The tactical shooter Rainbow Six Siege is getting its first openly gay operator, the Argentinian ‘Flores’, in Season 6 of 2021. This triggers a discussion within the community.
This operator is about: Santiago ‘Flores’ Lucero is a master thief from Argentina who is into technology. In Rainbow Six Siege, he uses exploding drones. He is the first new operator in Year 6 of Rainbow Six Siege.
In his introduction by Ubisoft, there’s a line that was widely discussed over the weekend:
Every night, he calls home to speak with his husband, but he is very reserved about his relationship.
From the character introduction of Flores
It was clear: Flores is the first openly gay operator in Rainbow Six Siege after 5 years.
Rainbow Six Siege becomes more diverse: “This is very, very important to us”
This is what Ubisoft says: The game director was asked whether players can now expect more diverse characters to come to Rainbow Six Siege (via PC Gamer):
You can definitely expect that. It is very, very important to us that everyone feels welcome and that everyone feels like they can identify with someone from our cast. It is really important for us that everyone feels like they have a place in our game and is represented. You can expect operators who identify with different genders and who have different sexual orientations. That is something we want to improve.
Jean-Baptiste Hallé, Game Director Rainbow Six Siege
This is how it is being discussed: On Reddit, there are numerous comments on the topic:
- You can see from the comments how diverse the topic is even among homosexuals. Some say ‘I am gay and I don’t care’ – others say ‘I am gay and I think that’s really good.’ There is no consensus in the community.
- It is especially welcomed that the topic is not theatrically exaggerated; it’s just a line in the biography.
- Hardly anyone represents negative arguments, but they are already anticipated: ‘Sure, many will complain again: Such things don’t belong in games.’
- The best comment is probably ‘Finally, the rainbow in the name makes sense.’
A user says (via reddit):
Flores’ sexuality is to me as a heterosexual man like the nationality of non-Americans to an American.
The character trait does not personally represent me and I have no strong feelings about it, neither in one direction nor the other. But I am happy for the people in the Siege community, who are now represented because of this.
The Reddit user MarkyMark1324
The opposing position is mainly: Who cares? Why bring something like this into the game?
One person says, ‘I care more about how the operator plays in Rainbow Six Siege than their background.’
There is a clear statement from e-sports player G2Pengu: He says that those who don’t think it’s cool that the new operator is gay can feel free to leave. Siege was more fun when there were fewer players anyway, so he wouldn’t care if people stopped playing now.
While he cares about the lore in Rainbow Six Siege, it’s important that everyone is represented in Rainbow Six Siege. That would bring only positives, nothing negative.
No “Tracer” situation, and Ubisoft sets a sign
Here’s what it’s about: In 2017, Blizzard revealed that the frontwoman of Overwatch, Tracer, is gay. This triggered strong reactions at the time. People were outraged. In Rainbow Six Siege, the discussion is now much more relaxed.
The difficulty back then was that a ‘pre-existing character’, to whom gamers had built a relationship, was changed in retrospect by revealing a detail that had previously been unknown.
Rainbow Six Siege is now introducing a new character into the game who is gay. This seems to be a completely different situation for gamers that has much less explosive potential.
For Ubisoft, “More diversity in Rainbow Six Siege” is a step that comes at a time when the company itself wants to become more diverse. In recent months, there have been unpleasant reports about the culture at Ubisoft, where a ‘Boys’ Club’ allegedly had the say for years. They are said to have prevented more diversity in games.
Insider report paints a nasty picture of Ubisoft – Sexism as a system
