Life is Strange: True Colors won the title of “Outstanding Video Game” at the GLAAD Media Awards 2022. The American organization that monitors the correct representation of the lesbian, gay and transgender community in the media, has preferred it to titles such as Far Cry 6, Kena: Bridge of Spirits, Psychonauts 2, Unpacking and many others.
It is worth underlining it, on the International Day against homo / bi / transphobia: today video games are a world where issues of gender and sexual identity are treated with respect and open-mindedness rare in other sectors of culture. The series Life is Strangefor example, it has accustomed us for years to a narrative that shuns the binarisms of gender and orientation, but in the fourth and final chapter Life is strange: True colors, released in 2021, the representations are enriched with even more intersectional nuances. Alex Chen is a young Asian-American bisexual woman with psychic powers linked to empathy, and this is regardless of the choices of those who play: a small but substantial revolution, because if so far the option of having a heterosexual or homosexual romantic story was entrusted to the player, and therefore also ignorable, now this aspect becomes systemic. “Playersexual” is the term that was coined when the protagonist of the video game aligns with that of the player, a possibility present in many video games, from Mass Effect a Dragon Ageup to the last Cyberpunk 2077 o Assassin’s Creed. After more than thirteen years, it is perhaps time for the place of LGBTQ + protagonists to have greater visibility: when, as Alex Chen, we decide to kiss a boy or a girl, we are not choosing his orientation, we are only developing one of his emotional possibilities. It will look like a nuance, but important, because the rainbow is made of shades.
“After the first phase of analysis and characterization we knew that on paper we had all the elements to create an excellent character, not obvious and particular” says Florent Guillaume, director of the video game Tell me why, in which the protagonist Tyler is a transgender boy, “but we realized we didn’t know how to approach or deal with certain sides of the issue and that’s where GLAAD helped us in many ways”. The consultancy concerned the narration of family ties, the importance of their construction, their memory and above all the weight they have in the construction of our identity: all central themes of the video game.
In the annual “Where We are on TV” report, GLAAD reports that of the 775 regular characters who have appeared in prime-time programming between movies and TV shows in 2021, 11.2% are identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and / or queer. The percentage is up 2.8 points compared to the previous year, but there is still a long way to go: many admit they feel uncomfortable knowing that a family member, friend, colleague or doctor could be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender . A hostility manifested daily in communities, on social networks and in video game blogs with the chorus of “it is a fashion” and “dictatorship of the politically correct”, and that to video games such as The Last of Us: Part 2 has created quite a few problems, with a ferocious bombing review and death and rape threats to the actresses who have lent their faces to the characters. In fact, even in the title of Naughty Dog there is, in addition to a lesbian protagonist, the character of a young transgender boy, Lev, who escaped from a violent sect in order to save himself and his sister.
“I think the society we live in probably explains by itself why there are few similar representations in games” continues Guillaume “we are afraid of taking risks, sparking controversy or provoking negative reactions. From the beginning we were aware that our decision would represent a risk, but we wanted to continue in this direction despite the possibility of having to deal with what would have resulted from it ”.
There is no doubt that in recent years the stories, experiences, connections and ties of the LGBTQ + community have come out of the rear to finally take the main road: Tyler is only the first playable protagonist, but to counter the uncompromising fanaticism we should do like him, retrace the past and understand that the history of video games, from its origins, does not belong only to males, whites, cisgender and heterosexuals, but to everyone, even to the LGBTQ + community.
Already in 1988 the character of Birdo, in one of the best-selling video games in the world, Super Mario Bros 2 Nintendo, it was told in the instruction booklet: “Think you’re a girl, spit eggs from your mouth and would rather be called Birdetta”. The following year, in the Infocom adventure Ciruit’s Edge, based on the science fiction novel of the same name by George Alec Effinger, in the border bar and nightclub circuit, we find Lily, a frequenter of the Red Light Lounge, “a transsexual woman among the most cute. But damn, they’re all pretty! ”, And Blanca“ a transsexual dancer who works in the nightclubs of the circuit. Her most evident qualities are her deep blue eyes ”as the protagonist tells us in the game. There are also Abdul-Hassan “a young, thin American boy, a slave to Saied l’Half-Hejj and to Hassan before him. It is said that Abdul-Hassan was not born a boy ”and Mahmoud, friend of the protagonist, now short, stocky and treacherous as a snake but previously was a club dancer with narrow hips and doe eyes.
The beautiful and sexy Poison made her first appearance in Final Fight of Capcom, also in December 1989, while its gender identity became the subject of censorship in one hemisphere and a reason for fan service in the other.
We could still continue in the thick ranks of fighting games with Shion di King of Fighters XI (SNK, 2005) and his lethal wushu; or with Bridget of Guilty Gear X (Arc System Works, 2002), a young transgender nun of the Order of the Missionaries of Charity who fights with a huge teddy bear, a yo-yo and large handcuffs as a belt; and again with Yuiren and Yuiran di The Fallen Angels (Psikyo / SEGA, 1998).
“Male or female, what difference does it make? The important thing is power and I have the power! ” Flea asserted of the unforgettable Chrono Trigger for Super Nintendo (Squaresoft, 1995) hitting the point of the question in antagonist hyperbole.
According to the 2021 Accelerating Acceptance survey, 50% of non-LGBTQ + Americans find information and conversations about gender identity and sexual orientation complicated or confusing. If the tools to unravel and interpret this information are not provided by anyone, then the role of video games, TV series and social networks becomes fundamental and it is equally important that this interaction is as positive and diversified as possible to respect authenticity and do not perpetuate prejudices or cultural biases. For this reason GLAAD has initiated the trans-inclusive project “TRANSform Hollywood” which provides guidance and advice on how to best incorporate non-binary characters into stories and narratives. Just like Dontnod did for his Tell me why.
Director Guillaume tells how before the collaboration with the American association they felt a little naive about certain aspects, “but with us they started from scratch, giving us a sort of lesson on the history of the transgender community, explaining what the important aspects were and making us understand how the community is often the victim of incorrect, hostile and often intentionally offensive representations ”.
The character of Tyler tells sensitive themes of those facing a transition, such as the deadname or hormonal treatment, but above all the relationship with their past and with their family. In addition, the character has been voiced by transgender actor August Aiden Black, to restore his authenticity not only in the field of writing. “Video games really have the ability to empathize players with characters, put them in their shoes and bond. I hope that, playing as Tyler, many players can do the same and understand a little what it means to be a transgender person ”.
In 1980 in New York City there was the first Atari National Championship of 1980, forerunner of what only many years later we would have called “e-sports”. Rebecca Ann Heineman, “Becky” to friends, as the documentary series tells us, won it and delivered herself to history as the first world video game champion. High Score on Netflix. She was a little over twelve at the time and she didn’t think she was good or good at it, but in video games she could feel like herself and use a female character. “I’ve always identified myself as feminine, but sadly my body didn’t agree. When I played, I was in a virtual world where it was enough to decimate the aliens, and I could ignore the one around me. It was the only place where I could find comfort and peace ”. Forty years later, world video game champion Dominique “SonicFox” McLean, collecting the award at the Game Awards, comes out saying he is a non-binary and gay boy.
What has happened in recent years with a more equitable representation of genders and LGBTQ + people is not an achievement, but the re-appropriation of a legitimate place, something that has always been a part of and that for too long a particular culture has tried to remove. , hide, tell as external. Tell me why it teaches us to know the past to understand our role, to affirm our existence, and then to start running again towards the next level, with that desire to have fun that in videogames all have in common.