I’ve known that representation in games mattered ever since that day in 1987 when I finished Metroid and discovered that intergalactic bounty hunter Samus Aran was that rarest of things (for the time): a cool female video-game protagonist. I loved playing as Mario, or Link, or any intrepid hero, but I was particularly thrilled to see a game say that women can be heroes, too. Now, with games a more important cultural force than ever, the influential media advocacy organization GLAAD has released its first-ever in-depth report examining how games are doing in terms of LGBTQ representation. The data strongly suggests that, on one hand, games play an important role in the lives of many queer players, particularly queer youth, and on the other, that games are falling far short in terms of adequately representing and reaching those players.
We’ve barely passed being able to play a woman character. The continued perpetuation of hegemonic shit by the media industrial complex is always disappointing.