[GAYMING] 'Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines'

It's appropriate that my blog should rise from the grave to discuss a vampire game (I'll go into my absence some other time). I'm not returning to weekly blogging, and I'm mostly sticking to other social media. I just can't stand doing written work on Tumblr or Wordpress; so hello again Blogger. I still don't like you.

Welcome to 'Gayming.' This is a series I'm writing exploring various games that I believe have LGBTQ+ themes worthy of discussion. Be it positive, negative, or in this game's case, somewhere in-between.

Before video-games were used as scapegoats for all the world's ills, whilst paradoxically amassing all the money in the world - it was table-top games who were demonised by the media. 'Demonised' in the sense that you would apparently become a demon worshipper by playing as a lawful good dwarf cleric every Wednesday with your friends. Before Skyrim let you become a member of The Dark Brotherhood (and the Thieves Guild, and The Companions, and The Bards College, and the Magic College, and The Dawnguard, and th-) it was Dungeons & Dragons where you'd escape into some white, patriarchal, West-European shithole.

Consequently, a genius publisher called 'White Wolf' decided to actively embrace satanism; but to do so in a (mostly) mature way that gave players a chance to immerse themselves in an urban fantasy. As with D&D, it's a world of ghosts, skeletons, demons, monsters, and thieves; but squashed in the mechanised bowels of the modern city. Twisting dark alleys. Smoked streets pierced with neon. The distant hum of machine-life haunting your every move. The condensed nature of the city means that the demon, the thief, the evil-worshipper could be right under your nose. The more man-made structures there are, the more shadows are cast. In this setting, good and evil mix. But everywhere is darkness.

Thus, The World Of Darkness was born. It isn’t just modern day but with Vampires, Werewolves, Ghosts, and others injected into it. It’s an exploration of the darkest fringes of society – the places real-life monsters dwell. There’s high-up corruption, snuff films, rampant homelessness, and the overall feeling of a diseased world with numbered days. If you pay attention to the news, this setting will only become more and more relevant; particularly as gentrification pushes the fringe further into the dark.

Vampire: The Masquerade is the first game series to be set in this world. Deep inside the cities, a society of vampires flourishes. It's split politically into factions (or 'sects'), and biologically into clans. A player will pick their 'clan' first; which is similar to your typical human/elf/dwarf except everyone's still a vampire who requires blood as a combined health-bar and mana-pool. Oh, and you don't sparkle in sunlight. Well, unless you count bursting into deadly flame...

I won't go into 'clans,' because in the main game there's 13 and in Bloodlines there's still seven. Choosing your clan is the whole reason I love this game. Will you be the monstrous Gangrel? The aristocratic Ventrue? The insane Malkavian? The magical Tremere? Or do you just love inbreeding and want to be a Giovanni? 

I won't go into 'sects' either, because there's at least six. Just know that the majority of them still follow ‘The Masquerade;’ an unwritten code that insures the survival of vampire society. ‘The Masquerade’ is designed for the protection of vampires from humans, rather than vice-versa. You already have to deal with enough police and hunters wanting to ruin your evening of bloodsucking. Breaking the Masquerade has serious consequences. 

I've already mentioned Bloodlines; but it's what I'll be discussing for the rest of this...thing. Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines was released in 2004 by Trokia Games, an underrated video-game developer that contains at least half of the team responsible for the original Fallout. It's the second video-game adaptation of Vampire: The Masquerade (we don't talk about the first) and is one of my favourite games. It does a surprisingly excellent job condensing the dauntingly large World Of Darkness into a digestible gameplay experience that feels neither overwhelming, nor overly-simple. I recommend it to anyone who wants to get into the tabletop RPG, as well as anyone who likes role-playing games and doesn't mind if it's a bit dated. 

Which brings me to the large asterisk I must always put with my recommendation of this game.  Bloodlines is infamous for a difficult development. There was no producer for a whole year, meaning the developers didn't have a consistent or feasible artistic vision. The game was developed on The Source Engine, which was still in beta and thus time was wasted dealing with an incomplete game engine. After three years, with no end in sight, publisher Activision had enough and rushed the team to a strict deadline. 

