#bi representation in video gaming

[lavadorafangirl]

🏳️‍🌈 Day 19: Ellie & Dina (The Last of Us) 🖤

Can't believe we are almost on the day 20 DAFUQQQQ ajsksj ANYWAYS, hope you like it<3 also thanks for all the support in my latest post and welcome to all of my new followers 🥺 i wish i could kiss all of you

HAPPY PRIDE 🏳️‍🌈

Remember: i'm drawing a lgbt canon couple daily for pride month, follow me or check my profile to see the rest!🏳️‍🌈 Thanks for the support!

[potentialfirehazard]

we need more Bi representation

the good and the bad

so here’s some links to some really cool bi themed videos about fandom and media

and

and

all credit of CORSE goes to these amazing youtubers!

just wanted to shine some light on these really informative vids !!

🌈🌈🌈

[soft-jihyo]

personally really hate the "devs should just make all characters bi so nobody feels excluded" take.

[bidotorg]

Dagdar is a playable character who can seem rough around the edges, but is always willing to help those that he cares about in "Fire Emblem: Thracia 776".

[gayestcowboy]

can i be so honest? i don’t really understand why some people seem to hate it so much when romanceable video game characters are “playersexual”/always bi or pan/always attracted to the player character. like yeah of course gay/lesbian representation is really important, i don’t think i have to stress that point at all, but if games have romance options specifically, doesn’t it just make the most sense to have them be bi/pan? because everyone wins? it’s so refreshing to be able to romance any character regardless of your own in-game gender in games like bg3 after coming from games like fire emblem where you’re forced to be straight or have extremely limited gay options. and most obviously, bi/pan representation is also important. there isn’t a finite amount of space for queer representation in fiction, and i don’t see any harm in making specifically romanceable characters bisexual for the sake of inclusion/player satisfaction rather than having distinct individual sexualities. it’s not like all fictional characters should be forced to be bisexual. like is there something i’m missing or are people just weird about bisexuals

[autisticrosewilson]

It's been bugging me for a while that we have so many canonically queer characters now but none of them ever DO anything! It's like after they get two characters in a queer relationship they just never give them any conflict after. We didn't ask for more representation because we wanted that character to no longer have interesting stories outside of a queer identity we wanted you to stop queer baiting us.

I know that word gets tossed around a lot, but there is very strong evidence for TimKon, StephCass, and GhostBat where they practically confirm it but they never say anything explicitly. Supersons were literally shown to live together, co-parent Lizzie, and were explicitly paralleling other canon couples last week.

But it's too much for Kon AND Tim to be queer, so they gave Tim a civilian boyfriend that he never has any conflict with and all of the build up and tension that comes with trying to clone your dead teammate 99 times and being a hair away from making out for like 8 years.

Robin AND Super boy couldn't be canonically queer so they aged Jon up and then gave him a civilian boyfriend he never has any conflict with all while parading them around in elseworlds because they knew fans were upset about the lost potential.

Even Harley and Ivy fall victim to this in a different way. I love that they're canonically queer! I just wish that at least Ivy got to keep some of her villainy. I don't think they should have to compromise being menaces to society with being queer.

And it's related but I hesitate to call it queer baiting... what's going on with Dick Grayson. He gets confirmed bi in a non canon video game but he has more pride covers than Tim. Like you can't dangle an extremely queer coded character in front of us and then just never make it canon. And I'm tired of one off implications too. We deserve better representation than a one liner played off for a joke (Batstantine this is about you I fear) but they won't because they know full well they won't do a damn thing with him after.

You wanna know what we should be striving for? Midnighter and Apollo. Messy their whole run time, uncompromisingly interesting whether they're together or not, happily married with a daughter, and yet continued to be unerringly bad ass. John Constantine, with all of his shameless flirting and raunchiness. Grace Choi and Anissa Pierce. The pining, the break ups, the make ups. Obsessed with them.

