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The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) today revealed its first ever report on the State of LGBTQ Inclusion in Video Games. The inaugural report, which GLAAD developed in partnership with the Nielsen Games Team, covers representation and inclusion in the games industry, as well as the demographics of gamers themselves. One of the biggest findings of the report is that 17% of active gamers surveyed — or nearly 1 in 5 — self-identify as LGBTQ.
GamesBeat spoke with Blair Durkee, GLAAD’s associate director of gaming, about the implications of the report, as well as the benefits of greater diversity for the industry as a whole. According to Durkee, the report reflects the increasingly diverse audience of gamers and their interest in seeing their lives depicted in games. It’s also an attempt to help the industry tap into an underrepresented community that would embrace representation.
Conversely, the report also finds that the games industry is behind other media in accurately portraying that community, with only 2% of games featuring LGBTQ characters. In GLAAD’s 2023 Studio Responsibility Index (in which it quantifies diversity and representation in films distributed by ten major studios), it found that almost 29% of films released in 2022 had an LGBTQ character. In its 2023 Where We Are On TV report (similar to the SRI, but for primetime television series), it found that about 11% of characters are LGBTQ.
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Gaming’s dearth of diversity
The gamers surveyed who identified as LGBTQ were active and passionate, with a high percentage playing over 4 hours every week on console and mobile. According to the report’s data, they gravitate towards single player games.
Durkee told GamesBeat, “Part of our report is how games are an opportunity to explore and express themselves. I think a lot of LGBTQ gamers feel more comfortable doing that in a single-player game. They don’t have to deal with the harassment that so often comes with online multiplayer games.” However, the demographics for the games themselves do not match the gamers that play them. For example, LGBTQ gamers are slightly more likely to play on Nintendo Switch, but the Switch’s eShop has the lowest percentage of diverse games.
72% of LGBTQ gamer said they felt better about themselves when they see a character who matches their identity. 68% want more prominent LGBTQ storylines in games, and 70% report being less likely to buy or play a game with harmful depictions of the LGBTQ community. Among gamers surveyed, 60% of non-LGBTQ gamers said that a game having an LGBTQ main playable character would not impact their decision to buy or play the game.
Why diversity and representation matters
According to GLAAD’s findings, gaming offers a portal to experience lives and perspectives other than our own, including LGBTQ stories. Unfortunately, gaming’s toxicity problem affects LGBTQ gamers as it does almost all players and can often be particularly brutal. 52% of LGBTQ gamers report being harassed while playing online, and 27% said they quit a game due to harassment. 29% of LGBTQ gamers don’t believe the games industry cares about them, and 65% believe game developers have a responsibility to make gaming more inclusive.
GLAAD president Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement, “It is past time for LGBTQ gamers to see our community represented in games that they play and to be safe while they connect with other gamers and express themselves. This report presents a clear business case for the industry to take action and address the needs of a rapidly growing portion of gamers. The message is clear: gamers want more inclusive LGBTQ representation in their games and the industry must become more inclusive.”
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