User:Jannacorsetti/sandbox

Edited Version

Asian games[edit | edit source]

Most western games are made for a western audience; however, Japan, Korea and Taiwan all have large gaming industries which produce games for western audiences. Many video games are developed in Japan, and some effort has been made at creating games that are more LGBTQ+ friendly. In Japanese popular culture, gay and bisexual men were often considered bishōnen, which translates as "beautiful boys", and eludes to a young boy who transcends the confines of gender and sexuality. This was tied to the success of Japanese comic books and animation with open and subtle LGBT characters. A select genre of pornographic Japanese games called H-games includes gay male and gay female subgenres. This material generally does not make it to western, english-speaking nations due to western reviews of the gay male video games that tend to see homosexuality as a gimmick in an otherwise mediocre game. However, homosexuality, while relatively innocuous among celebrities in Japan, can still be considered outside of normal social constructs due to Japan's regimented and conservative social structure. Despite a lack of strong social stigma, homosexuality in men is commonly misconstrued as transgenderism and transvestism and, due to the conformity expectant in this culture, open homosexuality is rare in Japan.

Marketing to LGBT consumers[edit | edit source]

See also: Pink money and Gaymer

The belief that young, white, heterosexual males were the force driving the industry forward was strongly challenged by the record-breaking success of The Sims. Video game developer Maxis had resisted Will Wright's goal of creating the title on the grounds that "girls don't play video games". The title was seen as unappealing to young heterosexual males. In the 1990s, the industry began to make some effort to market games to women by creating software titles with strong, independent female characters such as those in Tomb Raider and Resident Evil. Some video game companies are now moving to further expand their marketing base to include the perceived market of affluent homosexual young men by including LGBT characters and supporting LGBT rights. BioWare included female same-sex scenes in Mass Effect, female same-sex relationships in Mass Effect 2 and same-sex relationships for either gender in Mass Effect 3, and allowed sexual interaction between any gender groups in Dragon Age: Origins. In Dragon Age II, this was taken even further by allowing all romance-able party members to be romanced by either gender (with the exception of a particular DLC-only companion), as opposed to the first game's requirement of choosing between two bisexual rogues.

Even some games that are considered to appeal mainly to the non-traditional demographic continue to censor homosexuality. For instance, despite the tremendous success of The Sims, even the most recent version of the franchise suppresses homosexual identity. Autonomous romantic interactions exist only for heterosexual characters by default. In The Sims 3, players must manually initiate multiple same-sex romantic interactions before a character will be "converted" to homosexuality and begin to engage in such interactions autonomously. The town will then be marked gay-friendly, unlocking the autonomy for other characters. If a player does not force at least one character to engage in same-sex advances several times, the player's town will have no visible homosexuality.

Criticism[edit | edit source]

Critics of the suppression of gay identity often hope that, as homosexuality is normalized in broader culture, it will be in video games as well.

A 2006 survey exploring gay gamers was the first academic study of any gamer group. With about 10,000 respondents, the survey exhibited a reverse bell curve of gamer sexuality. Most people identifyed as either completely heterosexual or homosexual.

A 2009 academic paper explored the cultural production of LGBT representation in video games and found that there are factors that could lead to a significant increase in LGBT content such as: the presence of motivated producers in the industry (those that are personally, politically, or commercially interested in LGBT content), how the audience for a text or medium is constructed (what the public backlash from both the LGBT community and conservative groups will be, as well as industry-based reprisals in the form of censorship or ratings), the structure of the industry and how it is funded, and how homosexuality, bisexuality, or transgender identities can be represented in the medium.

