The Advocate: Are Video Games Getting Gayer?

Well, it seems 50% (or more) of my posts these days promote articles I've written for The Advocate. Sorry about that. The good news is that I plan to post much more frequently from now on - which should mean that self-aggrandizing additions such as these should be fewer and farther between.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand: the article I wrote for The Advocate. The headline - "Are Video Games Getting Gayer?" - says it all, I think. My answer to that question apes the answer given by the folks I interviewed for the article: Sure, but they still have a long way to go.

For example, Brenda Brathwaite, a veteran game designer and the author of Sex in Video Games, told me that while video games have grown up a lot in the last few years, “we still haven’t seen the kind of normalization [of LGBT characters and story lines] that we’ve seen in movies and on TV for some time. We still haven’t had our Brokeback Mountain moment.”

Don't expect that to happen until more members of the LGBT community involve themselves in game design and development, she adds. In the meantime, “a bunch of straight guys will be trying to make games for the gay community, just like they used to try to make games for women.”

Here's a link to the full article - http://www2.advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ektid107493.asp - in case anyone's interested.

The Advocate: Apple's Gay Poster Boy

The Advocate published another of my articles on its website today, this one about Steve Demeter, the guy behind the hugely popular iPhone game, Trism.

I had a great time talking with Demeter for this article, with the following being my favorite part of the conversation:

“I’m totally out in my private life, but I’m not sure about being out professionally. I’m not worried about a backlash or anything like that, I’m just not sure that my being gay has anything to do with my business and the kinds of games we’re creating. It’s not like we’re making ‘gay’ games.

“I’m proud of the fact that I’m gay and that some of the guys who work with me are gay, but at the end of the day all that matters is that we put stuff out there that’s high-quality and that makes people happy.”

Read the article in its entirety here.

The Advocate: Microsoft Tries to Mend Rift With "Gaymers"

Yesterday, The Advocate published (on its website) an article I wrote about Microsoft's policy of suspending the Xbox Live accounts of gamers who include "gay" or "lesbian" in their gamertags or profiles.

Read the article here: http://www.advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ektid75481.asp

Money quote: Stephen Toulouse, program manager for policy and enforcement on Xbox Live, told me, “We have heard clearly that customers want the ability to self-identify [and] it's our job to provide this in a way that cannot be misused.”

Unfortunately, Toulouse wouldn't say how or when Microsoft will provide that ability to LGBT gamers, but acknowledging a problem is the first step to solving it, right?

The Advocate discusses Queer Power (the video game)

The latest issue of The Advocate (with the lovely Rebecca Romijn on the cover) features not one but two short articles on gay gaming--and they're both on the same page!

For starters, Atlanta's "Fruit Brute," proprietor of Gaygamer.net, does the Q&A thing for writer Morgan Kroll. Just below that is an article I wrote about the Internet-based game, Queer Power, a hilariously nasty little fighter in the vein of Street Fighter II.

Here's a link to my article, if you don't happen to subscribe to or regularly purchase The Advocate.