Digital Journal -- You could call it a gay activist's new favourite game. Or the weirdest "Hot Coffee" incident to ever befall a video game. Whatever you call it,
scenes of boys kissing boys in Bully are sparking controversy that is thundering across the gaming world.
In the schoolyard title
Bully, the 15-year-old character Jimmy can woo both boys and girls with candy and flowers in exchange for kisses. The scene can feature Jimmy offering another boy a gift, saying, "I just wanted to show you I care." Then the two private-school students start hugging and kissing as if they're parading on Pride Week. Jimmy's male amour can also say, "I'm hot, you're hot. Let's make out."
Gay video game enthusiasts have embraced Take-Two Interactive's new hit, which was the U.S.'s third top-selling game in the week ending Oct. 27, according to figures from UBS. Take-Two, and its high-profile studio Rockstar Games, are used to this kind of attention that often translates into increased sales. Their superstar game
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas hid a sex scene that players could unlock, prompting an L.A. attorney to sue the studio for the so-called "Hot Coffee" incident.
In "Bully," the homosexual scene wasn't hidden, but it also wasn't advertised to gamers.
On gaming forums, the reaction has been mixed. One reader of Gaygamer.net simply proclaimed "Progress!" while a more conservative poster on GameSpot.com wrote, "I can't have my kids playing this game. This is morally reprehensible."
Brenda Braithwaite, author of
Sex in Video Games, told Reuters boy-kissing-boy scenes are largely unexplored in the gaming industry, although they are slowly seeping into popular titles such as
Sims and
Second Life. "It's symbolic that the diversity that's appearing in broader media is making its way to games in a way that's not insulting or necessarily sensationalistic," Brathwaite said.
And if the same-sex scene in Bully is to be taken seriously (see video below), then it should be regarded as a Rosa Parks moment for video games. Gay rights are progressing at such a monumental pace it was only a matter of time before game creators took notice, and it's worth congratulating Rockstar for having the cajones to include a controversial scene that is bound to raise more hackles than its
GTA embed.
What will worry the fundamentalists and the organizations that begin with "family" is how the homosexual scene will affect the boys who watch it. They'll likely wonder if the scene will trigger rising occurences of statements such as, "Mom, the video game made me kiss the boy."
It's foolish to bash
Bully for this reason, or any other in fact. Rockstar is one of the few studio rebelling against the norm, and they deserve our respect for making one of the most progressive -- and let's face it, realistic -- games of the year.
To see the video of boys kissing boys from Bully,
click here
