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Video gaming
TechPolicy

‘A Gay’s Life’: indie web game offers a glimpse into the harsh realities faced by LGBT community in China

  • Game’s creator said he created the title to provide an authentic account of the everyday lives of LGBT people living in China

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Indie interactive web game “A Gay's Life” lets players experience what it is like to be gay in China. Photo: Handout.
Zheping Huang

It’s tough being gay in China.

Millions of LGBT Chinese face discrimination, intolerance, family pressures to get married and have a baby, and sporadic government crackdowns on public events aimed at promoting equal rights.

Now you can experience for yourself what it’s like to be gay in China in a first-of-its-kind video game.

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In A Gay’s Life, players star as a young gay man who must learn how to live with his identity and come out to his friends and family, while navigating the dating scene. Since its release in May, the interactive web title has attracted nearly one million players on Chengguang, an online distribution platform for interactive games. Currently it ranks as the third most popular game on the Chinese site over the past 30 days.

A Gay’s Life recently made a splash beyond the Chinese-language community, after Ken Wong, lead designer of hits such as puzzle game Monument Valley and interactive love story Florence, acknowledged the title in a tweet, spurring media attention.

Behind the game is Huang Gaole, a 27-year-old PhD candidate in computer science based in Beijing. A gay man himself, Huang said he created the game with the help of several gaming enthusiasts as a hobby, because he wanted to provide an authentic account of the everyday lives of LGBT people living in China.

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