Ten video games have received nominations for the 36th Annual GLAAD Media Awards. This program celebrates media works that feature “fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community and the issues that affect their lives.” There are nominees for television, film, music, theater, journalism and comics as well as video games.
One of the 2024 nominees for outstanding video game is the re-release of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door for the Nintendo Switch. The original Japanese version of the GameCube title included a minor character named Vivian who was transgender. The game contained dialogue about her challenges being misgendered and her journey to understanding her own identity. However, the 2002 international translations of the game, including the English version released in the US, erased that side to the character, removing language around Vivian’s gender and pronouns. Last year’s Switch re-release restored the character’s original lines and story arc for English-speaking players to finally experience.
The video game nominees also include Dragon Age: The Veilguard. BioWare has a long history of portraying queer characters and romance options in their games, and it’s great to see them continuing that practice with the latest title. Horror film outfit Blumhouse’s first foray into games, the fascinating indie project Fear the Spotlight, also received a nod. Here is the complete list of game nominees:
Caravan SandWitch (Studio Plane Toast / Dear Villagers)
Dragon Age: The Veilguard (BioWare / Electronic Arts)
Dread Delusion (Lovely Hellplace / DreadXP)
Dustborn (Red Thread Games / Spotlight by Quantic Dream)
Fear the Spotlight (Cozy Game Pals / Blumhouse Games)
Life is Strange: Double Exposure (Deck Nine / Square Enix)
Minds Beneath Us (BearBone Studio)
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Intelligent Systems / Nintendo)
Sorry We’re Closed (à la mode games / Akupara Games)
Until Then (Polychroma Games / Maximum Entertainment)
