Video games are no stranger to issues concerning homosexuality. There have been dashes of it here and there, but never quite to the point of featuring a main character who is gay, especially in a game as popular as Grand Theft Auto. Rockstar is planning to do such a thing with the next installment of downloadable content for GTA IV, entitled: The Ballad of Gay Tony.

Not only is the title bold, but so far the revealed trailer and artwork show that Rockstar is not planning on simply making some subtle suggestions, and do they ever? What I wonder is if featuring homosexuality in one of the biggest games on the market will resonate with the consumer base.

We already know that gamers aren't the most accepting bunch of people when it comes to homosexuality. Just hop on Xbox Live and count how many seconds go by until someone starts yelling the word fag.

The gaming community has also witnessed outright attacks on gay groups. In 2007 GayGamer.net was the victim of hacker attacks over the course of several days. Its forums and chat rooms were also spammed with hate speech. Even if you're straight, there's still plenty of homophobia to go around. I myself can attest to being called a girly-man by some of my Halo comrades when I'm seen online playing Prince of Persia.

Now I realize that not everyone out there who plays games is a hate-monger, but I do think that having these themes in a game like GTA poses more of a challenge. Putting gay themes into a game is one thing, putting them into a pop-culture icon that even my parents know about is something else.

Along with Madden, Halo, and Call of Duty, the GTA series is right up there with other mass-market greats that cater to a generally male casual audience. So how are these people going to react to Gay Tony? The hardcore gamers might be willing to purchase any new GTA content as long as the gameplay is good, but mass audiences don't make buying decisions the same way. I can already see some casual gamers taking one look at Gay Tony's fluorescent logo on the Xbox Live Marketplace, and then swiftly hitting the back button to preserve their manhood.



Of course there's a totally different way to look at this. Since GTA is such a recognized brand, maybe it possesses the strength to break through homophobic barriers other games can't.

I'm hoping that scenario holds true, because dismissing more great content from Rockstar on the basis of sexual preference sounds like a huge waste. Just look at the level of quality in GTA IV's first episodic offering, The Lost and Damned, which arguably had more value than most retail games. It also made strides in featuring sexuality in games with the appearance of full-frontal male nudity.

While the expected reaction by consumers may be up for debate, there's no arguing that Rockstar's foray into this issue will be anything but tame. Since the influence of the GTA series reaches far and wide, Gay Tony's reception will play a key role in reflecting the attitudes of a very large demographic.