Leaderboard

On a thread about the TLOU HBO show, @Crazycrab and I were talking about Ellie’s orientation (because another member brought it up). We both think that Ellie is a great LGBTQA+ portrayal because the matter is treated as entirely irrelevant in the game. There are so many actually important things for the characters to be hung up about (like infected and assholes everywhere) to bother getting hung up over something as irrelevant as Ellie’s orientation. Which is as it should be in an ideal world. Of course, we don’t live in an ideal world where people expend their anger and intolerance on things that are actually a threat to their lives, so I think stories that reflect that also are important. So, a contrasting LGBTQA+ portrayal which I also like is Dorian in Dragon Age: Inquisition. DA always seems to feature a diverse set of characters, which I really appreciate. Dorian’s orientation caused him issues back in Tevinter, and those are front and central in his mind. Being as that is a familiar experience for a lot of LGBTQA+ people, exploring it seemed worthy to me. Beyond that, Dorian is just awesome all around. A lot of characters in DA are LGBTQA+. Some, like Dorian, have struggled because of it. Others don’t even bring it up. They’re just available or they’re not, depending on whether your character is male or female. What LGBTQA+ portrayals have you liked most in games, and why?

It's not a can't let go thing, it's a don't want to let go. I enjoy playing the old games. A hell of a lot more than anything new. Old games were unique. New games are all carbon copy sequels. There is no originality in the games of today. That's why we play games that are 20+ years old. We don't like the new stuff, and we always liked the old stuff. There is no reason to give up something you enjoy just because it's old. I listen to 80's metal. It's the era I grew up in. I loved the music then, and I still love it now. Why should I stop listening to it?

I feel like I've got little to say now as Ellie and Dorian are the two that come to mind for me as well. Dorian is very noble, courageous and, whilst he's obviously been tormented and exiled as a result of sexuality, he still retains a kind of pride and focus and that's makes him a very admirable and selfless hero. There's other LGBTQ characters in the game obviously, but he stands out for me because as he undeniably he wears his sexuality and how it affects his life on his sleeve, but you ultimately come to admire him not because he's deals with his sexuality with that aforementioned pride and courage, but because he deals with everything with that pride and courage. Gay or not, a good buy, but being gay may have shaped him into an even better guy in the end and that's a very positive message. Ellie is quite different. She's more down to earth and relatable, but no less admirable and that was achieved through imperfection. She's very rude, stubborn and foul-mouthed. Despite that, she's also the kind of character that somebody in the closet can observe and look up to. As I think @Crazycrab pointed out in the other thread, the main story on TLOU didn't focus on nor even define Ellie's sexuality at all and instead focused on the father daughter like bond forming between her and Joel and didn't go onto her sexuality until the Left Behind DLC and that's good because it let us bond with Ellie in a similar way Joel did. This made us care about her to the point that we didn't care about her sexuality much at all. We were surprised perhaps, but not bothered and willing to support her, and that's they way it should be when somebody comes to somebody close to you coming out. That's a very different, but equally positive message as Dorian.

I’ve never actually played a game that even came near the subject. The LGBTQA+ community hasn’t been part of any games that I was even aware of. But I think it’s a great idea to see more games like that. As long as they’re not the villains all the damn time.