In the summer of 2006, after receiving academic approval from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Jason Rockwood opened up the "Gaymer Survey" to the public.
Rockwood expected 600 participants -- if he was lucky -- for the first-of-its-kind approved study exploring the social and behavioral demographic of gay video game players and the role of sexual orientation on gaming habits. The survey was
discussed in some regional lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) publications and
filtered out to the
gaming press. The survey, with over 10,000 respondents, became a sexually inclusive survey of gamers -- gay, straight and bi.
The study originally broke new ground for not only being the first study exploring LGBT gamers, but it was the first academic study of any gamer group. There is currently no academic studies of female gamers or gamers of color. In a 2006 interview, Rockwood said, "
The main purpose of the survey was to be a census. Before we can ask more intelligent questions we need to know who we are dealing with. First, we need to prove that homosexual gamers even exist. Yeah, it sounds ridiculous, but that's where you have to start on something like this. This survey is an attempt to quantify the existence of an invisible minority."
Continue after the break for some highlights from the survey
One of the most interesting portions of the survey is questions thirty-one, showing a reverse bell curve of gamer sexuality.
Alfred Kinsey's research found that human sexuality is a bell curve, with most participants gathered in the middle, this reverse bell curve is certainly one of the more curious results of the survey.
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| 31. On a scale of 1 to 7, with 1 being completely heterosexual, and 7 being completely homosexual (4 being completely bisexual), where would you consider yourself? |
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Response Percent |
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1 Completely Heterosexual |
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28% |
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12.9% |
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7.7% |
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4.9% |
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6.4% |
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16.8% |
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23.4% |
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The survey found that participant's preferred genre is Role-playing games, with 42 percent placing it in the "most favorite" category. RPGs held a 12 to 13 percentage point lead over MMOs, First-person shooters and Action/Adventure games. When asked what genres and to what degree participants would like to see gay and lesbian content in different genres, RPGs was the only category that received "Want Much More" instead of "Not Sure/Don't Know."
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| 46. To what degree would you like to see gay or lesbian content in the following gaming genres? |
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Want much more |
Want more |
Want less |
Do not want at all. |
Not sure/don't know |
| MMORPG (MMOG) |
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27% (2307) |
24% (2101) |
2% (167) |
13% (1113) |
34% (2946) |
| Children's |
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8% (696) |
12% (1065) |
2% (194) |
33% (2797) |
45% (3833) |
| Music/Rhythm |
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12% (1059) |
18% (1528) |
3% (256) |
20% (1696) |
47% (4061) |
| Roleplaying Game |
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32% (2797) |
28% (2433) |
2% (180) |
12% (1032) |
26% (2291) |
| Fighting |
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18% (1552) |
25% (2137) |
3% (256) |
17% (1489) |
37% (3221) |
| 1st Person Shooters |
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16% (1351) |
23% (1993) |
2% (216) |
19% (1675) |
39% (3410) |
| Sports |
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12% (1029) |
16% (1390) |
3% (235) |
23% (1939) |
47% (4000) |
| Strategy |
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12% (1025) |
21% (1793) |
2% (196) |
20% (1730) |
45% (3850) |
| Classic/Retro games |
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8% (669) |
10% (883) |
2% (175) |
27% (2323) |
53% (4516) |
| Simulations |
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18% (1565) |
23% (1994) |
2% (172) |
17% (1442) |
40% (3448) |
| Racing |
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9% (786) |
15% (1271) |
2% (210) |
24% (2057) |
50% (4251) |
| Action Adventure |
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22% (1933) |
30% (2589) |
2% (174) |
14% (1254) |
32% (2739) |
| Puzzles/Quizzes |
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9% (764) |
13% (1080) |
2% (201) |
25% (2134) |
51% (4396) |
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The following question asked about homophobia in the culture. Like any Xbox Live player can tell you, the term "That's so gay" and using "gay" or "queer" in a negative manner topped the list.
| 49. Which of the following forms of homophobia have you seen in the gaming community, either online or off? (Check all that apply.) |
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Response Percent |
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Players use the phrase, "That's so gay." |
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87.7% |
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Players use the words "gay" or "queer" as derogatory names. |
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83.4% |
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Stereotypical representations of gay characters in games. |
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52.3% |
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Refusal of game designers to include well-developed gay characters. |
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42.5% |
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Invisibility of gaymers and/or the gaymer community. |
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49.4% |
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None. |
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7% |
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Industry creates atmosphere where gay employees feel like they must stay in the closet. |
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15.7% |
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To review the survey results go to the
Gaymer Results Survey Page.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Keif @ Feb 26th 2007 3:12AM
I dotn really want to know what their game habits include if they think sexual prefrence has an influence on it.
though I guess ps3 would be least popular because it has no rumble.
