GLAAD's 2020 Video Game Nominees: What You Need to Know | CBR by Matthew Carbonell

GLAAD’s 2020 Video Game Nominees: What You Need to Know | CBR –

Founded by LGBT people in the media, GLAAD rewrites the script by promoting and celebrating proper representations of the LGBTQ+ community. It focuses on tackling tough issues and critiquing various portrayals of people who have been underrepresented or misrepresented in order to promote acceptance and equality.

This is the second year that GLAAD is recognizing video games that feature LGBTQ-inclusive content. Let’s take a look at the nominees for the 31st GLAAD Media Award nominees for “Outstanding Video Game” and why these titles deserve recognition.

Following the current trend of the battle-royale genre with a slight twist, EA’s Apex Legends does more than just provide fun gameplay. The game features non-heterosexual and cisgender characters, not shying away from representing different identities. Two of its playable Legends, Bloodhound and Gibraltar, are confirmed to be nonbinary and gay respectively.

This canon representation of LGBTQ people diversifies the game’s universe and narrative while also creating an environment where more players can relate to the game, including those who too often don’t see themselves in media. Bloodhound’s gender identity in particular is refreshing, as it’s rare to see transgender characters positively represented at all, let alone those who identify as nonbinary. Apex Legends proves that a game can be inclusive while also offering great design and gameplay.

The Borderlands franchise is renowned for its unique characters, sense of humor, action and storyline, but it’s also known for being inclusive. Borderlands 3 features many characters who are openly LGBTQ, creating an in-game world that’s as diverse as the real one.

These characters are also represented fairly within the post-apocalyptic psychotic world of Borderlands 3, and some of them are even playable. This includes Fl4k The Beast Master (non-binary), Zane Flynt the Operative (pansexual) and Lorelei (non-binary and considering transitioning). With Borderlands, 2K promotes awareness and acceptance through well-written characters who exist beyond their identities.

The Outer Worlds offers both a highly-rated single-player sci-fi RPG experience while also featuring diverse characters. In particular, there’s companion Parvati Holcomb, who is asexual and homoromantic. Parvati can enter a relationship with another character, Junlei Tennyson, if the player completes a few side quests.

Not only is this a great depiction of an asexual person (something that in itself is rare) that makes clear that this does not preclude a person from having a romantic relationship, it also personalizes it by giving the player the choice to help out. Instead of showing the two characters and leaving it to the player to imagine what it might be like if they got together, Private Division gives players the chance to assist their friend by making the relationship a reward.

The popular shooter Overwatch has a huge cast of diverse characters with unique personality traits and abilities who are open about who they are and who they love. Blizzard Entertainment has worked to ensure that players both know who these characters are and come to care about them.

Tracer, Soldier: 76, Moira and others are open about their identities, having them confirmed in-game of in supplemental material something that’s been called “educating” for gamers. Tracer and Solder: 76 in particular are interesting, as they are the first characters players encounter in the game’s tutorial, Tracer is front-and-center of much of the game’s marketing and Solider: 76 is an older man depicted as traditionally masculine. The game promotes education, awareness, acceptance and representation, making it clearly worthy of a nomination.

The Walking Dead episodic game has been a favorite for lovers of story-driven titles since the days of Telltale Games. Even though Skybound Entertainment later picked it up and finished the game’s story, one thing always remained the same. Player choices matter. Depending on the player’s choices as Clementine when interacting with characters in the midst of the zombie apocalypse, these characters can grow to trust her. They’ll share information about themselves that further develops their characters. As the person assisting Clementine, the player comes to care about and relate to her and those she meets on her journey.

Two of these characters are Violet and James. Violet can become Clementine’s love interest (meaning the player character is bisexual) and is revealed to have been in a relationship with Minnie. Depending on the player’s dialogue choices, James may reveal that he had a boyfriend, realistically holding this fact about him back if he does not trust Clementine. With both of these characters, their sexual orientations are not pivotal to the game’s story or their only defining characteristics; rather, they are a part of who they are, making this game about a zombie apocalypse inclusive.

Keep Reading: The Best Video Games to Play During Pride Month

This story was originally featured at https://www.cbr.com/glaads-2020-video-game-nominees/