This made me laugh pretty hard.MaxwellEdison said:
I'm hetero, myself. I've had gay men make passes at me, and hey! It's flattering, even though I can't reciprocate an attraction.
Dragon Age 2 Lead Writer Blasts Homophobic Fan
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I'm hetero, myself. I've had gay men make passes at me, and hey! It's flattering, even though I can't reciprocate an attraction.
Everyone is saying how there is no character reason for everyone to be bisexual. But it seems to me that, for three of the four at least, their characters WOULD lead that way quite logically.
Merrill - Has been essentially cast out of her clan, and was emotionally neglected if not abused before then. She is now in a foreign place, with only a small handful of people to depend on. Is it really any surprise she'd feel affection to the leader of that group if kindness and affection were shown to her?
Anders - More than anything else, Anders feels he is personally at war with the Templars. A war that, until recently, he had been fighting completely alone. Suddenly, he has a friend. An ally. Someone to help him when no one else was willing. Someone brave enough to stand up to injustice, despite the opinion being unpopular. Isn't homophobia another injustice that the spirit inside him would compel him to oppose?
Isabela - Is Isabela. I don't think I need to say more.
So other than Fenris, who I have not met, tell me where the characterization for any of the companions would lead you to believe that they couldn't or wouldn't love someone of either gender. It seems to me that Bioware wrote their histories specifically to lead to this result.
Merrill - Has been essentially cast out of her clan, and was emotionally neglected if not abused before then. She is now in a foreign place, with only a small handful of people to depend on. Is it really any surprise she'd feel affection to the leader of that group if kindness and affection were shown to her?
Anders - More than anything else, Anders feels he is personally at war with the Templars. A war that, until recently, he had been fighting completely alone. Suddenly, he has a friend. An ally. Someone to help him when no one else was willing. Someone brave enough to stand up to injustice, despite the opinion being unpopular. Isn't homophobia another injustice that the spirit inside him would compel him to oppose?
Isabela - Is Isabela. I don't think I need to say more.
So other than Fenris, who I have not met, tell me where the characterization for any of the companions would lead you to believe that they couldn't or wouldn't love someone of either gender. It seems to me that Bioware wrote their histories specifically to lead to this result.
Honestly, as a bisexual male gamer who has finally reached an age where I'm comfortable just being myself I have to say that this response by Bioware has made me even more loyal to the company.
People who are brought up with privilege honestly can't usually understand what it is like to be in the minority. Nobody once stops to think if gay men find it "offensive" or discomforting when female NPCs in a game flirt with them, but there is an outcry if a straight male gamer feels uncomfortable when a gay male flirts with him.
Women have been having to put up with unwanted attention since the dawn of time; I don't see much of a problem with forcing people out of their comfort zone a bit. It *is* possible that a gay or bisexual man will come onto a straight man, and if he is turned down, he might have his feelings hurt. That's life; to see it reflected so beautifully in a game is simply brilliant and excellent writing.
I'd be truly sad indeed to see people need to implement a "homosexual/bisexual/heterosexual" option in a game. Part of life is learning how to graciously decline unwanted attention; something most women learn very early on. That's probably why you don't hear too many women complaining about female characters "hitting" on them - if they're not interested, they can simply say so.
If the situation involved violent rape or forced sex I can see where it would be a problem but a simple come-on? I'm glad Bioware stuck to their guns on this one and I am even more glad for the writer's response.
People who are brought up with privilege honestly can't usually understand what it is like to be in the minority. Nobody once stops to think if gay men find it "offensive" or discomforting when female NPCs in a game flirt with them, but there is an outcry if a straight male gamer feels uncomfortable when a gay male flirts with him.
Women have been having to put up with unwanted attention since the dawn of time; I don't see much of a problem with forcing people out of their comfort zone a bit. It *is* possible that a gay or bisexual man will come onto a straight man, and if he is turned down, he might have his feelings hurt. That's life; to see it reflected so beautifully in a game is simply brilliant and excellent writing.
I'd be truly sad indeed to see people need to implement a "homosexual/bisexual/heterosexual" option in a game. Part of life is learning how to graciously decline unwanted attention; something most women learn very early on. That's probably why you don't hear too many women complaining about female characters "hitting" on them - if they're not interested, they can simply say so.
