“Straight Male Gamer” told to ‘get over it’ by BioWare

I commented on the No More Lost blog today, in response to a story they posted.

In summary:

"BioWare adopted a (sadly) very special and very principled stance in designing one of their recent games, Dragon Age 2. Their stance was simple: relationships are for everybody, whether gay, straight, or anything else in between. You can also have have more than one romance at a time with the game’s characters. In this game, everybody is equal. Too equal, it seems, for one particular straight male gamer who was upset to be on the receiving end of a little flirting from another male character in the game. The reaction of this Straight Male Gamer? – To post a new thread on Bioware’s forums to complain…"

I didn't feel the need to respond to the "Straight Male Gamer" directly, as he is clearly a moron and by his own admission homophobic; "I personally find it to be digusting(sic)", so his opinions really don't matter to me. But BioWare took a very unusual step in implementing same-sex options into their game in the first place, and then to go on and defend their decisions in such a reasonable and logical manner deserves recognition and support.

"When I was growing up every magazine, every book, every film, told me I should be straight. I got quite expert at reading between the lines, inventing my own subtext, and imagining same-sex romances that weren’t there. The world is slightly more inclined to accept human nature these days and minorities are more accurately represented in the media and entertainment industries, there is certainly not equality but some progress has been made.

Gaming however is still a bit of a dinosaur, particularly in the area of sexuality. I’m used to playing story driven games that ignore my demographic (Gay Male Gamer), so it is a huge treat when a developer includes options that cater for me. Of course it’s not appropriate for every game to involve sex or romance, but when it is an option, like in Dragon Age, it makes for a much more immersive experience if we’re allowed to choose our partners, and the opposite happens if we’re denied it. For example, when I played Knights of the Old Republic, I turned down the advances of the female characters, the same was true in Mass Effect, the result being that it felt like I missed out on interesting storyline arcs and possibilities.

Kudos to BioWare for going some way to help redress the balance with the Dragon Age series, and thanks to David Gaider for his intelligent and well-reasoned response on this issue. Gaming has taken another step out of the dark ages.

Arahan

April 7, 2011 at 5:38 pm"

See the original thread for links to the complaint from the Straight Male Gamer, and the response from BioWare's David Gaider.