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LGBT characters in video games
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The following is a list of confirmed video games with gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender characters, including any others falling under the LGBT umbrella term. The numbers in this list are possibly higher due to fact that some characters remained unconfirmed, unsourced or controversial.
History
During the 1980s, characters that can be argued as identifying as LGBTQ+ were rarely shown in a realistic or non-stereotypical context and were often the objects of ridicule or jokes.[1]
In the 1990s, games (often Japanese ones) continued to use stereotypical LGBT characters which did not reflect the diversity in LGBT communities. However, more efforts were found to make more diverse and less one-dimensional characters.[2]
In 2018, GamesRadar's Sam Greer found 179 games with any LGBT representation.[3] Of those 179 games, only 83 have queer characters who are playable characters. And of those, only eight feature a main character who is explicitly pre-written as queer as opposed to them being queer as a character creation option.
In 2024, GLAAD found that under 2% of digitally-distributed games for PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo consoles were noted by their respective companies as having LGBT content, and under 2.5% of Steam games were tagged as LGBT.[4]
1980s
| Year | Title | Character(s) | Classification | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Le crime du parking | Paco | Gay | The culprit in the murder mystery is revealed to be the tailor, Paco, who is gay and deals drugs.[5] |
| 1985 | Le mur de Berlin va sauter | Carlus | Gay | The main antagonist and left-wing terrorist Carlos, who wants to blow up the Berlin Wall, is gay and a lot of the action is spent in gay nightclubs and public baths.[6] |
| 1986 | Moonmist | Vivien Pentreath | Lesbian | In one of the possible storylines it is revealed that Vivien, a friend of Lord Jack, was in a relationship with his former fiancée Deirdre—before her apparent suicide—and was jealous that she chose Lord Jack over her.[7][8] |
| Deirdre Hallam | Bisexual woman | |||
| 1988 | Caper in the Castro | Tracker McDyke | Lesbian | A murder mystery problem solving game for Apple Mac computers written in the HyperCard language, distributed on underground gay bulletin boards, starring the lesbian detective Tracker McDyke. C. M. Ralph, who wrote the game, later released a straightwashed version called "Murder on Main Street" and published by Heizer Software.[9][10] |
| Tessy LaFemme | Gay/Drag Queen | |||
| 1989 | Circuit's Edge | Yasmin | Trans woman | The game features a transgender woman named Yasmin alleged to be the player character's former lover, and a gay man named Saied.[11][12] |
| Saied | Gay | |||
| 1989 | Phantasy Star II | Usvestia | Gay | Usvestia will teach the MUSIK piano technique needed to progress in the game more cheaply to male characters because they "look cute".[13] In the English version, he instead says "He looks smart," and the gender-based disparity is left unexplained.[14] |
| 1989 | Leisure Suit Larry III: Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals | Kalalau | Bisexual | Kalalau, a character from the previous game, is married to Larry, but dumps him at the start of the game for another woman, Bobbi.[15][16] |
| Bobbi | Lesbian | Bobbi is a woman in a relationship with Kalalau. She is described within the game as a lesbian.[15][16] |
1990s
| Year | Title | Character(s) | Classification | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Rise of the Dragon | Patrons of the Pleasure Dome | Queer | In an establishment called the Pleasure Dome that caters to queer patrons, among other things. One of its patrons is a woman posing as a man posing as a woman.[8] |
| 1992 | The Dagger of Amon Ra | Two female lovers | Lesbian | This game features a woman from a small town who gets a job for a New York paper in the 1920s. Two of the women she meets are involved in a secret love affair.[8] |
| 1992 | Ultima VII: The Black Gate | Sex workers | Bisexual | In the House of Baths at Buccaneer's Den, the player (the "Avatar") can pay for the services of male and female sex workers, regardless of the player's gender.[17] |
| 1992 | Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender | Rex Nebular | Genderqueer | The game requires the male hero to change his sex on a planet where women rule.[18] |
| 1993 | Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle | A mage | Bisexual | A mage sexually proposes the player's character regardless of the character's gender.[8] The player is given the choice to accept or decline. |
| 1993 | Dracula Unleashed | Alfred Horner | Gay | Alfred Horner is a gay man who co-owns a bookstore. This was the first time a gay character in a computer game was given a speaking role.[8] |
| 1993 | Return of the Phantom | Charles | Gay | Charles is portrayed as an effeminate theater director. He is one of the good guys that helps the playable character, a French inspector, solve the mystery of the Phantom of the Opera once and for all.[19] |
| 1993 | Leisure Suit Larry 6: Shape Up or Slip Out! | Gary | Gay | Gary is a gay towel attendant. Larry is given the option of flirting with him, although this leads to a game over.[15] |
| 1993 | Police Quest: Open Season | Bob Hickman | Gay | A gay bar is featured in the game. The player is a police officer trying to track down the murderer of his partner. His quest leads him to discover that his partner had a double life as a cross-dresser at a West Hollywood transgender bar.[8] |
