It's not gay, it's 'flamboyant'!

Video Game Empowers Players To Talk Smack with Gay Stereotypes

Players losing in Heroes of Newerth 2.0 may find that they've had their "cherry popped" or taken part in a "three way" if the person they're playing against purchased the PC game's "flamboyant" audio pack.

The pack replaces the regular announcer's voice with a lisping effete man's voice. The phrases used in the game change the audio from things like "Blood Lust" to "Cherry Popper" and from "Hat Trick" to "It's a three way." The words also fly out across the screen in rainbow-colored letters.

The audio packs will be heard by the opponent of the person who purchased the pack, not the owner. So if I were to purchase the pack and play the game with you, you would be the one hearing those sound files.

Website Gay-Nerds.Com calls the pack puerile and insensitive, a misfired joke.

"The whole announcer schtick was meant to humiliate and taunt the other player and then they also decided to use an effeminate male voice, rainbows, glitter and an oversexualized gay stereotype," writer Paranoia says in his story. "Why not just call it the 'faggot' pack instead of the flamboyant pack? It's pretty clear what you're trying to make fun of. Calling it flamboyant doesn't hide anything."

Contacted for comment this morning, the developers had this to say:

"The flamboyant pack is one of many voice pack options that will be available for HoN 2.0 players. The intention of offering a wider range of voice packs, including the flamboyant pack, is to bring a broad representation of personalities to HoN that let gamers express and differentiate themselves."

Check out the audio pack for yourself at 4 minutes and 50 seconds into this Giant Bomb video above and decide for yourself if this audio pack goes too far.

Update: Pu Liu, S2 Games senior game designer, says on the Gay-Nerds website that the Flamboyant Pack was not meant as a way to target the gay community or anyone else.

"I'd like to start off with myself. I'm a straight guy, and I use DivA as my game handle, because well, I'm a freaking diva. I'm loud to the border of obnoxious, and I like to sing- poorly, but often and boisterously- anything and everything from Shania to Disney. I guess I'm an example of the "flamboyant straight guy" that some of you have mentioned throughout your discussion. I find the Flamboyant pack to be hilarious, and I select it for use because when I get a "Legendary" streak (5 kills in a row) and it says "DIIIIIVA!" I can go, "YES I AM!" I guess what I'm trying to say is that I have never perceived of the pack as "gay," but rather an awesome, fun, and flamboyant alternative to the really dark and hardcore classic announcer sounds. I'm totally okay with being called flamboyant; I'm a happy, optimistic, loud person, and I'm proud of it and I like to show it off. I am not alone on this at S2; a lot of my fellow employees are almost as awesome as I am, although they aren't as loud as I am. We do not take ourselves too seriously, and the flamboyant pack is a testament to our willingness to have fun with things.

We're a fun loving bunch- we thought this would be fun, and that- and ONLY that- is the reason why the Flamboyant pack will be a part of Heroes of Newerth. We are not in a smoke-filled room going on about how awesome and "manly" we are, and the Flamboyant pack is certainly not a jab at a stereotype that we feel is "below" us- if anything, Flamboyant IS us."

--

Oh, puh-leeze to their excuses and their code words. And also, I raise my eyebrow at the "girly girl" pack the developer briefly mentions--seeing as these are voice packs used to taunt your enemies...yeeeeeeah. No.

Leave a Comment

rex_dart 11th-Dec-2010 02:33 am (UTC)

I'd like to start off with myself. I'm a straight guy

Then shut the fuck up.

notgarystu 11th-Dec-2010 03:31 am (UTC)

But it was meant for ~flamboyant straight guys~ how could it possibly be offensive.

piratesswoop 11th-Dec-2010 02:39 am (UTC)

my friend matt is a gay gamer and he was talking about this earlier today and says he likes it and wasn't offended by it and doesn't get why other people are, so i kept my mouth shut because i hate to be one of those preachy BUT YOU SHOULD BE OFFENDED BY THIS! kind of people

but yeahhhhh :|

palsmarties 11th-Dec-2010 02:46 am (UTC)

Ungh.

