I usually just lurk on this forum, but since this is a topic that affects me personally as a transgender woman, I thought I'd contribute to this discussion.

To start, I'd like to thank dragbody for bringing attention to a really important issue that is actually really important to people like me. How queer people relate to media is such an under-discussed topic, and I honestly think that's a shame! We have plenty of interesting perspectives to offer, and I feel like books like the one linked, or threads like this one, really help to normalize these topics. That's enough from me, though.

I'll definitely look at getting the linked book, thanks for bringing it to people's attention.

I realize this is a few years old now, but this book sounds absolutely right up my street. So thanks for recommending it, Dragbody!

IRORIEH wrote:

I think there's a lack of clarity in the discussion, that's led to derailment into political debating, wheen that's kind of a moot point. I can't think of any piece of media that isn't layered with sociopolitical issues. That's kind of the definition of art at the end of the day; expression of our beliefs and feelings via a medium, be it painting, writing, acting, and yes, ultimately, video games.

I'd say you'd be hard pressed to find a single example of anything in the aforementioned fields that isn't political in some way. Hell, even this forums beloved FNV is loaded with gay/lesbian characters, and Fallout series as a whole was created by a gay man; Tim Cain. I did actually do a game study course back at university that touched upon a lot of Queer issues in games, beyond just lgbt+. There's a lot of material written about this stuff, and honestly, rather than blindly debating it, I'd encourage people to give them a read. It is quite interesting to give an alternate view point a try.

For me at the end of the day, a lot of my favourite games have very political subtext when you get past the surface. The difference between games like those, and what I would say causes something of a knee jerk reaction among many, is good writing. I don't think, as many of you guys have pointed out, anything of worth comes from going for low hanging fruit, or simply having diverse writing teams, but often just by having a good solid direction, and people who have an ability to make their characters feel human, and worlds natural, rather than just creating caricatures, or simply grandstanding.

Edit: Plot twist right there. Didn't realise this, but that book was actually one of my course materials at uni. Doesn't time fly?

Damn I'm jealous man! Gonna try and see if my Uni has any courses like that I can register for. The discussions here were exactly what you'd expect from gamers in an online forum sadly. People don't hate politics in art, they hate when the other guy's politics are in their art! Also, killer point about how the big difference is good writing, Fallout (especially 1,2, and NV) seems pretty obviously left-leaning to me but people don't freak out over it because it's written with incredible nuance and consideration for so many different philosophical schools of thought. Your comment was like a diamond in the rough lmao