It’s About Inclusiveness in Gaming

It’s About Inclusiveness in Gaming

I have a dream. That dream is a world where video games represent the entire population and not just the straight white male. A world where all races, sexualities and genders are catered for and that games are inclusive as opposed to the exclusive boys club it comes across as currently.

It appears that others share this dream because the very talented and clearly passionate Alayna Cole has gone and done something about it. Queerly Represent Me is Alayna’s brainchild and it is a website that catalogues games that are inclusive of a range of different sexualities. Being a straight white male I am certainly not qualified enough to comment on the importance of a resource such as this so I have included the blurb from the site below.

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Queerly Represent Me was founded in 2016 as a database for games that represent sexuality, gender, and relationships in interesting ways. The website features discussions about a variety of games and also provides links to further resources and research regarding representation of sexuality, gender, and relationships.

Primarily, Queerly Represent Me has been created as a reference point where the work of the founder—Alayna Cole—and others in the research area of queer representation could be collated and shared. While many articles and websites exist to highlight the ‘top 5’ or ‘top 10’ representations of a particular type, Queerly Represent Me aims to feature an exhaustive and ever-growing list, evolving in ways that a static article cannot. Queerly Represent Me currently features 150 games and is constantly expanding through suggestions from the community.

There are two key reasons why Queerly Represent Me is an important and valuable resource. Firstly, the database allows members of the queer community to familiarise themselves with and access more texts that represent them. This can act as a supportive gesture to those who are comfortable with their identities, or can assist in the formation of self-identity for those who are questioning their sexuality or gender. Secondly, the site allows those who do not identify as queer to broaden the pool of games that they play or to form new understandings of games that they have already accessed, while developing empathy for the queer community and the issues we face.

Ongoing discussion around the representation of queer identities, and what constitutes a positive representation, is vital and Queerly Represent Me seeks to be a key voice within this conversation.

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So if this looks like a resource you could use please head over and check out Alayna’s hard work at Queerly Represent Me or follow it on twitter   It is wonderful to see a site such as this come into existence and hopefully it can help make my inclusive gaming world dream become a reality.

Matt Hewson

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