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Gaymer and gay gamer are
umbrella term In linguistics, semantics, general semantics, and ontologies, hyponymy () is a semantic relation between a hyponym denoting a subtype and a hypernym or hyperonym (sometimes called umbrella term or blanket term) denoting a supertype. In other wor ...
s used to refer to the group of people who are identified as homosexual and have an active interest in
video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
s or
tabletop game Tabletop games or tabletops are games that are normally played on a table or other flat surface, such as board games, card games, dice games, miniature wargames, or tile-based games. Classification according to equipment used Tabletop ga ...
s, also known as gamers. Lesbian, bisexual, and
transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...
gamers are often categorized under this term. This demographic has been the subject of two large surveys that attracted press coverage: by Jason Rockwood in 2006, who noted the level of prejudice that gaymers endure, and by Paul Nowak in 2009 focusing on what gaymers expect of video games. A gaming convention oriented to
LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...
gaming and geek culture,
GaymerX GaymerX is an American 501c3 non-profit dedicated to celebrating and supporting LGBTQ+ people and culture in the world of gaming, with a focus on video games. GaymerX puts on a fan-facing convention with LGBT-oriented gaming and geek culture, or ...
, first took place on August 3 and 4, 2013, in San Francisco. Chris Vizzini, owner of the gaming site ''Gaymer.org'', was involved with several online communities (in special with
Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, imag ...
) between 2007 and 2013 in a controversy and
legal dispute A legal case is in a general sense a dispute between opposing parties which may be resolved by a court, or by some equivalent legal process. A legal case is typically based on either Civil law (common law), civil or criminal law. In most legal ca ...
over the trademark of the term ''gaymer'', which ended when Vizzini surrendered the right to the term and the trademark was cancelled. In recent years, more and more proper representation of gaymer culture can be seen and predominantly featured in video game studios worldwide.


Surveys


2006 University of Illinois

In 2006, a sociological study at
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univ ...
looked at the gay gamer subgroup focusing on the profile of a "gaymer", and concerns they have regarding the perception of them in the gaming community and visibility of gay characters in games. The study's author noted the level of prejudice that gaymers endure: "Gay gamers experience a double edged sword of prejudice... The mainstream gay culture and media is not supportive of video games. Then you have the video game culture that is not supportive of gay culture. So you have these people stuck in the middle who have this double edged prejudice." 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. Only a "very small minority" of the respondents to the first survey supported the use of the term ''gaymer''.


2009 Full Sail University

In late August 2009,
Full Sail University Full Sail University is a private for-profit university in Winter Park, Florida. It was formerly a recording studio in Ohio named Full Sail Productions and Full Sail Center for the Recording Arts. The school moved to Florida in 1980 and began ...
student Paul S. Nowak began a second survey of gaymer play preferences. The survey focused on "questions of content such as plot, genre, customization and other in-game experiences." The survey team reported that over 7000 people participated in the survey. The results of Nowak's survey were used by Nowak to "build a profile of the gay gamer community and gain unique insight into this financially untapped demographic". These results were not published in an academic journal, though a later Nowak's book lists gaymers as preferring role-playing video games, pertaining to the
hardcore Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film * ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott * ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...
''
explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
/ achiever'' gamer type, and appreciating good plot and good quality ''homosexual content'', which he defines as game content "which reflects homosexual orientation in a positive or equal-to-heterosexual-orientation context".


Social and cultural aspects


Marketing to LGBT consumers

The misconception that young, white, heterosexual males were the force driving the industry forward was strongly challenged by the record-breaking success of ''
The Sims ''The Sims'' is a series of life simulation game, life simulation video games developed by Maxis and video game publisher, published by Electronic Arts. The franchise has sold nearly 200 million copies worldwide, and it is one of the best-selling ...
''. Video game developer
Maxis Maxis is an American video game developer and a division of Electronic Arts (EA). The studio was founded in 1987 by Will Wright and Jeff Braun, and acquired by EA in 1997. Maxis is best known for its simulation games, including '' The Sims ...
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."Will Wright, Game Master"
, by John Seabrook
In the 1990s, the industry began to make some effort to market games to women by creating software titles with strong, independent female characters. Even some games that are considered to appeal mainly to the non-traditional demographic continue to censor homosexuality. But some video game companies are now moving to further expand their marketing base to include the perceived market of affluent gaymers by including LGBT characters and supporting
LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender ( LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, ...
. 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.games/ "Homosexuality in Video Games"
by Lydia Sung
"How Not To Address Homosexuality In Gaming"
, by Mike Fahey


