(no subject)

[felis_ultharus]

Beltane

Happy Beltaine/Bealtaine/Beltane to those who celebrate it. I hope it's a good one for you all ^_^

Video Games

On a completely different note, I yanked this Salon.com article entitled Why can't gay dwarves get married in Middle-earth?" from jenjoou. Probably only of interest to people into gamer culture, which is about one-third of my friends-list.

Among other things, it's about the growing number of gay and bi male and women gamers playing video games, and how the people who write these things are responding.

I have to be reminded that gay and women gamers are a small demographic. All the passionate video gamers I hang out with these days are women, and I was *involved with* all but one of the guys I was hanging out with at the arcades, during my teenage years (and that one guy was the boyfriend of one of my closest male friends).

Video games have gotten a lot queerer since then -- I think Final Fantasy VII was a big turning point there. Any game where playing the passive role in sex with a guy not only restores your life and mana, but also gets you the lingerie you need to complete your drag outfit so you can seduce a mafioso, has to be among the queerest games ever made.

Even after all these years, I think Final fantasy VII still gives Shadowhearts and its man-festival a run for its money ^_^

Comments

[jenjoou.livejournal.com]

Happy Beltaine!

Glad you liked the article.

And I unfortunately don't have to be reminded that girl gamers are still considered a minority in the community, people will still occasionally gape and ask stupid questions like "is that for your boyfriend?" (yes, I'm still very bitter about that incident at CompuSmart some time ago). It's not as bad as it was mind you. And yet I do know a lot of girls who play video games so it's strange.

Ah, but in FFVII you don't have to give gay porn to a tailor so he'll make dresses for your dolls. ^_^

[sugar-spun.livejournal.com]

Happy Beltane!

It's The Beards

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

The dork is amused that the title uses gay dwarves as an example. Given the fun various authors--from Tolkien to Pterry--have messing with dwarven gender identity, in some worlds "gay dwarves" means that first you'd have to find some cultural distinction between males and females. Not always easy.