[remkey]

ok, i agree there is at least a coulple of thousand subjects connected with adventure games which are more popular than this one, but this particular one is of my personal interest.

my first adventure game was "Phantasmagoria 2". for me it was something absolutely fresh. i didn't realy tread it as a game itself but rather as a kind of interactive movie. the appearence of a gay character was a nice suprice for me, as (i believe) introducting gay character / plot is still a developer's risky decision.

few weeks ago i finished "Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within" and, again, quite vivid homosexual plot. then i thought maybe there is more games with gay characters or plots which come to your mind?
would you share their titles with me?

[Jelena]

If I remember correct the landlady/owner of the Border House in TLJ (The Longest Journey) was lesbian, living with the love of her life. They weren´t any of the main characters in the game, you just got to see them and hear their storie a little in the beginning. Right now I can´t remember any of the names. (darn loss of memory)

[Aj_]

Originally Posted by LenaJ

If I remember correct the landlady/owner of the Border House in TLJ (The Longest Journey) was lesbian, living with the love of her life. They weren´t any of the main characters in the game, you just got to see them and hear their storie a little in the beginning. Right now I can´t remember any of the names. (darn loss of memory)

Fiona and Mickey. A very brief character is also in TLJ, the receptionist Jerry.

[Rowne]

There was also that gay fellow in Fahrenheit, neighbour of Carla Valenti. I was none too fond of him though (gosh, I'm saying something negative about Fahrenheit!) as he followed too many homosexual stereotypes, some especially prevalent in the UK. A man of femininity and lilty voice who happened to carry around a pack of tarrot cards with him and spoke of finding the perfect man frequently whilst being the perfectly pleasant average Joe. He was a flat character to be sure and I muchly preferred Fiona and Mickey in TLJ even though their time was almost as brief, they had far more to them, character-wise.

In Fahrenheit though, I think there was a gay character there simply for the sake of having a gay character there.

[GarageGothic]

A short list of adventure game characters that are or could be interpreted as gay or bisexual:

Lady Howard and Estelle (GK3)
Jean, the receptionist (GK3)
Bruno, the florist who buys Gabe's father's painting (GK1)
Gary, the towel attendant (LSL6)
Larry's wife Kalalau and her amazon lover (LSL3)
The flapper at the speakeasy (Dagger of Amon Ra)
Lesbian couple in the Last Express (forgot their names)

Maybe this discussion over at the AGS forums could be of some interest: Minority characters in games

[aBoyinPERIL]

I seem to remember the desk clerk at Hotel Ubu is BS1 had a distinctive camp feel to him (in a kind of annoying limp wristed manner).

Let's hope Kian from Dreamfall has some liberal attitudes around him...

[the gnome]

Innocent Until Caught had homosexuality in it! Gasp!

[Panthera]

Originally Posted by Aj_

Fiona and Mickey. A very brief character is also in TLJ, the receptionist Jerry.

It says in the credits that there's a homoseksual policeman to.. Well, at least someone is credited as playing that..

[Kurufinwe]

Originally Posted by Panthera

It says in the credits that there's a homoseksual policeman to.. Well, at least someone is credited as playing that..

I believe that's the one guarding the crash site near the police station. I think April can try to use her charms on him to get him to let her see the wreck, but he answers that he's gay and therefore not really interested.

And I'm surprised nobody's mentioned the three transvestites in Runaway yet. They're a rip-off from hommage to Priscilla, queen of the desert; not half as good as the movie's characters, but still fun nonetheless (they and Sushi are about the best thing in this game).

(and since the flapper from LB2 was mentioned, the Countess Waldorf-Carlton should be added to the list too)

[fov]

Yeah, there are all the token characters people are mentioning, but I can't think of any other games that have strong homosexual or homoerotic themes.

Gabriel Knight 2 is the best example that I can think of.

[Panthera]

Hm, now I want to try Gabriel Knight 2.. Is GK Sierra games? (Oh, now I'll come across as a totally newb, but I'm just kinda new to gaming (Played my first real game in 1997.. )) I've heard that Sierra games tend to kill you - a lot, and I'm not so fond of timed puzzles.. Is it a game for me then?

[fov]

Gabriel Knight 2 review

It's one of Sierra's later games, so the random deaths and timed puzzles aren't really an issue. One of the best games ever.

