!!!VIDEO GAME SURVEY!!!

[King Andre]

-What is your sexual orientation?
straight

-What is your gender identity?
male

-Were you raised in early to middle childhood as male, female, or gender neutral?
male

-What video game consoles did you grow up with? In addition to consoles/devices, what games were the most influential to your childhood/development? (for example, I had a wii, ds, and 3ds growing up)
ps2, ds, dsi, wii, pspgo

-Did you feel as though the games that were most influential to your childhood were "feminized"?
No not really I mostly played fighters or pokemon

-What were the goals/themes of the games you played? (For example: The Cooking Mama series: Time management (bonuses for quick success), perfection (one mistake and you lose that gold medal), creativity (freedom to decorate certain dishes with designs and garnishes
Usually it was action or adventure games. Like mortal kombat, soul calibur, any number of car games, street fighter. So they were usually competitive, with the purpose of player vs player combat or competing at some objective. If they weren't PvP it was games where I could explore or whatever. So like ratchet n clank or open world games which remain my favorite type of game to this day.

-Growing up, did you ever play games related to the Pokémon franchise? If so, how did your peers feel about you playing these games?

Yea, most of my friends, male or female were Pokemon fans as-well. Well, I would say it was probably more so my male friends that gravitated towards it more but it wasn't completely one sided either way.

-As a kid, did you feel any romantic awakening/queer awakening related to a video game character? If so, add details about the character that made them appealing, as a favorite character or in a romantic sense.
Not queer awakening but maybe a few of the female soul calibur characters I thought were attractive or designed well.

-End notes for discussion and any other factors/experiences you have had with video games All thoughts are welcome, just try to keep it kind and honest.

I tended towards playing games I felt like I could flex on, I got enjoyment from seeing that I was measurably better than my peers at any given game i played. Any game I felt like I couldn't do well on I usually gave up on, but I think that was only a couple games. Usually I'd play until i was good.

[Metax]

What is your sexual orientation?
bi

What is your gender identity?
female

Were you raised in early to middle childhood as male, female, or gender neutral?
female

What video game consoles did you grow up with? In addition to consoles/devices, what games were the most influential to your childhood/development? (for example, I had a wii, ds, and 3ds growing up)
i didn't grow up with any consoles as a kid. i got a wii when i was a preteen but i spent most of my time on the pc. i played puzzle-y games like zuma like my mom and cooler games like prince of persia and nfs like my dad

Did you feel as though the games that were most influential to your childhood were "feminized"?
i mean, that's been an ongoing trend because it sells. but i don't particularly remember feeling some way about it

What were the goals/themes of the games you played? (For example: The Cooking Mama series: Time management (bonuses for quick success), perfection (one mistake and you lose that gold medal), creativity (freedom to decorate certain dishes with designs and garnishes
when i was younger? i played a lot of gta vice city but i made it really sandbox-y. goals stress me out sometimes.

Growing up, did you ever play games related to the Pokémon franchise? If so, how did your peers feel about you playing these games?
i didn't, no. consoles weren't a big thing in my country when i was a kid.

As a kid, did you feel any romantic awakening/queer awakening related to a video game character? If so, add details about the character that made them appealing, as a favorite character or in a romantic sense.
i mean. i remember crying myself to sleep when i was 5-6 because sasuke and the yugioh protagonist weren't real. does that count? otherwise no.

End notes for discussion and any other factors/experiences you have had with video games :) All thoughts are welcome, just try to keep it kind and honest.
as i said earlier on, consoles and video games weren't really a big deal. i do remember being excited about playing owls of gahoole on my wii. in middle school i used to play just dance with some friends, and wii party. twas good stuff. looking back, would i have enjoyed having a console sooner? (i got myself a ps4 on my 18th birthday) maybe so. gaming in bed is much more fun than sitting at a desktop (which i gotta do every day now that im a working adult now lol. maybe im biased)

[Kazin]

-What is your sexual orientation?

Bisexual

-What is your gender identity?

Male

-Were you raised in early to middle childhood as male, female, or gender neutral?

Gender neutral

-What video game consoles did you grow up with? In addition to consoles/devices, what games were the most influential to your childhood/development? (for example, I had a wii, ds, and 3ds growing up)

Wii (Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario Kart, Pokémon Rumble), 3DS (Pokémon Rumble Blast, the Ace Attorney series, the 3DS Pokémon games, Kid Icarus Uprising)

-Did you feel as though the games that were most influential to your childhood were "feminized"?

