Nintendo says 'No' to gay game characters

[Dennis the 'Bloody Peasant']

Is it too far / too sensitive to view this as discriminatory? (Motivation appears to be solely that player wants 'exclusive content' from the game, it's not real so who cares etc.)
The reason I felt like sharing this one is that it seems like an example of casual / daily homophobia; the inclusion of same-sex options on a simulation game is viewed as 'social commentary' rather than a reasonable option and reflection of day to day life.

Nintendo has said it will not allow gamers to play as gay characters in its life-simulation game Tomodachi Life.
A fan had launched a social media campaign urging Nintendo to allow same-sex relationships between characters in the game - modelled after real people.
Nintendo said it "never intended to make any form of social commentary" with the launch of the game.
Tomodachi Life has been a big hit in Japan and the firm is set to launch the game in the US and Europe in June.
"The relationship options in the game represent a playful alternate world rather than a real-life simulation," Nintendo of America Inc, said in a statement.
"We hope that all of our fans will see that Tomodachi Life was intended to be a whimsical and quirky game, and that we were absolutely not trying to provide social commentary."

(Full article here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-27321200)

[Danielle Ni Dhighe]

Yeah, it's definitely an example of heterosexism.

[Ainu Itak]

You know shits' bad when including gay relationships in a game about relationships is considered a 'political statement' or 'social commentary'.

[Sea]

Someone had to consciously add code to check if the two characters are of the same gender or not.

Come on, Nintendo. We only want your crap to be less bloated.

[M-L-C-F]

When I read about this on GameFAQs/GameSpot, I wasn't surprised. It's Japan for you, and not really all that surprising. Japan isn't exactly known to be progressive. There was a topic about this on the LGBT board on GameFAQs, and the view is varied there. As a hardcore gamer (50/50 console/PC as well), I tend to have a very Japanese taste in console games. If I was more interested in this game, I'd still get it. This wouldn't keep me from enjoying it, and I'm bisexual too. But I have a lotta other games on my to get list, so I'm not all that interested in this game right now.

[synthesis]

From Wikipedia:


Following various campaigns from users, Nintendo regretfully stated that it would not be possible to add same-sex relationships to the game, as it would require significant development alterations which would not be able to be released as a post-game patch, but have stated that, if they were to create another entry in the Tomodachi series, they will "strive to design a gameplay experience from the ground up that is more inclusive, and better represents all players."

Not sure I buy their reasoning, but it seems like they're responding to pressure.

[M-L-C-F]

Also, to be clear, I wasn't defending anything about it. Nintendo is stupid for not including LGBT options in their game. My point was that it isn't surprising at all.


From Wikipedia:



Not sure I buy their reasoning, but it seems like they're responding to pressure.


Usually Nintendo doesn't even respond to stuff like this, so they're actually taking a step here. Even though they're completely full of shit still.

[Ainu Itak]

When I read about this on GameFAQs/GameSpot, I wasn't surprised. It's Japan for you, and not really all that surprising. Japan isn't exactly known to be progressive. There was a topic about this on the LGBT board on GameFAQs, and the view is varied there. As a hardcore gamer (50/50 console/PC as well), I tend to have a very Japanese taste in console games. If I was more interested in this game, I'd still get it. This wouldn't keep me from enjoying it, and I'm bisexual too. But I have a lotta other games on my to get list, so I'm not all that interested in this game right now.

This. Attitudes in Japan towards everyday life mirror what you'd find in America during the Jim Crow era. The narcissism (The two largest parties are a Hirohito nostalgist party that has talks about 'reclaiming Southeast Asia' and a party called the "Capitalist Party"), racism (this is particularly bad. The word for Ainu in Japanese is the same word for 'thief', ethnic Koreans whose families have lived in the country for hundreds of years are still denied citizenship because of their 'foreign blood', employers are allowed to freely hire and fire on the premise of physical appearance and BLOOD TYPE, don't even get me started on attitudes towards Africans), sexism (this one should be goddamned noticeable to anyone with half a brain, considering how the governer of Tokyo? made an announcement a few months back that women were 'biologically unfit for government') are just downright insane and I'd honestly expect nothing less from one of the country's largest gaming companies.

[QueerVanguard]

Holy shit, a capitalist company is LGBTQ phobic??? Wake me when something unpredictable happens.

[Bad Grrrl Agro]

Well that means playstation has the opportunity to have gay characters and flaunt it which in this day and age with the millennial generation being the most open generation on lgbt issues would be a genius business move. It doesn't take a marketing genius to know this. I know if a company did do it that would most likely be the reason. So if playstationgets on that they'd be coin the right thing but for the wrong reason. Homophobia is bad for business these days. It tends to result in very successful boycotts.

[QueerVanguard]

Well that means playstation has the opportunity to have gay characters and flaunt it which in this day and age with the millennial generation being the most open generation on lgbt issues would be a genius business move. It doesn't take a marketing genius to know this. I know if a company did do it that would most likely be the reason. So if playstationgets on that they'd be coin the right thing but for the wrong reason. Homophobia is bad for business these days. It tends to result in very successful boycotts.

