challenge: name a single game with an openly gay male protagonist

[Kalahari Inkantation]

you can't

now name all the super popular games with lesbian protags

gee, i wonder why the latter is so much easier to do

[YPrrrr]

I can't think of any lesbian ones either until TLOU2

Unless we count stuff like Dragon Age and Mass Effect

[Kalahari Inkantation]

wife is strange

gone home

both met with critical acclaim

i'm sure there are others i'm missing

[don't let's]

Mario
Zelda
SONIC

[Kalahari Inkantation]

i lol'd but i said openly

and mario is probably as heteronormative as a video game can be lol

[YPrrrr]

wife is strange

gone home

both met with critical acclaim

i'm sure there are others i'm missing

Are those popular games though (popular amongst who may be a better question)

Never heard of life is strange. Gone home is just an indie game

[Kalahari Inkantation]

wife is strange is extremely popular lol

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_Is_Strange#Sales

and in any case, it and gone home are far more popular than they would have been had they featured gay male protags

[YPrrrr]

Huh I guess that's popular enough. Surprised I never heard about it. But then again I'm pretty good at ignoring weird games.

But yeah gay is still way more taboo than lesbianism so makes sense. Majority of target audience is way more cool with being a chick that makes out with a chick

[YPrrrr]

I am surprised I can't even find like a shitty steam title with a gay main character though

[bluaki]

wife is strange is extremely popular lol

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_Is_Strange#Sales

and in any case, it and gone home are far more popular than they would have been had they featured gay male protags

Life is Strange is at least popular enough that it was featured at E3 and it's published by Square Enix. The lesbian romance is technically optional and depending on the player's choices. Choosing the no-homo options (which are admittedly unpopular according to the online metrics the game shows at the end) they're just friends and that "romance" is at most just subtext.

And if you're including optional homosexuality, that means other games like Fire Emblem Fates and Mass Effect count, right?

I am surprised I can't even find like a shitty steam title with a gay main character though

You're clearly not looking hard enough. I've heard of plenty.

The first one that comes to mind for me is Dream Daddy. There's plenty of BL in visual novels, not as much in other genres.

[YPrrrr]

wife is strange is extremely popular lol

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_Is_Strange#Sales

and in any case, it and gone home are far more popular than they would have been had they featured gay male protags

Life is Strange is at least popular enough that it was featured at E3 and it's published by Square Enix. The lesbian romance is technically optional and depending on the player's choices. Choosing the no-homo options (which are admittedly unpopular according to the online metrics the game shows at the end) they're just friends and that "romance" is at most just subtext.

And if you're including optional homosexuality, that means other games like Fire Emblem Fates and Mass Effect count, right?

I am surprised I can't even find like a shitty steam title with a gay main character though

You're clearly not looking hard enough. I've heard of plenty.

The first one that comes to mind for me is Dream Daddy. There's plenty of BL in visual novels, not as much in other genres.

Isn't that a dating sim? I wouldn't even consider there to be a protagonist in those games because the character is basically the player. Aside from visual novels barely being games in the first place

But yeah I only did a Google search and couldn't find any examples of a gay lead character which wasn't optional (only lesbians like Tec said) but I'm sure there has to be something obscure out there.

[bluaki]

But yeah gay is still way more taboo than lesbianism so makes sense. Majority of target audience is way more cool with being a chick that makes out with a chick

I feel like Life is Strange might not be a great example for that, actually. I get the impression it has an exceptionally high proportion of female players. The romance isn't really portrayed in a way that seems clearly male-oriented like a lot of other lesbian content is.

Isn't that a dating sim? I wouldn't even consider there to be a protagonist in those games because the character is basically the player. Aside from visual novels barely being games in the first place

But yeah I only did a Google search and couldn't find any examples of a gay lead character which wasn't optional (only lesbians like Tec said) but I'm sure there has to be something obscure out there.

Yes, it is. I'm sure there are indie gay games in other genres out there, but I'm not familiar with any since I don't keep that much track of indie stuff and on top of that my interests are more in the yuri direction.

If visual novels are "barely games in the first place" I feel like the same should apply to a Telltale-style walking simulator game like Life is Strange, right?

[YPrrrr]

But yeah gay is still way more taboo than lesbianism so makes sense. Majority of target audience is way more cool with being a chick that makes out with a chick

I feel like Life is Strange might not be a great example for that, actually. I get the impression it has an exceptionally high proportion of female players. The romance isn't really portrayed in a way that seems clearly male-oriented like a lot of other lesbian content is.

Isn't that a dating sim? I wouldn't even consider there to be a protagonist in those games because the character is basically the player. Aside from visual novels barely being games in the first place

But yeah I only did a Google search and couldn't find any examples of a gay lead character which wasn't optional (only lesbians like Tec said) but I'm sure there has to be something obscure out there.

Yes, it is. I'm sure there are indie gay games in other genres out there, but I'm not familiar with any since I don't keep that much track of indie stuff and on top of that my interests are more in the yuri direction.

If visual novels are "barely games in the first place" I feel like the same should apply to a Telltale-style walking simulator game like Life is Strange, right?

I guess the target audience still enjoys chick on chick in that case lol but yeah from a different market than I presumed  That's nice that there's at least some variety out there. We'll see how TLOU handles theirs once it's expanded in 2.

I did find a couple in the "queer games" section of Steam (only 17 games listed). There seemed like there could be 3 or 4 actual games in there with a lead gay character.

Idk from my perspective those and telltale games are more like choose your own adventure books. Which can be interesting and entertaining but they don't really have any "gameplay." I could be completely off base lol but that's just how I look at them

[bluaki]

I did find a couple in the "queer games" section of Steam (only 17 games listed). There seemed like there could be 3 or 4 actual games in there with a lead gay character.

I heard that Steam used to have LGBT tags that were very recently removed in the past week or two, around the same time they announced the new "anything goes" (except illegal or trolling) content policy.

[Daddy]

does stardew valley count