Working inside the industry

Dani Bunten, a
transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...
woman, designed some of the earliest
multiplayer games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (suc ...
. In 1996,
Jacque Servin Jacques Servin (also known by the pseudonym Andy Bichlbaum; born 1963) is an American media artist and activist. He is one of the leading members of The Yes Men, a culture jamming activist group. Their exploits in "identity correction" are docume ...
, a Maxis employee, was fired when he put implied gay characters into the ''
SimCopter ''SimCopter'' is a 1996 flight simulator video game developed by Maxis. It puts the player into a 3D city. Like ''Streets of SimCity'', ''SimCopter'' lets the user import '' SimCity 2000'' maps into the game. It is also the first game to use th ...
'' game. Some reports state Servin claimed to have done it because he was upset at being grossly overworked at Maxis, while others cited it as a political statement. Well-known gay writer and movie director
Clive Barker Clive Barker (born 5 October 1952) is an English novelist, playwright, author, film director, and visual artist who came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories, the ''Books of Blood'', which established him as a leading h ...
was involved in the creation of the games ''Undying'' and ''Jericho''.


Online Communities

The umbrella term quickly expanded throughout the internet which gave rise to popular online communities which provide a safe space for LGBT gamers and the LGBT gaming culture. Most notable of those on
Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, imag ...
''r/gaymers'', ''r/gayming'' and VoIP gaming app
Discord Discord is a VoIP and instant messaging social platform. Users have the ability to communicate with voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media and files in private chats or as part of communities called "servers".The developer documenta ...
, ''Gaymers, London Gaymers, Aussie Gaymer Network'' and ''UK Gaymers''.


Media coverage


''World of Warcraft'' LGBTQ guilds

One reason many cite for the lack of visible participation by gaymers is the unwelcoming regulations of in-game interactions such as the creation of and advertisement of queer-friendly guilds in MMORPGs such as ''
World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the ''Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of Warcraft'' takes place within the world of Azeroth ...
''. Players who attempt to use the general chat channel for recruitment can experience a backlash of harassment and verbal abuse from other players as well as the game moderators. In cases like this, game companies and administrators may alienate game players through intensive policing. In 2006, Sara Andrews started a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer-friendly Warcraft guild to create a safe place for this community. In January 2006, Andrews used the general chat channel, because most guilds recruit members this way, to recruit players to her LGBTQ-friendly guild ‘‘Oz’’. After posting this, goal administrators quickly contacted Andrews informing her that this was a breach of the games terms of service. The Blizzard terms of service asserts that ‘‘sexual orientation,’’ including both clear and masked language, which ‘‘insultingly refers to any aspect of sexual orientation pertaining to themselves or other players’’ is banned. Andrews ‘‘was warned by a Blizzard game master that this violated the company’s policy on harassment,’’ and ‘‘Blizzard went so far as to threaten Andrews with banishment from the game if she continued’’. Blizzard later apologized for this warning, saying that an administrator misinterpreted the policies against harassment.


''The Escapist'' issue ''Queer Eye for the Gamer Guy''

Video game magazine ''The Escapist'' devoted Issue 222 to gay gamers and characters with the title "Queer Eye for the Gamer Guy" (similar to the TV show title).


Same-sex marriage in ''The Lord of the Rings Online''

The MMORPG game '' The Lord of the Rings Online'' dropped a planned online marriage feature because of the controversy around restrictions on same-sex and inter-species marriage. The online magazine for gaymers ''GayGamer.net'' commented that, while
J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...
was a devout Christian, his stance on gay rights is not known as the topic was not a public issue at the time.


