A UK soccer video game, Football Manager 2018, now allows (fictional) soccer players to come out as gay.
A U. K. soccer video game, Football Manager 2018, now allows (fictional) soccer players to come out as gay.
The game, which is set to be released Nov. 10 by Sega for desktop and mobile systems, is an interactive sports game that features both existing and new, computer-generated football players.
It won’t out real players, especially since there are currently no out players in the English football league, but the creators said they want to make soccer a welcoming place for gay players who feel they can’t come out.
« Part of the reason we decided to do this is because there are gay footballers, » Miles Jacobson, the game’s director, told BBC Sport .
Soccer player needs 10 stitches on private parts after groin kick
When a (randomly selected) computer generated player comes out in the game, it results in news reports and a boost in the club’s revenue, due to “new attention from the LGBT community.”
“I find it weird that it’s still a problem in football so we decided to try and show people that coming out isn’t a big deal and can be a positive thing,” Jacobson said.
However, the ability for characters to be gay won’t be available in the game in certain parts of the world where it is still illegal to be gay.
“In those cases we have simply respected their laws, so if a player is based in one of those countries, the player won’t come out,” he explained.
Amazon offers ‘English U. K.’ option featuring Tommy Smyth for TNF
Britain’s first openly gay player, Justin Fashanu, came out in 1990, but committed suicide in 1998 after a sexual assault scandal. Thomas Hitzlsperger, a player in the German League, retired before he came out in 2014, and in August, Ryan Atkin, an English league referee, came out as gay. He is the first openly gay referee in the sport.
Jacobson said he isn’t concerned about people who won’t buy the game because of homophobia.
« We are not going to be able to change the mind of someone who is homophobic,” he said, “we don’t have that power, and if someone has that issue and decides not to buy the game for that reason, then to be honest I feel really sorry for them. »
