French text adventure game Le Crime du Parking (broadly translatable as The Murder in the Parking Lot) is not only all but forgotten, but appears never to have been translated into other languages, limiting its accessibility even to those who remember its existence. But it most definitely does contain an explicit reference to a character’s homosexuality, in the form of the villainous tailor-turned-drug dealer Paco. When he is revealed as the killer of Odile Conchoux, it emerges that he stripped her corpse naked before leaving her to be found in the titular parking lot, in the hopes that her murder would seem sexually motivated - meaning that he, as a known gay man, would be an unlikely suspect. It is also mentioned that Odile attempted to seduce Paco in return for access to his supply of drugs, but he rejected her advances due to his exclusive interest in men.
Moonmist (1986) - First Lesbian Character
This Infocom text adventure game is generally cited as featuring the first LGBT+ character in video game history. Vivien Pentreath is a bohemian artist whose close friend, Deirdre Hallam, apparently committed suicide before the events of the game. The player can find a diary entry that she addressed to Deirdre after the latter’s presumed death: in it, Vivien accuses Deirdre’s fiancé Jack of driving her to suicide, and vows to avenge her. While Vivien’s sexuality is never directly identified, the romantic terms of endearment she uses towards Deirdre led most players to the conclusion that there was, at the very least, an attraction between them - though whether Deirdre reciprocated is never made clear. While the game’s creators have never confirmed or denied the exact nature of their relationship, Vivien’s status as gaming’s first lesbian character is commonly acknowledged; due to the obscurity of Le Crime du Parking, she’s often stated outright as being gaming’s first LGBT+ character.
Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988) - First Transgender Character
A Mario franchise mainstay, the big, pink, bow-wearing dinosaur Birdo is often cited as gaming’s first transgender character, and with some justification. While not the most sensitive of portrayals, especially in early incarnations of the series, the descriptions of her make it fairly obvious that this is what the creators were going for: “a boy who thinks he’s a girl and would rather be called ‘Birdetta’”. Despite some rather unfortunate wording, Birdo seems to be doing pretty well: she has an apparently accepting and supportive boyfriend in the character of Yoshi (who, it's interesting to note here, is a male capable of laying eggs); and despite having started out as an enemy character, she is now a long-standing ally of Mario and co.
Caper in the Castro (1989) - First LGBT+-Oriented Game
Even though LGBT+ characters and themes are still now making their way to acceptance in mainstream video games, it’s worth remembering that game designers have always been a more diverse bunch than is often appreciated. CM Ralph, a computer programmer who broke all the supposed rules of that industry by being both a woman and gay, moved from Southern California to San Francisco in the late 1980s. She and her partner were so touched by their reception in the Bay Area that she spent a year of her spare time making Caper in the Castro, which most will agree was the first video game ever aimed specifically at the interests of the LGBT+ community. Filled with humorous asides, inside jokes, and knowing references to the gay scene in San Francisco, Caper in the Castro also dealt with the AIDS crisis; and though available for free, Ralph urged those who downloaded her software to make a donation to the AIDS charity of their choice by way of payment. She also wrote a “straightened” version for traditional release entitled Murder on Main Street, knowing that no publisher would release her “gayme” in its original incarnation. Upsetting though it may feel to consider those characters being erased, Ralph looked on the bright side: the straight-and-narrow fans of that game had no idea that they were enjoying an iconic piece of LGBT+ entertainment!
Ultima VII (1992) - First Bisexual Character(s)
While it’s clear that between them Ultima VII: The Black Gate and Ultimate VII Part 2: Serpent Isle almost certainly feature gaming’s first bisexual characters, exactly which character deserves the crown is up for discussion. The player’s character can request the services of either male or female sex workers regardless of their avatar’s gender, quite possibly giving us role-play gaming’s first LGBT+ options, but you can of course still play them as straight, gay, lesbian, or bi, depending on your preference. The sex workers themselves will always accept your advances, making them possibly bisexual too, or perhaps just open to doing whatever you ask of them in return for pay. However, The Mage encountered in Part 2 is an NPC who will, of their own volition, proposition your character regardless of their gender, making them perhaps the clearest-cut example in a game that’s surely done enough to earn its recognition. (It’s interesting to note that the Mage’s gender is also quite deliberately presented neutrally, though it might be a stretch to call them non-binary.)
