October 29, 2007 | Sex & Society

Horror master upsets some gamers

Openly gay author Clive Barker has won fans the world over with surreal explorations of our darkest fears and desires. However, his most recent interview seems to have scared some computer gamers for a completely different reason.

Last week he spoke to Gamepro.com about a new game he had created. Though his creation did not feature a gay lead, he argued it was time queer characters featured more prominently in the gaming world.

"One day I want to be part of a team that creates a game with a gay man or woman in the lead role where they are casually sexual, just as heterosexual characters are casually sexual in games, and have the public be perfectly comfortable with it."

That day may still be a ways off...  

One gamer was incensed that "these freaks trying to gay everything up," arguing homosexuals should "stay in your own little world instead of trying to influence ours," while another admitted he was going to buy Barker's new game but "now I can't on the basic principle a gay made it."

Guess they haven't heard that Super Mario is a leather daddy, and Donkey Kong dresses in drag.