People like this are why I can't play Left4Dead or even LittleBigPlanet online. (These kind of gamers have to be one of the most perfect examples of Privilege Denying Dude that I have ever talked to, and this just sort of goes along with it.) So disgusting.

popehippo 11th-Dec-2010 03:10 am (UTC)

-_________________________________________________-

Oh.

professor_chaos 11th-Dec-2010 03:17 am (UTC)

Gay-Nerds actually posted two commentaries on it as each were split with one being offended and one not. I just thought I'd post that for clarification as only one POV was in the OP's post.

Edited at 2010-12-11 03:17 am (UTC)

rex_dart 11th-Dec-2010 03:58 am (UTC)

Well, the person who didn't care wrote a bunch of victim-blaming bullshit like he was some kind of straight person playing homophobia bingo, so.

professor_chaos 11th-Dec-2010 04:06 am (UTC)

Yeah, I get it. People are offended. But as one comment posted above and as the comment in Gay-Nerds indicates, not all gay people choose to be even they should be.

rex_dart 11th-Dec-2010 04:18 am (UTC)

You can choose not to be offended by something, but to tell other people they should feel the same way, or to say it's not offensive just because it doesn't offend you, is wrong any way you cut it. It's especially wrong when you imply that gay people would be better off if they just gave straight people a pass on doing stupid, bigoted shit.

What that guy wrote wouldn't be okay coming from a straight person, and it's not okay coming from a gay person either.

professor_chaos 11th-Dec-2010 04:34 am (UTC)

The way I see it he was expressing his POV to an the readers just like the first person was who in my estimation was suggesting every gay person should be offended by it (which is no different than suggesting everyone gay person should not be). Not everyone has to agree with either position. I give (gay) people the benefit of the doubt to be able to decide for themselves whether something is offensive to them or not despite what others think and comment on a website. It's every gay person's right to have their own POV on something related to their identity w/o having others deride them for it.

homasse 11th-Dec-2010 04:51 am (UTC)

How very magnanimous of you.

professor_chaos 11th-Dec-2010 04:55 am (UTC)

Why is that? Because I am trying to understand and look at both sides of this?

homasse 11th-Dec-2010 09:42 am (UTC)

How about your look at your phrasing and think about what you've said, and why it comes across as dismissive and belittling.

I'm sure you can do it. I have faith in you!

rex_dart 11th-Dec-2010 05:00 am (UTC)

The person who wrote about its offensiveness was not saying that every gay person has to be personally offended by it. He was writing about the fact that it is offensive, which it is because it offends gay people. It does not have to offend every gay person to be offensive.

The guy saying he's not offended is writing like he can't understand why anyone would be offended by this, which is bullshit. I'm not personally offended by plenty of things that other people find offensive, but I still understand why they find those things offensive and would never presume to tell them that they're not just because I don't feel it.

The question I have to ask gay people who see this as a swipe at them, is when did we start defining ourselves as flamboyant? For a community as diverse as ours, why are we trying to take offence to something that we know not to be representative of us? You can argue that straight gamers might be ignorant and perceive things differently, but as soon as a gay person makes an issue of this we are buying into our own outmoded stereotype, and reinforcing it in the minds of others, which only hampers and reverses progress.

This is grade-A bullshit, and it's indefensible. It's not him ~*deciding something for himself*~; it's him telling gay people that homophobia is only homophobia if we make it homophobia by reacting to it like it is. It's like claiming that women who are offended by being defined as hysterical are creating the problem by defining themselves as hysterical, or black people who are offended by "jokes" about watermelon are creating the problem by defining themselves as people who eat a bunch of watermelon. It's crap. He's claiming that homophobia is partially the fault of gay people and that gay people have to look for things to turn into homophobia. Fucking false, end of story. Homophobia is the fault of straight people, and if gay people perceive it as homophobia? It's the fault of the straight people who did it, no matter their magical intent. Period.

It's every gay person's right to have their own POV on something related to their identity w/o having others deride them for it.