When said deadline was reached, the game was still so bugged it was almost impossible to finish. Oh, and to ensure the game would be properly buried; when the game was eventually released, it was the same day as a little known independent titles called Half Life 2, Metal Gear Solid 3, and Halo 2. Even after years of (outstanding) fan-made patches, the game still lacks polish, and I don't think any mods can fix how the combat always feels lacking. 

So why is this one of my favourite games? Well aside from the brilliant voice acting, inspired dialogue writing, peerless world-building, wonderfully sleazy settings, immersive atmosphere, and abundant roleplaying decisions that warrant multiple playthroughs – there’s the LGBT aspect. I mean: a shadowy society living in plain sight, seeking other-worldly pleasures whilst fighting for their survival against an oblivious humanity? 

Vampires have always been seen as a metaphor for queer sexuality, whether intentional or not. The two most famous vampire stories capitalise on the Victorian fear of both sexuality and homosexuality. Johnathan Harker is preyed on by Dracula, Laura is preyed on by Carmilla. It’s an exploitation of the typical ‘gay panic’ – the fear not only of having someone of the same gender ‘thirst’ for you, but the possibility that you might secretly be enjoying it. Even the pre-Stoker vampire was a beast spawned from our deepest, unnatural desires. Working-class vampires would hide in caves. Aristocrats bathing in human blood would retreat to their mansions to indulge in their debauchery. 

Bloodlines is bathed in BDSM-imagery. People in nightclubs wear fetish outfits. People trapped in a madhouse wear fetish outfits. You wear fetish outfits. It's mostly freaky outfits being worn in freaky places: my favourite being Club Confession, which is a church turned into a satanic-style nightclub. If I ever make my fortune, I'm absolutely building a replica of this place because it's the greatest nightclub ever. 

Of course, this is a 2004 game so it’s actually very outdated in terms of direct representation. This is back when games were just assumed to be a male hobby; which is a shame considering how the original tabletop RPG has a very diverse audience of both new fans and people there since the start. Whilst the game makes playing a female not feel much different aside from minor variations in dialogue, the majority of kine you seduce are females who will only explore lesbianism because of your vampire powers; playing up the typical predatory ‘gay panic’ trope. (If this game was made today, you could probably just find a subreddit or Discord server filled with people who get off on having their blood sucked. It's actually laughably easy to be a vampire in 2018.) 

There’s a sidequest where your reward is a selection of pin-ups to place on your apartment walls, which’ll always be lewd female shots regardless of your chosen gender (the quest-giver just assumes you're into slim, white, female models). All the prostitutes are female, and if you have a high enough seduction level you can get a ‘freebie.’ Prostitutes also have a lower blood rating, and if you’re Ventrue then there’s a chance you’ll vomit the blood back out because apparently sex workers and the homeless are biologically inferior - which…wow. And this game has the nerve to parody Republican's. 

Even when female NPC's aren't actively flirting with you (which is rare because regardless of your gender they love to do so) clear attention is still drawn to the disturbing level of detail placed on their...um...'jiggle-physics.' Like all Source Engine games, Bloodlines uses HAVOK to create ragdolls, but the clearest reason they went with said physics is so a female's enormous breasts can bounce around enticingly whilst they either murder and drink blood or get murdered and have their blood drunk.  

Meanwhile, with male NPC's it's strictly business only. Males might be a business partner, an accomplice, a mate, a good friend, a source of knowledge or power; but never emotional or physical comfort. The exception is just two absolutely fabulous men who you can seduce whilst being male...both of whom are not in the least bit sexualised and whom are played entirely as a joke. Who would ever have thought that Los Angeles would be a two-dick town? 

In fact, the only openly LGBT character in Bloodlines who's treated with any respect is Pisha; the cannibal who lives in an abandoned hospital. It's actually a really nice touch that in a former life she had a female lover. It makes her beyond a twisted monster by hinting that in the past she shared a forbidden love and has always been an outcast. It even makes her tragic considering her current condition, though centuries of murder for survival has hardened her. She's long moved past grief and won't tolerate any display of sympathy. She's my favourite character. 

So...um. This is an LGBT-themed game with regressive views not only of LGBT people but women in general. Um...