Psaakyrn @ Feb 26th 2007 3:18AM
to #1 Keif
I'm going to treat that to be an assumption based on no substancial links between rumble and sexuality.
Xenikos @ Feb 26th 2007 3:41AM
Hey Keif -
Considering most games involve:
- male figures pursuing female romantic leads
- hyper-masculine figures
- threesome mini-games (well, God of War...)
etc. etc. of COURSE sexual issues are pertinent to game choices (as they are to movies, music, so on and so forth).
Oh, and you're a freaking idiot. But hey, what the hell, waive that moron flag high.
Rubang B @ Feb 26th 2007 3:47AM
Of course it showed a reverse bell curve. Most straight people think (hope) they're 100% straight, and many Queer people think (hope) they're 100% Queer. People who freely admit 100% bisexuality are the minority. This was just a survey that anybody could answer, so everybody assumed they were a 1 or a 7. Kinsey's study that showed the actual bell curve dug a lot deeper than this. Kinsey didn't ask "Do you like your own gender or the other gender?" He asked many questions about each participants' feelings, daydreams, desires, etc., to find out what their sexuality really was, whether they ever acted on it or not. Kinsey was so ridiculously thorough that if video games were around in 1948 he would've asked these questions and more.
I didn't know about this survey, but I would've answered "yes" to every point on question 49. Every study on the subject has shown that 10% of males are predominantly homosexual (as well as about 6% of females), and as of the 2000 U.S.census, 12.5% of Americans are Hispanic and 12.3% are black, so in American-made games we should seriously be seeing a Queer character just as often as we see a black or Hispanic character. In all 3 cases, it's not enough.
Demaar @ Feb 26th 2007 3:49AM
FFS. Gay doesn't JUST mean homosexual. Srsly, it used to mean "happy". Then it became "homosexual". Now it means something unpleasant.
Definitions CHANGE. When someone says "it's so gay that Super Mario Galaxy has been delayed" they don't mean that the delay of Super Mario Galaxy will lead to boys kissing. They mean it sucks. It's not homophobia, it's a change in language.
The rest of the results were interesting. Definitely could be interesting to see more homosexual characters/situations in video games in general... beyond the stereotypes I mean.
Rubang B @ Feb 26th 2007 3:56AM
It's a change of language based solely on homophobia. It's like saying "Damn this new Mortal Kombat is a greasy Mexican game, lol," and then saying "Hey, the word Mexican used to mean of Mexican descent, but now it means gay, so no offense."
Leggo @ Feb 26th 2007 4:28AM
What's so curious about a reverse bell curve on a poll TARGETING homosexuals?
If you're specifically going to be polling the people near the freak end of the statistical spectrum (ie, third+ standard devations from the norm), you're going to see some damned strange results.
Heterosexuals shouldn't have been allowed to vote, I can't help thinking that they're the ones responsible for answers like 20%+ people want less or no homosexual content in their games. We already know far too much about the typical hetersexual male wants in his games, the games industry is based on it.
Zell @ Feb 26th 2007 4:33AM
Nothing irks me more than hearing people say crap like, "That's so gay!" and sadly it seems everyone under the age of 20 says it. While it might not be malicious, clearly it's nothing positive. Rubang B made an excelent point.
Interesting study. I'll never understand people who define themselves as 100% anything though, and I'm gay. I'd put myself as a 6 on that scale, at least.
Lonin @ Feb 26th 2007 4:49AM
The insinuation that anyone who uses the word "gay" in a negative connotation is homophobic is ludicrous. Are there people who use it that are homophobic and actually intend for the phrase to convey this? Of course, but in today's pop culture this is certainly NOT the majority. No one takes the phrase "that's gay" to mean something is happy (at least in modern times), people would think you foolish if you did. The same could be said for "that's gay" always representing homophobia. That would also be foolish. The current connotation of the negative form of the word "gay" may have derived from homophobia, but in today's culture it frankly has very little if anything to do with it.