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Original Version

Asian games[edit | edit source]

Most western games are made for a western audience. However, Japan, Korea and Taiwan all have large gaming industries which produce games for local audiences. Many video games are developed in Japan, and some effort has been made at making what could be called "gay games." In Japanese popular culture, gay and bisexual men were often considered bishōnen, which translates as "beautiful boys." This was also tied to the success in Japan of comic books and animation with open and subtle LGBT characters. A select genre of adult pornographic Japanese games called H-games includes gay male and gay female subgenres. This material generally does not make it over to the west in English, and western reviews of the gay male video games tend to see the homosexuality as a gimmick in an otherwise mediocre game. However, homosexuality, while relatively innocuous among celebrities in Japan, can still be considered an oddity due to Japan's regimented and conservative social structure. Despite a lack of strong social stigma, homosexuality in men is commonly misconstrued with transgenderism and transvestism in Japan and open homosexuality is rare, due to conformity.

Marketing to LGBT consumers[edit | edit source]

See also: Pink money and Gaymer

The belief that young, white, heterosexual males were the force driving the industry forward was strongly challenged by the record-breaking success of The Sims. Video game developer Maxis had resisted Will Wright's goal of creating the title on the grounds that "girls don't play video games." The title was seen as unappealing to young heterosexual males. In the 1990s, the industry began to make some effort to market games to women by creating software titles with strong, independent female characters, such as those in Tomb Raider and Resident Evil. Some video game companies are now moving to further expand their marketing base to include the perceived market of affluent homosexual young men by including LGBT characters and supporting LGBT rights. BioWare included female same-sex scenes in Mass Effect, female same-sex relationships in Mass Effect 2 and same-sex relationships for either gender in Mass Effect 3, and allowed sexual interaction between any gender groups in Dragon Age: Origins. In Dragon Age II, this was taken even further by allowing all romance-able party members to be romanced by either gender (with the exception of a particular DLC-only companion), as opposed to the first game's requirement of choosing between two bisexual rogues.

Even some games that are considered to appeal mainly to the non-traditional demographic continue to censor homosexuality. For instance, despite the tremendous success of The Sims, even the most recent version of the franchise suppresses homosexual identity. Autonomous romantic interactions exist only for heterosexual characters by default. In The Sims 3, players must manually initiate multiple same-sex romantic interactions before a character will be "converted" to homosexuality and begin to engage in such interactions autonomously. The town will then be marked gay-friendly, unlocking the autonomy for other characters. If a player does not force at least one character to engage in same-sex advances several times, the player's town will have no visible homosexuality.

Criticism[edit | edit source]

Critics of the suppression of gay identity often conclude that, as homosexuality is normalized in broader culture, it will be in video games as well.

A 2006 survey exploring gay gamers was the first academic study of any gamer group. With about 10,000 respondents, the survey exhibited a reverse bell curve of gamer sexuality, with most people identifying as either completely heterosexual or homosexual.

A 2009 academic paper explored the cultural production of LGBT representation in video games and found that factors that would lead to a significant increase in LGBT content included: the presence of motivated producers in the industry (those that are personally, politically, or commercially interested in LGBT content), how the audience for a text or medium is constructed (what the public backlash from both the LGBT community and conservative groups will be, as well as industry-based reprisals in the form of censorship or ratings), the structure of the industry and how it is funded, and how homosexuality, bisexuality, or transgender identities can be represented in the medium.

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Critique An Article - Transgender

- This article is a very basic outline of what the term transgender is. The only true information found on the article page is the definition of "transgender" and then a bunch of links to sub-topics and other related pages.

- Almost all of the links to pages of sub-topics and related pages are relevant however I did find there to be multiple instances of superfluous additions. Therefore, not all of the links are relevant and do have the possibility to act as a distraction.

- The basic layout of the article allows for it to be neutral and not have any biased claims.

- Many of the links did work, but there were also a bunch that were not linked at all or brought you to a different page with no information on the topic meant to be researched

- I believe that much more information could be added onto this page. While all of the additional links to sub-topics are useful, I think that a lot of the information could be much more easily accessible if it was all formatted into the one page. I think that a history of transgender culture and prejudice would be very necessary to add, as well as the progress that the transgender community has made over time. I also think that it is very necessary to talk about current issues facing the transgender community, and how those who are transgender are viewed in different cultures and religions. These are all ideas that my team could possibly create and add as a part of this project.