Is Dragon Age the most Gay Friendly Game?

[Epic Fail 1977]

What irritates me here is America's obsession with PC terms. Afro-American! WTF? Just say black and be done with it. Black is only a racist term if you are racist. To the rest of us, it's a colour. The mere existence of the term "gay-friendly" implies that anything not labelled as such is gay-unfriendly. Black. White. Gay. Straight. Man. Woman. These are not racist, sexist or anything else-ist terms unless you choose to see them as such, and if you do you should ask yourself why.

I don't like the term "black" for describing myself and others because in most cases it is incorrect. I am not black-skinned. I have seen actual people with skin so black it almost appeared to be navy blue. For them it rings true but for me, it's nowhere near accurate.

I'm trying to think of a way to say "get over yourself" without sounding confrontational, but I can't. Why does black bother you? Are you of mixed race? Or whatever the PC word for that is? White is not an accurate description of my skin colour either, but I don't take offence at it. Why would I?

 

[Cheesepower5]

Gears of War is the most gay friendly game.

/thread

 

[LadyMint]

What irritates me here is America's obsession with PC terms. Afro-American! WTF? Just say black and be done with it. Black is only a racist term if you are racist. To the rest of us, it's a colour. The mere existence of the term "gay-friendly" implies that anything not labelled as such is gay-unfriendly. Black. White. Gay. Straight. Man. Woman. These are not racist, sexist or anything else-ist terms unless you choose to see them as such, and if you do you should ask yourself why.

I don't like the term "black" for describing myself and others because in most cases it is incorrect. I am not black-skinned. I have seen actual people with skin so black it almost appeared to be navy blue. For them it rings true but for me, it's nowhere near accurate.

I'm trying to think of a way to say "get over yourself" without sounding confrontational, but I can't. Why does black bother you? Are you of mixed race? Or whatever the PC word for that is? White is not an accurate description of my skin colour either, but I don't take offence at it. Why would I?

I don't know how much clearer I can be about it. Call me anal if you want, but again, it's a matter of accuracy for me. The same as if someone were to mispronounce my name. I don't go flying off the handle when it happens, I just don't like it when it does.

I'm also amused that the first thing that would come to your mind is to simply tell me to "get over it." I don't get on a soapbox and tell people these things about myself. In fact, I'm very tolerant of a lot of things that I could be uppity about. But you wondered why someone might not like using the term, and I told you exactly why it is for myself. It's the first time I've ever told anyone, to be honest.

 

[Epic Fail 1977]

What irritates me here is America's obsession with PC terms. Afro-American! WTF? Just say black and be done with it. Black is only a racist term if you are racist. To the rest of us, it's a colour. The mere existence of the term "gay-friendly" implies that anything not labelled as such is gay-unfriendly. Black. White. Gay. Straight. Man. Woman. These are not racist, sexist or anything else-ist terms unless you choose to see them as such, and if you do you should ask yourself why.

I don't like the term "black" for describing myself and others because in most cases it is incorrect. I am not black-skinned. I have seen actual people with skin so black it almost appeared to be navy blue. For them it rings true but for me, it's nowhere near accurate.

I'm trying to think of a way to say "get over yourself" without sounding confrontational, but I can't. Why does black bother you? Are you of mixed race? Or whatever the PC word for that is? White is not an accurate description of my skin colour either, but I don't take offence at it. Why would I?

I don't know how much clearer I can be about it. Call me anal if you want, but again, it's a matter of accuracy for me. The same as if someone were to mispronounce my name. I don't go flying off the handle when it happens, I just don't like it when it does.

I'm also amused that the first thing that would come to your mind is to simply tell me to "get over it." I don't get on a soapbox and tell people these things about myself. In fact, I'm very tolerant of a lot of things that I could be uppity about. But you wondered why someone might not like using the term, and I told you exactly why it is for myself. It's the first time I've ever told anyone, to be honest.

So you don't think black is racist then? Just inaccurate. So what would you rather be called? Brown? If it's a matter of accuracy then should people say "darker brown" during the summer? Should they be even more precise by saying RGB values or something? I'm being silly of course, but do you see what I'm getting at? Descriptive words are a necessity. Tall, short, fat, thin - these are broad terms. Same with black and white.

