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AE: One of GayGamer’s most popular articles is the list of the 20 Gayest Video Game characters. How did you come up with that, and was it controversial?
FD: I wanted it to be tongue-in-cheek. With some characters, like Zangief from Street Fighter, it was mostly due to the bear stereotype. The posts about the Metal Gear Solid characters wound up getting linked to a rabidly heterosexualist site that was so homophobic I just had to stop reading.

As I’ve said many times before, it’s all in the programming. Cybil from Silent Hill was another controversial one, but if you look at her, the character is designed to be a lesbian stereotype, even if the game never says so explicitly. When I saw The Celluloid Closet, I felt like I could do that with video games. There is so much coding that goes on when it comes to gay content and characters. The programmers made Cybil into a coded lesbian with a motorcycle, sunglasses and big build.

AE: What about the Cho Aniki brothers who made it to No. 2 on the list?
FD: Cho Aniki made it only to No. 2 because they are Japan-only. From what I understand, the Japanese gay stereotype is basically a bear. If you look at them, they are muscle bears. They were meant to be intentionally gay, but it’s hard to say if they also cross the line into offense, since they come from a group of games whose genre translates as “shit games” [kusoge].

AE: What was your favorite revelation from the list?
FD: Birdo from Mario 3. It’s debatable if it was a translation issue, but originally the manual for the game described Birdo as “a boy who thinks he is a girl.” Birdo was also male in the original, U.S. version, but after two revisions was turned into a female. This makes Birdo one of the first male-to-female transsexual characters.

AE: How was the reaction to the list?
FD: I was a little bit surprised that people thought it was offensive. I think it’s good to have a sense of humor about yourself, but I struggle with making sure not to go too far. It’s one thing if we say something is funny from its gayness, and it could have a totally different meaning if another site says something is funny due to its gayness. Is it OK for us to point out the gayness in a game but not OK for a straight site to do it? The answer is really in the intent of the joke.

If I say “This is so gay,” it obviously means something different than if a homophobic 14-year-old on World of Warcraft says it. But our website is just words on a page. You can’t read intent or sarcasm on a page. We definitely speak to our core audience when we say things like that, but a lot of people interpret it differently. We’re not the ACT UP of gaming sites, but we’re going to point out homophobia if it arises.

AE: Any plans for future additions to the list?
FD: It will eventually become an encyclopedia. Characters are coming out all the time. By having our website, it will hopefully raise awareness of gay interest in video games as well as gay content in them. I would love to send some of the responses I get to companies. They are missing out on how many [gays and lesbians] are interested in video games. We get responses that say, “I wasn’t thinking about getting [this game], but now that I know about this [gay content] I am going to get it.”

AE: Do you think we’ll ever see a game with an openly gay lead character?
FD: We sort of have one with Makoto in Enchanted Arms; however, the voice actor went over the top with him and made him über, über, über gay. It got on my nerves. I switched over to the Japanese soundtrack to see if it was the same style, and the voice actor didn’t make him as fey.

In Wild Arms, there is a character who has a boyfriend that is in a coma. He spends the game pining for him. The U.S. version doesn’t give any hints to their relationship other than they are close, but in the Japanese version, it is made explicitly clear. Unfortunately, if a company did [release a game with an openly gay character] they would lose money, or at least that’s the thinking. I am making it my duty to make sure that companies know that there is an audience that will buy games with gay content. I’d like to see it happen, but I don’t know if [a gay character] will ever make it to lead status.

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