@7 - Not an entirely accurate analogy. "Mexican" is a word that was created for, and predominantly has, only one purpose, to identify a nationality of people. The word "gay" can not claim this.
@8 - While I agree the pull results aren't curious, I'd like to see how they would not allow heterosexuals to vote. That would have to be one interesting CAPTCHA system. :P
Psaakyrn @ Feb 26th 2007 5:09AM
Gay used in a negative manner is homophobic, but the people who uses it may not be. It's just that it's a flowover from the previous generation, which is homophobic. (i.e. the older generation who uses it is likely to be homophobic, the younger generation who uses it got the term from the older generation BUT not necessarily got the homophobic aspect)
That's my assumption, at least. I'm quite sure that even homosexual people uses that phrase jokingly (but in a negative context).
Keif @ Feb 26th 2007 5:10AM
Xenikos, Sorry, but Ill leave the flag waving to you.
-Masculine leads? yea, a gay guy wouldn't be in to that at all. oh wait, gay guys LIKE guys. Toms of sexy females in games for, hey lesbians are set too! Bi's? well they don't know what they want.
- I have NEVER heard of anyone playing a game for the romance sides story. If you want romance then you are probably going to go watch a movie. That and TONS of Japanese games have borderline gay romances in them anyway
I'm sorry but if you are buying games because of sexuality (such as any idiot who buys DOA Xtreme games, the man game, or BMX XXX) Then I don't think you understand what games are about anyways.
And Note, I have the same stance on girl gaming clubs. OK your different. All these separate groups want to be included in the big scheme of things, but they are the ones singling them selfs out.
Kazi @ Feb 26th 2007 5:10AM
@10 So true. Gay started out as a word to describe happy. And queer started as a word to describe weird. Both have taken on the definition of homosexual. Where's the double meaning to Caucasian? Mexican? Indian? Japanese? Homosexuals aren't that special that we have to take all the meanings out of a word just for them. If I want to call a a bunny eating a boulder queer or call stupid crap in a game gay and you find it offensive I think you're the one that needs to straighten up.
Oh shit son, someone's talking about saltines, better go get insalted (get it, hahaha, bad pun).
Yuki~Summer Ver.~ @ Feb 26th 2007 5:40AM
"Completely Heterosexual", "Completely Bi", "Completely Homosexual", or something in between? Talk about bias. There is a small minority of people out there (myself included) who would rather say "None of the Above". Some people would prefer to focus on other things entirely. Sex just doesn't "do it" for everyone, as strange a concept as that likely seems to most of the people here.
I really don't think the sexual preference of the gaming demographic should be a top priority on developer's lists of things to worry about.
vozome @ Feb 26th 2007 5:41AM
I'm a quite disturbed by the fact that "Refusal of game designers to include well-developed gay characters." is considered homophobia. In most story-based games, virtually no character make their sexual preferences explicit. Should they?
t_m @ Feb 26th 2007 5:43AM
I'm of the opinion that "thats so gay!" is indeed a negative comment against gays, though in general it isn't usually intended as one.
Since the original meaning of gay was "happy", and there is nothing negative about being gay, surely it would be fair to assume that when people say "thats so gay!" they mean something is great!
Thats how i'm gonna start using it in future. If people's use of the word can change the meaning, then surely if we all start using it to mean something positive then we can change the meaning back, and maybe benefit gay people as well.
PS/ Since the study targetted gay gamers, its not surprising that there is an inverse bell curve.. the results will be skewed towards that demographic. Unless of course they re-released it without the "gay gamer survey" label.
hef @ Feb 26th 2007 5:48AM
I'm pretty sure Gears of War is a love story. It's about Marcus Fenix and his best bud Dom. Hunky, ugly, rough, thick neck blokes still need to be held. I can't quit you Dom is an achievement, right? Anyway Fenix probably has a bet each way with that piece of skirt from the chopper.