(P.S. "get over yourself" and "get over it" are not quite the same)

Edit:

Now I'm thinking.

Tall, short, fat, thin. I could add to that list: muscular, tubby/chubby, athletic, voluptuous, and so on and so on...

Black, white. Add to that list? Ummm...

Maybe you have a point. Damn it. I hate being wrong on the internet.

 

[Jaded Scribe]

And yet every gay relationship seems hollow and stupid.

Plus stereotypic gay man in form of a FUCKING ELF was so offensive and terrible it turned me off of the game.

Stereotypic gay man? You mean smart, witty, cunning, talented, loyal, brave and charming?

How dare they!! What an awful portrayal of gay/bisexual men.

/sarcasm.

Seriously, so he happened to be an elf, what's the big deal with that?

And how are they hollow and stupid? I loved Wade and Herran behaved very much like a married couple. Was their relationship a big deal? No. And honestly, I find that much better than having them run around waving a flag "Hey! Look! We're a gay couple!"

Yes, Zevran and Leliana are bisexual instead of gay. I think a lot of people didn't fully explore their character development, because their sexuality actually played a major role in who they were as characters, and gave them a sense of depth. (Consider how Leliana's bisexuality and urge to get out there and make some love conflicted with her vows, and how Zevran's lack of personal connections and interest in sex-only relationships is driven by the fact that his lifestyle [i.e. an assassin] does not encourage letting people get close.)

Their bisexuality also served the player's needs/wants. There are only 4 romanceable characters in game, and the other possible party members really wouldn't have made good fits for a romance. Ogren already had a love (first his wife, Branka, then another dwarven girl after he sees what Branka has become), Sten was too stoic, Wynne was too old (and not the cougar type), the "Secret Companion" (avoiding spoilers here) is around for too short a period and presents other complications, and Shale is made of stone.

With only 4 possibilities, that means that if they made Zevran and/or Leliana, players would have been incredibly limited (one per player/playthrough based on gender/orientation combinations). Yes, gay player-characters are limited to only one choice, but to be honest, adding in more characters just to balance it out would have felt heavy-handed, and overly driven by the need to be politically correct.

Dragon Age is very gay friendly. It lays out the option to alternative sexualities without forcing them on the player (for those who do not want, or are uncomfortable with them). They don't make a big deal about sexual orientation (the story is about saving the world from demons, not gay rights) and instead treat it with the dignity and nonchalance that it should be in our own society.



As to the OT, I don't know if it's the "most" gay-friendly, especially since I don't think that lacking a gay character makes it unfriendly. Forcing in, and making a big deal of, a gay character just makes things worse. Look at the idea of "the token black guy" in a lot of TV/movies. It's more insulting when they try to be overly PC about it.

I know in Fable II there are homosexual townspeople whom I can only assume you can hook up with, but I don't know if there are any repercussions associated.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Persona 4 explores gay relationships in a society where being gay is mostly frowned upon with greater depth, but DA:O just acknowledges that gay people exist. Which is more friendly to gay people themselves? It's hard to say. Is being able to pursue a gay relationship more friendly towards a gay player than an analysis of their sexuality?

 

[Jeyl]

Juhani from Bioware's original Knights of the Old Republic was gay. Here are the pieces.

- Juhani has commented on how she loved her former master, who was a woman.
- She and another female apprentice would spend nights together looking at the stars. If you kill Juhani and she finds out, she will try to kill you later on.
- A male apprentice developed a crush on Juhani but she didn't return his feelings, even when they were reunited.
- Juhani will only talk about how much she cares for you if you're a woman.

Pretty interesting that one of Bioware's earlier games that got them into the spot light was the only one that had a gay character who wasn't bisexual. To add irony into the field, it was a Star Wars game. You know? Based on that franchise that in all of it's Expanded Universe has never had one gay character? Juhani is indeed a rare gem.

 

[Mittens The Kitten]

This is a little off topic, but I really have to ask...

What does "gay friendly" mean? An American colleague of mine used this term just yesterday and it completely threw me. Gay friendly? As opposed to what? Gay unfriendly?

