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I have been wondering this for a while. Would you be interested in reading fiction about a character and if the character was strong in the game would you add him or her to your lists? I don't want to limit this to 40K or Warmachine, just in general wargaming would this be something you would be interested in seeing or would it turn you off that game or character?

Sure. I don't see why being gay makes them any less likeable/usable than a straight or asexual character.

It wouldn't bother me if the character was gay, if we're looking at a 500 page war novel, so long as the story is compelling, I can't see why it would be a problem.

If in the game, the character kicks ass, then he'll yes I'd include him on my lists

Nope. I am very conservative and would not enjoy playing a gay male character. Don't mind lesbians, as long as they are hot.

Yes, lesbians kick ass.

What Fafnir said.

Why should sexual orientation matter? It's okay to read about and indugle in bloodthirsty sociopathic monsters, as long as they're not gay.

I wouldn't not enjoy it.

That is to say, whether or not the character is gay would have no bearing on my choice to read the story/play the game.

Lots of people play Dark Angels.

In any fiction or just waramming related?

I've read several works of fiction and nonfiction which featured gay protagonists.

I liked some and disliked others same as with any story.

As for wargamming characters i wouldn't mind. however i don't care to play characters prefering instead my own model with its own backstory.

I don't see why them being gay/bi/lesbian would convince me to not read about them.

Actually, I think I would want to read about Grifen and Magot. They're hilarious and badass.

No problem with it here,

and I'm happy to read books with characters who are straight, gay, bisexual or indeed have no clear sexual orientation.

the only potential issue would be if the chatacter was too much of a sterotype (without other decent personality)

 Breotan wrote:
Lots of people play Dark Angels.

Darn it, you beat me to it

And do you realize the amount of people that are convinced some SoB are lesbos? Then again those are also the types to make any female warrior at least bi....

 kenshin620 wrote:

 Breotan wrote:
Lots of people play Dark Angels.

Darn it, you beat me to it

And do you realize the amount of people that are convinced some SoB are lesbos? Then again those are also the types to make any female warrior at least bi....

Either she's fanservice to these people, or they think she should get raped and "put in her place".

I wish I was making this up.

The sexuality of very few charectors is actually known. Only a handful of Gaunt's Ghosts are known to be attracted to others. Several charectors in the Inquitor books also have no stated sexual preference.

It really doesn't matter. In gothic high fiction, people don't want any romance, regardless of sexual orientation.

 BryllCream wrote:
The sexuality of very few charectors is actually known. Only a handful of Gaunt's Ghosts are known to be attracted to others. Several charectors in the Inquitor books also have no stated sexual preference.

It really doesn't matter. In gothic high fiction, people don't want any romance, regardless of sexual orientation.

Bromance is cool. Wouldn't mind an errant techmarine developing an attachment to some of his machines. "Machine Spirit... I... "

It DOES matter to a lot of people. Up until a couple decades ago, it wasn't even common for gay/lesbian characters to SURVIVE their stories, never mind actually be positive characters.

Be very careful in this thread, folks.

My primary army for the past few years was Tyranids, whose sexual preferences don't really map well into our framework.... Much as with other posters, I care about a good story, or a useful rules mechanic.

With regards to tabletop gaming how is it possibly relevant?

"At the start of the turn roll a dice, on a score of 1 he is so distracted by the big muscley marines he cannot take any voluntary actions this turn.

If he is in a Sisters Of Battle army then ignore this rule."

Pointless thread is pointless.

As for fiction, Joe Abercrombie has written some interesting non-traditional sexuality characters.

That's the only thing that's relevant btw, that the character is interesting. If their sexuality makes them more interesting then by generating conflict or influencing their decision making then fine, otherwise it's just a detail alongside eye colour or height.

 Melissia wrote:
It DOES matter to a lot of people. Up until a couple decades ago, it wasn't even common for gay/lesbian characters to SURVIVE their stories, never mind actually be positive characters.

Was old literature full of homosexual people dying?

I'd play the character, but my inclination to read about a character with only the knowledge of their sexual preference is a negative.

More importantly, why does sexual orientation need a place in wargaming? Soldiers are soldiers, and in fluff I have zero interest in their love lives.

I generally see male characters in these games as androgynous. Their gender preferences mean nothing to me. I assume that Slaanesh characters of all flavors are polyamorous, but that is only because sexual identity and ambiguity is part of that flavor of chaos.

I have no interest in romance within novels about my toy soldiers, plenty of fan fiction out there for that stuff if one were so inclined.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 azreal13 wrote:
With regards to tabletop gaming how is it possibly relevant?

"At the start of the turn roll a dice, on a score of 1 he is so distracted by the big muscley marines he cannot take any voluntary actions this turn.

If he is in a Sisters Of Battle army then ignore this rule."

Pointless thread is pointless.

As for fiction, Joe Abercrombie has written some interesting non-traditional sexuality characters.

That's the only thing that's relevant btw, that the character is interesting. If their sexuality makes them more interesting then by generating conflict or influencing their decision making then fine, otherwise it's just a detail alongside eye colour or height.

This. Sexual preference has no place in wargaming. I care not of the make believe characters nor those who are controlling them on the table fancy boys or girls, or mamsirs. I grow tired of hearing people use sexual preference as their sole identifying feature. I don't view my heterosexuality as a main identifying feature of myself, why should others?

From what I've read of the fantasy and 40k universes, sexuality either way isn't commented upon. I find it funny that when it comes to speculating on a Space Marines junk, opinions range between then having a mighty horse cawk and having it shrivelled away due to steroids/underuse or surgically removed. For the emperor!

 Sigvatr wrote:
Nope. I am very conservative and would not enjoy playing a gay male character. Don't mind lesbians, as long as they are hot.