| 1994 | Streets of Rage 3 | Ash | Gay | Ash acts as a boss in the game and portrayed with "tight clothes and effeminate movements".[19] He was censored in some versions of the game.[20] |
| 1994 | EarthBound | Tony | Gay | Tony who has subtle attractions to his best friend Jeff, according to EarthBound creator, Shigesato Itoi.[21] |
| 1995 | The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery | Baron Von Glower | Gay | The antagonist Baron Von Glower pursues the protagonist Gabriel Knight sexually and eventually leads him to be turned into a werewolf.[8][18] |
| 1995 | Chrono Trigger | Flea | Genderqueer | Flea, a major villain, is genderfluid and/or gender nonconforming.[8] Notably, Flea stated in a self-referential manner "Male or female, what difference does it make? Power is beautiful, and I've got the power."[18] |
| 1995 | The Orion Conspiracy | Danny McCormack and his boyfriend | Gay | This is the first computer game to use the word homosexual. The main character, Devlin McCormack, lives on a space station where he investigates the murder of his son Danny McCormack and stops an alien invasion. His investigation leads him through the seedy, criminal underworld of the station, where he discovers that his son was homosexual by talking with his son's boyfriend.[8] |
| 1995 | True Love | Daisuke | Bisexual | At the end of the game, the player character—default name is Daisuke—may attempt to start a relationship with any of the ten available girls, or with his best friend Kazuhiko as the only gay option. Depending on the choices taken and interactions experienced throughout the game, each girl and Kazuhiko may or may not be available for a relationship.[22] |
| Kazuhiko Miyoshi | Gay | |||
| 1996 | Bahamut Lagoon | Sendak | Gay | Sendak is an older wizard who at one point flirts with the male protagonist, Byuu. The player can choose to accept or reject these advances.[23] |
| 1996 | Blazing Dragons | Sir Blaze | Gay | Sir Blaze, a dragon knight is implied to be gay similar to the cartoon.[2] |
| Trivet | Trivet is a dragon jester who works for the king. He hates being a jester and is trying to look for another job. He learns about hypnotism. He hypnotizes Flicker into believing he is Princess Flame. The effect is temporary and Flicker goes back to normal. When Trivet tries to hypnotize Flicker again; Flicker deflects it onto Trivet by making him believe he is Flame. Trivet-as-Flame flirts with Sir Loungealot for a few scenes. When Sir Loungealot kisses Trivet; it snaps him out of his hypnosis. Sir Longealot realizes he wasn't kissing Flame but Trivet. However, Trivet happily thinks that Sir Loungealot would care about him in that way much to the dragon knight's repulsion.[2] | |||
| 1996 | SimCopter | Player character, unnamed men | Gay | In response to another developer adding "bimbo" characters into the game, the game's designer and gay man Jacques Servin inserted shirtless male characters into the game that kiss each other and the player character. Servin was fired, and a new version of the game without his modification was released.[24] |
| 1996 | Phantasmagoria 2: A Puzzle of Flesh | Curtis Craig | Bisexual man | Curtis is the game's protagonist. He is also close friend with his co-worker, Trevor, who is gay. Curtis admits to his psychiatrist that he has feelings for Trevor and might be bisexual, and the two almost kiss later in the game. Curtis is also shown as having relations with his girlfriend and a S&M domme. Creators of the game talked about the mature sexual themes in the game during a 1997 interview.[25] Curtis is the first playable non-heterosexual character in a video game.[26] |
| Trevor Barnes | Gay | |||
| 1996 | NiGHTS into Dreams | NiGHTS | Agender | According to Takashi Iizuka, NiGHTS doesn't have a gender and " impressions of the character with regards to gender are totally up to the player".[27] |
| 1997 | The Last Express | Sophie de Bretheuil | Lesbian | This game has the player meeting two young adult girls named Sophie de Bretheuil and Rebecca Norton who are almost always in each other's company. While at first they appear to be merely close friends, reading the diary of Recbecca suggests they are lesbians, but there are no explicitly homosexual gestures beyond hand-holding.[28] |
| Rebecca Norton | ||||
| 1997 | SaGa Frontier | Asellus | Lesbian | Infused with the Charm Lord's mystical blood, Asellus is attracted to other women and other women are attracted to her. Gina "calls Lady Asellus beautiful and blushes" at her during conversations, and they can marry each other in one of the game's multiple endings.[29] |
| Gina | Lesbian or heteroflexible | |||
| 1997 | Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers | Beta | Gay | Beta is one of the owners of the EL-115 Club alongside his brother Alpha. Described as an "over-the-top caricature of an effeminate gay man who speaks with a lisp", Beta continually comments on the male player's attractiveness.[30] |
| 1998 | Star Ocean: The Second Story | Claude C. Kenny | Gay, lesbian or bisexual | The player can choose to play as either Claude or Rena. They can have a friendship and romance level with each party member acquired. Ashton (a male party member) and Precis (a female party member) can go on a date with them, regardless of their gender.[8] |
| Rena Lanford | ||||
| Ashton Anchors | ||||
| Precis F. Neumann | ||||
| 1999 | The Longest Journey | Fiona and Mickey | Lesbian | This computer game features Fiona and Mickey, a lesbian landlady and her long-time lover. It also features a gay cop.[8] |
| A cop | Gay |
2000s
