Tag - lgbt

News

The Importance of Games and LGBTQ+ Mental Health

Games are a haven for so many people for different reasons. At Safe, we love to celebrate those reasons, and share the joy that players get from video games. For Sky, our Partnerships & Training Officer, this is the first...

Stories

Facing The Final Note: A Journey Through Gender Identity and Mortality

Before we start, I’d like to give a trigger warning for mentions of the subject of death. Your health comes first, so make sure that you feel comfortable before you read. When I was young, I was an extremely angry...

Stories

Resilience, Riddles and Reality: Why I Design Puzzle Games

I am a game designer. No wait, scratch that. More specifically – I am an escape room designer. I became a professional, full time escape room designer back in 2019. Not long before the global pandemic… And you can guess...

Stories

Loss, Therapy, and Finding Myself through Streaming

Content: Warwick Zero shared their experiences in grief, loss, therapy and using streaming to explore their identity. My personal mental health journey has been a fairly recent one (the last 3 years or so), but more so because I felt...

News

Which Games Provide Safe Spaces for LGBTQ+ Gamers

We’re no stranger to the idea that video games are providing safe spaces to LGBTQ+ gamers across the globe. This month, in celebration of Pride, we’re sharing a collection of stories, resources and game suggestions that LGBTQ+ gamers hold close...

Stories

How FFXIV Became a Home

CW: Brief mention of suicidal thoughts, brief mention of abusive relationship As someone who spent their adolescence riddled with the undiagnosed, but very real, symptoms of both Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder, my communities have always served as...

Stories

Knowing Yourself Is Half the Battle

I didn’t have a queer role model growing up. The only tangible examples of people like me I ever saw were the ones presented in movies and television. You know, the ones who are constantly tormented and tortured, who can’t...

Stories

The Freedom & Possibility in Video Games

I don’t remember the first time I ever played a video game. What I do know is my brother, being only a year older than me, had a player 2 once I was old enough to hold a controller. I...

Stories

Gaming: A Journey of Self-Discovery, Healing, and Resilience

Life has a funny way of throwing unexpected challenges our way, shaping our paths in ways we never could have anticipated. Growing up in a Christian context in Lebanon, where being gay was frowned upon, I found myself navigating a...

News

Romance Was Always An Option: How LGBTQ+ Game Characters Portray Positive Relationship Role Models by Ruby Modica

From the infancy of gaming as a medium, romance has played a large role in how we empathise with pixelated human characters. Since the “(male) hero rescuing the (female) princess” trope has existed for millennia, gaming’s early days gave players...

Stories

How Video Games Saved My Life

Mental health. For me, this topic is intensely complex, and tied in with both gaming and all aspects of my life and journey. As a streamer, we put ourselves in the public eye so many times, and it can be...

Stories

Agoraphobia recovery and finding myself in Stardew Valley

I have been through a lot of traumas in my life so far, from being bullied by all the girls in my year in high school to multiple situations with men who didn’t listen to me when I said no....

Stories

How Rainbow Six’s queer representation saved my mental health

I love competitive games, specifically first person shooters (FPS). However, they are notorious for their toxic communities. This poses an issue for neurotypical, non spicy-brained individuals, so the effects it has on someone who is atypical can be incredibly detrimental....

Stories

L’Envol by Élise in the Clouds

Video games have been for a long time my lifeline. I was born a very turbulent but smiling boy, had troubles focusing on things, was always daydreaming about nothing and everything… My mother told me later that she originally didn’t...

Stories

Video Games are my Mental Crutch

Video games have been an important part of my life for over 35 years. They bring me a lot of joy and now I make my living as a game journalist, grateful that something that has always been there to...

Stories

Embracing the Power of Baldur’s Gate

In the vast realm of video games, there are those rare franchises that go beyond mere entertainment, leaving a lasting impact on players’ lives. Although becoming more common, and the topic of mental health is being tackled more often, they...

News

Safe In Our World Host Gayming Mental Health DIGIPRIDE Panel

Safe In Our World will be hosting a mental health in gayming panel within Gayming Magazine’s DIGIPRIDE event on Tuesday July 26 (8PM BST / 3PM ET). Hosted by our wonderful Ambassador Mxiety, the Safe In Our World community will...

News

Stonewall: Pride Month 2022 Highlight

As part of Pride Month 2022, we’re highlighting companies, charities and organisations doing great work within the LGBTQ+ space, and today’s highlight is Stonewall. What is Stonewall? Stonewall is an organisation that stands for the rights of LGBTQIA+ people...

News

LGBTQIA+ Characters In Video Games: A Spotlight

We’ve seen developments over the years in more characters within video games identifying as LGBTQ+, and whilst there is still more work to do, we wanted to celebrate some of our favourite kickass characters from games that are in the...

News

Character Creation and the Privacy of Playing with Gender

Video games have offered queer nerds a safe space to explore aspects of themselves for decades. I’m not the first to have noticed, and more personally felt, this phenomena and I most certainly won’t be the last. From romancing characters...

News

Global LGBTQIA+ Support

During Pride Month, we wanted to compile a list of resources aimed at supporting the LGBTQIA+ community, but specifically focusing on trans friendly communities. Below, we’ve put some international resources for those who need it; everyone deserves mental health support....

News

Hub World – Representation

Welcome back to Hub World! In June, we spent time reflecting on the theme of representation. As people, we naturally look for representation – people and stories that connect with us on a personal level. As an industry, we still...

News

ERROR 404: Representation Not Found by Ruby Modica

ERROR 404: Representation Not Found – The Arduous History of LGBTQ+ Representation in Video Games by Ruby Modica During Pride Month, tolerant and loving people are doing their best to support a colourful yet marginalised community. Awareness posts, beautiful art...

News

LGBTQ+ Representation In Games, Organisations and Support for Pride Month

Happy Pride Month everyone! We’re proud to spotlight a variety of different things for Pride month, including games with LGBTQ+ representation, organisations and charities doing brilliant work for the LGBTQ+ community, specific resources and helplines. Support We have a list...

Need Help?

How do you need help?

I need to contact someone about my own mental health (or someone I know) I want to find out more about mental health conditions