by William S. Dean
(11/01/06)
Except maybe for the zombie factor, the CG explosions, and the magical spells, the community of avid gamers is no different from any other community. Okay, maybe we also have to include the intensity of play. And the population may be far larger than you imagine. World of Warcraft alone currently boasts slightly over six million subscribers. That's a lot of players. Naturally, among such a huge interactive community, there are going to be people with differing gender preferences -- just like in the world community at large -- and that is affecting the social climate in currently available games as well as in the development of new games.
While still relatively small, the number of gay and lesbian gamers is growing exponentially. Critics have said that among the large majority of general gamers, prejudicial behavior of all forms flames up in forums and even in online play. Gay and lesbian guilds, Web sites, and blogs are cropping up to discuss and offer support for their specific community gamers and it's apparent that these new voices for tolerance and acceptance should be accorded space in the public consciousness.
Miyuki Jane Pinckard has spoken at universities and conferences. Her specialty is how gender considerations impact the culture of gaming. She is currently a non-resident fellow at Stanford University Law School and founded her Web site-blog, girl+game=advance in August, 2002. Since then GGA has grown to a half-million-monthly-hits site and continues to be a strong advocate for dealing with gender issues in gaming.
Clean Sheets (CS): General media journalists seem to have just "discovered" that girl gamers are a hot topic. Mostly, as usual, this appears to be tied directly into a new "market niche" realization. In your opinion, do feminist and lesbian girl gamers find this annoying and exploitative or is it a case of "any publicity is good publicity"?
Miyuki Jane Pinckard (MJP): I think the answer to that varies depending on whom you ask! By the way, hardly anyone has addressed the idea of lesbian gamers -- articles about gay gamers -- the few that there are -- focus on gay male experiences.
I feel ambivalent about it -- on the one hand the publicity has made us female gamers more visible to each other, and I've been able to meet a lot of cool people that way; and I hope that seeing more women involved in videogames and technology has normalized it and made it okay for girls who may want to play games but have been reluctant in the past. On the other hand there are so many glamorizations of women who play games and that can be intimidating; it can also lead to a backlash and strife among groups of women who play. Some day I hope the "ZOMG a GIRL who's playing a GAME" attitude will fade -- as I think it already is starting -- and then we can move on to other important things, like, what should you wear while gaming? What nail polish won't chip while you play Counter-Strike? Just kidding.
CS: In writing about sexuality topics before, I've noticed that there are extreme opinions about "labeling." Some people even feel that identifiers such as "lesbian" or "gay" help serve a political purpose while others want to simply be considered "a person" regardless of their sexual orientation, preference, or choice. Is it important, do you feel, at this time for gamers to retain their "lesbian label"? And, if so, why?
MJP: I think it's important to allow people to do so if they want to. We don't want a situation like the one in which Sara Andrews was told she couldn't advertise her guild as Gay-and-Lesbian friendly. Sara's guild is OZ. That was ridiculous, and Blizzard eventually backed down. But the issue stirred up quite a big pot.
I was amazed at how hostile people were about that. "Don't bring your personal life into it!" was the mildest criticism. But I think it's very important for people to be able to be honest about who they are, and to create places where they are comfortable -- and it's not just gay people. I mean, I'm not gay, but I would much rather join a GLBT-friendly guild than one where off-hand homophobic comments are the norm (which is most of them, even, regrettably, among a few members in my own lovely guild). I try to gently speak up about that whenever I can, because it makes me uncomfortable, and it has nothing to do with whether or not the people listening are gay.
It's also important for some groups to establish a presence and stop being invisible. Yes, gay people do play games, so stop pretending that they don't; and next time you're about to make a stupid gay joke, think about who you might be offending. It's shocking how homophobic (and sexist, and racist, but that's another matter) online communities can be -- maybe because the offenders assume that everyone else is just like them. When in fact what's exciting about online games, and the Internet is general, is that you never know who you might meet. So I really appreciate the folks who are open in-game about who they are -- at the same time, I don't feel the need to censure anyone else for not carrying over their real-life identities. Sometimes the fun in a game is to play with your identity.
CS: The old standby "joke" is that online nobody knows who or what you really are. Generally speaking, in your experience, are there factors in game play that readily identify lesbians from other players? Is there a growing social network of lesbian gamers who know who everyone else is?
MJP: Ummmm I have no idea! There are few women as it is, and I'm not sure how many of them are lesbian. Even among the men, I can count the number of gay gamers I've met (who've been open about their orientation) with one hand. First of all, it doesn't really come up very often, and second, there aren't many communities. There's Gaymer.org, there are some guilds, I'm sure there are other active Web sites, and it may be the next big frontier in gaming.
