Just how gay is that little green prince?

IâEURTMve spent an unhealthy amount of time over the last twenty-four hours in forums, roaming, inciting trouble, putting together research on how American gamers react toward distinctively Japanese games. What makes a game distinctively Japanese? In the eyes of American consumers, two things, âEURoequirkinessâEUR and âEURoecuteness.âEUR Katamari Damacy is something of an exception to the rule, since, as we all know, itâEURTMs amazing, and, while gamers definitely recognize it as Japanese, it almost transcends stereotyping and national stigmas in itâEURTMs amazing-ness. Almost. There are still a surprising number of people (or at least forum-goers) out there who donâEURTMt know what to do with a game that doesnâEURTMt involve shooting hookers. These guys are quick to banish Katamari (along with a slew of other quality âEURoegirlyâEUR games) to the video game wasteland, a dumping ground for those supposedly peripheral gamers: children, women and homosexuals.

âEURoeKatamari Damacy,âEUR they so insightfully insist, âEURoeis gay.âEUR

Really, what does that mean? Sure, the word âEURoegay,âEUR in less intelligent circles, has taken on a mundane, almost thoughtless translation; itâEURTMs come to mean something simply akin to âEURoeuncoolâEUR or âEURoestupid.âEUR But thereâEURTMs more going on. What these (first of all, homophobic) people are implying isnâEURTMt just that Katamari is bad, but that it has some innate quality that links it to the feminine, and that makes men who play it less masculine, therefore âEURoegay.âEUR Essentially, theyâEURTMre saying, âEURoeThis game is girly. And if youâEURTMre a guy who plays it, then youâEURTMre girly too.âEUR

Like thatâEURTMs a bad thing.

WhatâEURTMs wrong with this picture? In a broad sense, weâEURTMre talking about a wide-spread social problem: America is so saturated with hegemonic gender expectations that labeling someone as a man who doesnâEURTMt fit within the traditional, patriotic mold is a no-brainer, automatic insult: âEURoeDude, you are so gay.âEUR Beyond the obvious inconsideration it shows for men and women who are actually gay (and the way that the growing negative connotation serves as a constant blow to the ego of an already underappreciated, self-conscious community), it reveals our inability as a culture to open our minds to new things, things that donâEURTMt necessarily jive with the masculine power structure.

The same is true on a smaller scale, in the gaming industry. The video game business is run by and for men. Anything feminine (as in not normally considered manly) is demonized, called âEURoegirlyâEUR or âEURoegay.âEUR WeâEURTMre not willing to consider that whatâEURTMs âEURoegirlyâEUR for us might not have a gender connotation in Japan; instead, we call Japanese men, and American guys who play their games, effeminate - and we honestly think thatâEURTMs an insult.

Katamari, as I mentioned, is something of an exception. They are plenty of âEURoehardcoreâEUR male gamers who are totally willing to push around a ball of stuff for a couple of hours, all the while being represented on-screen by a tiny green prince (Who, by the way, seems pretty asexual to me. His father on the other hand… ThereâEURTMs just something about that crotch bulge). But these guys arenâEURTMt playing because theyâEURTMre comfortable with their gender identities, because of KatamariâEURTMs âEURoecuteness,âEUR theyâEURTMre playing in spite of it. The game itself has won them over. Something in its quality (which, in the gaming world, is associated when men) has made it once again masculine, acceptable, no longer âEURoegay.âEUR

What does it say about the gamers of America when we think femininity is bad, homosexuality is stupid, and it takes a game as good as Katamari to make us reconsider?