Unintentionally Discovering Gamers' Unintended Consequences

March 2024

I think I've discovered two unintended consequences of playing games this week, both by other gamers. The first unintended consequence comes via this article, where the author talks about becoming comfortable with her sexuality through playing video games like The Sims. The following sentence held particular weight for me: 'The game spaces that let me comfortably explore my sexuality are a huge reason why I'm out and proud today; playing bisexual in a game made it a lot easier to play bisexual IRL.'

Avatar identity is a massive part of playing RPGs, be they table top or digital. It's an entire stream of research in itself, and will play some part in my own studies. But this is a quick and dirty blog post, and serves as much as an aide memoire as much as anything else.

The author of the article goes on to say that '...games are the way to safely and comfortably suss out our sexuality, and it's important to recognize that...'

I sense that this discovery, initially at least, is an unintended consequence, for this author and perhaps, for many other gamers. While the player can explore their sexual identity via their avatar in a safe digital space, they will not necessarily have thought: 'How do I use gaming to do this?' Rather, they have done this and then realised that they feel happy and confident in their sexual identity, and realise now it's because of how they approached the game.

I wonder whether I'll discover any similar experiences from my research participants?