ktartaglione

Contributing writer for The Artifice.

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    Latest Topics

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    games
    sexuality
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    Sexuality in Video Games

    Lately, there seems to be a surge in the creation of games that depict characters that identify under different places on the sexuality spectrum. Of course, there are a lot of differing opinions and very strong thoughts on showing queer characters in video games. That being said, do the sexualities of the characters really change the story of the game? Is the end result any different? Do they take away from the focus of gameplay? But in the end, why would the sexuality of characters affect anything within the game at all?

    • I think sexuality matters. It helps people related to characters. Perhaps there is an increasing amount of them in games now, because people are becoming more aware of these differences and want to continue to spread awareness. They may also be trying to connect to more types of people. A lot of hard core video game players probably relate more to outcast fringe character types anyway. Of course it changes the story of a game, but it shouldn't be distracting and should instead enhance its uniqueness. – Tatijana 9 years ago
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    • Sexuality in video games is a constant concept and it is a good topic to explore. Just look at the fighting games. Tekken is one of those games that exploits the female fictional characters in many ways. From their story lines, outfits and most importantly their sexuality. Sexuality can also be explore for queer characters as well. Not many characters in video games sexuality are explored. – jamarstewart97 9 years ago
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    • The Dragon Age franchise is one of the first that stood out to me as opening up sexuality in romantic story lines, and I think this really added a lot to the experience. No it doesn't really affect the actual game, but it enhances the overall user experience by allowing for more customization. Video games have long been notorious for giving female characters hyper-sexualized armor and body figures that are far from practical, so I think depicting different sexual orientations helps draw away from this. – snlipkin 9 years ago
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    • It would be helpful to distinguish between increasingly sexualized visuals (particularly of female characters), such as in Tomb Raider, Soul Caliber, etc., and the way that sexuality has become part of the game play in many RPGs, such as Fable and Grand Theft Auto. – JLaurenceCohen 9 years ago
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    • I'm of the opinion that not every game needs to have lgbt characters, and just throwing them in there out of a sense of needing to do it doesn't really help. Sure in an open world game like Skyrim it works because of the blank slate character, but by every game just having the option kinda dampens the importance of these relationships. – brady672 9 years ago
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    • I really feel that regardless of orientation, sexual intimacy is something tragically underexplored in games. Bioware has made a lot of progress in bringing romantic and tasteful sexual content to games, but even then it's usually just the reward for a series of character interactions and then it goes to a second of buttshot and then a fade to black. The only games that I think really actually deals with the complexity of a sexual relationship in a well developed way is Catherine. Romance options have become such a popular mechanic in both eastern and western games, it strikes me that more effort hasn't been taken to develop mechanics and gameplay based on actually being in and maintaining a relationship, not just dialogue trees to seduce a character. – MattHotaling 9 years ago
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    Latest Comments

    Nov 5, 2015
    ktartaglione

    I have never understood why there is such a huge rush to shelter children from the world. We as a society underestimate their intelligence level and their ability to comprehend and understand what is going on. Just because a film is being created for a young audience, does not mean it should cut out stories or certain characters so that children do not witness reality. But on the other hand, not all movies need to be geared this way. It is perfectly reasonable that a movie will not be dark because it simply was not a dark story. Sheltering only makes reality harder to accept later on.

    		 Should Children's Films be Dark or Light?
    Nov 5, 2015
    ktartaglione

    Does the novel really have a definition? Who defined what a novel is? And if the novel does have a strict definition, without the novel, the the sub-genres of novels would not exist. Therefore it seems like an obvious statement to make that novels needs to be in existence for any other type of sub-genre to be able to be created. The novel has changed throughout history and will continue to change as we go into the future, but die? It’s not possible.

    		 Is the Novel Dead?
    Nov 5, 2015
    ktartaglione

    There is a philosophy that whenever a movement starts up and really comes to the forefront in society, that quantity is more important. Get the word out, push it in people’s faces so that they become aware. That is an understandable concept. But, if this quantity is lacking quality, then it is very possible that the representation is hurting the cause more than helping it. Characters need to not be created simply because how they identify. The identity needs to be seen as just another aspect of their overall personality. It is important for representation to be real and honest.

    		 Transgender Characters on Television: Quality vs. Quantity