{"id":889780,"date":"2025-12-22T15:48:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T15:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/autism-queerness-and-unmasked-gaming-a-personal-reflection"},"modified":"2025-12-22T15:48:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T15:48:14","slug":"autism-queerness-and-unmasked-gaming-a-personal-reflection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/autism-queerness-and-unmasked-gaming-a-personal-reflection\/","title":{"rendered":"Autism, queerness, and unmasked gaming &#8211; a personal reflection"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/autism-queerness-and-unmasked-gaming-a-personal-reflection.jpg\" \/> <\/p>\n<p><em>Hello! Eurogamer is once again marking Pride with another week of features celebrating the intersection of LGBTQIA+ culture and gaming. Today, Dr Lloyd (Meadhbh) Houston reflects on what learning more about their neurotype has taught them about gaming and queerness.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>This article is about coming out, though not in the way you might expect.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, following a period of burnout and a lot of conversations with neurodivergent friends and loved ones, I began the process of seeking a diagnosis for autism. It feels right to discuss this publicly for the first time in the context of a Eurogamer Pride Week piece. My queerness, my neurotype, and my love of gaming are intimately connected in ways that I&#8217;m finally in a position to make sense of and to celebrate, and Eurogamer and the community it has fostered have played an important part in that journey.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/autism-queerness-and-unmasked-gaming-a-personal-reflection\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/autism-queerness-and-unmasked-gaming-a-personal-reflection\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hello! Eurogamer is once again marking Pride with another week of features celebrating the intersection of LGBTQIA+ culture and gaming. Today, Dr Lloyd (Meadhbh) Houston reflects on what learning more about their neurotype has taught them about gaming and queerness. This article is about coming out, though not in the way you might expect. Last year, following a period of burnout and a lot of conversations with neurodivergent friends and loved ones, I began the process of seeking a diagnosis for autism. It feels right to discuss this publicly for the first time in the context of a Eurogamer Pride Week piece. My queerness, my neurotype, and my love of gaming are intimately connected in ways that I&#8217;m finally in a position to make sense&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"excerpt-more\"><a class=\"blog-excerpt button\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/autism-queerness-and-unmasked-gaming-a-personal-reflection\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":889781,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[259,85,8712,1348,10952,542,773,91,957,5866,8711,8673,8751,21,1386,59,136,4799,6862,12891,736,844,44,45,1928,34,53,86,54,7854,3987,485,8011,8942,534,60,4616],"class_list":["post-889780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eurogamer","tag-action-adventure","tag-activision-blizzard","tag-bird-view-isometric","tag-blizzard-entertainment","tag-ea-partners","tag-electronic-arts","tag-first-person","tag-fps","tag-konami","tag-metal-gear-solid-3-snake-eater","tag-multiplayer-competitive","tag-multiplayer-cooperative","tag-narrative-story-driven","tag-nintendo-switch","tag-overwatch-2","tag-pc","tag-platformer","tag-portal","tag-portal-2","tag-pride-week-2024","tag-ps2","tag-ps3","tag-ps4","tag-ps5","tag-puzzle","tag-rpg","tag-science-fiction","tag-shooter","tag-single-player","tag-system-shock-reboot","tag-third-person","tag-valve","tag-valve-corporation","tag-valve-software","tag-xbox-360","tag-xbox-one","tag-xbox-series-x-s"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Autism, queerness, and unmasked gaming - a personal reflection | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Hello! Eurogamer is once again marking Pride with another week of features celebrating the intersection of LGBTQIA+ culture and gaming. Today, Dr Lloyd\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/autism-queerness-and-unmasked-gaming-a-personal-reflection\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Autism, queerness, and unmasked gaming - a personal reflection | Arcader News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hello! Eurogamer is once again marking Pride with another week of features celebrating the intersection of LGBTQIA+ culture and gaming. Today, Dr Lloyd\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/autism-queerness-and-unmasked-gaming-a-personal-reflection\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-22T15:48:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/autism-queerness-and-unmasked-gaming-a-personal-reflection.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"270\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/autism-queerness-and-unmasked-gaming-a-personal-reflection\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/autism-queerness-and-unmasked-gaming-a-personal-reflection\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"headline\":\"Autism, queerness, and unmasked gaming &#8211; a personal reflection\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-22T15:48:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/autism-queerness-and-unmasked-gaming-a-personal-reflection\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":158,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/autism-queerness-and-unmasked-gaming-a-personal-reflection\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/autism-queerness-and-unmasked-gaming-a-personal-reflection.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Action-Adventure\",\"Activision Blizzard\",\"Bird view \\\/ Isometric\",\"Blizzard Entertainment\",\"EA Partners\",\"Electronic Arts\",\"first-person\",\"fps\",\"konami\",\"Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater\",\"Multiplayer Competitive\",\"Multiplayer Cooperative\",\"Narrative \\\/ Story Driven\",\"Nintendo Switch\",\"overwatch-2\",\"PC\",\"Platformer\",\"portal\",\"Portal 2\",\"Pride Week 2024\",\"PS2\",\"PS3\",\"PS4\",\"PS5\",\"Puzzle\",\"RPG\",\"science fiction\",\"Shooter\",\"single-player\",\"System Shock Reboot\",\"Third Person\",\"valve\",\"Valve Corporation\",\"Valve Software\",\"Xbox 360\",\"Xbox One\",\"Xbox Series X\\\/S\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Eurogamer\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/autism-queerness-and-unmasked-gaming-a-personal-reflection\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/autism-queerness-and-unmasked-gaming-a-personal-reflection\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/autism-queerness-and-unmasked-gaming-a-personal-reflection\\\/\",\"name\":\"Autism, queerness, and unmasked gaming - a personal reflection | Arcader News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/autism-queerness-and-unmasked-gaming-a-personal-reflection\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/autism-queerness-and-unmasked-gaming-a-personal-reflection\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/autism-queerness-and-unmasked-gaming-a-personal-reflection.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-22T15:48:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"description\":\"Hello! 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