Representações LGBTQIA+ nos videogames: Caper in the Castro e Tell Me Why sob um olhar semiolinguístico e queer

Abstract

Digital games have become an important entertainment medium in recent years. Their narratives present characters and stories with which players can identify and project their actions. In this dissertation we explore the representation of LGBTQIA+ characters in video games, from a semiolinguistic view of discourse analysis based on sociodiscursive imaginaries and queer theory. Since the research is of an interpretivist qualitative nature, we do not only focus on the video game area, based on researchers like Flavia Gasi (2013, 2022), James Paul Gee (2003, 2007), Bonnie Ruberg (2019) and Adrienne Shaw (2009, 2012, 2014, 2016), but also in the area of discourse analysis, specifically semiolinguistics from Patrick Charaudeau and Leonardo Correia Rosado. Patrick Charaudeau's (2006, 2011, 2014) semiolinguistics concepts will be used, such as 'discourse', 'communicational contract', 'discursive strategies' and 'modes of discourse organization', as well as the concept of 'queer theory' by Judith Butler and Barthold Schoene, and the concept of 'performativity' taken to semiolinguistics by Almeida (2016). We also socio-discursively describe the games genre and video games from the perspective of Patrick Charaudeau, Mark Wolf, James Paul Gee, Wagner Santos Araújo and Steven Poole. This research analyzes two distinct games: Caper in the Castro (1989), considered the first game with an LGBTQIA+ theme, and Tell Me Why (2020), the fist mainstream game to have a trans man as the main character. The analyses were carried out considering aspects of the sociodiscursive imaginary, principle of influence, argumentation, and issues of identity. The analysis of Caper in the Castro (1989) reveals how the game uses the sociodiscursive imaginary of the late 1980s, amid the AIDS crisis and LGBTQIA+ activism in San Francisco, to construct its narrative. The analysis of Tell Me Why (2020) focuses on transgender representation through the character Tyler Ronan. The game is permeated by the principle of influence, seeking to impact player’s decisions through the development of the narrative and the relationships between the characters. We conclude that both games, despite their differences, contribute to the understanding of the complex relationship between video games, LGBTQIA+ representation and the sociocultural context in which they are produced and played.