I don't know how many video games you play, but anytime I have gone into a multiplayer game online it's like really common to be exposed the most LGBTQ phobic language imaginable from these little gamer shits. The millennials buying these things aren't the liberal hipsters from your local fair trade coffee shop, they are right-wing shitballs who think it's "cool" to blow shit up and beat up on people weaker than them. Don't hold your breath on ethical consumerism saving the day here, trust me.

[Ro Laren]

I don't think there's a huge crossover between the asshole kids playing CoD and the kind of people who'd play Tomodachi Life...

I still don't have a great deal of hope for video games becoming more inclusive, other than having more lesbian characters for the titillation of the target audience. It's like comic books. They pander to the lowest common denominator and alienate everybody else. This whole thing doesn't surprise me at all.

[Rosa Partizan]

"never intended to make any form of social commentary"

well, unintentionally, they did.

[Nemo]

As a Nintendo fan, this is quite upsetting. Their response is absolutely inexcusable.

Though I feel I should point out that Nintendo has made some pretty progressive motions with recent releases (in Animal Crossing: New Leaf, for example, where player characters are allowed to wear any sort of clothing, regardless of gender).

[theworks]

To me, it's homophobia, and not something I tolerate in any shape or form.

[M-L-C-F]

This. Attitudes in Japan towards everyday life mirror what you'd find in America during the Jim Crow era. The narcissism (The two largest parties are a Hirohito nostalgist party that has talks about 'reclaiming Southeast Asia' and a party called the "Capitalist Party"), racism (this is particularly bad. The word for Ainu in Japanese is the same word for 'thief', ethnic Koreans whose families have lived in the country for hundreds of years are still denied citizenship because of their 'foreign blood', employers are allowed to freely hire and fire on the premise of physical appearance and BLOOD TYPE, don't even get me started on attitudes towards Africans), sexism (this one should be goddamned noticeable to anyone with half a brain, considering how the governer of Tokyo? made an announcement a few months back that women were 'biologically unfit for government') are just downright insane and I'd honestly expect nothing less from one of the country's largest gaming companies.

When it comes to Japanese politics, don't even get me started on the Japanese Communist Party. There's so many things that can be said about the Japanese government, that it isn't even worth the time talking about it. (Plus, it would just derail this topic anyways.) All non-Japanese are treated differently in Japan. Even whites are, and immigrating there is incredibly difficult. Though things are changing there slowly. They're gonna have to open up to immigration, to keep their economy going. Because their population is aging, and young professionals aren't having as many children as past generations. However, if you were to watch/read Black Lagoon, a very good anime/manga. You'd be surprised how progressive it is for Japan. It openly denounces Nazis, and one of the main characters (Dutch, the boss) is black. Nothing stereotypical about him either, he's a very good leader of The Lagoon Company.


Well that means playstation has the opportunity to have gay characters and flaunt it which in this day and age with the millennial generation being the most open generation on lgbt issues would be a genius business move. It doesn't take a marketing genius to know this. I know if a company did do it that would most likely be the reason. So if playstationgets on that they'd be coin the right thing but for the wrong reason. Homophobia is bad for business these days. It tends to result in very successful boycotts.

Totally waiting for Sony to step in with something like that.


I don't know how many video games you play, but anytime I have gone into a multiplayer game online it's like really common to be exposed the most LGBTQ phobic language imaginable from these little gamer shits. The millennials buying these things aren't the liberal hipsters from your local fair trade coffee shop, they are right-wing shitballs who think it's "cool" to blow shit up and beat up on people weaker than them. Don't hold your breath on ethical consumerism saving the day here, trust me.


I don't think there's a huge crossover between the asshole kids playing CoD and the kind of people who'd play Tomodachi Life...

I still don't have a great deal of hope for video games becoming more inclusive, other than having more lesbian characters for the titillation of the target audience. It's like comic books. They pander to the lowest common denominator and alienate everybody else. This whole thing doesn't surprise me at all.

Yeah, the players who would play Tomodachi Life usually want nothing to do with the traditionally Xbox dude-bro shooter crowd. They're very different subtypes of gamers. Even when it comes to us in the glorious PC master race, there is a split in the FPS fan base. Between fans of good FPS series like Unreal, Quake, and Half-Life, and the idiot dude-bro shooter crowd.

As for the stupidity in multiplayer, it always seems to me that XBL has the worst crowd. But that's because the average age of a person on XBL is lower than that of a person on PSN or PC. It all has to do with maturity and mentality. Not all games are like that, and most of the time it's got to do with the type of game it is.

Not all games or comics are lowest common denominator stuff. Things are changing in those communities, and others like them. It might not be as fast as should be, but it's changing.

[Bad Grrrl Agro]

I don't know how many video games you play, but anytime I have gone into a multiplayer game online it's like really common to be exposed the most LGBTQ phobic language imaginable from these little gamer shits. The millennials buying these things aren't the liberal hipsters from your local fair trade coffee shop, they are right-wing shitballs who think it's "cool" to blow shit up and beat up on people weaker than them. Don't hold your breath on ethical consumerism saving the day here, trust me.

