What’s the straightest video game genre? It’s first-person shooters, isn’t it? Whether you’re thinking of the hyper-masculinity in Battlefield, the sheer sexlessness of Master Chief, or slur-laden Call of Duty lobbies, these games are all aggressively straight, and incredibly insular.
Whether you’re somehow perceived as being gay, you commit the ultimate sin of being a woman and speaking on the microphone, or you’re just bad at the game, it’s not unlikely that you’ll hear a barrage of abuse from fellow players. They’re gamers, you’re not. You may have to prove your gaming credentials, beat their K/D, or perform almighty feats of carrying just to be accepted, and even then it might not be enough. These are games for straight guys, and anyone else who might enjoy clicking heads isn’t allowed in their special club.
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That all changed withApex Legends. Apex is loud, proud, and unapologetically gay. From its very inception, it included the non-binary character Bloodhound, who is nowin a relationship with pansexual Aussie Fuse. Non-binary characters in video games are often limited to robots, and Bloodhound was a tracker of renown on their home planet, bringing those skills to the games as well as their identity. They aren’t defined by their gender, but it’s a core part of their personhood, and that shone through in the lore.
Apex’s soap opera-style of storytelling has gone through myriad changes of form over the years, as budgets have been reallocated and alternative creative outlets have been explored, but Respawn has always ensured its Legends are characters, not just soldiers. Except for Bangalore, who actually is a soldier. But she’s more than that, too. She’s also a lesbian.
I joke, but Bangalore isn’t defined by her job, nor her sexuality, but both are used to explore her character. Her interactions with Lifeline, whose parents profit from the war that Bangalore fought in, contemplate the cost of her career. Her relationship with Loba turns sour after their on/off will-they-won’t-they vibe is ruined by the arrival of Valkyrie, who Loba instantly falls for. It was a whole drama that spanned seasons, and you can stir the pot by pressing F1 in-game.
The elephant in the room here is Overwatch. Numerous Overwatch characters are canonically queer, and it’s the only FPS to rival Apex as an LGBT-inclusive space. However, while both games relegate story beats to webcomics, and that’s where most of the characters explicitly admit their undying love for one another, Apex has a dedicated flirt button.
If you haven’t rebound your keys, pressing F1 in Apex lets you chat with other players using pre-recorded voice lines. If someone pings you an extended magazine, you can press F1 to say thanks. In fact, you’re prompted to. It’s only polite, after all. However, seeing as all these pings are said in-character, Loba thanking Revenant will be very different to how she thanks Valkyrie. In the former instance, she threatens the robot who assassinated her parents. In the latter, she flirts.
There’s no way to turn this off. Even the most hardened homophobe will be subject to all manner of characters flirting with each other even if they’re rude enough to never press F1 to thank their teammates for fear of accidentally unleashing a plague of sexually-charged small talk. That’s because their teammates might still press it. Play a straight character, you say? What if the duo you’re teamed with picks Fuse and Bloodhound? What if someone, heaven forbid, picks trans woman Catalyst? There’s no escaping Apex’s LGBT agenda, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
As my main live-service game, alongside the aggressively straight FIFA, it’s sometimes easy to forget just how good Apex Legends’ representation is. Nothing is hidden away, no characters are toned down in-game in case they upset a bigot, it wears its heart on its sleeve and pushes out its chest to say everyone is welcome here. In an industry so afraid of upsetting vocal minorities and a genre so lacking in LGBT representation, Apex is challenging the status quo, and succeeding.
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