Gaymer

[citation needed] In recent years, more and more representation of gaymer culture can be seen and predominantly featured in video game studios worldwide.

"[2] With about 10,000 respondents the survey exhibited a reverse bell curve of gamer sexuality, with most people identifying as either completely heterosexual or homosexual.

[7] In late August 2009, Full Sail University student Paul S. Nowak began a second survey of gaymer play preferences.

These results were not published in an academic journal, though a later Nowak's book lists gaymers as preferring role-playing video games, pertaining to the hardcore explorer/achiever gamer type, and appreciating good plot and good quality homosexual content,[11] which he defines as game content "which reflects homosexual orientation in a positive or equal-to-heterosexual-orientation context".

[12] The misconception that young, white, heterosexual males were the force driving the industry forward was strongly challenged by the record-breaking success of The Sims.

[13] In the 1990s, the industry began to make some effort to market games to women by creating software titles with strong, independent female characters.

[citation needed] Well-known gay writer and movie director Clive Barker was involved in the creation of the games Undying and Jericho.

One reason many cite for the lack of visible participation by gaymers is the unwelcoming regulations of in-game interactions such as the creation of and advertisement of queer-friendly guilds in MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft.

[16] In 2006, Sara Andrews started a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer-friendly Warcraft guild to create a safe place for this community.

[19] The online magazine for gaymers GayGamer.net commented that, while J. R. R. Tolkien was a devout Christian, his stance on gay rights is not known as the topic was not a public issue at the time.

[26][27][28] In April 2007 Chris Vizzini, owner of the gaming site Gaymer.org, sought to trademark the term gaymer with respect to online communities[29] and obtained it in March 2008.

[43][44][45][46] Vizzini re-stated his intent to defend the trademark on the site's name, that he started as an online community on 2003 as a way to build a positive brand from a term that had negative connotations.