With the recent legalization of gay marriage in all 50 states after a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling, many have celebrated equality for all and the growing presence of gay rights.
Acceptance has spread through more than just the sociopolitical space too; pop culture, primarily in the past decade, has grown to embrace gay characters and themes much more in literature, film, and video games.
One prime and recent example can be found in a bit of news regarding the upcoming Nintendo 3DS titles: "Fire Emblem Fates." The duo of games was released on June 25 in Japan (and will be available later in the first quarter of 2016 for gamers in the U.S.), featuring two bisexual characters that can marry the avatar character, providing opportunities for virtual same-sex marriage.
This marks the first time in the "Fire Emblem" franchise, with 14 games and counting, where gay marriage will be an option. The marriage mechanic was debuted in the last game, “Fire Emblem Awakening,” where the avatar or player character along with other supporting characters could spark friendships through special support conversations and eventually reach the step of “S” status where heterosexual couples could marry.
In the “Conquest” version (left) of the new game “Fire Emblem Fates,” a male character named Zero can have a romantic relationship with a male avatar and can also adopt a child who will become another playable character in the game.
Also, in the “Birthright” version (right) of “Fates,” a female character named Syalla can mingle with and marry a female avatar. While these two are the only characters with bisexual options in a large cast of dozens, this is still a progressive step for "Fire Emblem" developers Nintendo and Intelligent Systems.
The former company is including gay characters in one of its games after a mild backlash from one of its 2014 titles, a life simulation game called “Tomodachi Life” which featured Mii characters. In that game, you could pair off your Miis with marriage and children, but only if they were opposing genders. Many gamers were confused with the decision to exclude homosexual couples, especially since “Tomodachi Life” was marketed by Nintendo and reviewed by critics as so expressive a game.
“Fire Emblem Fates” will be such a milestone in terms of English gaming because Nintendo’s former nods to gay or transgender characters have been localized to only include those types of references in the Japanese versions of games. Both the "Super Mario Bros." and "Animal Crossing" series of games have had flamboyant and canonically LGBT characters.
Nintendo is not the only developer who has started to become progressive in celebrating a gay presence, however. Company Bioware has long held a tradition of including gay characters for their games’ avatars to hook up with.
This can be traced back to the game “Jade Empire,” a role-playing game where the avatar (male or female) could end up with a gay partner. Bioware continued to provide fan service to gamers straight and homosexual alike with franchises like "Mass Effect" and "Dragon Age" that have always been driven by players’ choices in terms of the storylines and character subplots. Opportunities for same-sex relationships have only grown through the years and additional installments of these series.
Over time, franchises like "Grand Theft Auto" and "Final Fantasy" have joined the ranks of allowing cross-dressing, LGBT characters, and gay relationships. Very recent AAA titles including “The Last of Us” and “Mortal Kombat X” have also jumped on the bandwagon to feature canonically gay characters, and that is a trend that will most probably continue to grow more prominent in nerd culture and the games we play in the future.