[Sage]

The Doctor in Zork-Nemesis always struck me as gay, but perhaps that's stereotyping on my part.

[Terramax]

I'm not sure if he was just camp, but the black guy in the exclusive sex shop in 'Still Life' seemed gay to me?

[Gonchi]

Shablee, Cavaricchi and Burgundy in LSL6. There were also some homosexuality plot elements in the Orion Conspiracy.

And not really an Adventure game, but Bertram in ToEE.

[Rowne]

I'm not so sure that the police-force person guarding the wreckage in The Longest Journey was the only gay person in said police-force. Does anyone recall the fellow guarding the doors to the station itself, stating (albeit obtuse and convolutedly) that the doors to the station were jammed? I'm not sure about anyone else but he struck me as rather uh... flaming too. Even so far as to refer to himself as a thespian. Perhaps I'm reading too much into that but a lot of the gay folks I know (and some all too personally) can be quite over the top.

As for Kian in Dreamfall, is anyone sure of his true orientation? Though what I'm really hoping Ragnar will do (if only to rub the noses of the right-wignuts in their own proverbial doodoo) is have him react liberally with no outward reactions or negativity at all. It'd be a blast to see a character state that regardless of gender, a communion between two people is just that, a holy thing and untouchable. Of course, I'm probably wishing for the moon here.

Of course, I'd still love to see how the gaming community would react to a homosexual as a main character. It has to happen just to judge the reactions alone. It'd probably draw more press than San Andreas and a bigger troll than ol' Thompson. Ohh, that'd be fun.

As it is though, even in the more cerebral of our gaming endeavours, homosexuality be it gay or lesbian does seem very token. However, I haven't had the oppurtunity or the pleasure of playing Gabriel Knight II yet. Though I think I shall have to dig it out. It's not out of not wanting to play it, simply that it's very hard to track down here in ol' Blighty.

[UPtimist]

Originally Posted by GarageGothic

Jean, the receptionist (GK3)

O' monsieur, Jean? O' no, no, monsieur!

[Aj_]

Originally Posted by Rowne

I'm not so sure that the police-force person guarding the wreckage in The Longest Journey was the only gay person in said police-force. Does anyone recall the fellow guarding the doors to the station itself, stating (albeit obtuse and convolutedly) that the doors to the station were jammed? I'm not sure about anyone else but he struck me as rather uh... flaming too. Even so far as to refer to himself as a thespian. Perhaps I'm reading too much into that but a lot of the gay folks I know (and some all too personally) can be quite over the top.

Thespians are like that, and not all of them are gay.

Of course, I'd still love to see how the gaming community would react to a homosexual as a main character. It has to happen just to judge the reactions alone. It'd probably draw more press than San Andreas and a bigger troll than ol' Thompson. Ohh, that'd be fun.

I'm betting Ragnar would do this first. How many Africans get to be main characters?

[Bastich]

While not necessarily adventure games by everyone's definitions, there are Japanese games called Yaoi that you may be interested in. These are dating sim/choose-your-own adventure type games in which you essentially read an interactive graphical novel and make choices regarding who you "date" or other choices that affect the outcome of the stories. They are drawn in an Manga/Anime style and hence have a comic book/cartoon type look to them.

I personally haven't played any of them myself, but am basing my statements on the heterosexual equivalent of these games that I have played. Those games can range from mildly sexual and more relationship-oriented to extreme pornography.

Yaoi deals with male homosexuality in specific BTW.

Here is a link to a place that actually sells a couple games.

http://www.peachprincess.com

This probably isn't what you were looking for, but I figured I would at least mention it.

[entranced]

This is off topic but I just wanted to congratulate remkey on choosing Phantasmagoria 2 as his very first adventure game. What a brutal way to pop your AG cherry.

You're not going to find any other AG out there that has as much sex, nudity, gore, brutal violence, profanity, and controversial issues (child abuse/bondage/homosexuality...etc) as Phantasmagoria 2 does. I personally think the story was great too, even though it was a little cheesy at parts.

I can't think of too many other AG with homosexual characters though that haven't already been listed. But I'm pretty sure you ran into a character that talked like he was gay in Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller (when you went to that area with the two gangs).