Gay for the game: How video games attract the queer community

metro.co.uk:

GameCentral begins its celebration of Pride Month with a look at how important video games can be to those exploring their sexuality and gender.

A recent study* showed that 21% of people in the video games industry identify as LGBTQ+. That represents up to seven times the average of the general British population – depending on which sources you trust – and the figures continue to surprise when we look solely at the non-binary and transgendered community. While just 1.4% of average Brits don’t identify as cis-gendered, that figure rises to 5% in the games industry.

The video games industry, and in particular the indie scene, has become a creative outlet for a number of LGBTQ+ developers. Most famous, perhaps, is Maddy Thorson who explored her own trans identity while developing the award-winning Celeste in 2018. Or there’s Midboss, the team who created 2064: Read Only Memories, a studio which ‘seeks to make the world better, safer and more inclusive to marginalised people, especially those in the gender and sexuality spectrum’ by hiring almost exclusively from this pool.

Creative industries lead the way in LGBTQ+ representation. Our community makes up 37% of all leadership roles in artistic businesses and so, in order for these individuals to get there, they usually begin by consuming the art form they then go on to create for.

As the name suggests, role-playing games (RPGs) have long been safe havens for gamers’ escapism. Some people play RPGs for the power fantasy, while for others the appeal is the predictability that working hard will guarantee progress, which is so rarely the case in the real world – or indeed most other styles of game. While these are experiences even the cishet