Anonymous @ Feb 26th 2007 6:03AM
I love it how the liberal media has changed a general dislike of homosexuality (be it for Religious reasons or otherwise) and has changed it to where if you aren't super duper happy about a man and a man or a woman and a woman sleeping together, you have a "Phobia" or "fear" of them. Having said this, I don't think "Gay" has anything to do with gaming habits. So the characters in Gears of War are muscular and manly...does this not mean that gays are attracted to them and thus play it even if it's a generally manly-man oriented game? This would really only have some bearing if there were gay games, with two male leads that were gay with each other, and then they polled to see if straight people were playing it (And not a game like Bully or Fable where man-man kissing was left in basically because giving each character a gender code would have been a hassle).
A constant fight for any type of legitimacy, that's all this is.
Ryan P. @ Feb 26th 2007 6:08AM
Sorry, this TURNED INTO A RANT but i want to use Joystick, if i can, to draw attention to something:
About "gay" as a derogatory term, what pisses me off the most about that, is there is no doubt in my mind that SOUTH PARK is to blame for that. And in the season one compilation video for South Park , wich came out pretty soon after the series started, Trey Parker basically outed himself in one of the skits they put in just for the video. Then as the show got bigger, started making him millions and went on he got quieter about his personal life. He's the main writter. So a gay guy is almost exclusivley responsible for an entire generation calling "stuff" gay all the time. No one has ever called him on it in the press.
South Park can do what they want but:
It would make a big difference if the audience knew it was a gay guy laughing at himself, it would take alot of the power away from it. But without knowing WHO's useing that humour, it seems like it's at gay's expense. They don't understand it's just shock humour. Anyway, Trey Parker is a massive sellout for keeping quiet now that his show's going on forever. If anyone has that video still put it up on You Tube.
Ryan.
Rubang B @ Feb 26th 2007 6:14AM
I like how you can toss around the phrase "general dislike of homosexuality" as if it's not as bad as a "general dislike of blackness" or a "general dislike of womanhood." Whether you like it or not, millions of people are born gay, born black, born female, and born with many other attributes you might not like or understand. You can dislike people for smelling bad because they could easily take a shower, and you can dislike people for many other reasons, but those reasons should be based on their actions and ideas and not based on the hand they were dealt. Disliking someone for being gay is just as awkward as disliking someone for being short.
jgw @ Feb 26th 2007 6:17AM
@5 (Rubang B): The 10% homosexual statistic is irrelevant to this study and possibly gaming in general. This particular study specifically targeted "gaymers," and thus the representative percentage of homosexuals is understandably higher. Speaking on the appearance of homosexual characters in video games, you are extrapolating the gamer population from the male population as a whole. This is misleading. 10% of males might be homosexual, but this does not automatically mean that 10% of male GAMERS are homosexual. This holds true for the black and Hispanic populations as well. In a salient example, about half of the United States is female. I don't know who's in your party when you stagger home at 5am for some drunken Halo or Viva Pinata or Barbie Horse Adventures, but I sincerely doubt this proportion translates to the gamer population.
ALH @ Feb 26th 2007 6:22AM
meh.I'm with the first post, i dont see what this has to do with anything, at all. Fair enough if a 'love story' is part of the plot, but in general its not like even that matters,because people are still going to disagree with it, drawn up an alternate version where everything and everyone getting is it on in some way or other.
No point of view from asexuals though? tsk tsk.
Rubang B @ Feb 26th 2007 6:28AM
@jgw, I read a very recent study (not sure of the URL right now), that said 50% of gamers are female BUT they're all playing MMORPGs and puzzle games. So for every guy on Gears and Halo and whatnot there's a girl out there somewhere playing WoW or Snood. But yeah, this is totally irrelevant.
Anyway, back to your point, what do you think gay people do? I bet they too fuck around on the internet and play video games in their free time, unless of course we're supposed to assume that this gayness has infiltrated every facet of their life and they will only watch gay movies, read gay books, and some day when there are gay games they will only play those ones. Until that day, I guess gay gamers are a smaller minority than I thought.
redzoo @ Feb 26th 2007 6:35AM
I've been experiencing a lot of homophobic abuse on WoW recently and it's as ugly as some of the frankly mind-boggling justification of its use on this comments page.
You cannot call this abuse a leftover from a previous generation or justify its use because your friends do the same- you *know* that the terms used (and how they are used in the context of an insult and/or negative situation) have negative homosexual connotations. You *are* being homophobic.
Are you just using them and inventing a middle ground because you can get away with doing so in a predominantly heterosexual environment?