If the situation involved violent rape or forced sex I can see where it would be a problem but a simple come-on? I'm glad Bioware stuck to their guns on this one and I am even more glad for the writer's response.
I'm a bisexual male and I've had men AND women hit on me that I simply wasn't attracted to - I chalk it up to the same thing. People act as if every straight man is going to appreciate every straight woman hitting on him - and this is obviously not so.Still Life said:
Why not treat it no differently than politely declining a woman who you aren't interested in coming onto you? Be flattered, politely decline, and move on with your life. I've certainly turned down more people in my lifetime than I have hooked up with; this has nothing to do with sexuality and everything to do with matters of taste.
And what is a straight male except a man with a taste for women over men? How is that so different than men who would be turned off by, for example, a woman a foot taller and 50lbs heavier than them trying to flirt? How is it different than a woman who has said "No, thank you" to the 50th man who has tried hitting on her in a night club while she's out dancing with her female friends?
I'm so happy that this topic is something Bioware is willing to speak openly on.
"Dear God,
I got hit on by a guy at a gay bar today. I feel that you continue to neglect your straight male audience of several billion people and I demand that you remove all gay people from existence, which is obviously only about a thousand or so people.
Much (Ironic) love,
Someone as straight as a highway."
But seriously, it's good to see BioWare defending their work.
They will always be my favorite developer, not simply because of this but also because they live and breathe superb RPGs.
I got hit on by a guy at a gay bar today. I feel that you continue to neglect your straight male audience of several billion people and I demand that you remove all gay people from existence, which is obviously only about a thousand or so people.
Much (Ironic) love,
Someone as straight as a highway."
But seriously, it's good to see BioWare defending their work.
They will always be my favorite developer, not simply because of this but also because they live and breathe superb RPGs.
I read the guys complaint and to the problem is not about demographics. It is about Bioware's failure to make distinctions in different types of relationships. What I mean by this is that having a character who is gay should automatically equate to them hitting on the male player. If you are roleplaying as a strait male character then the other characters in the game should respond to you as a strait male character. Not to say that having the option is a bad thing, but Bioware should have had the maturity to see that a strait and gay man can be friends without the gay one trying to start a romantic relationship. This might not be a "Game-Breaking" flaw, but I do see as something Bioware might want to consider in the future.
The over-the-top sexual intentions from Zevran where at least somewhat fitting his character. As an hedonist and as an assassin who drew benefits from his "pleasueres".Genuine Evil said:
Issabella was just a slut.
David Gaider hits the nail on the head, he replies perfectly. I totally agree. The "fan" post have no sense. All options MUST be possible, like you or not. Btw Bioware cannot play both sides; I explain: they say this accurate answer by one hand, but by other hand, in ME use Sheploo image for all (trailers, posters, covers...) that just represents a particular group of people but not everybody. It is a hypocrite behaviour. Hopefully David Gaider's reply change bioware's way just that moment, but I suppose that not.
I'm betting she has more venereal diseases than James Bond... and probably 3 belonging to sharks.Mimsofthedawg said:if that's my only choice, I'd complain too.Kasurami said:Because there were absolutely no romantic choices deigned to pander to the straight male demographic within Dragon Age 2.
Homophobia or not, there really isn't much to romance in the game for a straight male, unless you like the "awkward socially inept kooky type", or the "sleeps with everything she comes across" type. There's no "average" female love interest.
Heck, I would've rather romanced Varric than Merrill or Isabela, and I'm a straight male, LOL.
Who doesn't want hot dwarf sex (straight or not). I do wish Varric was a romanceble character.SnakeCL said:
What i do find funny is every bashes the idiot for his homophobic reaction but nobody seem to touch the subject what he opens with. The fact he thinks hardly any girls plays games and the ones that do mostly play the sims in his opinion.
oh man, how many homophobic gamer threads can there be.