He can have all the viewpoints he wants related to his identity. He can even not feel offended by offensive things if he feels like it because seriously, no1curr and that's not the issue here. But he can take his victim-blaming shit and fuck off.

professor_chaos 11th-Dec-2010 06:42 am (UTC)

Ya know I just can't get myself to get that angry or worked up about some idiot straight video game company or the idiot straight guys who buy it and laugh. Unfortunately straight people have the knack for exhibiting homophobic shit like this to the nth degree. If everyone else wants to rage and piss and moan about something that patently ridiculous knock themselves out. I'm gonna save my anger and passion for other more important things.

rex_dart 11th-Dec-2010 09:34 am (UTC)

That's fantastic for you. Congratulations on your limited reserves of energy and ability to care. Some of us will carry on multitasking.

btw, I know it's easy to assume I'm "angry" and "worked up" as a way to dismiss everything I just said, which you notably didn't bother to counter with anything except "I don't have time to care", but unfortunately you missed the mark on that one.

Edited at 2010-12-11 09:36 am (UTC)

professor_chaos 11th-Dec-2010 07:46 pm (UTC)

It was late at night and I wasn't (attempting to) dismiss anyone's opinion (though I do acknowledge how you perceived that from my comments). All I was initially attempting to do with my first comment was indicate on Gay-Nerds that there were actually two comments from two gay people posted and perhaps someone might see that and be able to nod their head at the fact that two gay people can have two POV on the matter. But that can't happen on here. And people can't just ever seem to say "I disagree with you and here's why". All that ever happens on here are people who enjoy on embarking on snark and verbal aggression to make sure they get their point across. It gets disconcerting after a while (and thus people like myself don't bother to comment at all). And your statement was well put though still a bit on the aggressive side for me. I attempted to try to counterpoint but it gets really difficult to do when someone starts quoting phrases that sound like a script from a David Copperfield show. And well, this post was about some obscure video game, not something with a tad more social impact like say DADT so it was all rather relative in context.

keeni84 11th-Dec-2010 11:08 am (UTC)

Wow, did you really just pull the "there are more important things to rage about" card?

If you wanted to save your anger and passion for other, more important things, why did you even decide to post here in the first place?

professor_chaos 11th-Dec-2010 07:37 pm (UTC)

Well aside from the fact that this post was about some obscure video game instead of something with a bit more social impact like DADT I was initially trying to point out there was a differing POV on Gay-Nerds that maybe, just maybe someone else could read and also perhaps nod their head at seeing both sides of the issue from two different gay people. Of course that can never happen on here. And instead of people just saying "I disagree and here's why" can't happen civilly all that people ever seem to enjoy doing on here is embark on some form of snark and verbal aggression to get their point across.

keeni84 11th-Dec-2010 11:08 pm (UTC)

So why didn't you just say that instead of all this round-about way?

professor_chaos 11th-Dec-2010 11:15 pm (UTC)

Well not everyone is able to express themselves as concisely as others.

keeni84 11th-Dec-2010 11:28 pm (UTC)

Valid point.

bethan_b_bad 12th-Dec-2010 12:28 am (UTC)

*applause* You are my very favourite person today, and I say this as someone who is often not offended by things many other people in my shared groups (female, queer, etc) are. Just because I quite like 'I Kissed A Girl', for instance, doesn't mean that other people are wrong to find it offensive.

rauduskoivu 11th-Dec-2010 03:22 am (UTC)

You know, it's nice to see someone differentiating between gay vs. femme and/or flamboyant, but uh...

They're doing it wrong.

romp 11th-Dec-2010 03:33 am (UTC)

Dear developers, how you choose to insult someone shows what you think is Less Than. And you think it's insulting to be called gay or a girl. You're not talking your way out of that.

missingalphabet 11th-Dec-2010 03:58 am (UTC)

All I can think about is Jann from Valkyria Chronicles, looool sorry. "I'm always ready to go another round."

sailor_moonbeam 11th-Dec-2010 05:21 am (UTC)

i'm not surprised tbh.

kittymink 11th-Dec-2010 05:44 am (UTC)

this is not good. haha, I've known flamboyant straight (or "straight")guys but I've never heard someone describe themselves as one. trying hard much?

but that is one bad "gay" accent - if there's any such thing as a "gay accent" -it's a stereotype. So it's homophobic.

also the word "diva" really needs to be retired. such a cliche.

back to playing Disgaea thox