Joey Wilson!!! You want someone whose already canonically queer who Dick has a lot of tension with? He's right there! The son of Dick's arch Nemesis. Both of their willingness to go over people's heads to protect them. Joey's ability to completely take someone's free will (and his deliberate and spiteful choice not to) vs. Dick's constant fight for independence (and his willing surrender to the pull of his family). Dick's unwillingness to communicate his feelings or experiences with literally anyone ever paired with Joey's uncanny ability to read him like a book. Are you joking. The mess, the tension, the INTRIGUE!!

This got away from me but I want my queer characters to be interesting again pretty please.

[lesbiannova]

I am not the first person who has said this, but it is indeed surprising that Cassette Beasts does not have a big fandom on Tumblr, given that it has just about everything average Tumblr users want:

A wide variety of creatures whose forms you can collect, so you can transform into them in battle

Multiverse setting, which provides unlimited fanfiction potential

Character creator with pronouns options, including they/them

LGBTQ+ representation, including all the human party members who are bi and can be romanced regardless of the player's gender, a pair of NPCs are an actual canon old married lesbian couple, and an NPC who is canonically non-binary and uses they/them pronouns

Romanceable party members also mean you can form a battle couple with your favourite party member

Racially diverse cast of human characters: There are visibly Black and brown characters in both the main and supporting cast, including the party members

A playable dog character

Anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist messages

You can literally beat up estate agents and their boss

Higher friendship with your companion allows you to fuse your monster forms and makes you stronger in battle

etc. etc.

The only reason I can think of is the fact that Cassette Beasts is an indie game, but Tumblr has a fair amount of indie video game darlings, such as Stardew Valley, Disco Elysium, Undertale, Night in the Woods, etc.

Another reason is that many Pokémon fans are frustratingly reluctant to try or dismissive of monster collecting games that are not Pokémon, even if they complain about the latest Pokémon titles.

So here is your reminder to go play Cassette Beasts if you have not already.

[riza-hawks-eye]

I'm just saying, the majority of video games still have an all Hetero cast. Canonical andexplicit Bi and Pan representation is still rare to find in media and outside of head canons.

So why is it that when we finally get a game with a cast of bi and pan adjacent characters suddenly all we hear is "playersexual this" and "playersexual that".

[lesbianralzarek]

boggles my mind how overused the term "playersexual" is. its useful for critiquing games where the devs had no interest in bi/pan representation, and refuse to work the characters attraction into it. "playersexuality" is the result of a writer's cowardice when faced with the task of incorporating any semblance of a queer experience into the actual game. it is NOT when a romanceable character is bi/pan for player convenience. of fucking course they are. theyre also willing to adventure with the player for your convenience. you can heal getting shot by going to bed for your convenience. welcome to video games. its also not when characters have preferences and talk more about one gender than another. thats actually, like, accurate to how most bi/pan people experience attraction. its fine. shut up.

ALL THAT BEING SAID, if you refer to any of the bg3 companions as being playersexual or "actually gay/a lesbian/straight" im killing you. no the fuck they arent. there is no run where wyll is straight and karlach is a lesbian. the player's gender is irrelevant. they are all bi/pan whether you like it or not. die about it.

[fanlore-wiki]

Meta Monday: The Gay Button: How Bisexuality Changed Video Games

For this Meta Monday, we are watching the video essay How Bisexuality Changed Video Games by Verity Ritchie and Ada Černoša. This hour-long video walks us through the history of bisexuality in video games, starting with the OG bi games–The Sims and Fable–that changed the landscape of game romance forever.

The video covers a long list of games that have bisexuality coded into them, but also explains how “The Gay Button” (a term created by trans game designer Anna Anthropy) allows homophobes to never even see the queer content. Ritchie discusses how this opt-in feature is used to widen the possible fan base of a game, by hiding the gay and giving heteronormativity the overlying screen time.

This 2021 video beautifully compiles academic research of queer representation in video games to explore the variety of ways that non-heteronormative relationships are coded. It’s so well done that James Somerton (infamous plagiarizing Youtube video essayist) plagiarized it! Piqued your interest? You can watch the video or head over to the Fanlore page to learn more!

