Everything you might have missed from Eurogamer’s Pride Week 2023

Good morning! All this week, Eurogamer marked Pride with another round of features celebrating the intersection of queer culture and gaming. As always, it’s been both a privilege and a pleasure to have so many wonderful writers share their enthusiasm. , their stories, and their visions of a hopeful future throughout the week – and you’ll find a comprehensive roundup of this year’s features, conveniently assembled for your leisurely perusal, below.

Once again, big thanks to our stellar contributors (in order of appearance): James Croft, Ozzy Smith, Ed Nightingale, Sharang Biswas, Eli Cugini, Gareth Damian Martin, Alex Meehan, Ebonix, Nikatine, Lottie Lynn, Llaura McGee , Eve Golden Woods, Wren Brier, Deere, August Aiden Black and Dr Lloyd (Meadhbh) Houston. Additional thanks go to Christian Donlan for his always invaluable help behind the scenes, and to Malaika Hardy-Fraser for the beautiful artwork and logo for this year’s Pride Week.

We hope you enjoyed this fourth annual Eurogamer Pride Week, and we will, of course, continue to celebrate achievements and highlight issues affecting the LGBTQ+ community in gaming throughout the year. . We’ll be back with another week of Pride celebrations in 2024, and if you missed Eurogamer’s previous Pride Week festivities, you can catch up. here, hereAnd here. Till next time!

How a New Generation of Drag Artists Are Breaking Boundaries and Queer Video Games

Image credit: Matti Scicluna/Eurogamer

James Croft kicked off this year’s Pride Week celebrations in fabulous fashion on Monday, delving into the subversive world of sexist Kratos, hot Piranha plants, and more as he explored how a new generation of drag performers combines his artistry and a deep love of video games to reimagine what a bolder, more queer future for gaming could be.

“All of these drag performers have found that audiences love their video game-inspired looks, and it’s easy to see why: All four performers share an infectious love of games and gaming culture. They’re not dilettantes, playing on the popularity of video games. to score quick internet points. They are more of a connoisseur, who love both drag and games, and have found a way to bring their passions together. After all, to queer a character, you have to know it well. As Mary O’ Kart says, “Knowing the games well is the most important thing. I can’t have a name like Mary O’Kart and be lousy at the game…or not know the credentials.”

[ Read the full article here ]

If found… and pushing back the shame

Image credit: Dreamfeel/Eurogamer

On Tuesday, Ozzy Smith revisited developer Dreamfeel’s acclaimed visual novel, If Found…, taking a closer look at its themes of self-erasing in a world where members of the LGBTQ+ community are so often used to ” verify” themselves and their homosexuality in public.

“This [feeling of “checking” yourself is] best seen as the tension between what people expect of us and who we really are…or who we’re trying to become. Imagined futures are projected onto our bodies like film reels, blurring the skin beneath. This tension is very much like shame. But, while video games usually have all the subtlety of a hammer going through a wall, sometimes they are a great place to explore strange topics, allowing us to role play who we want to be or explore those experiences. uniquely unique. ”

[ Read the full article here ]

Final Fantasy 16’s LGBTQ+ Representation Proves The Series Is Modernizing

Image credit: Square Enix/Eurogamer

On Wednesday, lifelong Final Fantasy fan Ed Nightingale of Eurogamer wrote about the thrill of finally feeling seen by his favorite franchise as his latest installment takes some bold steps towards more inclusive representation…all starting with a kiss. .

“It’s too rare to see LGBTQ+ representation in high-profile AAA games. But seeing it here, in a Final Fantasy game too, was such a joyous moment for me… They kiss, for a moment tender amidst the bloodshed as they both ponder what’s at stake. And then they move on. It’s authentic, normalized. It’s not sexual, just two characters sharing an intimacy .

[ Read the full article here ]

Artistic porn and sexy LARP: games, bodies and queer rights

Image credit: Vesperal/Eurogamer

Next, Sharang Biswas took us on a whirlwind tour of bodily pleasures, exploring the perhaps surprising connection between pornography and analog play – and spotlighting creators who design in the spaces between intimacy and play.

“If the realm of body immersion cedes some of its territory to the pornography genre, the rest must be placed firmly under the authority of analog games. Board games, card games, playground games, games tabletop roleplaying and LARP – these forms engage the physicality of the participants in a way that no other art form can…Pornography and roleplaying, in some ways, are linked by similar logics. the stories in the bodies Even if I abstain from actively pleasing myself, the erotic pleasure I derive from a film is only possible because I have an idea of ​​what it feels like in my body. .. Role-playing games, for all their fantastical premises and arithmetic-loving rules, are only fun because we have bodily experience of the world.

[ Read the full article here ]

Danganronpa and the Surprising Joys of Awkward Queer Representation

Image credit: Spike Chunsoft/Eurogamer

And on Friday, Eli Cugini returned for another Pride Week to celebrate the more awkward side of LGBTQ+ representation, with a special eye on the Danganronpa series. Sure, games can miss the mark by a considerable margin in their efforts at inclusive representation, but sometimes, even then, there’s an eerie, raw beauty to be found within.

“I think a lot about how homosexuality has always been seen as fascinating and powerful by some non-gay people, even though it has also been seen as scary and threatening. The developers of Danganronpa don’t have the right words or n They haven’t won They don’t use them, they’re not very connected to potential queer actors, and as a result they make mistakes and sometimes draw on harmful stereotypes But they also have a raw interest in power and beauty of queer dynamics, and the ways they enrich the stories they tell.”

[ Read the full article here ]

My favorite queer game

Image credit: Eurogamer

And finally, for this year’s Pride Week, we spoke with some of our favorite creators, passed notes within the team, and even dug through the Eurogamer archives to compile a list (far from definitive) of some of our queer and queer favorites. -positive games. Read and maybe even share some of your favorites!

[ Read the full article here ]