OK. The most notable aspect of ‘Vampire The Masquerade’ that separates it from other vampire fiction and the queer allegory one may extract is it’s urbanisation. That's why I wasted so much time talking about it earlier. The city is the natural haunt for the queer person. Growing up and being stuck in a small town, it’s just so isolating being part of a community that exists miles away. The internet bridges the gap somewhat, but the city is where we gather. It’s where we exchange our culture, our art, and where we can then take it to the rest of the world. The City is where every minority group will have some power. 

The game really helped me explore my queer identity. LGBT representation is improving, but most of its just box-ticking. So many artworks explore the human condition. What it means to love and live as a human being in times of war and peace. Precious few truly dissect what it means to be queer. You can romance and even marry the same gender in plenty of games, but everyone in Mass Effect or Dragon Age treats you exactly as if you'd hooked up with the opposite gender (because 90% of games just switch the pronouns around). How does it feel to live underground? To stand amongst a group of people knowing you are not the same. To look someone in the face, projecting onto them your open secret. 

To be a member of the LGBT community is to hide in plain sight amongst a hetero-normative society conditioned to ignore you. Yes, hide. Even in the most progressive parts of the world, we’re not safe. At best people will frown upon us, at worst there will be violence. We are a minority. This is the life of a minority under a modern urban system that’s designed to erase minorities.

I’ve spent most of my life trying to think of a solution to this problem. How can I be accepted in society? Trying to change myself certainly hasn’t worked considering I’ve wasted my adult life thus far dealing with mental illness. Fighting for equal rights under the eye of the law seemed like a great idea – but we have marriage equality, and – in my home country –we have enough legal protection to in theory eradicate homophobia. On paper: we are, for now, equal.

But paper is also what you wipe your ass with. Hate-crime in England on the whole has risen dramatically, and that fear of violence still remains. Western governments are worryingly shifting towards the right-wing in a backlash to recent progression. So, now what? More legal stuff? More LGBT artwork?

Bloodlines finally gave me an excellent solution: Don’t be accepted. Stick to the unwritten rules, obviously, but be the shadow of the night. Be the unstoppable force. This isn’t a curse; it’s a gift. Society doesn’t accept you? Fuck society! Make your own society where you’re absolutely unstoppable!

My favourite clan is the Nosferatu; the most accursed of all vampires. The embrace twists their body into hideous monstrosities. The Nosferatu can’t blend into human society, and thus are forced to use sewers and caves to survive. Just the sight of you breaks the Masquerade, so you need to plan any quest or commute around not being seen. You also have a zero in 'Seduction' for obvious reasons, meaning you're limited in terms of dialogue options, and options in general. You can't just ask to be let in, otherwise the doorman will either scream at the sight of you or open fire. Though, it’s actually really funny watching everyone’s reaction to you.

But you’re not just roleplaying as a men’s rights activist. You embrace your nature. When people freak out at the sight of you, there's always a wisecrack you can say in response. The funniest is when characters try to come up for a reason behind your appearance (burn victim, crack addict, Halloween mask) and you have the option to just go with it as part of your deception. You're not laughing at yourself; you're laughing at the idiot who can't comprehend your existence. Not to mention you get the ability to turn invisible (which is stupidly overpowered at Level 5), and your best friend is the coolest character in the game.

The best part about Gary is that he’s actually a nice guy who helps you out. He keeps his word and gives you what you need graciously. If you're a Nosferatu, he'll even give you a new home in the sewers; which sounds horrid but it's actually the most convenient location for you to co-ordinate your movement from. Gary is my favourite kind of person: tough, no nonsense, but with a heart of gold. The same goes with Bertram Tung, who you meet much earlier in the game and who’s more than happy to help you out by always being there if you ever need frank yet useful advice about everything there is to know in LA's vampire society. 

The Nosferatu know the struggle of vampirism. They have the toughest deal, but aside from the occasional vengeful grudge they never dwell. In fact, they actively embrace their indentity and have crafted a pretty cushy place for themselves. They're protected by vampire society by being such a useful contact to have, whilst keeping outside of the hazardous politics. The Nosferatu are one of my biggest inspirations.

So what if you’re not Instagram-friendly. You’re awesome! Now go! Be an unstoppable creature of the night! Wear the sexiest outfit you can find! Indulge in stuff that’ll make your parents feel awkward! Be absolutely fabulous. Oh, AND MAKE ANOTHER MASQUERADE GAME ALREADY!

- MAX