Dear Behaviour... (David King)
This post might be quite lengthy, but I’ll try to keep it as short and to the point as I can.
I’ve been playing DBD since 2017 and David King was always a character that jumped out to me. I’m from Manchester (England) and I found it so cool that David was also from here as I’ve never seen that before in a video game, as normally when a character is British they’re from London. Seeing how much detail the developers put into his perk names / quotes was amazing, as I never imagined seeing things like “Dead Hard’ and ‘No Mither’ being used as they’re just such niche expressions used in my home town.
I’ve grown up around sports and they were always something I excelled at during my time in school. Rugby was always my thing and then I got into kickboxing during my college years and now I’m a full-time Personal Trainer, which is just a dream job.
Since about the age of 7 I’ve known I was ‘different’ - I had girlfriends as that was what my family expected from me. Being anything other than heterosexual wasn’t ever discussed in my family. Men got with women and women got with men. That’s what I was brought up knowing to be true. I felt hollow for the longest time as I was living a life that I didn’t feel in control of. I was in auto-pilot for a long time, just doing what was expected from me and not doing what I actually wanted to do.
I went on a journey of self-discovery at the age of 25 when I realised that not allowing myself to be authentic was slowly killing me and it couldn’t go on much longer. I came to the conclusion that I was not a heterosexual male, but I was in fact a homosexual male. Being so heavily involved in sports for all my life just felt like I was locked in a cage. It’s no secret that that world can be deep rooted in homophobia and hearing some of the comments fellow teammates would make, just didn’t leave me feeling safe enough to be my true self. I loved sports and didn’t want to give that up and I felt like if they knew the real me, I’d be disowned. These feelings also lead back to my family. My mum was always talking about grandkids and how she couldn’t wait for me and my then-girlfriend to have them. I just had such an immense pressure on my shoulders to stay in the closet, but it eventually reached a boiling point.
When I did eventually ‘come out’ I got my fair share of bigoted comments from people I once classed as friends and family. Some didn’t understand how I could possibly be gay, because I wasn’t effeminate and had girlfriends. Which really boiled my blood. I didn’t realise somebody’s sexuality was a personality trait? Why couldn’t I be into ‘masculine’ things and still be gay? It never made sense to me.
Now this brings me back to David. Him being gay just resonates with me so damn much. We almost feel like the same person now. Some people don’t understand why representation is important, but this is why. If I had a character like David King whilst I was growing up, it would have made it a lot easier for me to accept who I was and realise there was never anything wrong with me.
I truly appreciate what Behaviour has done and I hope that the increase in representation we’re seeing throughout the media will make it easier for the youth of today, as my childhood / teen years truly felt like hell.
Thanks for reading and I’ll see you in the fog.
Comments
But it is still relevant. Positive representation in media for LGBTQ+ people is and will stay relevant.
this has nothing to do with BHVR feeling bad about something lol
A gunman went into a LGBTQ nightclub last night and killed five people before patrons were able to overpower them if anybody is still wondering why representation matters...
It wouldn't have changed anything if the favourite series character of that man turned out to be gay or lesbian, would it? I don't believe in media representation being anywhere profound if it's not real people. It's more like a tool box add-on. It can fix one and then gets useless.
Historically speaking, hatred of gays has its roots in the Middle Ages, when church members misused an excerpt from the Old Testament because they were disgusted by same-sex love. Basically, such people are the problem and you can't change them either. They have grown up with such bullshit. It would be more important to actively teach children openness in real life and to actively defend those who are victims of violence. A cartoon won't change much, just like any other artificially designed media representation.
It may just be me, the cigar or the ale speaking but the only reason for me to accept myself as I am was a friend I had a dead close connection to. He was just himself. The word gay never fell, even tho he was into men. He'd just do his thing and respect other people while doing so. Real people do the real change. We need to get rid of religion based gender role ideals.
Anyways, sad news. May whoever died that day rest in peace. I hope the gunman got thrown into the locker after being interrogated and psychological observated. Can't understand how someone can be so narcissistic that they think they have the authority to end someone else's life.
While I absolutely agree that this alone is very unlikely to fix someone, we see this all the time the other direction and given the father's reaction to the shooting (If you haven't seen it, the cliff notes is that he was horrified...that it might have meant that his son was gay), this particular shooter may have not been savable. But we see this kind of thing all the time with Racism and Sexism and whatnot where sometimes a kid/teen sees a video from some crazed dude spouting about how X is evil and they fall down the rabbit hole. Very few people just become horribly racist/sexist/uh...gayist? What would be the word for this against gay/lesbian people? Anyway, very few people start off at 100, they have something that sparks them and it builds from there. Something like this, while a tiny little baby step of a baby step, could just as easily be the beginning of the rabbit hole for someone else.