| Year | Title | Character(s) | Classification | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | The Sims | Sims | Gay, lesbian or bisexual | All Sims can be directed to fall in love with and engage in romantic interactions with others Sims of either sex.[31] |
| 2001 | RuneScape | Angof | Trans woman | Angof is a female character in "The Light Within", a quest released on August 24, 2015. At some point after the quest, the player can show her a wedding ring, prompting her to tell the player she was born male, but "corrected" herself to female once she could shapeshift.[32] |
| Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix | Hana Tsu-Vachel | Bisexual woman | The player character Hana Tsu-Vachel is bisexual and in a relationship with her hacker; Rain Qin. The game's advertising heavily emphasized their relationship.[33] | |
| Rain Qin | Lesbian | |||
| Shadow Hearts | Meiyuan | Gay | Meiyuan is a gay Chinese acupuncturist.[34] | |
| 2002 | The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind | Vivec | Intersex | In the in-game books The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Vivec describes himself as "brother-sister"[35] and "of male and female, the magic hermaphrodite."[36] |
| 2003 | Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic | Juhani | Lesbian | The party member Juhani is lesbian, though bugged coding on the initial release allowed her to be attracted to the player character regardless of gender. In subsequent patches, she reverts to same-sex preferences.[37] She and Belaya, another female Jedi were also heavily implied to be lovers.[38] This would make Juhani the first known gay character in the Star Wars universe.[39] |
| Belaya | ||||
| Deus Ex: Invisible War | Mark Finley | Gay | One of the manners which the character can gain access to the apartment of Mark Finley, Seattle's Minister of Culture, is to flirt with him at Club Vox; he will give the character his key. This only works if the character is male.[40] | |
| Lionel | ||||
| 2004 | Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations | Jean Armstrong | Gay | Trials and Tribulations localization team director Janet Hsu, in looking through all information that is given about Jean in the game, came to the conclusion that he is a gay man who likes to perform non-passing drag. Looking back at the game in 2014, Hsu said that she still thought Jean caused confusion due to the general public having a less informed and nuanced understanding of gender and sexuality at the time of the game's release.[41] |
| Fable | Player character and NPC townspeople | Gay or bisexual | The male protagonist can romance and marry various characters, regardless of gender. However, while a marriage between the protagonist and a woman is treated as a legitimate marriage, one with a male NPC is treated comically and the union is referred to as "just a couple of blokes being blokes".[42] | |
| The Sims 2 | Sims | Gay, lesbian or bisexual | Sims can romance and even marry other Sims of the same sex.[43] | |
| The Temple of Elemental Evil | Bertram | Gay | This computer game has an optional storyline permitting a gay marriage. In the town of Nulb, a pirate named Bertram begins flirting with male characters in the party and offers a lifetime of love and happiness in exchange for his freedom.[44] | |
| Outlaw Golf 2 | Summer | Lesbian | Playable character Summer kisses Autumn to calm down if the player fails a shot.[45] | |
| Autumn | ||||
| Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines | Player character | Lesbian or bisexual | The player can have sex with female prostitutes or Jeanette as either a man or a woman.[46] | |
| Jeanette Voerman | Bisexual woman | The female player character is able to have implied offscreen sexual relations with Jeanette, another female character.[46] | ||
| World of Warcraft | Chromie/Chronormu | Transgender woman | Chromie—a dragon who may appear as humanoid—adopted a female "visage form" and preferred pronouns after a draconic ceremony ("Visage Day"). This clarified by then-narrative lead Steve Danuser in 2021, after the publishing of a short story of the ceremony in World of Warcraft: Folk & Fairy Tales of Azeroth the same year, an anthology of franchise-relevant stories.[47][48][49] | |
| Flynn Fairwind | Bisexual[50] | The romantic relationship between Flynn and Matthias was first shown in the book Shadows Rising (2020) by Madeleine Roux.[51][52] | ||
| Matthias Shaw | Gay | |||
| Pelagos | Transgender man | As Shadowlands takes place in an afterlife realm, the characters the players meet are often previously deceased. After death, the Kyrian Pelagos – who had a "female form in life" – chose to take on a male form in his afterlife.[53] This is detailed through in-game dialogue with the NPC.[54] | ||
| Thiernax and Qadarin | Gay | The player has to assist Thiernax, a former "night warrior", in rescuing his husband, Qadarin. This takes place in the main storyline of one of Shadowlands' four factions.[55] | ||
| 2005 | Togainu no Chi | Akira | Gay | Depending on choices made throughout the story, the game's protagonist can enter a romantic relationship with many other men.[56][57] |
| Keisuke | ||||
| Rin | ||||
| Shiki | ||||
| Motomi | ||||
| Jade Empire | Last Spirit Monk | Gay, lesbian or bisexual | The player—the Last Spirit Monk—can choose to play as either male or female. The player, regardless of gender, can romance Sky or Silk Fox. While only a male player can romance the Dawn Star, player can enter a ménage à trois with her and Silk Fox.[8] | |
| Sky | Bisexual man | |||
| Silk Fox | Bisexual woman | |||
| Dawn Star | ||||
| Drakengard 2 | Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=LGBT_characters_in_video_games