Gay Players: LGBTQ+ Gaming

What do videogames mean to their LGBTQ+ players? Join LGBTQ+ historian Sacha Coward and journalist Mahin Kesore in conversation about all things gay and gaming.

Videogames can be a safe space and a place to find community but, as with the IRL world, homophobia and transphobia is still lurking in many corners. A study by Online Roulette showed that 35% of LGBTQ+ players in 2020 felt too unsafe to disclose their identity and half, 40%, decided to stop playing online altogether because of online harassment, according to the results. There were positive findings too, with 45% of respondents said that gaming played an integral part in their discovery of their own queer identity.

Mahin Kesore grew up a closeted gay Hindu in a strict South Asian Mauritian family. His main catharsis was losing himself within video games worlds like the Legend of Zelda series and Super Mario. Mahin was forced to leave home on Boxing Day 2021, after coming out to his family. Among the essentials he took included his DS Lite with the game Chrono Trigger.

Gaming has always been gay, bisexual and transgender. From gaming pioneer Rebecca Ann Heineman & Jennell Allyn Jaquays, David Gaider, Llamasoft’s Jeff Minter, to Aubrey Edwards, Alanah Pearce and Nicky Case. As historian, gamer and escape room designer, Sacha Coward says: “I still love this world, as do millions of queer videogame players.

Videogames are an art form, every bit as much as a painting or a piece of music, it’s high time we start celebrating the stories of the queer characters, games and game makers in the story of videogames.”