It's easy to feel sorry for the videogame princess: While the hero is off slaying dragons, her job is to wait around looking pretty. But one digital damsel refuses to be a victim. Brendan Main takes a closer look at the character of Sheik from The Legend of Zelda.

Hateful name-calling on Xbox Live isn't the only kind of homophobia that gay gamers have to endure; there's also the conspicuous lack of gay characters in single-player titles. Alice Bonasio speaks with Peter Molyneux, George Skleres and Chris Vizzini about how developers can include more gay perspectives in their games.

Traditionally, Japanese developers haven't shied away from depicting gay and transgender characters in their games. But when these titles make their way overseas, it's a different story. Andrew Webster looks at how publishers have censored gay characters for North American audiences.

For straight gamers, videogames can often be an escape from a painful reality. But for gay gamers, videogames offer little respite from prejudice and homophobia. Robert Yang recalls his experience developing a Half-Life 2 mod featuring gay characters and the response it provoked.