Video games are increasingly exploring the concept of 'queer time,' a notion that challenges the conventional, heteronormative progression of life milestones and personal timelines. This exploration allows players to interrogate and reinvent their relationship with time, identity, and societal expectations.
Growing up in many societies, individuals often face implicit timelines for achieving milestones such as starting a career, marrying, and buying a home. However, for many queer individuals, these timelines are not only inaccessible but also alienating. Institutionalized queerphobia, limited education on queer issues, and inadequate anti-discrimination laws can delay personal journeys of self-discovery and coming of age. Queer time, therefore, acknowledges this divergent temporal rhythm, where individuals embrace living at their own pace.
Don't Nod's "Life is Strange" is a prime example of how games visualize queer time. The protagonist, Max, possesses the ability to manipulate time, allowing her to revisit conversations and prevent harm. Her most significant use of this power is to repeatedly save her best friend and love interest, Chloe. Beyond its literal application, Max's time-bending ability metaphorically represents a yearning to spend more time with a lost friend, mirroring the queer experience of feeling out of sync with societal expectations and the belief that one's life can only truly begin after self-acceptance. The constant disasters in the game also threaten to shorten their precious time together, echoing the disorienting effects of queerphobia.
Dreamfeel's visual novel "If Found" centers on Kasio, a trans woman confronting familial disapproval of her identity. Her mother dismisses her identity as a phase, and her brother espouses transphobic views. This personal narrative is interwoven with a sci-fi subplot about a black hole threatening Earth. Kasio's experiences embody displaced time, with her mother urging her to conform to heteronormative expectations. Her identity is deeply intertwined with temporality, as she grapples with feeling alienated in her own room due to the need to accommodate visiting guests. The game's climax, where Kasio connects her emotional collapse to the concept of time ceasing to exist in a black hole, highlights the damaging nature of hegemonic time constructs.
The sense of isolation experienced by queer individuals when peers reach milestones ahead of them is powerfully depicted in Gritfish's "Killing Time At Light Speed." Set in a future with interstellar travel, a 29-year journey on Earth takes only 30 minutes for the protagonist, Jay. Through the ship's text-based interface, Jay can stay in touch with friends via a social media platform. However, for every refresh, a year passes on Earth. Jay witnesses friends getting married and having children, but meaningful engagement becomes impossible as time dilates. Eventually, friends move on to new platforms inaccessible to Jay, culminating in a desolate ending that exemplifies queer loneliness through the lens of warped time.
Conversely, Anna Anthropy's hypertext game "Queers In Love At The End Of The World" reduces gameplay to ten-second intervals. Set during an apocalypse, players have a fleeting moment to interact with their partner, forcing split-second decisions. Conventional life markers are erased, replaced by a cyclical, queer progression of time. Each playthrough explores different outcomes within these brief windows, emphasizing the ephemeral nature of moments.
The emergence of queer temporality is historically linked to the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, a period that drastically reshaped the perception of time for many in the queer community. By allowing individuals to explore, interrogate, and reinvent their relationship with time and life's milestones, these games serve as liberatory expressions of queer identity and experience.