GaymerX convention

On July 31, 2012, a Kickstarter project was started for GaymerCon, which was later renamed to GaymerX, for a convention that billed itself as being "the first gaming convention focused on LGBTQ geek culture." Within five days, the Kickstarter project passed the funding goal of $25,000
USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
, and after the full funding period of 30 days, the project reached the final total of $91,389. GaymerX took place on August 3 and 4, 2013, in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
. The event has received support from
Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the ...
and GLAAD.


Trademark controversy

In April 2007 Chris Vizzini, owner of the gaming site ''Gaymer.org'', sought to trademark the term ''gaymer'' with respect to online communities and obtained it in March 2008. In 2012, he sent a cease and desist letter to
Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, imag ...
's /r/gaymers ''subreddit'' forum, for alleged trademark infringement. Vizzini has been criticized by the reddit and gaymer communities, who cite examples of use from as early as 1991, and a
Yahoo Groups Yahoo! Groups was a free-to-use system of electronic mailing lists offered by Yahoo!. Prior to February 2020, Yahoo! Groups was one of the world's largest collections of online discussion boards. It allowed members to subscribe to various group ...
online community with that name created in 2000. Vizzini's website was taken out of service in September, 2012; he has claimed that this was due to a
denial of service attack In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyber-attack in which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by temporarily or indefinitely disrupting services of a host connec ...
. On two occasions Vizzini posted new threads to the /r/gaymers forum explaining his position reddit.com reddit.com and apologizing for "hurting his own people", but not for filing the trademark. On January 24, 2013, members of /r/gaymers, supported by pro bono lawyers from
Perkins Coie Perkins Coie is an American multinational law firm headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1912, it is recognized as an Am Law 50 firm. It is the largest law firm headquartered in the Pacific Northwest and has 20 offices across the Un ...
and Electronic Frontier Foundation, filed a petition at the
US Patent and Trademark Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Ale ...
to cancel Vizzini's trademark on the term, on the basis that it was used with that meaning since the mid-1990s. Vizzini reinstated his intent to defend the trademark on the site's name, that he started as an online community on 2003 as a way to build a positive brand from a term that had negative connotations. On June 25, 2013, it was announced that Gaymer.org was being officially closed down. On August 22, 2013, the US Patent and Trademark office officially canceled the trademark after Vizzini decided to surrender the mark.


Nintendo's ''Tomodachi Life'' controversy

In 2014 Nintendo, and their life simulator videogame, ''
Tomodachi Life ''Tomodachi Life'' is a social simulation video game developed by Nintendo SPD and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. The game follows the day-to-day interactions of Mii characters (referred to as "islanders") as they build friendships, ...
'', which allows for the creation of avatars called Miis to interact with one another came under fire for only allowing opposite sex Miis to flirt with one another or become married leading to disappointment amongst LGBTQIA+ fans of the company. Nintendo responded by stating that "Nintendo never intended to make any form of social commentary with the launch of 'Tomodachi Life,'" Nintendo of America Inc. said in a statement. "The relationship options in the game represent a playful alternate world rather than a real-life simulation. We hope that all of our fans will see that 'Tomodachi Life' was intended to be a whimsical and quirky game, and that we were absolutely not trying to provide social commentary." Nintendo later apologized for the incident and disappointing their fans stating "We apologize for disappointing many people by failing to include same-sex relationships in Tomodachi Life," Nintendo said in a statement released Friday. "Unfortunately, it is not possible for us to change this game's design, and such a significant development change can't be accomplished with a post-ship patch."


See also

*
LGBT characters in video games The following is a list of confirmed video games with gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender characters, including any others falling under the LGBT umbrella term. The numbers in this list are possibly higher due to fact that some characters ...
*
LGBT culture LGBT culture is a culture shared by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals. It is sometimes referred to as queer culture (indicating people who are queer), while the term gay culture may be used to mean "LGBT culture" o ...
* LGBT themes in video games


References

{{LGBT slang LGBT and video games LGBT portrayals in mass media LGBT terminology Video game culture