LGBT-friendly games

[nyxmidnight]

Because it's absolutely not the time for this, my brain has gone all "hey you should ttly make a shrine to Digital Devil Saga's queer-friendliness lol". Bad timing aside, it has led me to wonder about other videogames and LGBT themes. Do you know any other queer-friendly games?

For example, in DDS, there are gay men, lesbians, intersex/hermaphrodites (I know hermaphrodite is considered offensive by intersex people, but one of the character has a child with herself, so yes, she is actually a fully functioning hermaphrodite), a couple made of a hermaphrodite and a cisgender man, and, according to some interpretations, androgynous people. All these people are treated as perfectly normal and no huge deal is made of their orientation/gender/biology.

[Emma]

Mass Effect and Dragon Age are well known for giving the players the choice to pursue same sex relationships. They're not perfect (I personally think femShep got shafted - dudeShep has a great romance with Kaidan but you couldn't let femShep romance Tali? Forever bitter tbh) but they do better than most, and will probably continue to get better. Dragon Age: Inquisition sounds really good. But the games themselves aren't about LGBT themes, and your relationship doesn't have any bearing on the plot. Although it's nice that if you romance a woman as a woman no one bats an eyelid.

Gone Home is a great game. It's about a girl who comes home after travelling for the summer and ends up exploring the new house her family have moved into and uncovering the story of her sister's sexuality. It's a great example of good storytelling and narrative in video games. Plus, it's set in the nineties and they nailed that aspect and I love that. It's also a very short game, so I really recommend checking it out (I mean, I'd recommend Mass Effect and Dragon Age too, but they're behemoths that require hours and hours of gameplay haha).

[dubiousdisc]

On this topic, if someone knows any other game that prominently features lesbians and is meant to be played by lesbian women, please let me know. I've been looking for something like this for years to no avail.

[Tara]

The only games I've ever played with LGBT friendly relationships have been Dragon Age and Mass Effect. I do agree with Emma in the fact that FemShep got shafted. I want my Tali romance. :( I feel like the newer games of said series can only get better at it, though! I'm really looking forward to Inquisition this year. :>

Gone Home is a game I've been meaning to try... I'll have to pick that up sometime soon.

I really wish games like Harvest Moon and Rune Factory were more LGBT friendly. What I wouldn't give to have a cute wife as a woman.

[Todd]

Ugh, this bothers me so much. My friends are all playing Tomodachi Life, and in it, if your friends are paired up, say boyfriend and girlfriend or husband and wife, you can pair them up in the game. Lee and I have miis in my friend Jane's game, and she can't pair us up because we're a gay couple. I'm so disappointed with Nintendo for this.

Fire Emblem: Awakening as well... can't do m/m or f/f supports.

[nyxmidnight]

I'm really sad I can't do same sex ships in FE:A to be honest :(

[dubiousdisc]

Ah, when things pull that shit I just don't buy them. I'm not giving money to someone just to have them tell me how much I don't exist.

On the other hand, I would like to point out that The Sims does it beautifully. The thing that I like the most about the way they tackled it is that it works exactly the same way as any heterosexual relationship. Not fetishized, not treated like an issue. You just can pair sims of the same sex, simple as that. And they've been doing that since the first game, which came out almost 15 years ago at this point!

[edit: excuse my palpable bitterness, but even without explaining my full life story I think you can imagine why I am bitter.]

[Todd]

Ah, when things pull that shit I just don't buy them. I'm not giving money to someone just to have them tell me how much I don't exist.

On the other hand, I would like to point out that The Sims does it beautifully. The thing that I like the most about the way they tackled it is that it works exactly the same way as any heterosexual relationship. Not fetishized, not treated like an issue. You just can pair sims of the same sex, simple as that. And they've been doing that since the first game, which came out almost 15 years ago at this point!

[edit: excuse my palpable bitterness, but even without explaining my full life story I think you can imagine why I am bitter.]

Oh, I completely understand. I'm bitter too. I considered buying the game to play with all of my friends, but no, I won't now.

[Cherri]

I only know of Dragon Age and Mass Effect. (AND KAIDEN IS GORGEOUS.) You can romance anyone and no one questions it. I like that because your relationship is no one business. Ya know? It be nice if there were more like Harvest Moon, Rune Factory or Fire Emblem. So yeah, not much help and I just repeated others. There might be more but I've never specifically looked for them.

[Tara]

I agree with the Fire Emblem complaints!! I would have loved for my female Robin to marry Tharja... she's so gay, I don't understand why it wasn't possible. Q~Q

I have the same problem with Tomo Life too, which is a real shame considering it's such a neat idea. What makes me even more angry is that the homosexual relationships were TAKEN OUT. It's not like they just weren't there, they were removed completely like a glitch. I'm not a glitch!

I guess I sometimes forget a lot of the world isn't so accepting. Living in a country where it's legal everywhere has that effect, I guess.

The Sims is great though, I forgot about the Sims!! I'm really excited for Sims 4!