Queer play is everywhere

Blaseball is pretty difficult to explain. On its surface it’s a browser-based fantasy sports simulator. Players with randomly generated names like Zephyr McCloud and Justice Spoon bat and pitch their way through 100 games per week for teams like the Ohio Worms and the Hellmouth Sunbeams. And also along the way people get incinerated, or do sick skateboard tricks, or have run-ins with gods.

Blaseball is also pretty commonly regarded as a queer game. That might seem odd, at first, because none of the characters exist beyond lines of text describing their hits, strikes, or untimely deaths. But fans have become a buzzing, communal lore factory, turning the game into something much richer.

Any interpretation of a Blaseball character is considered valid, but no matter the individual preferences of any given fan, the overall climate is inclusive and celebratory of all genders and sexualities. And some lore is widely accepted enough to become near-standard, like the multi-gendered polycule that makes up the San Francisco Lovers, first suggested by nonbinary captain Knight Urlacher. Or the relationship between Breckenridge Jazz Hands pitcher Wyatt Pothos and former Toyko Lift hitter Wyatt Quitter. (The characters not having assigned genders obviously also means this relationship is open to interpretation, but Pothos is usually given she/her pronouns and Quitter they/them).

Don’t be fooled by the lack of mechanical integration of this on the website – it’s absolutely part of playing the game of Blaseball. You can play without getting involved in it, but it is encouraged and facilitated by the developers, who deliberately draw their teams and players with huge blank spaces for fans to enjoy filling in themselves. And a well-moderated Discord server adds the potential for community and collaboration.