Gaylord Fokker @ Feb 26th 2007 6:51AM
It's somewhat amusing to play xbox live and be called gay by kids who have probably never even had sex, gay or otherwise. Being touched by your uncle doesn't count! My point? There are people out there with all sorts of silly opinions and attitudes and if you let them upset you then you'll be constantly rattled.
Sexuality is pretty complex and I don't think we fully understand how it works. So, be yourself!
Anonymous @ Feb 26th 2007 7:05AM
To #24-
The second you tell people you are a homosexual on WoW, or really, in life (or rather, the second orientation is brought into anything) you are basically asking for it from the 90% majority of straight people out there. Calling someone "Gay" does not always mean you are calling them a "homosexual" as others have pointed out. The word Gay is American slang for something that sucks etc, as is the word "Fag" (which I guess the guy above can thank the creators of South Park for too).
As for the guy above that equated a "General Dislike" of homosexuals to a "General dislike" of women and black people... you couldn't be any more ridiculous. You can choose the fact that you are black, or a woman (I'm definatly not saying either of these is a bad thing, so help me) but you can make a choice whether or not to have sex with the same sex. Can you choose to be attracted? Maybe not, but does that mean you have to act if you are attracted? No. I think that is the problem most people have. But since calm debate is out of the question, resume calling us homophobes *Shrugs*
Anonymous @ Feb 26th 2007 7:05AM
(Can't choose black or woman, excuse the typo)
Frankie @ Feb 26th 2007 7:11AM
Kratos is Greek, so its almost a given that he's at least had gay sex with young boys.
Frankie @ Feb 26th 2007 7:16AM
@ 26
"Can you choose to be attracted? Maybe not, but does that mean you have to act if you are attracted? No."
And there in lies the problem. There is nothing wrong with gay sex. If your personal opinion is that its disgusting, no one is forcing you to partake in it, unless that makes you hard.
It's like saying that there is nothing wrong with being black. You can't choose to be black, people are born that way. But if you're attracted to white women, no, just no. Don't have sex with white women. I think it's disgusting.
See what I did there?
Anonymous @ Feb 26th 2007 7:16AM
I'm Catholic so obviously I've had gay sex once or twice or ten times with a priest. And subsequently, I am a homophobic gay basher. I wish there were gay MMO's so that all the women characters on MMO's weren't just men =/ That's the poll I think they should do "Are there any real women on MMORPG's playing female characters?" though it would obviously be skewed towards "Yes" since no men playing female chars would admit to it =p
Rubang B @ Feb 26th 2007 7:16AM
You are correct Anonymous. People who are born gay can CHOOSE to never have sex with people they are attracted to. That's the dumbest shit I've ever seen posted on Joystiq, and trust me, I've seen people on here claim that the PS3 is worth $600 just for the launch games.
The mistake you're making is that you're equating homosexuality with the act of homosexual intercourse and not the desire. If a guy has a wife and kids, but has a boyfriend on the downlow that he's in love with, but never has sex with his boyfriend, does that make him straight? His whole life he has only had sex with his wife and never had sexual contact with a man. Is he gay or straight? If you agree that this makes him gay, then you agree that the gayness is based on who he loves and not on who his penis touches.
What you're saying is that if you're born straight, you can fuck whoever you like, and if you're born gay, you should either hide it or just never have sex. Isn't that a little unfair?
Rubang B @ Feb 26th 2007 7:25AM
There are real women on WoW. A friend of mine is a WoW addict and has been in the same clan for over a year. Recently the clan almost fell apart when the 2 women who'd been running the clan for over a year broke up. The clan got shook up a bit, but they stuck together.
Anonymous @ Feb 26th 2007 7:29AM
31-
I got invited to an offline meetup from people on an MMO I used to play (3 women characters and a man character) and when I got there (basically we were to meet underneath a sign) I looked before I went over there, and it was 4 men (all gay, and older maybe 30-40, when I was 17ish) so I got the heck out of there basically. I'll never play an MMO again =P or atleast I'll never go to another offline.
hegemonyhog @ Feb 26th 2007 7:34AM
Wow, this thread is a hotbed of underlying bigotry and ignorance.
