About the Database

Queerly Represent Me started in 2016 as an attempt to create a comprehensive and subjective database of games that featured queer content. Our managing director and founder was attempting to learn more about queerness in games and discovered that existing research was sparse and lists of game content (on sites like Wikipedia and TV Tropes) were incomplete.

Starting with a basic survey circulated via Twitter (as recorded on Studies), Queerly Represent Me was born. Since then, our team has grown and so has our scope. We began trading as Represent Me in 2020 because our focus expanded from exclusively queer content and concerns to a broader intersectional focus, and it was time for our name to match.

Our database has grown too: we now have more than 1,600 games featured and this number is continuing to climb. We have approximately 900 games in our database that were published before 2016; meanwhile, there are more than 800 games recorded from between 2016 and 2020 alone.

While maintaining a comprehensive database of queer games was once a feasible goal, we have since realised that with game releases rising in number every year and our team being comprised entirely of volunteers, this is no longer viable.

This is exciting. It means that queer content is becoming more common, and that can only be seen as positive! But it also means that Represent Me needs to change our approach to maintain both usefulness and sanity.

Database (1974–2020)

Our existing database entries aren't going anywhere! Represent Me is now maintaining a database featuring games from 1974 (the earliest instance of queer representation we have found) to 2020. This database will still be available in both visual and spreadsheet layouts, depending on your needs.

We will be focusing on making this collection as complete as possible, allowing it to become a more useful research tool, which will be easier when we aren't also trying to keep up with every new release in 2021 and beyond.

Blog

We value sharing and creating space for subjective opinions about queer content in games, queer-focused game jams, and new releases that are worth checking out. We will be publishing these opinions on the Represent Me blog.

Discussions of queer content will be joined by articles exploring other forms of diversity, inclusion, and accessibility.

Quantitative analysis

The data provided by our database will still form the foundation of ongoing quantitative analysis and publications that we are working on.

In addition, we will be continuing to work with Adrienne Shaw and her team on the LGBTQ+ Video Game Archive, a detailed quantiative study of queer game content that also numerically considers information like the race and gender of queer characters to gain a better understanding of intersectional queer representation. Some members of the Represent Me staff are volunteering to help Shaw maintain her database as well as write and publish articles for scholarly journals or conferences.