same-sex romantic interactions before a character will be "converted" to homosexuality and begin to engage in such interactions autonomously. The town will then be marked gay-friendly, unlocking the autonomy for other characters. If a player does not force at least one character to engage in same-sex advances several times, the player's town will have no visible homosexuality. Recognition GLAAD announced it had created a new category to recognize video games and debuting in its 30th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in 2019, acknowledging those games with positive depictions of LGBT themes. Criticism Critics of the suppression of gay identity often conclude that, as homosexuality is normalized in broader culture, it will be in video games as well. A 2006 survey exploring gay gamers was the first academic study of any gamer group. With about 10,000 respondents, the survey exhibited a reverse bell curve of gamer sexuality, with most people identifying as either completely heterosexual or homosexual. A 2009 academic paper explored the cultural production of LGBT representation in video games and found that factors that would lead to a significant increase in LGBT content included: the presence of motivated producers in the industry (those that are personally, politically, or commercially interested in LGBT content), how the audience for a text or medium is constructed (what the public backlash from both the LGBT community and conservative groups will be, as well as industry-based reprisals in the form of censorship or ratings), the structure of the industry and how it is funded, and how homosexuality, bisexuality, or transgender identities can be represented in the medium. See also Gaymer GaymerX Gender representation in video games References External links LGBTQ Video Game Archive GayNerds GaymerX Queerly Represent Me Themes LGBT themes in fiction