by Darryl E. Owens
War is brewing on the continent of Fódlan, where the Church of Seiros preserves order, largely through its esteemed Officer’s Academy.
Yet, war isn’t the only thing raging on the fictional continent found in the Nintendo Switch game, “Fire Emblem: Three Houses.”
There’s also the battle for more realistic representations of same-sex relationships, Beacon student Seth Budrik argues in his article, “Social Issues in Gaming: Fire Emblem: Three Houses and How Same-Sex Relationships are Represented.”
Budrik interned this summer for the Esports and Game Design Collective (EGD Collective Inc.) of Hunter College in New York. The group is a chartered undergraduate student organization and grassroots movement across North America dedicated to helping students complete their education and find their place within gaming.
As part of his internship, the junior humanities major penned an analysis — his first published piece — an examination of same-sex gender politics in the popular role-playing game (RPG).
In his piece, Budrik observes, “In Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Intelligent Systems made a better effort towards same-sex relationship representation, with characters that are not only confirmed to be gay(or at least bi-sexual), but with relationships that are executed properly. However, while Intelligent Systems seem to be moving in the right direction, the progress made here is not without its shortcomings.”