Want to volunteer?

We love volunteers. This project is very much a labor of love, and with over 1200 games total it will take many years before all of this work is completed (not even counting new games as they are released). For these reasons, we are always happy to have volunteers, but please note there is very specific kinds of research required for the entries on this site. Read the information below and let us know if you’d like to help us out.

Getting Started:

  1. Choose a game (or game series) to work on. Most games that are listed but not hyperlinked on the “games by decade” pages are waiting to be researched. You can also submit games that are not listed (or that you made) which you know have LGBTQ content. We recommend that you start with a single game (not a series) you know well, that has been written about in various places, and that doesn’t have a ton of instances of LGBTQ content. That will help you get a sense of what the process is like.
  2. Go to the Questions/Comments page to let us know what game/game series you would like to work on. Please only volunteer for one at a time.
  3. It may take a while for us to respond, but please be patient. You are welcome to start writing up the game (details below) before we respond. If it is a game that was already “in-progress” we can easily merge entries if needed.

Writing a Game Page:

  1. For each game, write a basic page about the game or game series. Your game page will also link to individual entries (posts) for each instance or example of LGBTQ content (see below). For game series that have multiple examples of LGBTQ content across games, we make a single “series” page, instead of an individual page for each game.
  2. The game page should hold basic information about the game including: Year of first release, publisher, developer, creator, country of origin (creator or dev), platform, and genre. If any of this information is not available, it can be left blank.
  3. Add a creative commons licensed image of the game cover or title screen (usually these can be found on Wikipedia) including a link to the original source of the image.
    1. Citation example:

Image credit: “Cover of Watch Dogs 2” by Source. Licensed under Fair Use via Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watch_Dogs_2#/media/File:Watch_Dogs_2.jpg

  1. Then write a short description of the game. Please DO NOT copy/paste this description from elsewhere. All text content must be original unless it is a quotation.
  2. Below this there should be a list of all examples of LGBTQ content in the game (see possible categories here).
    1. Example: Each example of LGBTQ content should be hyperlinked to its respective post.

      LGBTQ References in this game:

      San Francisco Bay Area

      Pride Shirt

      Lenora Kastner

      Miranda Comay

      Drag Queen Doorman

    2. Example: For a game series, specify which game each example comes from.

LGBTQ references in this game series:

Assassin’s Creed (2007): Abu’l Nuqoud

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (2010): Leonardo da Vinci and Salaì

Assassin’s Creed III (2012): Harlan Cunningham and Arend Schut Cunningham

Assassin’s Creed: Unity (2014): Marquis de Sade, Chevalier d’Éon

Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate (2015): Jacob Frye, Maxwell Roth, Ned Wynert, Lewis

  1. Write a list of citations (in alphabetical order, preferably in APA style) with links to all the sources used to get the basic information about the game. If you are writing about a game you designed, you would list yourself as the source, though if you have any articles/websites/etc. where your game has been written up, please include those as well.

Website:

Last Name, First Initial. middle initial. (year, month day). Article Title. Retrieved from URL

OR

Last Name, first initial. middle initial. (year, month day). Article Title. Website Title. Retrieved from URL

OR with no author:

Article Title. (year, month day). Retrieved from URL

Ex: Phillips, Tom. (June 8, 2016). Everything We Know About Watch Dogs 2. Eurogamer. Retrieved from https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-06-08-everything-we-know-about-watch-dogs-2

 

Youtube video:

Last Name, Initials. (year, month day). Title of video [Video file]. Retrieved from URL

OR if the real name is unavailable or it is produced by a channel:

Screen name. (year, month day). Title of video [Video file]. Retrieved from URL

Ex: GameNewsOfficial. (2016, June 13). Watch Dogs 2 Gameplay Walkthrough (E3 2016) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKuO8CBKrpQ

 

Wiki page (e.g. Wikipedia):

Wiki Name Contributors. (year, month day published). Article Title. Retrieved month day, year accessed from URL

Ex: Wikipedia Contributors. (2019, June 17). Watch Dogs 2. Retrieved July 23, 2019 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watch_Dogs_2