There's no "lesbian play style" or anything. And even when female avatars flirt with my female avatar online I'm never sure if it's because she's played by a lesbian -- or a straight man pretending to be female.
CS: We're also seeing through the media that politicians are increasingly becoming involved in game legislation and even censorship. Does this or will this have an impact on game development in the future? Are there any moves directly that you're aware of which are repressive, say, of lesbian characters or avatars in games?
MJP: Moves among politicians? Not that I'm aware of -- most of the political debate seems to center on violence in games and its effects on children. And I can't think of any out lesbian characters in mainstream games...but then, who knows? Maybe Samus (from Metroid) is lesbian; there's nothing in the game indicating that she's not. There are definitely gay male characters though (some overt, some suspected...).
Legislation will definitely impact the creation of games, and not just the content -- it will add more costs to the already giant budget of development. That said, I'm actually not against the idea of requiring fines against retailers who sell M-rated games to children under 17. A law like that exists in Britain and I'm not sure that you can cry "censorship" to that. The money from fines could be put to good use by funding research on the effects of videogames on children.
A far more contentious issue, in my mind, is how the rating standards are applied, and by whom. Who decides what's appropriate for an 18-year-old versus a 16-year-old? That's where it gets messy. What if they decide that having a lesbian kiss in a game is inappropriate?
CS: Game interactions between characters and avatars have obviously gone far beyond the old competitive issues (i.e. shoot-'em-up). I've even heard rumors that some games feature same-sex marriages and other social/emotional relationships. Is this becoming more prominent as more and more people worldwide get involved in game playing?
MJP: Yes, absolutely there are deep social and emotional relationships that develop in online games; I've known people who have met in a game, become friends, and even got married. The "marriage" thing is interesting. Of course it's just a game -- and most people just do it for fun (for example Thottbot and also World of War).
And when you say "same-sex," that can be complicated too. I know at least one guy who had his female avatar "get married" to a male avatar. No idea what the sex of the groom's player was. I have male friends who routinely play female characters, and end up flirting with male characters. It's all in good fun, for the most part.
The emotional connections can get very strong because, if you're in a complex game like World of Warcraft, and if you're in a guild, then co-operation, trust, and communication are all very important. Many activities can't take place unless a team co-operates efficiently together. There's a whole social network devoted to making the guild work -- to making sure people are happy, that people's concerns are addressed, that the raids (as the instances are known) go off okay. I mean it's like a military operation! But without the built-in structure that the military enjoys. So members have to make it up themselves, and it is a fascinating process. And leads to a lot of drama that kind of makes me roll my eyes sometimes. But that's life.
CS: If you could design a "perfect game" with lesbians in mind as players, what features would you include that specifically address concerns and issues of the lesbian gamer community?
MJP: I don't know that lesbians want a specifically different kind of game from anyone else -- making better games in general would attract more people, including gay gamers. That said if the game had a community aspect I'd make sure it was friendly to gays and lesbians.
But thinking along more niche lines, let's talk about dating Sims for a second -- dating Sims are popular in Japan and are largely from the male point of view. You play as a high school or college student, and the object of the games is to get the girls to fall for you. Some are racier than others, some are very clean. What about a gay dating Sim? Featuring lesbian characters. I think that would be pretty hot. And it could be a chance also to show that lesbian women come in a variety of shapes and attitudes. I bet it would appeal to straight men and women too.
CS: Do you feel gay/lesbian gamers are generally included in the gay/lesbian community at large? For example, participating in Pride events or socially "hanging out together" or are they more in a class of "loners" except for online interaction?
MJP: Gaming hasn't really hit the gay/lesbian scene, at least in San Francisco; but I know of a few smaller communities where gay and lesbian gamers get together and play regularly together; and with a game as big as World of Warcraft -- what is it now, 6 million subscribers? -- it's inevitable that gays and lesbians will start playing, along with everyone else, and start joining communities. I don't think of gamers as loners -- if anything, they are highly social -- because I don't except online behavior. Online socializing is different from meeting in real life, but it's no less real or important; and gamers are very, very active online. Unfortunately they are not always good -- flame wars are common, and sometimes the amount of vitriol spilled in forums and message boards over relatively trivial things really dismays me.
It's interesting what you say about the Pride parade. I think there's a generational rift -- just as there is with modern women who are reluctant to embrace feminism; some younger gay communities consider the Pride activities outdated -- necessary in the 70s and 80s, certainly, but now it's time to move on -- that sort of thing. They hate the rainbow flag thing, they even use "gay" as a pejorative (similarly to, perhaps, Chris Rock taking control of "the n-word"). There's a new radicalization of "gay" and "lesbian." Gamers, who tend to be younger, fit more into these new profiles I think. But I can't really tell you where it's going because I don't really know! It's exciting to see it happen, though.
Visit Jane's Web site here.