No, I don't believe so.

-What were the goals/themes of the games you played? (For example: The Cooking Mama series: Time management (bonuses for quick success), perfection (one mistake and you lose that gold medal), creativity (freedom to decorate certain dishes with designs and garnishes

Collect things, collect coins, accessorize, beat up the bad guy, solve the mystery.

-Growing up, did you ever play games related to the Pokémon franchise? If so, how did your peers feel about you playing these games?

Yes. My peers played and enjoyed them too, but I was bullied for liking certain Pokémon.

-As a kid, did you feel any romantic awakening/queer awakening related to a video game character? If so, add details about the character that made them appealing, as a favorite character or in a romantic sense.

Apollo Justice from Ace Attorney made me realize that I'm trans. Otherwise, I haven't had a romantic awakening from any character.

[FleshbagWasp]

What is your sexual orientation?

I'm polysexual.

What is your gender identity?

Male.

Were you raised in early to middle childhood as male, female, or gender neutral?

I was raised as female.

What video game consoles did you grow up with? In addition to consoles/devices, what games were the most influential to your childhood/development? (for example, I had a wii, ds, and 3ds growing up)


I had a Gamecube, DS, 3DS, Wii, and Xbox 360. I played a lot of Pokemon-related games, old Namco and Sega games, and a few more casual games such as the Chibi Robo series, LPS games, the Yugioh video games, and Mario Party.

Did you feel as though the games that were most influential to your childhood were "feminized"?


I feel that the LPS ones were seen as being more for girls, and I distinctly remember feeling ashamed whenever it was pointed out. (I still feel that embarrassment whenever someone points out one of my LPS games from my game collection)

What were the goals/themes of the games you played? (For example: The Cooking Mama series: Time management (bonuses for quick success), perfection (one mistake and you lose that gold medal), creativity (freedom to decorate certain dishes with designs and garnishes

Most of the games focused on exploration (Finding things such as Chibi Doors and Frog Rings in Chibi Robo, finding Pokémon, items, and legendaries in Pokémon games, and locating things such as bonus levels and power-ups in Sega games.), strategy (Figuring out how to move place to place in Chibi Robo, figuring out how to hit bosses/what to do in Sega games, finding the best way to win in Mario Party using items and routing, and obviously the battles in both Yugioh and Pokémon.), and time + money management (Chibi Robo had you managing your days and nights and the Japan-only entry in the series had money being tied to power in the house, AKA your health. LPS had you managing your money and choosing what was important to buy, and the same applied to Pokémon and Yugioh.).

Growing up, did you ever play games related to the Pokémon franchise? If so, how did your peers feel about you playing these games?

Seeing as how I mentioned it a ton, I definitely played the games. A lot of boys in my class looked at me a bit sideways for my interest in the series and how my favorites weren't a bunch of the cutesy or elegant Pokémon (Though I do love a lot of cute Pokémon now.). I wasn't really included in any discussions they had about the games (Though it's not like I was friends with them to begin with.), and whenever I chimed in, I was ignored and my input was written off.

As a kid, did you feel any romantic awakening/queer awakening related to a video game character? If so, add details about the character that made them appealing, as a favorite character or in a romantic sense.

I don't think so. I mean, I thought N was cute and spent way too long looking for him after the game ended, and I never felt much of anything towards the female characters in any of the games I played, which could potentially have been my polysexuality shining through (As I like all genders except feminine-aligned ones such as demigirls, librafeminine, females themselves, etc.), but overall I don't think video games had much of a hand in my awakenings.

End notes for discussion and any other factors/experiences you have had with video games :) All thoughts are welcome, just try to keep it kind and honest.

Growing up I rarely seemed to care for games that had an apparent skill level between players. As a fairly sheltered kid, I didn't have many friends nor did I interact with many kids my age, which meant I rarely felt the need to be good at a game (Besides Mario Party, but even then I understood that I was playing against adults and they'd naturally be better at it than me.), but as I met people and whatnot, I've felt that pressure that I was lacking growing up. I've grown more competitive, and often try to be better or knowledgeable about the game than my opponent/co-op player.