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[ponett]

Recently I've been hyperfixating on Sun Wukong. Reading JttW, watching shows and movies. Looking at fanart of all kinds. And its made me wonder something, back when I was like 13 Sonic also made me question this, but as the only person I know that knowns more about furry stuff--does liking only one or 2 characters but not anything outside that count as me being a furry? How did you discover such for yourself? If that isnt too personal.

It's different for everyone. You can be a furry who's just really into one specific thing with anthro characters, or you could be into a million things with anthro characters and not self-identify as a furry. It's your call.

For me, I've always liked a lot of cartoons and video games and whatnot with anthro characters since I was little, and as I got older I discovered the furry community and the concept of "furry art" and I liked what I saw. It felt like a natural next step for me beyond Sonic OCs. It helped that the furry fandom is a predominantly queer community, and I was a closeted teenager still struggling to accept that I was bi. Even today, having that community is very important to me.

I also quickly found that I liked representing myself as a furry character, which is a key part of it. I like having a fursona. I like having that wish fulfillment character to project onto. I like drawing her in situations, and commissioning art of her, and seeing her next to my boyfriend's fursona, and people saying she's cute. I like using a fursona as my face on the internet. If a genie granted me three wishes, no strings attached, wish number one would be to turn into my fursona. She's a representation of something I feel about myself deep down in my heart. And, again, not every single person in the furry community has a fursona, and also you can just design yourself a fursona for fun without self-identifying as a furry. But for me, the level of attachment I have goes beyond "I just think they're neat."

[larry-is-my-anchor1]

I’m not sure if Eddie will realize his feelings for Buck, if any at all, or for any man. At least not this season.

Before Chris left(show wise it’s only three months) Eddie was dealing with Shannon’s return and then death. Then it’s the aftermath of all the feelings he was forced to deal with. And how they effected his son. Eddie doesn’t seem to trust himself to get into another relationship. I cannot see Buck and Eddie be just a fling. They are end game. So there may be another woman or even a man in Eddie’s story before he realizes he is in love with Buck. And visa versa.

Buck realized he is bi in season 7 and has been dealing with it. Eddie is still chipping at layers of childhood trauma. And I’m not sure yet if any chipping will make that discovery. At least not now.

Sure there is a lot of scenes with rainbows, glances, lollipop loving, and just such cherish, but there is no proof at all about Eddie. Right now there are just two men who love one another dearly. In love and too stupid to see definetly. But I hope there is as much tenderness given to the romantic aspect as there is their friendship. Because right now they’re killing me.

They’re going to have to do a lot more with Eddie and perhaps have Eddie having flashbacks about what he’s being truly denying himself, because of how he was raised. And why he took the phone anyway from Buck. How and why his relationship with Buck is the way it is. How he can trust Buck more than any other person.

I’ve been in fandoms before where characters had so much chemistry that fans wondered why show runners and writers didn’t want to even consider the idea of a same sex relationship. I was so surprised to have such representation and care for characters of 911. And even a bigger surprise when Buck came out. Eddie though they’re clearly doing things differently. But why?

Also the video of Ryan Guzman I posted about several posts ago he says a characters sexuality doesn’t have to change. Which concerns me.

So for now I’ll enjoy the show but look for fanfics to bring me joy. I know better to have hope and then heartbreak.

[vaguewrites]

The mortal kombat fandom has honestly gotten so fucking toxic and I'm sick of it. I'm sick of having to constantly block people for spouting terf and homophobic shite, sick of seeing queer representation being erased/retconned and sick of the nasty comments being left stating that people like me shouldn't be allowed in mainstream media, that we're a fetish and corrupting people.

