For those of you not in the gaming community "Dream Daddy" is a dating simulation title in which single dad's go on dates with other single dad's in the hopes of landing their "Dream Daddy." Dates are scored and actions and reactions are chosen by the player on behalf of the avatar they create to inhabit the world.
It's every 'gaymer's' dream come true
When I was a small fledgling homosexual never would I have thought several things would happen. 1. I would see an LGBT personal lubricant advertisement on a popular television network. 2. I would get a game where I would romance other men and that would be the main objective of the title.
As a gay man playing the title I see so much thought and care put into every story line. From romancing the fathers themselves to interacting with their children and making sure they enjoy your company to get brownie points with their respective parental unit. It's always a delight and a heart warming experience. Throw in a gratuitous number of bad dad jokes, stereotypical male and homosexual tropes and you've got "Dream Daddy."
I appreciate how different all the characters are and how honest each story line is. From the sultry drunk father to the closeted gay priest it's all carefully thought out and never offensive. One of the best parts of this title is that even if you do everything right with a respective suitor they might still turn you down.
Reasons range from "I need to work on myself" to "I think we make better friends." Yes while rejection is hard, it is part of life and it's painfully honest. It can be appreciated that even though we might do everything right it doesn't mean we will get the guy.
What this success means. Is it okay?
"Dream Daddy" has been touted as the best selling title of the summer by various data sources and that success is not unfounded.
It is an inexpensive, fun dating simulator, which as a genre is cluttered with games starring anything from pigeons to busty anime females.
Personally, this success means many positive things: that gamers are becoming more open to my existence and validating that I belong in this space and that gay story lines can exist beyond just a subtle action or tokenism.
I hope it shows that at the very end of the day we are people just like everybody else.
But it also has a few negatives, as some may use this game as a subject of humor, laughing at my painfully honest existence. In one scene the main character has the choice of going home with a stranger and that struck a particular chord with me. It concerns me that people who aren't personally invested in my security will make a spectacle of a game that has brought a new level of representation I never thought I would see on this platform.
But like every step forward it has it's fair amount of fear, trepidation, and rejection. I want to invite everyone to see the parts of me they might not normally see as blatantly apparent in my "Life in Pieces" project. I just hope they respect and use it correctly. But it is the internet and so far I feel as though this is a win for the LGBT community and I hope that we get more inclusive titles in the near future.