[Winstalgia]

-What is your sexual orientation?
I question myself a lot but I think I'm straight

-What is your gender identity?
Female

-Were you raised in early to middle childhood as male, female, or gender neutral?
Female

-What video game consoles did you grow up with? In addition to consoles/devices, what games were the most influential to your childhood/development? (for example, I had a wii, ds, and 3ds growing up)
I grew up with an xbox 360, a wii, an old laptop, and a ds. I grew up playing Skyrim, A lot of abode flash games I don't remember, nintendogs, and cooking mama.

-Did you feel as though the games that were most influential to your childhood were "feminized"?
No, I don't think so.

-What were the goals/themes of the games you played? (For example: The Cooking Mama series: Time management (bonuses for quick success), perfection (one mistake and you lose that gold medal), creativity (freedom to decorate certain dishes with designs and garnishes
Cooking mama definitely included time management and perfection, as well as those papa's pizzeria (and others) on coolmath. In Skyrim (the game I hold the most hours in and loved when I was younger, still do), I wanna say with such an open world game the goals varied depending on who you ask. For me it was exploring and trying to discover as many places as possible, and leveling up whilst doing so.

-Growing up, did you ever play games related to the Pokémon franchise? If so, how did your peers feel about you playing these games?
Not really, I never had an interest in those, but I wasn't really exposed to them anyway.

-As a kid, did you feel any romantic awakening/queer awakening related to a video game character? If so, add details about the character that made them appealing, as a favorite character or in a romantic sense.
Not that I remember.

-End notes for discussion and any other factors/experiences you have had with video games :) All thoughts are welcome, just try to keep it kind and honest.
I liked playing games where I could explore and still get creative with classes and such. When I was younger story lines didn't really matter to me, as long as I could immerse myself in a world I'd enjoy it. I still love playing games where I can grow attached to the world and characters, but now I do pay attention to stories.

[YumeKozume13]

-What is your sexual orientation?
Bisexual
-What is your gender identity?
Female
-Were you raised in early to middle childhood as male, female, or gender neutral?
Female
-What video game consoles did you grow up with? In addition to consoles/devices, what games were the most influential to your childhood/development? (for example, I had a wii, ds, and 3ds growing up)
I had a DS and PS4, and I currently have a Nintendo Switch and 3DS
-Did you feel as though the games that were most influential to your childhood were "feminized"?
Nope!
-What were the goals/themes of the games you played? (For example: The Cooking Mama series: Time management (bonuses for quick success), perfection (one mistake and you lose that gold medal), creativity (freedom to decorate certain dishes with designs and garnishes
I mostly played Pokemon, so the goal was to raise & train your Pokemon and defeat the gym leaders to become the Champion. I also played Kirby, which is more of an adventure-type game similar to Mario.
-Growing up, did you ever play games related to the Pokémon franchise? If so, how did your peers feel about you playing these games?
Yes! We'd actually talk about the games a lot, or just the pokemon themselves. It was a conversation starter for a lot of us! We even roleplayed as Pokemon XD
-As a kid, did you feel any romantic awakening/queer awakening related to a video game character? If so, add details about the character that made them appealing, as a favorite character or in a romantic sense.
uhm...yes, I have. Gladion and Ilima from Pokemon Sun & Moon, as well as Hop from Pokemon Sword and Shield. Gladion had a tragic past, and a strong determination to protect his partner, Type:Null, from his own mother. He ran away from home and joined a villain organization just to become stronger, so he could protect Null, and his sister Lillie as well. Despite his cold attitude, he's a good person on the inside. Ilima's naturally kind, and he helps out at the Pokemon school and works with the next generation of trainers. He always has a smile on his face, and is willing to jump into any fight to protect Pokemon, and Alola as a whole. Hop is always determined, and focused on his goal of becoming the Champion. Even when you beat him, he doesn't give up, and instead trains to become a Pokemon professor. He's always cheerful and optimistic, and has a lot of energy.
-End notes for discussion and any other factors/experiences you have had with video games All thoughts are welcome, just try to keep it kind and honest.
I still play games, I've gotten into Mortal Kombat recently. I don't think gender matters when it comes to video games, every can play what and who they want in games!

