Gaymer

Gaymer or gay gamer is an umbrella term used to refer to the group of people who identify themselves as gay, bisexual, lesbian, or transgendered and have an active interest in the video game community, also known as gamers.

In 2007 Chris Vizzini, owner of the gaming site Gaymer.org, sought to trademark the term gaymer with respect to online communities.

2006 University of Illinois
In 2006, a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign sociological study looked at the gay gamer subgroup focusing on the profile of a "gaymer" and concerns they have regarding the perception of them in the gaming community and visibility of gay characters in games. The study's author noted the level of prejudice that gaymers endure: "Gay gamers experience a double edged sword of prejudice... The mainstream gay culture and media is not supportive of video games. Then you have the video game culture that is not supportive of gay culture. So you have these people stuck in the middle who have this double edged prejudice." 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. Only a "very small minority" of the respondents to the first survey supported the use of the term gaymer.

2009 Full Sail University
In late August 2009, Full Sail University student Paul S. Nowak began the second survey of gaymer play preferences at NewGaymerSurvey.com as research for his Master’s Thesis in Video Game Design. "Since Jason Rockwood's survey in 2006 was the first of its kind, it got stuck with the burden of proving to the academic community that the gay gaming community even existed. Now that he's been successful at that, we can make a more in-depth study of what exactly gaymers want from their games," said Nowak. Nowak also said, "The differences [between the two surveys] are apparent right from the beginning. Rockwood and I have very different backgrounds. My expertise is design and, unlike Rockwood, I have been a gamer for over 20 years. That difference is reflected in my study. Being the second survey in the field, I am able to shift my focus onto questions of content such as plot, genre, customization and other in-game experiences." While the results of Nowak's survey are still pending, the survey team reports that over 7000 people have participated in the survey to date. , Nowak is seeking publication for his findings from those first 7000 responses.

Media coverage
Video game magazine The Escapist devoted Issue 222 to gay gamers and characters with the title "Queer Eye for the Gamer Guy" (similar to the TV show title).

The MMORPG game The Lord of the Rings Online dropped a planned online marriage feature because of the controversy around restrictions on same-sex and inter-species marriage. The online magazine for gaymers GayGamer.net commented that, while J. R. R. Tolkien was a devout Christian, his stance on gay rights isn't known as the topic wasn't a public issue at the time.