It’s dangerous to go alone - but joyous to go together.
Things get underway today as James Croft ponders the particular magic of LGBTQIA+ gaming groups.
Reh is slaughtering Cabal as he battlesDestiny 2’s Emperor Calus in the heart of the Leviathan.
But their rockets fly true, their supers crash into his mechanical body, and - at last!
- Calus is felled.
But Reh’s elation is short-lived.
“Wow,” says a fireteam member over comms.
“I can’t believe my first clear was with a faggot.”
That was the last straw for Reh.
- where he discovered Guardians of the Rainbows, a group founded by two gay men in 2016.
He’s been involved ever since, graduating to admin and de-facto clan leader.
Louie admits he was initially worried how the group would interact outside the boundaries of the game.
What makes these groups feel like home - like family - for so many of their members?
ManicPixyGirl joined Guardians of the Rainbows for much the same reason as Reh.
She’s trans, and frequently faced harassment and toxicity while playing first-person shooters online.
“I feel safer talking on comms,” she says.
James, who regularly playsOverwatchwith a group of gay friends, agrees.
“Gaming with LGBTQ people feels safer”, he says.
“There’s a lot of hate online - you still get people who say derogatory things.”
But as a group, it’s easier for James' team to confront the homophobia they sometimes face.
“You do get quite a lot of people who are supportive in the chat”, he observes.
“We like to help them out, heal them more or protect them.”
But it’s not just about safety.
“I find in queer spaces in general there’s so much joy,” ManicPixieGirl tells me.
“We’re all able to be fully ourselves.
I’ve experienced it going out to gay bars, and I’ve experienced it in this clan.
Everyone is so authentically themselves and it brings this joy out.”
But when he plays games with his Tragic friends he gets to share both of these parts of himself.
Incautious players can get shoved into the abyss by the pounding poles.
‘You got slapped with a dick!'"
And they playedevery day.
“Gaming together accelerated our closeness.”
It’s a similar story for Guardians of the Rainbows.
Reh’s excited, but nervous: his social anxiety is kicking in.
But the clan has helped him with that, too.
The final word, though, must go to my Tragic: the Gathering friend, Lee.
“My real family could not understand me at all growing up”, he tells me.
For him, “it was a lifeline to find groups where people understand what you’re talking about.
I don’t feel so alone.
