In the past few years, homosexuals have been in the media more and more. From shows like “Queer as Folk” and “The “L” Word,” which cater to a very specific section of the public, to “Will & Grace,” whose box sets you can find in many American households, gay men and women are becoming more and more prominent in TV, movies, and the general media. This trend has moved into the gaming world as well, but what does this change mean for gaming? In an even more important vein, how will the gaming community respond to these changes?

In Bioware’s visceral RPG Dragon Age: Origins you can initiate a homosexual relationship with a couple of people (depending on the gender of your main character). If you are a male character, you can choose to begin a relationship with Zevran, the slightly flamboyant and kinky elf assassin. If you are a female character, you can start up a lesbian relationship with Leliana, a bard from Orlais, turned devout Chantry sister. The sequel, which drops tonight, also offers the ability for people to have gay relationships, although the gaming community has yet to know the extent of how these relationships will work and unfold. There have been some curious responses to the previously mentioned ability to begin a homosexual relationship in these games.

The Timothy Plan, a conservative Christian website, offers information on how Christians can make their voices heard even more by including content about Biblical stewardship and moral investing. They have also created a list of video games that they feel should not be purchased for children. It is interesting to note that the ESRB’s rating system agrees with the inclusion of most of the games on this list. Most of the “worst” games for children have been given a “T” or an “M” rating by the ESRB, so it can be hoped that parents wouldn’t be buying them for their children anyway. However, one of The Timothy Plan’s criterion for scrutiny of video games is its gay and lesbian content. Of course, people can extrapolate for themselves as to what they feel should not be in a video game, especially one a child might play, but it seems that there are worse things out there in video games than the possibility of two men kissing; killing people with rocket launchers and disturbing images of aliens eating people are just two that come to mind easily. Clearly, you can judge a video game on many different merits, but it seems that people place too much emphasis on whether or not it will depict two men or two women in love, and not whether or not it will show people being blown up.

Another topic, which is related in a completely different way to homosexuals and gaming, is the live discourse in online gaming. How many people have been called derogatory slurs relating to their supposed sexual orientation while playing online games? Personally, I cannot see the correlation between you killing a homicidal maniac and whether or not your boyfriend requires any services of you before you sleep.

I realize that this topic has little, or arguably nothing, to do with game developers or companies, but it is a rather frustrating aspect of online gaming for some individuals. I know that I get quite tired of being called various derogatory names simply because another person is angry that I’m more skilled than he or she is. Yes, this doesn’t particularly speak to video gaming content and in general speaks to a larger societal issue, but nonetheless this is something that I must address at least in passing. And the most concise way I can voice my opinion is: stop.

Nevertheless, all of these changes have stimulated discussion from various people in the gaming community. The biggest question that this raises, however, is, “Does anybody really care?” Do gay individuals care about the new content (and subsequent backlash), and if they do, why? Clearly, I can’t speak for anyone else besides me but, as a gay man, I feel that we should just be pleased with the content. It’s about time that gay men and women have the opportunity to be characters to whom they can really relate. It’s about time that heroes and heroines can be gay men and women, and it’s about time that homosexuals in video games are simply not stereotypes. I applaud developers who are stepping outside of the status quo and making gaming even more exciting for a frequently marginalized subset of gamers.

Honestly, I think the changes in gaming are pretty tremendous. Granted, I’m not going to play a game simply because I can have a homosexual relationship with a guy in it, but at the same time, it’s a perk. I get tired of playing the straight, masculine, lead character as he causes the mysterious, glamorous, attractive female to fall in love with him. I doesn’t offend me or disgust me; I just can’t relate; in RPGs, I like to relate to the character that I have created. I think that David Gaider, Dragon Age’s senior writer, said it best:

“I would hope that some folks could be sensitive enough to be happy for those players [pursuing same-sex romance],” he concluded, “at the very least out of the selfish notion that they may one day end up in the minority of some content issue and receive the same consideration if nothing else.”

I think all of these changes are a great step forward, and it seems that the gaming industry now realizes that it needs to address a larger group of people than straight men in college.