It's never going to be something we can objectively quantify because how do you quantify the tiny butterfly flap that might be the first steps to someone being a kind and caring person vs a crazed person who decides SOMEONE has to take action against those evil groomers but if it even stops one person from taking that path, it's 100% worth it.
(then this isn't even getting into those situations where someone raised in a "NO SON OF MINE IS GOING TO BE GAY!!!!!!!!" households where they might feel a little less alone to see a story like David's and decide that maybe it's not so bad to be different)
I agree with you there. And since the new day has already started I better get some sleep and have a butty and brew before commenting anymore.
trans/queer/inter/aro/ace isn’t anything new at all, it’s just getting now more and better accepted and acknowledged.
Is this a copypasta
no
Thanks for sharing you story to everyone hope you day will continue to go well for you a long with everyone
It's one of the most wholesome threads in the history of this forums, so yeah, I hope it remains pinned.
Beautiful story, they're still pandering/not doing enough tho
How do you simultaneously pander to a specific audience while also managing to not do enough?
The definition of pandering is "to gratify or indulge", so they can't be both pandering and not doing enough simultaneously.
If I had to hazard a guess, I'd suspect that they'd prefer BHVR go "all in" and make a new character part of the LGBTQ+ community, rather than reveal one of their pre-existing characters was LGBTQ+.
I truly don't know enough to have an educated opinion, but for what it's worth, to me it'd show they are willing to take a possible financial hit in order to further ally themselves with and show support for the LGBTQ+ community.
Oh I'm firmly in the camp of them doing not enough, but that's still not pandering because by definition it can't be pandering.
I want them to both make more characters LGBT+ and make more LGBT+ characters.
How do you simultaneously pander to a specific audience while also managing to not do enough?
i thought/hoped they were parodying the people that were never satisfied either way as would find something to complain (either pandering or not doing enough) anyway
it’s obviously something many people like, support and want to see, not only the devs/mods. It serves as a statement that people from the LGBTQ+ community are welcome here and in the game community as a whole.
if not for fictional characters, how would representation work otherwise? This is the whole point of representation in media like video games - and heterosexual themes have been part of video games and fictional characters since they exist.
Love how my posts in this thread seem like I make random arguments for representation because the posts I reply to get deleted 😅
Sorry for that, trying to keep the thread clean.
No need to be sorry I completely understand
just seems like I am arguing with ghosts (which I may also do some times)
The only posts that get deleted are those that break the forum rules.
Quite frequently because sadly a lot of this thread didn't get the memo that being homophobic isn't allowed here.
It's so sad that some people normalize their irrational hate to the point that they just vomit it everywhere and then act like THEY are the victims when taken to task.
It takes 0 effort to let other people be themselves, yet some people just...can't do that.
This is really awesome, I main David/Yui & didn't even know David was gay. I'm not much into the lore but I find it interesting that he is gay, I'm gay as well, haha.
I am not in any way a person that gets involved in any type of social movement or cause.
That being said it is not why most people assume, I have and always will have a "live happy and don't stop others from or judge others for living happy" mentality.
But as a person that just passively excepts all walks of life (exception being if you're living happy at the expense of others happiness), and doesn't actively engage one way or the other in the societal debates. This story was AMAZING because it did help you live happily because you knew if a character was made in with so many uncanny similarities to you... Then you knew people DID understand you. Which seems like something you needed some validation on to be happy.
This story may counter every argument on the community toxicity that's so widely claimed... I think one person finding a connection in game that helped them live happy beats 20,000 posts about how tilted people get in game.
And as someone whom usually avoids responding on social matters.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing this wholesome story! I came out to my mother last weekend, and it went far better than expected. Hopefully you continue living your truth, and that such results in a long life with many happy memories.
Omg I'm so happy for you
I’ve been MIA from the forums recently but I have seen all of the newest comments and I just want to say thank you again to everybody who has left nice comments and also shared their awesome stories. 💙
I'm very grateful you shared this story to forum
Bro you just like David King irl, no kidding lol
I see that this is an old thread, but I just wanted to say that I really appreciated reading it. I'm not very well versed in the lore of DbD (I'm pretty new), and I didn't realize David was gay, but I think it makes his character that much cooler. I, however, am just appreciating it from an outsider's perspective; I'm overjoyed that the character had such a positive effect on you. I wish you all the luck, and congratulations on being your true self!