It's just so fucking upsetting because I grew up with this series, Mileena has always been one of my absolute favourite characters and I was delighted in MKX and 11 when she was heavily hinted as being in a relationship with Tanya, then we got MK 1 where we got barely any scenes with them, no chemistry at all and then the dlc is released where Tanya is married to Rain and has way more screen time and relationship development with him. It's so stupid and just bad writing overall. Sektor and Cyrax were even gender flipped purely to be the love interests of Bi-Han and Takeda, which is also incredibly stupid. And then some idiots have the gall to say; "Finally, straight pairings for a change, I'm sick of all the gays ruining our games."

It is the biggest load of shite I've ever read in my life and I'm genuinely so upset by this. I am not a fetish, I am not something gross that ruins video games/movies/shows and I shouldn't have to scrape at the bottle of the barrel to see myself in mainstream media. It's ridiculous that big studios cater to the bigots because they're overgrown toddlers who throw tantrums if they don't see white/cis/straight people take up the screen 24/7.

[ot3]

people are like the BG3 companions are sooo diverse it's HUGE for video games when there's literally only two LGBTQ+ identities represented like just say irl you think everyone is ~a little bit bi~ and be done games have been doing better representation for literally fifteen years

im someone who finds the concept of 'representation' to be a fundamentally flawed way to engage with media critique and i think the fact that it is the primary lens used to engage with characters sexuality in media has caused a lot of people to sort of miss the forest for the trees in these kinds of discussions.

imo saying 'these characters aren't playersexual theyre all just bi and you're a biphobe for saying otherwise' is pretty much the same level of engaging with a text that 'this female character needs to wear a skimpy outfit because her super power is stronger when her skin is exposed' is. you're saying something that is technically true within the fiction you're being presented but really overlooking an absolutely titanic amount of cultural forces that have come together to influence the result you're seeing, and prioritizing the imagined agency of fictional characters over critiquing the intent of the writers

don't get me wrong i'm not saying that people shouldnt enjoy the fact that these characters are functionally, mechanically bisexual in the game. i dont want to take that away from anyone who gets something out of that. but i do think it's kind of strange how infrequently people discuss the fact that Bisexual becomes just the default character sexuality of romanceable play characters so gamers don't get mad that they can't fuck the 3d model they want to. in function, what you get a lot of the time isn't people going out of their way to meaningfully write a bisexual character but rather people abstaining from writing characters with any true sexual/romantic preference in order to please the larger portion of their consumer base.

i don't think it's really fair to claim that these people must automatically assume everyone in real life is a little bit bi because assuming peoples opinions on sexuality apply to real people the way they apply to fictional characters is bad in either direction. but i do think it's a little bit strange that you can see something where characters are made bisexual for the express purpose of being romantically/sexually available to any type of character you could throw at them in order to maximize the appeal of a commercial product and not even stop to consider whether or not that's a dynamic that's worth critiquing a little. considering how much of the way biphobia manifesting in real life is bi people needing to remind everyone that being bi does not, in fact, automatically make you romantically and sexually available to any conceivable type of person on earth.

anyway i don't think Playersexual characters are necessarily a bad or harmful thing but they're certainly something i don't like. and i certainly think that trying to act like any criticism of it is secret biphobia is pretty ridiculous.

[bidotorg]

Isabela is the captain of the pirate ship Siren's Call in the "Dragon Age" universe and one of the many bi characters in the series.

[larena]

The thing about "playersexual" as a video game criticism buzzword isn't necessarily that it's completely useless at describing a real thing - if you want to discuss the bizarre way Skyrim romance works, or things like Leah in Stardew Valley having an ex that changes to match the player's gender, sure, "playersexual" might be a term that describes those things.

But it's just so utterly tainted by bad faith biphobic criticism of actual bi characters that it's impossible to trust it's ever not being used as a cudgel to eliminate bi representation that someone has arbitrarily decided doesn't count.

Like the thing that always gets proposed as the alternative to "playersexual" characters is characters with "set sexualities" - here almost always meaning monosexual characters. And there's nothing wrong with wanting more monosexual queer representation, but to claim that it's "more realistic" is just flat out biphobia plain and simple.

If people want playersexual taken off the shelf they've gotta stop acting like five bisexual people being in the same friend group is impossible.