hosts over 700,000 products as of April 2023.
Nina Marie Freeman is an American video game designer known for her games with themes of sexuality and self-reflection. A former game designer at Fullbright, she developed and published numerous video games and is a co-founder of the Code Liberation Foundation, a non-for-profit organization that makes an effort to diversify employment within STEAM fields.
The Republia Times is a free-to-play indie browser video game created by Lucas Pope, released in April 2012. In the game, the player takes the role of the editor of a newspaper torn between personal opposition to the government and threats to the lives of the editor's wife and children if the editor does not generate loyalty among the population.
VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action is a 2016 visual novel developed by Venezuelan studio Sukeban Games and published by Ysbryd Games. The game was initially released for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux on June 21, 2016, and ports were later released for PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch, with the Vita port developed by Wolfgame and published by Limited Run Games. The game puts the player in the role of a bartender at the eponymous VA-11 Hall-A, a small bar in a dystopian downtown which attracts interesting customers. Gameplay revolves around making and serving drinks to patrons while listening to their life stories.
One Night Stand is a visual novel video game developed by Kinmoku. Players take the role of a man who wakes up from a drunken one-night stand beside a stranger and must piece together the events of the previous night. It was based on a free game Kinmoku wrote for a game jam at itch.io. One Night Stand was released for PC in 2016, and Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2019.
We Know the Devil is a visual novel developed and published by Date Nighto. It was released on September 12, 2015 for Microsoft Windows and MacOS, before receiving a Steam release on February 15, 2016. On July 4, 2016, a separate art book titled, "The Art of We Know the Devil," was published on itch.io by game artist Max Schwartz, followed by a March 19, 2017, itch.io release of the game, this time with a free supplementary demo serving the purpose of a prequel.
Tracks – The Train Set Game, commonly referred to as Tracks, is an indie simulation video game developed by British indie studio Whoop Games and published by Excalibur Publishing for Microsoft Windows. Originally released onto Itch.io in February 2017, the game was added to Steam's Early Access program in September. Tracks – The Train Set Game sees the player build a wooden toy train track. The video game was fully released on 11 October 2019.
Butterfly Soup is a visual novel developed by Brianna Lei and published in September 2017 for Windows, macOS, and Linux. The game has the player follow the perspectives of four LGBT Asian-American girls in Fremont, California, alternating between their first year of high school in 2008 and when they were young children. The coming-of-age story shows them as they join a baseball club and centers on the romance between the main character, Diya, and her friend Min.
Nicky Case is a Canadian indie game developer, web designer, and critical theorist. They have developed interactive websites and online video games such as Coming Out Simulator, Explorable Explanations, We Become What We Behold and Parable of the Polygons. Case's works are characterized by their recurring goal to "help people understand complex systems", presenting dilemmas and potential resolutions in a philosophical manner. Case has also collaborated with theorists and academics such as Stefano Gualeni, Vi Hart and Bret Victor.
Game Maker's Toolkit (GMTK) is a video game analysis video series created by British journalist Mark Brown. Beginning in 2014, the series examines video game design and aims to encourage developers to improve their craft. It is hosted on YouTube and funded via Patreon.
Juno Morrow is an American multidisciplinary artist, independent game designer, educator, and photographer whose work often deals with existential and ontological themes. Morrow received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Houston in 2009 and her Master of Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design in 2015. She is an assistant professor of game design at Eugenio María de Hostos Community College of the City University of New York.
Fortune-499 is a role-playing video game in which the player takes on the role of an oracle working in the "magical resources" department of an unnamed corporation, and has to prevent an acquisition by monsters after the company makes an initial public offering. In-game combat is card-based and takes the form of rock paper scissors matches. The game was initially released for Windows in February 2018.
Patrick's Parabox is a puzzle video game created by indie developer Patrick Traynor. Originating as a short demo built in 2020, the game was expanded and released on 29 March 2022 for PC, followed by a release on the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5 on 26 July 2023. The game centers around playing with infinity and recursion by pushing boxes into and out of other boxes, sometimes in and out of itself, in order to win the level by putting boxes into their spaces.
Butterfly Soup 2 is a visual novel developed by Brianna Lei and published in October 2022 for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It is the sequel to the 2017 Butterfly Soup, and begins shortly after the conclusion of the first game. It has the player follow the perspectives of four LGBT Asian-American girls in Fremont, California, alternating between their first year of high school in 2009 and when they were young children. The coming-of-age story centers on the romance between Akarsha and her friend Noelle, their struggles with their parents' expectations and influence, and their experiences as second-generation immigrants.
Zagreus is the protagonist of the 2020 video game Hades. He is based on the mythological figure of the same name, used due to Greg Kasavin viewing him as a good fit for the repetitive nature of a roguelike game due to his story of attempting to leave the Underworld and his father Hades. His design was intentionally made to be attractive, with artist Jen Zee wanting to stay true to classical tradition, such as the ideas of heroic nudity in Ancient Greece culture.
Tusks: The Orc Dating Sim is a 2018 visual novel and dating simulator by Scottish independent developer Mitch Alexander. The game sees the player accompanying and romancing a band of travelling orcs. First published in 2015 for a game jam, Alexander based the design of the game on his native Scotland and his own experiences, with a desire for the game to subvert queer stereotypes by deconstructing the orc archetype in fantasy literature. Tusks received attention from several publications upon the release of its demo, with critics praising the inclusive design of diverse body types in a dating simulator game, and the relevance of its themes characterisation to broader queer experiences and identities.
