William “Billy” Clifford is an Departmental Honors English Major set to graduate in May from the University of Massachusetts –Amherst. He’s held an interest in gender and sexuality issues since High School though he feels he has much still to learn. He’s an avid fan of video games, comic books, anime, and other nerdy pastimes. When he’s not spending way too much time reading fanfiction on the web he’s usually hanging with friends, coming up with story plots, and daydreaming about superheroes.

He also promises a picture as soon as he can find one that doesn’t embarrass him.

ABSTRACT
Hello. My name is Billy Clifford and I’ve been a gamer since I was six years old. I’ve also been interested in topics of gender and sexuality since high school. This past year I’ve been working on a Capstone project regarding interactive narrative and gender presentation in video games. Video games are very interesting in that, because they are interactive, their stories and plots can be changed and affected by the player. One of the foremost examples of this idea, and my personal case study, is the Mass Effect series, produced by BioWare, a company that prides itself on its ability to tell engaging stories.

However, as painful as the stereotype is, the video game industry and community still likes to pretend that it is a primarily masculine sphere, and so caters primarily to male interests. As such, female characters tend to be over-sexualized and games in general don’t approach topics of sex and sexuality in a mature manner. That does not mean that the medium is entirely devoid of well written, strong female characters or is completely incapable of discussing gender and sexuality, only that it is difficult in the climate and expectations of the gamer community. What makes Mass Effect interesting is that, because of the strong writing, it does possess such strong female characters, but it is also part of that same gaming climate and so tries to fulfill the expectations of its male fans, though at least it has the decency to make fun of itself in these instances.

At the same time Mass Effect is also one of the few series willing to address and portray gay and bisexual relationships in a mature manner. As a BioWare tradition, players are able to create their own versions of the protagonist, Commander Shepard, including deciding the character’s gender. Female Shepards are not uncommon among players of both sexes and has a large fan following that are disappointed that she doesn’t receive the same media exposure as her male counterpart in advertisements and promotional materials. Whichever gender Shepard is, the player is free to pursue various romance subplots with the non-player characters in the series, including several gay and lesbian pairings. In short, Mass Effect is an ideal case study in the ways that video games can convey narrative and examples of both the good and the bad when it comes to gender presentation in games.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU1Rus70ns0[/youtube]