 

Article:

See citations styles for different articles here: https://guides.libraries.psu.edu/apaquickguide/articles

 

Full citation list example:

    1. (2016, June 13). Watch Dogs 2 Gameplay Walkthrough (E3 2016) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKuO8CBKrpQ
    2. Phillips, Tom. (June 8, 2016). Everything We Know About Watch Dogs 2. Retrieved from https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-06-08-everything-we-know-about-watch-dogs-2
    3. Varanini, Giancarlo. (2016, June 8). Watch Dogs 2 Reveal – Here’s What You Need To Know About Ctos’ Bay Area Invasion. Ubisoft. Retrieved from https://news.ubisoft.com/en-us/article/313390/watch-dogs-2-reveal-ctos-invades-san-francisco-bay-area-heres-need-know?isSso=true&integratorSiteUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.ubisoft.com%2Fen-us%2Farticle%2F313390%2Fwatch-dogs-2-reveal-ctos-invades-san-francisco-bay-area-heres-need-know&refreshStatus=noLoginData
    4. (2016, October 24). Watch Dogs 2 Multiplayer Gameplay [Video gile]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0okwAthV6k
    5. Watch_Dogs Wikia Contributors. (n.d.). Followers. Retrieved July 23, 2019 from https://watchdogs.fandom.com/wiki/Followers
    6. Watch_Dogs Wikia Contributors. (n.d.). Watch Dogs 2. Retrieved July 23, 2019 from  https://watchdogs.fandom.com/wiki/Watch_Dogs_2
    7. Watch Dogs 2. (n.d.). Queerly Represent Me. Retrieved from https://queerlyrepresent.me/title/watch-dogs-2
    8. Watch Dogs 2. (n.d.). Ubisoft. Retrieved from https://www.ubisoft.com/en-us/game/watch-dogs-2/
    9. Wikipedia Contributors. (2019, June 17). Watch Dogs 2. Retrieved July 23, 2019 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watch_Dogs_2

 

Here are some examples of pages to give you a sense of what we are looking for

    1. Example of a single game page: https://lgbtqgamearchive.com/games/games-by-decade/2010s/watch-dogs-2/
    2. Example of a game series page: https://lgbtqgamearchive.com/games/game-series/leisure-suit-larry/
    3. Example of a page by a game designer: https://lgbtqgamearchive.com/games/games-by-decade/2010s/spade-memory/

 

Writing  content posts:

  1. At the bottom of each game page (before the citations) there should be a list of each LGBTQ reference in the game or series. For series, these are listed by game (with the game’s release year in parentheses by the title). For a single game these can be in any order. See the above game pages as examples.
  2. Below the “game page” text, write up entries for each example of LGBTQ content. Follow this template:

Content 1

[Creative commons licensed image of the character, scene, action, etc.]

[Brief description of what the content is. Example: Who is the character, is their sexuality or gender explicit or implicit. You can quote people (BUT cite them). Link to articles supporting claims that the content is a reference to LGBTQ people]

[Link to images or youtube videos of this character or content as necessary to illustrate description.]

Citations:

All the mentions of this LGBTQ content being in this game listed alphabetically by author. Also put citations for images/videos. See examples of citations above.

Content 2

[Brief description of what the content is. Example: Who is the character, is their sexuality or gender explicit or implicit. You can quote people (BUT cite them). Link to articles supporting claims as necessary]

[Link to images or youtube videos of this character or content as necessary to illustrate description]

Citations:

All the mentions of this LGBTQ content being in this game listed alphabetically by author. Also put citations for images/videos.

Etc…

 

Submitting:

  1. After you have been given approval to work on the game/game series you’ve volunteered for, you will be given the email address to send your submission to.
  2. In a word doc (or Google doc), please include all the information above. In addition, if you’d like to be credited, provide your name and a short bio (two sentences). This will appear on our contributors page.
  3. Please be sure to include all images, credits, citations, etc. in what you submit. And be patient as we find time to upload it.