1.) "Gay", when used as a derogatory word, is homophobic and hateful - it doesn't matter whether you intend it to be or not. If I call something "niggerish", I don't get to jump out and say I only meant it as a general insult, and it has no racial overtones. Arguing otherwise is simply excusing the blatant meaning and genealogy of the word.
2.) "you can make a choice whether or not to have sex with the same sex. Can you choose to be attracted? Maybe not, but does that mean you have to act if you are attracted? No. I think that is the problem most people have. But since calm debate is out of the question, resume calling us homophobes"
Two things: if you can't choose to be attracted to someone of the same sex, then you can't choose to be gay. The split you're discussing is inane and arbitrary, based on nothing but what you feel is gross.
Also, that's the weirdest definition of sexual identity ever. Does this mean that you're essentially a neuter until you lose your virginity? That you aren't anything until someone actually deigns to touch your genitals? I think a nation of hormonal teenagers would certainly disagree.
3.) "There are people out there with all sorts of silly opinions and attitudes and if you let them upset you then you'll be constantly rattled."
Which is great, but generally not applicable to ingrained bigotry. You can't let it hold you back, but at the same time, it has to upset you and you have to work against it in order to overcome it and make sure that it's no longer acceptable. Otherwise, you get people who so accept bigoted commentary that they believe it's taken on a whole new, non-controversial meaning.
Anonymous @ Feb 26th 2007 7:43AM
Might aswell take the squabble over to somewhere like something awful or /b/, since gay people will be pro, straight people will be con, and there is no changing that =P
On one side it's biggotry, on the other it's traditional Christian values. No side will ever win.
Oh and the second male wang hits male anus, you are gayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy there is no doubt about it. Unless alottttttttttttttt of liquor was involved and it was dark in the room.
Frankie @ Feb 26th 2007 7:51AM
"Oh and the second male wang hits male anus, you are gayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy there is no doubt about it. Unless alottttttttttttttt of liquor was involved and it was dark in the room."
you'd be surprised. The prostate is god's gift to men. Why waste such a precious gift.
Rubang B @ Feb 26th 2007 7:52AM
The sexual act itself does not define the sexuality. What if a lesbian woman and a gay man are stranded on an island and want to make a baby? Oooh... gray area.
Also, in New Guinea, when boys reach puberty, part of their rite of passage is fellating an adult male of the tribe and swallowing the semen. You see, they believe that semen is a magical fluid, since it's the only one that women can't make. Does this mean that every single male in New Guinea is gay? I highly doubt it since they've been making babies since like, forever. To them it's part of growing up and is a completely nonsexual.
Frankie @ Feb 26th 2007 7:54AM
Greeks, however were all about the sex. And brotherhood. And passing experience or some shit excuse.
Rubang B @ Feb 26th 2007 7:59AM
Yeah from what I've read the ancient Greeks had no concept of homosexuality. It was more of an age/citizenship thing. Men over 30 put it into boys under 30. Until you're 30 random older guys get to put it in you. Once you're 30, you're considered a citizen and get to put it in anybody under 30. However, if you're on the receiving end when you're over 30, you'd be banished because you're "acting like a woman." It wasn't even homophobic. It was just sexist as hell. And if you put it into a guy while you're under 30, you'd be in a little trouble for acting like a citizen. And if anybody over or under 30 rapes a woman, nobody cares, because women have no legal rights and/or sexuality, AMIRITE?
Anonymous @ Feb 26th 2007 8:00AM
36
To keep from being a sodomite, in the Traditional Christian sense, and that the anus is an exit and not an entrance =p
37
Aslong as you don't act, you aren't a homosexual, in the Traditional Christian sense. Which is the only sense I care for. And it's obvious I'm not alone, with Billions of other Christians and people of other faiths following similar belief-sets. I won't apologize for being in the majority, as I'm sure you wouldn't apologize for being in the minority. Just don't be surprised when alot of people aren't happy with what you are doing =P
And if I were gay, I'd totally play Inuyasha for the DS. Fluffy is Muto-KAWAIIIIIIIIIII~!
Rubang B @ Feb 26th 2007 8:02AM
Ok I'm going to sleep. But I'll be back in 8 hours to look at all these comments! Don't say anything dumb without me everybody! Goodnight.