Laura Bow II: The Dagger of Amon Ra (1992) - First On-Screen Same-Sex Couple in a “Mainstream” Game [Citation Needed]
Despite LGBT+ characters turning up individually on a semi-regular basis from the mid-1980s, it was some years before a same-sex couple would feature as an item, and not alone as a post-facto victim of a break-up or lone survivor of a murdered lover. This Sierra adventure game, centering around a female journalist in 1920s New York, has achieved urban legendary status for possibly featuring the first on-screen appearance of a same-sex couple. Allegedly, Laura encounters two women during one of her investigations, whom she discovers to be engaged in a secret relationship. However, this has proven difficult to verify, since the rumor sprung up a good while after most people would have easy access to a Sierra On-Line game from 1992 (though it’s now available on GOG.com). The game is confirmed as featuring at least one LGBT+ character, however: a conversation between Laura and an unnamed a flapper (who may also be a prostitute) includes the latter propositioning Laura in no uncertain terms - including offering her services for free. So maybe it’s not so far-fetched that secret lesbians might be hiding in there somewhere too.
Dracula Unleashed (1993) - First LGBT+ Character with a Speaking Role
This FMV game features the first recognised example of a fully voice acted LGBT+ character. Playing a minor role in the story, Alfred Horner is an implicitly gay bookstore owner whom the protagonist, Alexander Morris, accuses of giving him “lecherous glances”. It’s not a particularly salubrious first outing for the literal voice of the LGBT+ community in gaming - although it might say more about Alexander than it does about Alfred that he can’t imagine a gay man who doesn’t automatically want to mentally undress him the minute they meet.
The Orion Conspiracy (1995) - First English-Language Game to use the Word “Homosexual”
Although once again Le Crime du Parking got the real first a full ten years earlier, with its description of Paco as “homosexuel”, The Orion Conspiracy deserves some credit for being the first English-language game to use the word “homosexual”. This was a fairly important moment, considering the tendency throughout the 1990s for English localisations of foreign-language games with LGBT+ characters to either bury the subject in euphemisms, or just omit those references altogether. The game sees the player character, Devlin McCormack, investigating the death of his estranged son Danny. In the process of his investigations, Devlin finds Danny’s love letters to another man, and is later confronted by Danny’s surviving boyfriend Steve. Interestingly, while Danny and Steve’s relationship seems to have been taboo in the grungy futuristic setting of the game, Danny’s sexuality wasn’t a factor in his murder - possibly making this the first time an LGBT+ character was included in a game without their sexuality being either a major plot point or comic relief.
Phantasmagoria 2: A Puzzle of Flesh (1996) - First Canonically LGBT+ Playable Character
The honour of featuring the first canonically LGBT+ player character yet again goes to a Sierra On-Line game. During the course of Phantasmagoria 2, playable protagonist Curtis has a steady girlfriend named Jocilyn, engages in S&M with his friend Therese, and develops a crush on his gay best friend Trevor. While it is a psychological horror game and Curtis most certainly has serious mental health issues, it’s noteworthy that his bisexuality isn’t treated as one of them - Curtis’s relationships with Jocilyn, Therese, and Trevor are all meaningful in their own ways; and if anything his relationship with Trevor is probably the most emotionally sincere, though his adventurous sex life with Therese makes it clear he’s more than a closeted gay stereotype.
Fallout 2 (1998) - First Same-Sex Marriages
The post-apocalyptic RPG included the first ever same-sex marriages in a video game, though since they were optional not every player will have encountered them. Brother and sister duo Davin and Miria are both potential love interests for the player character regardless of gender, and can be married on the same terms. Davin has the same stat check for accepting or rejecting propositions from both male and female suitors, while Miria’s slightly different checks seem to favour women over men to a small degree. Either way, there’s an official church ceremony (albeit one with a shotgun aimed at your character’s back, courtesy of the siblings’ dad Grisham) before your status is updated to “Married” and your chosen spouse is added permanently to your party.
Final Fantasy VIII (1999) & Persona 2: Innocent Sin (1999) - First Intersex Characters
Final Fantasy VIII arguably presented us with the first intersex character in gaming in February 1999: antagonist Adel is referred to as intersex, and while she is femme-presenting, other characters use both male and female pronouns when referring to her. However, this is only true in the French language version of the game, with other localisations treating her as a cisgender woman. Just four months later, in June, Persona 2: Innocent Sin presented a more clearly canonical example, with another character who identifies as female, Sumaru Genie, revealed to be intersex in all localisations of the game.
Final Fantasy IX (2000) - First Non-Binary Character & First “First” LGBT+ Character To Be Playable
Quina Quen of Final Fantasy IX is perhaps the first non-binary character in a video game: s/he (the preferred nominative pronoun used in-game, though “his” and “him” are mostly used for the possessive and objective) belongs to a genderless race called the Qu, and can equip both male and female armour. Unlike most other “firsts” on this list, Quina is a playable character.
