But while Cyberpunk was criticized for its bad sex-and for flubbing LGBTQ+ representation-the erotic indie title Hardcoded was gathering praise for its explicit, queer-friendly sexuality set against a dystopian cyberpunk backdrop. Sex has been part of gaming from the beginning-Atari 2600 owners could buy Custer’s Revenge, a heavily criticized rape fantasy that sold 80,000 copies-but for most of the medium’s history, any sexuality was aimed at straight white men with all the subtlety of a horny sledgehammer.
It was seen as a mark of maturity for the God of War franchise when its 2018 installment abandoned the subject entirely rather than return to the cringeworthy “Here are some tits, you rube” minigames of previous entries. Indie games, and LGBTQ+ developers in particular, are filling that vacuum.ĭream Daddy, which was released in 2017 and starred a single father looking to romance other solo dads, featured in a Markiplier video with 6.8 million views, a sign that LGBTQ+ friendly romance games were starting to push into the mainstream. Meanwhile, thin lists of gaming’s “ most sizzling” sex scenes unintentionally reveal the sad state of big budget titles by continually repeating aging games like Mass Effect and The Witcher. Not every game needs sex, but for a subject that’s fundamental to the human experience, mainstream gaming lags well behind other mediums in portraying it seriously and credibly. In Conway’s view, the indie scene is better equipped to handle such subject matter.
“I feel like major studio writers can't do justice to stories about marginalized characters when the writers are not a part of those groups. And generally, major studio writers are not.”ĭream Daddy, while not from a major studio, was funded by YouTube behemoths Game Grumps.
It was praised for its engaging tone, and for giving a queer narrative mainstream attention, but was also criticized for not engaging with gay culture or using queer language. That’s not to say it wasn’t enjoyable, but critics could tell that a game about the gay dating scene wasn’t made by gay men. Good representation needs authenticity, and Conway noted that indie games are freed from the market demands and design committees that can compromise accuracy. “Representation of queer characters in mainstream video games isn't great, although it's getting better,” Conway said.