FSK405K @ Feb 26th 2007 8:26AM
Why is "that's gay" derogatory? Sure, on its face it could be a prejudice slur, but that's not how it's used. It's like calling someone a "geek" or "nerd," except that it's not usually directed at a person, but a thing or situation.
t_m @ Feb 26th 2007 8:26AM
Yeah! Being the way go made you isn't a sin.. its just being true to the way god made you and being happy thats a sin!
I don't know why that concept is so hard for all you gays to grasp! Being miserable, lonely and ignoring the way godmade you is the route to salvation!
And obviously everyone on here who is defending gay rights, and bashing the kindly use of the term "you are so gay!" is gay, because no straight person would EVER defend a gay person or their right to be gay!
You know we are right, because US CHRISTIANS are in the majority in the USA, evn if the rest of the world has abandoned our religion and moved on to so called "rational thought"!
ps/ don't call ME gay or i'll punch your lights out.. not that there is anything offensive or related to homosexuality in saying something is "so gay!". But i'm not!
Kye @ Feb 26th 2007 8:29AM
Rubang, Don't worry. I doubt anything dumb will be said when your not here. It's almost certain we need you here for something stupid to be said :)
"There is currently no academic studies of female gamers or gamers of color."
I can't speak for female gamers, but I really haven't noticed any trends among non-white gamers that would require studying.
p-diddy @ Feb 26th 2007 8:42AM
Hegemonyhog, THANK YOU! "that is so gay" is NOT american slang. It is ignorance. You can say "oh i don't mean it like it's a negative homosexual reference" but it is.
As for anonymous, while I doubt you're a priest and could give me the definition of what makes you a homosexual in the Traditional Christian sense, it wouldn't matter because there's 800 sects of Christianity that would disagree with you. But what else should I expect from people that believes the gospel according to a two thousand year old game of telephone (for the uninformed, the gospels were written like 80 years after Christ and were not written by Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, just people that heard their stories, or heard them from other people).
That's ny new phrase: that's so Christian. It means moronic and backwards. Yeah it used to mean a religion, but now it's just american slang, so no offense, right?
-p-
hegemonyhog @ Feb 26th 2007 8:43AM
"Aslong as you don't act, you aren't a homosexual, in the Traditional Christian sense."
I'm going to venture a guess...actually, a complete statement of fact. I know more about "Traditional Christian" values and beliefs than you, and what you say doesn't jibe at all.
A Christian, as is made clear in the Gospels, is not defined by works alone. What you want to do and what you desire to do is just as important as what you actually do. It's why the more extreme and fundamentalist branch of Christianity allows for "ex-gay" counseling and therapy - you can act as heterosexual as you want, but in their mind, homosexuality is defined both by the desire and the act. And although mainstream Christianity wouldn't subscribe to the tactics, the thought/action (read: grace/works) connection would still be there for anything considered sinful.
In other words, stop bullshitting.
32_Footsteps @ Feb 26th 2007 8:48AM
So according to this survey, 87.7% of gamers have seen usage of the phrase "That's so gay" in the gaming community.
In a related tidbit, 12.3% of gamers live under a rock.
hegemonyhog @ Feb 26th 2007 8:48AM
"Why is "that's gay" derogatory? Sure, on its face it could be a prejudice slur, but that's not how it's used."
Sure, on its face, saying that your statement is "so Jewish" said could be a slur, but that wasn't how it was used. Jewish doesn't mean relating to the Jewish people, it just means cheap, dishonest and dirty, completely unrelated to that great Abrahmic faith.
Arno @ Feb 26th 2007 8:58AM
Want more gay content? Play JRPGs.
Juan @ Feb 26th 2007 9:01AM
Hmm, most of the respondents favoring RPGs sounds strange. Doesn't seem to correlate to sales figures of games. This will have to be explained, or the surveyed population might be self-selecting, which could throw everything else off.
Jack of No Trades @ Feb 26th 2007 9:07AM
"51. Guys, remember: The more homophobic you are, chances are VERY GOOD that you like it up the ass.
Fact.
Posted at 8:55AM on Feb 26th 2007 by Frankie"
Actually the more somebody talks about homosexuality the more of a chance they are gay. The same goes for a person who talks video games all the time is most likely to play video games.
Just because someone is homophobic it doesn't mean their gay. It could be that they have an extreme dislike for someone different and would rather stay the hell away.