This was such a heartwarming read, thank you for sharing your story. 100% agree Behavior did something really important for the community ❤️
If I made a post about how much I love women upon discovering that one of the DBD characters was a heterosexual woman, would that get pinned to the top of the forum? 🤔
I think you misunderstand the main reasoning for this post and the reason for pinning it. Hetero relationship have always been normalised but for many many eons Homosexual relationships weren't - and in many places, are still taboo.
This is why representation matters, this is why this post is pinned because it highlights how important representation is, and this is why the post will remain pinned.
This thread shows impressively, that many people are highly dependant of external attention. What about people in wheelchairs, handicapped people, poor people, people of the lower class...? There are so many people out there who manage to gain their confidence from themselves. They train pure internal love and confidence. When you need something in the outside to make you feel better/accepted, you will always be dependant and you will always feel an inner deficit.
I like the story here, but true love and compassion for yourself is untouched by external encouragement and attention. Otherwise you will always lack something, especially when you are confronted with criticism or you don´t get that popularity.
Representation is important, but not the gate to stable happiness
….
but not all people you are listing here are just happy the way they are, are they? Especially people with disabilities, in wheelchairs etc may struggle with their confidence or something and would actually benefit from good representation. Which isn’t a bad thing at all
when you just are different than the „norm“ you may feel this, they may make you feel this, purposefully or not, and representation in media can help here without resulting in the dependence you are describing. No one said it would magically make you happy just on its own as well..
This thread shows impressively, that many people are highly dependant of external attention.
literally nothing in this thread even lead me to think anyone here is highly dependent of external attention? Are you sure it’s not something you just assume here?
how can u be so blunt
Uhm can I ask how anyone's sexuality in this game has been established?
From the character’s bios and tome stories. David’s second tome story mentions him being unhappy in a forced hetero relationship, alludes to real life use of f-slurs in rugby that greatly offended him to the point of physical aggression which got him kicked out, and the fact that the entire story is about him coming to terms that he needs to let the love of his life, a guy, go.
(admittedly, it’s been close to year that I read the story, so I likely got some details wrong.)
It's almost like heterosexual relationships were the standard unless it was interracial which is a separate issue that got normalized even faster than homosexual relationships. Open up a history book instead of spouting ignorant crap like this
How he was blunt? He just expressed his opinion about this thread without insulting anyone (unlike you)... Now even the freedom of speech isn't allowed?
Freedom of speech has never been allowed on these forums lmao it's run by a private company with privately hired moderators to enforce rules the company decides on. Freedom of speech as is constantly parroted only applies to citizens under a government, and BHVR is not a government and so has no requirement to adhear to those rules.
This is a heartwarming story, but I dont think it outweighs having deadhard in the game....delete David and his perks pls
(I can't even troll without a disclaimer...this was such a sweet story <3)
People, a year later, still question and argue why representation matters in DBD. This post is not only one of few positive posts on the forums it also explains why representation matters. For those that are new to the forums that are questioning why representation matters the post is pinned to the top so it is easy for them to find.
If you don't like seeing this post, or any post, that's pinned to the top of the forums you can "dismiss" it. Just click on the 3 dots up top and then dismiss.
It’s been explained in the thread multiple times why this post stays pinned. Just ignore it, really, it is that simple.
Now what would you pin instead babygirl
This post is staying pinned, one year, two years, doesn't matter, the plan is to keep it pinned and that's not changing any time soon.
This is not for us as an excuse to pat ourselves on the back, this a thread for the community from the community and it is here to remind people that representation is important and always relevant.
I'd argue that given the state of media and the world as a whole currently, representation is more important and relevant now than it was a year ago, and subsequently it deserves to remain pinned.
I explained why this post has been pinned for a year which includes why it's still relevant but you chose to ignore the explanation and rather just focus on my saying "representation matters" 3 times.
You also seem to ignore the fact that you can dismiss pinned posts. If a pinned post is not something you personally care about you can dismiss it to remove what you consider "clutter" from the top of your feed.
"What would you pin instead?"
"Things that are currently relevant, otherwise it becomes a cluster of pinned posts."
"I'd argue representation is still currently relevant, maybe even more so than when the post was made"
"Representation or relevancy was not mentioned in my argument"
I mean you contradicted yourself in your very own argument so idk if you have tbh
It feels like you just came onto a positive thread to be negative because you personally didn't like that it was still pinned tried to make an excuse when you were called out on it, and now you're backing down because your arguments contradicted themselves.