Ruberg and Philips bring up really good points about LGBTQ+ representation in video games. As someone who is in various gaming communities the amount of online harassment is unprecedented in most gaming communities. As Ruberg and Phillips stated, “many layers of gamic systems, including but not limited to representation, procedural logics, hardware, player communities, and economic concerns (Ruberg & Philips 4)”. Not many games focus on better representation, especially mainstream games a lot of the time. There are a few minor examples taking steps in the right direction but clearly not enough. I really wish there was proper research and not just my own experience to pull from when looking at the Final Fantasy XIV (FFXIV) community.
The game developers have been open to feedback and communicating with the community on things the community have wanted for better representation. One example was a popular outfit locked to only female characters. After many forum posts and discussion around the topic, they created new clothing models of the specific outfit for all male characters. Not only that they have continued to provide more outfits that have the same model for all sexes whether it be a full suit of plate armor or more revealing swimsuit armor. This has given many players chances to explore their gender identity as they present their character in their preferred way with a multiple of option of outfits. These changes were due to the general community wanting these types of changes and availability of outfits for everyone. FFXIV has a very big, healthy, and welcoming LGBTQ+ community. There are even fully dedicated Free Companies aka Guilds, which are a social group that can have up to 500+ members in them.
Though they have done better in some aspects they have missed some good opportunities for FFXIV. Like King covered in her article Ryne And Gaia Should Have Been Final Fantasy's First True Gay Romance, there was a lot of set up where the two female characters we help through out the storyline of this expansion could have been in a relationship. There was plenty of sub context and text that indicated that Ryne and Gaia were more than just friends. Square Enix would have made a watershed moment for representation if they had done so. I am personally hopeful there is still more to come or that this will cause enough momentum for a continuation of their story or another pair in the future of FFXIV.
King, Jade. “Ryne and Gaia Should Have Been Final Fantasy's First True Gay Romance.” TheGamer, 23 Apr. 2021, https://www.thegamer.com/final-fantasy-14-ryne-gaia-gay/.
Ruberg, Bonnie, and Amanda Phillips. “Game Studies.” Game Studies - Special Issue -- Queerness and Video GamesNot Gay as in Happy: Queer Resistance and Video Games (Introduction), Game Studies, http://gamestudies.org/1803/articles/phillips_ruberg.
Hi, Sean! I enjoyed your analysis of the Ruberg et al article as well as your overview of what's going on in the Final Fantasy games as far as "queering" their games more and allowing for further freedom of expression. I'm reminded of when it was announced that Cyberpunk 2077 was going to allow for characters to choose from differently-gendered voice actors for any character they create, rather than just sticking with games' tendencies to have two different VAs for only two different body types.
ReplyDeleteI know that game then came out to be a mess, but I do also hope that there's more creativity and freedom for people to explore with in newer games that use a create-a-character mode. I also appreciated the article shouting out Bioware for being a popular company that allowed for more LGBTQ+ expression earlier than most, since looking back on some of their games now they seem sneakily progressive for the time and genre.