"i cant relate to a gay character, but i can totally relate to a cybernetically altered space marine fighting monsters, wah wah"
search bar was no help, has there ever been a poll to see how many straight male, straight female, bi male, bi female, lesbian gamers, gay gamers, are members on this site?
just curious
"i cant relate to a gay character, but i can totally relate to a cybernetically altered space marine fighting monsters, wah wah"
search bar was no help, has there ever been a poll to see how many straight male, straight female, bi male, bi female, lesbian gamers, gay gamers, are members on this site?
just curious
Wow. Just wow. Talk about prejudice and discrimination. This guy was NOT homophobic at all. If you read ANY part of his post (let alone the entirety) it is very clear he is talking about marketing and design budgets. He's wrong of course, because it actually would take more time to add exceptions to whether flirt options should appear based on whether Hawke is male or female. And as far as marketing goes, the game was clearly designed around male Hawke romancing Isabela (as well as marketed as such in trailers/commercials).
The people who say that this guy is homophobic are, themselves, ignorant and should be ashamed.
The people who say that this guy is homophobic are, themselves, ignorant and should be ashamed.
I don't get it, almost no men hit on me when I was playing a male character--just Zevran as I recall. Did everyone else find the secret gay bar or something?
It's still hard to take his self-entitled whining seriously when his main argument is "why can't I turn off teh gay and have a nice white-bread female romance choice?" Put all the sandy odor-absorbing litter over that turd you want, the lovely ammonia-scented undertone of "EWWWW GAAAAAAY" still seeps through.MicManGuy said:
Also, I did read his entire rant. And I will be hard pressed to believe that this whole argument of his did not sprout from the seed that he finds homosexuality disgusting, however much he argues that it is for 'the overwhelming majority'. Bioware has lost fans like him, he claims, due to the choice to include choices that bring in a wider demographic than just the Straight Male Gamer. Meaning Bioware should focus on Straight Male Gamers, yes?
He implies that those other groups? Women and gay people? Giving them a choice isn't worth limiting the number of hot white-ish chicks he can bang in-game.
A choice for everyone < more choices for the Straight Male Gamer.
And this is considered a BAD thing. You wanna talk about prejudice and discrimination.
Oh come on, look I don't really have anything diversity in games, but it does seem just a little bit lazy on BioWare's half just to make all of the character flip-flop there sexuality on the whim of the player. It would at least make sense to include some 100% strait characters, that way things seem a bit more realistic. I know games are meant for escapism, but that doesn't give you a free pass to make all of the relationships "sexual power fantasies". Video game stories and role-playing should include life experiences that one might find themselves in later in life, and by playing through them learn something about themselves. This goes for both strait and gay gamers. Listen guys, sometimes you'll really like a girl and she just wouldn't be interested (and vise-versa) not because they're a homosexual, but because she just does't see you that way. So overall, friendly characters should have at personally that more or less sticks with them during your interactions, this makes them more understandable as people and improves on the gaming experience.scw55 said:
And sometimes in real life, you meet a straight girl and you yourself are sexually attracted to her, but she doesn't feel the same way because you're goddamn ugly/Pathetic/A twat.Ian Lutz said:
I don't see why that would be any more realistic than sexually open companions.
Honestly even though i'm straight and my DA characters usually play out being straight too, it is considerably more realistic on a social aspect that you would still get gay guys hitting on you, i mean it happens man.
Though the ignorance of this whining fool is unbelievable to say the very least. Some people are hopeless.
Though the ignorance of this whining fool is unbelievable to say the very least. Some people are hopeless.
It is not just about making "sexually closed companions", it is about characterization. It is about making companions that act separately from the player. Like co-op, but with the computer. In other words the relationship seemed tacked on. Some of these character I would see having a relationship with their leader, even with the player "wooing" them. Video games get accused enough o being power fantasies as far as violence goes, the last thing we need is for them to be consider sexual power fantasies. I mean don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that BioWare sucks at writing video game stories. I'm saying the this is an aspect that could be improved upon. Relationships in a game can be as interesting as the main quest, and teach the player something about their own lives. I just don't want to see that wasted on what amounts to a over-simplified dating sim.
Why?Ian Lutz said:
Because bisexual people cannot be in proximity to one another by chance?
As far as I care, every single character being 100% homosexual is just as realistic as everyone being straight.
It being less likely to be true, statistically speaking, it doesn't mean it's less realistic.
And since we're speaking of realism, why not mention the characters that turns down your advances?