This increase in visibility of gay gamers reflects a subtle yet significant shift within the videogame industry. Consumers today are more savvy and sophisticated and game makers are more attuned to these complex demands, as well as broader changes in societal attitudes and behavior.

Online gay gaming sites are still a relatively new concept in both the gay and videogame spheres, with the first site designed exclusively for gay gamers only appearing in 2001. A string of gay gaming sites soon followed, such as GayGamer.com, Gamers Experimentation and, more recently, Gaygamer.net.

Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Gaymer.org is one of the most popular gay gaming online communities with more than 2,200 members. It's a place where you can hang out, play and chat with other gay men and lesbians. Despite the increasing presence of gay elements in video games, Gaymer.org's creator Chris Vizzini on his site says that, by and large, gay content is still left on the sidelines. He hopes to one day see a game with a gay avatar, or with gay-themed narratives. "Does there need to be a gay character in a game for a game to be great? Of course not, but to have the option to play a gay character would be awesome," he says. "We're not asking game developers to jam a gay character in every single upcoming video game. It simply may not fit the storyline. But when a story lends itself to a situation where it would be possible for the player to have the choice to go left or right, some of us will want to go left, if you catch my drift."

When he began the site, Vizzini, says that "a lot of right wing gamers slammed (him) by saying, "Why do you need a 'Gay Gamers" site? Just be a gamer no matter who or what you are.' In a perfect world, this would be the case, however, we don't live in that world. “The truth is, in the gaming community, there are some pretty staunchly homophobic players and Gaymer.org is about having fun without hearing the bashing.” So the site offers a safe haven where gaming is the focus, not hate.

It sounds like a great concept, and online name-calling could certainly be seen as childlike and homophobic, but in a world where most of the action involves shooting or mutilating other players the problem of homophobia just doesn't seem to be as important. I am not a gamer, so I don't understand the full impact of being called a "faggot" while I am shooting another players arm from there shoulder, but it seems that the focus is in the wrong place to begin with. My 15 year old little sister and her friends love the game Grand Theft Auto, so I sat down with them to watch them play and learn the rules. The game allows the player to take on the role of a criminal in a big city, typically a lowly individual who rises in the ranks of organized crime over the course of the game. Various missions are set for completion by the figureheads of the city underworld, generally criminal, which must be completed to progress through the storyline. Bank robberies, assassinations and other crimes feature regularly, but occasionally taxi driving, pimping, street racing, and mass murder allow your character to advance to further rounds. Yes, there are some homophobic comments thrown in which could be understandably uncomfortable, but with all of the bitch smacking and machete wielding it can be easily overlooked.

Creating a polarized society for gay gamers may seem like a great idea, but if the concern is about violence and hate it seems like a solution of putting a Band-Aid over a severed leg. The problem may not be the derogatory terms as much as it is the violence in media in general. Certainly no one should have to suffer verbal abuse while in the midst of a game, but why are adults playing such inheritintly violent games in the first place? Games and sport should be a place where everyone has an equal chance to excel and challenge themselves. Video games have always been criticized for there diminutive social value, but if it has come to the point where certain segments of the population feel so threatened by playing a game that they need to segregate themselves, maybe it's time to reexamine the video games themselves. Next time you see a racial or homophobic term used, look at the context and see if that is really the place you want to subject yourself or your children to anyway.