I don't, but I was looking at it from statistics about the millennial generation having the most pro-lgbt population of all the generations so far which may have something to do with millennials having the highest population of atheists of any of the generations within the last hundred years including the 1960's which were supposedly soooo "progressive"
I don't buy into the ethical consumerism. Well there are places I won't buy from but I won't pick a place to buy from based off a cause. I also barely make ends meat so I don't really spend much anyhow, rooting is a pain in the ass. I was just trying to imagine if I was playstation what I would do. No, the reason I didn't factor that in is because I didn't know the specific market since I don't play video games, I don't even watch television. I like pool tables, tattoos, Joan Jett songs and liquor. Clearly you are probably right, since you know video games and all, but most of the gamers I've met are LGBTQIA alphabet soup.

[Kaoxic]

It's their losss I bet because I bet a lot of their users are gay.

[Wuggums47]

I myself am a queer gamer, and I've seen lots of homophobia from video game players, it's sad to see the corporations joining in.

[The Red Star Rising]

Japan's view of sexuality is rather confusing to me, on one hand they turned Yaoi and Yuri into a (sometimes fetishized to the point of creepiness, but I could say that about any adult genre) genre and on the other hand they have some of the firmest gender roles in the developed world. Of course, I've been rather unfond of the direction Nintendo has been going since it's character assassination of Samus Aran in Other M and decision to leave the Nintendo wars (Advance wars, Batallion Wars, Famicom Wars, etc) franchise to rot.


Got to milk Mario, Zelda, Animal Crossing, and Pokemon harder! Star Fox, Metroid, the Conduit, Nintendo Wars, F-Zero, and Earthbound you say? Obviously they're not bringing in enough yen so fuck them!

I will admit that generally first person nintendo games remain very high quality, but the company has become moribound with it's fixation with pandering to the base (especially with a morbid focus on the Japan market over the rest of the world) over trying anything particularly risky.

It seems that once again, Nintendo would rather play it safe or pander to less than desireable but more vocal bases than try something new.

[Orange Juche]

I don't know how many video games you play, but anytime I have gone into a multiplayer game online it's like really common to be exposed the most LGBTQ phobic language imaginable from these little gamer shits. The millennials buying these things aren't the liberal hipsters from your local fair trade coffee shop, they are right-wing shitballs who think it's "cool" to blow shit up and beat up on people weaker than them. Don't hold your breath on ethical consumerism saving the day here, trust me.

This "14-year-old-yelling-"fag"-over-the-headset" culture is the exact reason I have no interest in gaming whatsoever. Literally, if it weren't for that, gaming actually seems pretty cool and interesting, but the culture seems so toxic and vile that I want nothing to do with it.

The fact that Nintendo pulls this crap (and I don't buy that they can't change some code, it's just a pain in the ass and they'll lose a little bit of money) is what's the worst in this situation, because they're the ones with the least amount of these proto-fascists in training using their products.

[Ceallach_the_Witch]

its the main reason I either don't play online games or I turn chat off when I do/can. As someone who has made playing games (whether electronic or not) a major hobby and part of their life it makes me really embarrassed that people who share my passion for games can be so fucking shitty, even by the standards of mainstream society. I don't give a crap about being looked down upon for doing nerd stuff - but I really don't want to be associated with an often openly racist, homophobic and sexist subculture. The shit I hear or read even in relatively 'safe' or 'civilised' games where you expect players to be more mature and less fucking gross is still way out of line.

[StreetsRunRed]

Who the fuck are a bunch of white people to lecture the Japanese on acceptance and tolerance?

[Zoroaster]

Who the fuck are a bunch of white people to lecture the Japanese on acceptance and tolerance?

Why the fuck is Bolshevik Sickle allowed to set up these bullshit accounts and troll us?

[M-L-C-F]

This "14-year-old-yelling-"fag"-over-the-headset" culture is the exact reason I have no interest in gaming whatsoever. Literally, if it weren't for that, gaming actually seems pretty cool and interesting, but the culture seems so toxic and vile that I want nothing to do with it.

That's a real shame, as you are missing out on a fun form of entertainment. Don't let idiots ruin your good time. You don't need to deal with them, I don't. Not everyone is like that.


its the main reason I either don't play online games or I turn chat off when I do/can. As someone who has made playing games (whether electronic or not) a major hobby and part of their life it makes me really embarrassed that people who share my passion for games can be so fucking shitty, even by the standards of mainstream society. I don't give a crap about being looked down upon for doing nerd stuff - but I really don't want to be associated with an often openly racist, homophobic and sexist subculture. The shit I hear or read even in relatively 'safe' or 'civilised' games where you expect players to be more mature and less fucking gross is still way out of line.

Yeah, it's why we can't have nice things. There's always some people who ruin it for the rest of us. I just don't bother with the trash. It's what mute or block is for. It's also what the privacy settings are for too. I have all my shit on friends only, and my friends lists are pretty exclusive. I hate the stupidity as well. Those idiots at "Reason" magazine, who tried to claim libertarianism (as in the shitty Libertarian parties) is commonplace for gamers, can go fuck themselves. They're completely full of shit.

[Habbash]

Well, to be fair, if Nintendo allows same-sex relations in their video games more than half the internet will be out of the job.