Halo Infinite and queer customisation in multiplayer games

metro.co.uk:

GameCentral’s celebration of Pride Month continues with a look at online customisation options and why Halo Infinite is the most inclusive.

Since I was young, I’ve had a special place in my heart, and gaming schedule, for first person shooters.

In many ways, I’ve grown with them. I’ve watched series like Doom, Halo, and Wolfenstein shift and morph with the gaming landscape, evolving and returning to their roots in cycles of innovation and changing developers. As I’ve grown older, I’ve returned to old favourites like 2009’s Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 countless times, surprised to even find online matches still being played. I’ve been able to grow with these games, but as I’ve grown up, and discovered my own queer identity, I rarely ever feel like they’ve grown with me.

It’s no secret that online gaming can be a toxic space. Even now I see Twitter posts bragging about how the tender, soft-hearted plebians of today ‘wouldn’t have survived’ in Modern Warfare 2 or Halo 3 lobbies. They don’t say why, but if you were around at the time, it’s not hard to infer. A decade ago, the online space for gaming was a hotbed of toxic masculinity of the worst kind, filled with garden variety hatred that spewed venom in every direction, always landing on the easiest targets. Racial slurs, homophobia, misogyny, and the like.

These are still fully present in the modern online gaming space, but they’ve become far more ostracised behaviours, met with more pushback from the people they affect and the allies those people have around them.

I didn’t realise how queer I was growing up. I had fantasies of presenting differently, of wearing more bright, colourful, or feminine clothing. When I tried to branch out in school, I was often ridiculed. I