Week 5 Review

Amanda Torres

Prof. Charlie Williams III

IS - Texture and Lighting

3/22/2014

 

"Practical advice about queer characters in games" By Leigh Alexander

 

In this article the author goes into detail about LGBT characters surfacing in games and how the culture approaches the social issue.  A few designers in the article mention that adding in these types of character can be difficult, because if it is not presented in the right way, it can come off a tokenistic instead of diverse. It's also very hard for designers to add in these character without using stereotypes to portray them. But portraying a LGBT individual is becoming harder as the as the issue of "queerness" has been evolving over the years. 

 

Todd Harp, a MIT Reseacrher and expert in eSports, adds that its important to create something you believe others will care about or feel for. If making something that others care about doesn't interest you, than perhaps this is the right industry for you. Since games are considered culture and culture is defined by what people care about or believe in, there must be a certain amount of empathy. He goes on to say that empathy is a muscle that must be used in order to be strenghtened so you have to be concerned with creating something that will matter to someone other than yourself.

Another tip given out by a different designer was to avoid total exclusion just because they were afraid that that one character would become a token. The designer suggests that by doing this, that other designers are shying away from opportunities to add the conversation or to the community as a whole. In the end its still a tricky road to travel when deciding on character genders and relationships, but many designers are trying new things in order to create a more inclusive space for all gamers of every gender and sexuality.