[halo]

-What is your sexual orientation?
bidemisexual

-What is your gender identity?
demigirl , but i’m comfortable with some neopronouns (:

-Were you raised in early to middle childhood as male, female, or gender neutral?
i was raised in hopes of being more feminine than i am

-What video game consoles did you grow up with? In addition to consoles/devices, what games were the most influential to your childhood/development? (for example, I had a wii, ds, and 3ds growing up)
i never really got to use consoles , but i kinda grew up with an xbox and a wii ; sometimes a 3ds. piñata island is always something i played on xbox , it’s so dorky and charming and i love it. games i played on the wii and 3ds never really impacted me , but i still enjoy piñata island a lot. i’ve always been more of a mobile gamer

-Did you feel as though the games that were most influential to your childhood were "feminized"?
no, not really. maybe piñata island is gender neutral , leaning feminine , but the lesser-influential games i played were usually gender neutral ( mario kart , just dance , mario party ).

-What were the goals/themes of the games you played? (For example: The Cooking Mama series: Time management (bonuses for quick success), perfection (one mistake and you lose that gold medal), creativity (freedom to decorate certain dishes with designs and garnishes
in piñata island , the goal was to fix your garden and complete tasks to obtain certain piñatas. as you get further in , it definitely gets more difficult and there’s usually turmoil between piñatas ( wild or tame ).

-Growing up, did you ever play games related to the Pokémon franchise? If so, how did your peers feel about you playing these games?
no , i never really got the opportunity to play the pokémon games unfortunately.

-As a kid, did you feel any romantic awakening/queer awakening related to a video game character? If so, add details about the character that made them appealing, as a favorite character or in a romantic sense.
nah , not really. most of the games i played weren’t focused on characters and character building and the villagers in piñata island are rather... odd-looking.

-End notes for discussion and any other factors/experiences you have had with video games All thoughts are welcome, just try to keep it kind and honest.
oml , i was given a small opportunity to play piñata island a couple months ago and i was raging. the wild syrupents wouldn’t stop eating my marshmallows ):< so i kept wacking them with my shovel until they left or cracked open. i wasn’t expecting playing it again would be as engaging as it was ( being a game that probably didn’t age well ). i’ve always liked games like it though , time consuming with a lot of things to do. i love the wacky style too and the slow progression (: i really wanna beat the game at some point.

[HEXORCISM]

-What is your sexual orientation?
mnn gay ig


-What is your gender identity?
male??


-Were you raised in early to middle childhood as male, female, or gender neutral?
female


-What video game consoles did you grow up with? In addition to consoles/devices, what games were the most influential to your childhood/development? (for example, I had a wii, ds, and 3ds growing up)
xbox, wii (the original one that could also play gamecube games), ds lite, and an old computer :') later on i had a wii u, ipod, and 3ds. now i mainly play on my ps3 and occasionally my laptop.
games i say influenced me the most? probably the ones i played the most: rayman: hoodlum havoc (xbox), twilight princess (wii), faunasphere and tropix (pc). and a bit later on, minecraft (pc).


-Did you feel as though the games that were most influential to your childhood were "feminized"?
not really. minecraft was seen that way later in my life, but at the beginning, like most games, it was seen as "masculine".


-What were the goals/themes of the games you played? (For example: The Cooking Mama series: Time management (bonuses for quick success), perfection (one mistake and you lose that gold medal), creativity (freedom to decorate certain dishes with designs and garnishes
faunasphere & minecraft both urged creativity & exploration. faunasphere also focused on community, working together, & the environment. it was very nice. i know minecraft had multiplayer, but at that point in time it was so hard to set up a server and get it out there that i really only played singleplayer. the few that were around were mostly factions / pvp, or minigame-centred servers similarly to today's hypixel.
twilight princess had a bit of strategy and exploration. i suppose responsibility? it was a very straight-forward game for the most part (except for the puzzles; those could be ridiculously hard). very linear. you had to complete stuff to be able to get anywhere else - whether it was a new place or backtrack someplace youd already been. and throughout it youre saving all sorts of characters and the world.
i don't remember much about the rayman game, but i think it was quite similar to twilight princess.
tropix i'd say was mostly strategy? it was mostly just a series of games & puzzles (mahjong, solitaire, a match 3+ game, a word search game, etc). it did have its own "game" where youd swing from vine to vine as a monkey while trying to avoid enemies & obstacles. there was a slight bit of creativity too; you had a tropical island you could decorate.