Riiight, how enlightened. You don't want gay characters unless they are attractive lesbians likely to fuel some sex fantasy.

 BryllCream wrote:

 Melissia wrote:
It DOES matter to a lot of people. Up until a couple decades ago, it wasn't even common for gay/lesbian characters to SURVIVE their stories, never mind actually be positive characters.

Was old literature full of homosexual people dying?

Yes.

 Aerethan wrote:
I'd play the character, but my inclination to read about a character with only the knowledge of their sexual preference is a negative.

More importantly, why does sexual orientation need a place in wargaming? Soldiers are soldiers, and in fluff I have zero interest in their love lives.

I generally see male characters in these games as androgynous. Their gender preferences mean nothing to me. I assume that Slaanesh characters of all flavors are polyamorous, but that is only because sexual identity and ambiguity is part of that flavor of chaos.

I have no interest in romance within novels about my toy soldiers, plenty of fan fiction out there for that stuff if one were so inclined.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 azreal13 wrote:
With regards to tabletop gaming how is it possibly relevant?

"At the start of the turn roll a dice, on a score of 1 he is so distracted by the big muscley marines he cannot take any voluntary actions this turn.

If he is in a Sisters Of Battle army then ignore this rule."

Pointless thread is pointless.

As for fiction, Joe Abercrombie has written some interesting non-traditional sexuality characters.

That's the only thing that's relevant btw, that the character is interesting. If their sexuality makes them more interesting then by generating conflict or influencing their decision making then fine, otherwise it's just a detail alongside eye colour or height.

This. Sexual preference has no place in wargaming. I care not of the make believe characters nor those who are controlling them on the table fancy boys or girls, or mamsirs. I grow tired of hearing people use sexual preference as their sole identifying feature. I don't view my heterosexuality as a main identifying feature of myself, why should others?

OP states specifically that it's about fiction, not gaming.

There are generally two problems I find with "gay" focused works of fiction;

First, that there tends to be a lot of "gay" and not a lot of character. That is, the author, either for political reasons or for simple lack of talent, doesn't create a living, breathing character, but a walking cliche.

Second, the gay character as marketing gimmick. This is a variety of the first set, but more aggravating to me: for whatever reason the publisher becomes convinced that putting in a gay character will move units (no pun intended), without regard to the organic nature of the story.

As an example, I would compare what I consider an excellent use of homosexual characters in Young Avengers, to the hamfisted, carnival barker manner that Alan Scott was reformulated as being gay in Earth 2. The difference being that in YA, Wiccan and Hulkling are characters first, sales gimmicks later (much later...); Alan Scott's "coming out", so to speak, was a transparent attempt at courting controversy at a time that DC had already pulled the stunt of rebooting their entire universe (which means, not incidentally, that Alan Scott is not only not a member of the mainstream Green Lantern Corp, but he's not even in the main universe!). Well played DC, well played...

 Dentry wrote:

 Aerethan wrote:
I'd play the character, but my inclination to read about a character with only the knowledge of their sexual preference is a negative.

More importantly, why does sexual orientation need a place in wargaming? Soldiers are soldiers, and in fluff I have zero interest in their love lives.

I generally see male characters in these games as androgynous. Their gender preferences mean nothing to me. I assume that Slaanesh characters of all flavors are polyamorous, but that is only because sexual identity and ambiguity is part of that flavor of chaos.

I have no interest in romance within novels about my toy soldiers, plenty of fan fiction out there for that stuff if one were so inclined.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 azreal13 wrote:
With regards to tabletop gaming how is it possibly relevant?

"At the start of the turn roll a dice, on a score of 1 he is so distracted by the big muscley marines he cannot take any voluntary actions this turn.

If he is in a Sisters Of Battle army then ignore this rule."

Pointless thread is pointless.

As for fiction, Joe Abercrombie has written some interesting non-traditional sexuality characters.

That's the only thing that's relevant btw, that the character is interesting. If their sexuality makes them more interesting then by generating conflict or influencing their decision making then fine, otherwise it's just a detail alongside eye colour or height.

This. Sexual preference has no place in wargaming. I care not of the make believe characters nor those who are controlling them on the table fancy boys or girls, or mamsirs. I grow tired of hearing people use sexual preference as their sole identifying feature. I don't view my heterosexuality as a main identifying feature of myself, why should others?

OP states specifically that it's about fiction, not gaming.

No he doesn't

 Dentry wrote:


OP states specifically that it's about fiction, not gaming.

The title says play with, ere go gaming.

Even then, I don't care for romance in my gaming fiction, or other reading really. I've seen very few romance stories in film that I considered evocative and not cheesy, fewer still that were in printed word.

Let's not get dragged in to some nonsensical quote pyramid. The functional question of this thread is as follows:

Cogs wrote:
Would you be interested in reading fiction about a character and if the character was strong in the game would you add him or her to your lists?

 Melissia wrote:

 BryllCream wrote:

 Melissia wrote:
It DOES matter to a lot of people. Up until a couple decades ago, it wasn't even common for gay/lesbian characters to SURVIVE their stories, never mind actually be positive characters.

Was old literature full of homosexual people dying?

Yes.

I haven't read any of those books and I'm fairly well-read. I suspect they may be mainly sensationalist popular novels.

I can't say that I've spent a lot of time thinking about this sort of thing, but I really can't find a reason I'd have a problem with it.

vv

I agree that more often than not, the inclusion of homosexuality as a character trait in fiction is used to appeal to a market that thinks they are more evolved for reading about gay characters.

Are there really that many gay people who yearn to read gay sci fi? If so, it's some massive underground thing that I've never heard of.

And if anything, using homosexuality as a sales tool is offensive to homosexual people.