The Sims: Hot Date (2001) - First LGBT+ Character in a Video Game Commercial
A 2001 live action TV commercial for the game’s third expansion pack featured the first hint of a same-sex romance option in a game’s advertising. At a nightclub, a man can be seen flirting with and being rebuffed by two women, before being approached by another man, whose advances he ultimately (if somewhat humorously) accepts. Since its initial release the year before, The Sims had allowed same-sex romances between characters, but this was the first time that the option to date any character regardless of gender had been actively suggested as a selling point for a video game.
Saints Row 2 (2008) - First Non-Binary Options in a Character Creator
Saints Row 2 was probably the first game to allow the creation of non-binary player characters. While some earlier games (for example, early entries into the MySims franchise) simply didn’t allow the player to declare their character’s gender, which instead was expressed solely through cosmetics, Saints Row 2 does include explicitly gendered options in character creation, but the player can give their character a mixture of the masculine and feminine characteristics on offer.
Fallout 3 (2008) - First LGBT+ Parent
This one is somewhat difficult to verify, since sandbox games like The Sims had been presenting players with the option to have same-sex couples build their families together since the early 2000s. However, my research suggests that the first video game to show a canonical same-sex couple at the head of a family once again comes courtesy of a Fallout game. Ghouls Carol and Greta are in a romantic relationship, but tensions have arisen due to Carol’s adoption of a young ghoul boy named Gob. Greta is jealous of the relationship, and it’s clear that the informal adoption does not extend so far as to have her and Gob consider themselves as mother and son as well. Nevertheless, this seems to be the first time that a video game included a character like Carol, who was both canonically a parent and in a same-sex relationship.
Many Games, All Of A Sudden In One Year (2017) - First Pansexual Characters
There’s a touch of contention here, because Final Fantasy IX (2000) features Vivi, who is sometimes referred to as the first pansexual character in gaming, as it’s possible for him to marry Quina Quen - the aforementioned first non-binary character in gaming. Some players would argue that this hints at his pansexuality, though it’s never explicitly gone into; and indeed there is a hint that theirs is a political marriage, with Vivi presenting as possibly too young to be sexually active at all. Whether you count this or not, it’s impossible to deny that what followed was a long, long gap in pansexual representation in video games. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, 2017 saw at least three games with characters who are representative of pansexuality: Mae from Night in the Woods and Hollywood from Agents of Mayhem both self-identify as pansexual in-game, while Monika from Doki-Doki Literature Club! declares herself pansexual in all but name when she announces that the gender of the person she loves simply doesn’t matter to her. Meanwhile, as a touch of bonus pansexual representation before the year was out, every romanceable character in Divinity: Original Sin II can be regarded as pansexual, as they will return the player’s affections regardless not only of gender, but of sentient species of origin.
South Park: The Fractured But Whole (2017) - First Asexual Character(s)
Say what you will about South Park and how far their representations of LGBT+ people over the years may or may not have been in good faith, but their 2017 tie-in RPG The Fractured But Whole made video game history when it allowed you to select your character’s sexual orientation for their D&D style character sheet, and included “asexual” on the list. At the time of writing, this seems to be the only instance of explicit asexuality in a video game. Canon character Kyle Broflovski is also described as asexual on his character sheet, though it’s ambiguous as to whether this actually refers to Kyle (the eight-year-old-since-1997) or to his superhero alter-ego, Human Kite. These inclusions seem, if anything, to be designed as a gentle dig at the huge amount of backstory detail that often goes into character building for tabletop RPGs, but it nevertheless made ripples across ace gaming communities as the first confirmed representation of asexuality in a video game.
Sources:
- The LGBTQ Video Game Archive: https://lgbtqgamearchive.com/
- The Advocate: “25 LGBT Video Game Characters”: https://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/2018/2/02/25-lgbt-video-game-characters
- Salon: “From a pink dinosaur to "Gay Tony": The evolution of LGBT video game characters”: https://www.salon.com/2014/04/18/from_a_pink_dinosaur_to_gay_tony_the_evolution_of_lgbt_video_game_characters/
- Wikipedia: “List of Video Games with LGBT Characters”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_games_with_LGBT_characters
- The Asexual Visibility & Education Network: “First Ever Confirmed Representation in Video Games”: https://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/163296-first-ever-confirmed-representation-in-video-games/
I hope to keep developing this list: comments, questions, suggestions, or corrections are all very much welcomed and appreciated!
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