-Growing up, did you ever play games related to the Pokémon franchise? If so, how did your peers feel about you playing these games?
i never played pokemon itself when i was younger, but i loved the monster galaxy series, which was similar in its monster catching & battling idea. i dont think anyone other than my parents really knew i played; i was quite the loner.


-As a kid, did you feel any romantic awakening/queer awakening related to a video game character? If so, add details about the character that made them appealing, as a favorite character or in a romantic sense.
no, i dont think so? not as a kid, anyway. i dont think i really ever had favourite characters as a kid either. i thought some of the moga / monsters from monster galaxy were really cool though, especially nian and basilisk. so i guess those if they count. i dont know what made them appealing. dragon-like? maybe. just really dark and cool looking? probably. their rarity? i dont think so. i had a lainedeer (a limited release moga only released once that i know of for a brief time) and i didnt care for it much.


-End notes for discussion and any other factors/experiences you have had with video games :) All thoughts are welcome, just try to keep it kind and honest.
i still play minecraft. not as much as i used to, but when i do its really only multiplayer (kind of funny compared to earlier in life). and not so much the others (well, the ones that are still around anyway). tried pokemon, didnt like it. my taste in video games has changed immensely. now i mainly play faster-paced games like dragon age: inquisition, mario kart, resident evil 5, okami, and tokyo jungle. if i cant be doing something all the time my brain finds it boring.
resident evil 5 is the only shooter and / or "horror" game ive ever played, so i wouldnt let that influence your data too much. im almost finished it and i still struggle with the mechanics haha.

[Jack Harkness]

-What is your sexual orientation?
lesbian =)

-What is your gender identity?
demigirl, but still questioning.

-Were you raised in early to middle childhood as male, female, or gender neutral?
i was raised as female, and was discouraged by my caregivers to be anything other than feminine, although i ignored them completely.

-What video game consoles did you grow up with? In addition to consoles/devices, what games were the most influential to your childhood/development? (for example, I had a wii, ds, and 3ds growing up)
i grew up with wii and pc games. star stable online, world of warcraft, wii sports, imagine champion rider, pipa funnel ranch rescue, animal jam, and minecraft were the most influential to me.

-Did you feel as though the games that were most influential to your childhood were "feminized"?
not at all. i was never into feminized games and enjoyed games that were supposed to be more masculine and/or gender neutral. although star stable online can be disputed as a feminized game due to the whole feminization of the equestrian world in general, i've always seen it as a gender-neutral game.

-What were the goals/themes of the games you played? (For example: The Cooking Mama series: Time management (bonuses for quick success), perfection (one mistake and you lose that gold medal), creativity (freedom to decorate certain dishes with designs and garnishes
creativity, adventure, action, mystery, completing quests and objectives, getting better over time, overall succession.

-Growing up, did you ever play games related to the Pokémon franchise? If so, how did your peers feel about you playing these games?
i never did, i wasn't interested back then.

-As a kid, did you feel any romantic awakening/queer awakening related to a video game character? If so, add details about the character that made them appealing, as a favorite character or in a romantic sense.
i can't say i ever did. the games i played weren't character-focused, if that makes sense? they weren't like the games that i'm into now that are more character-based and story-driven with engaging plotlines like the last of us, twd, etc. i did experience a type of romantic awakening related to television characters though.

-End notes for discussion and any other factors/experiences you have had with video games All thoughts are welcome, just try to keep it kind and honest.
i remember being introduced to world of warcraft when i was extremely young by a family member. i would "play" it all the time (the gamepad was actually turned off and i was just running around the world doing random stuff) and i was so into it. as i grew older, i adored video games thanks to my introduction to world of warcraft and i firmly believe that if i hadn't indulged myself in it, i wouldn't be who i am today. another thought: i stated earlier that i didn't experience any romantic/queer awakening relating to video game characters, but i absolutely did relating to television characters. i thought i was jealous of the girls/women and was admiring them rather than feeling a sort of romantic attraction, and that i was romantically attracted to boys/men. i got that completely wrong, though, because my situation was flipped. i realized i was envious of the boys/men and attracted to the girls/women, and i'm still not sure what that means for me. i feel extremely envious towards men, and have always felt that way even in life (in school for example.)