I'm British, but I'm building a website at the moment for an American client and the fucked up American attitude to gays is becoming a real headache. We want to provide the users with the ability to filter their results according to preferred sexuality, but according to my colleague the wording has to be just right or people will take offence and maybe even legal action. Apparently we can't just use the word "gay". Why the hell not? Is the word "gay" offensive or illegal in America? She got uncomfortable and suggested we use "gay friendly" as an alternative, but I pointed out that anyone who advertises on our site and doesn't tick the "gay friendly" box is immediately breaking the law.

Seriously, why can't you just say "gay" in America?

I just looked up "gay friendly" on Wikipedia. It says this is a North American term meaning: places, policies, people or institutions that are open and welcoming to gay people. Which makes it as clear as mud to me. Aren't all US places and institutions required to be "welcoming" to gay people by law? Back on topic, how does a game qualify as gay friendly? Is Gears of War not welcoming to gay people?

What irritates me here is America's obsession with PC terms. Afro-American! WTF? Just say black and be done with it. Black is only a racist term if you are racist. To the rest of us, it's a colour. The mere existence of the term "gay-friendly" implies that anything not labelled as such is gay-unfriendly. Black. White. Gay. Straight. Man. Woman. These are not racist, sexist or anything else-ist terms unless you choose to see them as such, and if you do you should ask yourself why.

We (americans) are not that sensitive to it, i think your friend is just being a little paranoid, the socially acceptable term for homosexuals here is "gay". Our supermarkets, resturants, theme parks, movie theatres and basically all buisinesses are gay-neutral, everyone is just a person and no establish that i have EVER been to has had an anti-gay bias and the vast vast vast majority have nothing to say on the subject, people here just dont care about that type of thing that much.
Same thing with race and gender.

 

[Sacman]

Persona 4 does homosexuality better than Dragon Age with the character of Kanji. While Dragon Age had homosexual relationships, there was no commentary on interesting development based on those sexual preferences. The exploration of Kanji's sexuality was far more open than two guys or two girls having sex, which was all the homosexual relationships in Dragon Age really amounted to.

I bought Persona 4 today... I'm gonna play it when I'm done with my corndogs...

Spoiler: mmmm...corndogs...

 

[Deh Zebra]

I think game developers are just taking a step forward for society by introducing homosexual or bisexual characters, and if anything, I don't think it's for humour's sake.

 

[Kortney]

I don't see why it has to be such a big issue. It was like last year when people were calling the Mass Effect developers homophobic because they didn't include an option to have a gay romance. Maybe it was because Bioware didn't want to place Shepard as a gay character? Surely they have the right to do that. Whilst many aspects of the character are determined by the player - Shepard certainly has many restrictions as to how you could role play him/her. I don't see why everyone has to scream discrimination all the time.

I understand that some people love freedom of choice in romance during video games. But wanting it in every action-rpg you play is a little strange to me.

 

[GoldenUnicorn]

If you like gay friendly game you should check out The Journey to Kelabra, all characters are hot guys and they're all gay

http://rescuetheprince.com

 

[Midnight Crossroads]

Well, according to Extra Credit the best game to ever feature homosexuality is Persona 4, so that will probably be the consensus among the population on this site.

I'm not sure what it means for a game to be gay friendly. I know lots of JRPGs have their villians as flamboyant and feminine pretty boys, but I think that's more a Japanese thing and less a throw the gays down the well thing.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Well, according to Extra Credit the best game to ever feature homosexuality is Persona 4, so that will probably be the consensus among the population on this site.

I'm not sure what it means for a game to be gay friendly. I know lots of JRPGs have their villians as flamboyant and feminine pretty boys, but I think that's more a Japanese thing and less a throw the gays down the well thing.

I will say Persona 4 having played the game. Multiple times. Before EC stated the obvious and said it was awesome. I was genuinely surprised when he wasn't romanceable. Persona 4 is a JRPG. You are thinking of the bad ones, like FFX.

 

[Midnight Crossroads]

Well, according to Extra Credit the best game to ever feature homosexuality is Persona 4, so that will probably be the consensus among the population on this site.

I'm not sure what it means for a game to be gay friendly. I know lots of JRPGs have their villians as flamboyant and feminine pretty boys, but I think that's more a Japanese thing and less a throw the gays down the well thing.

I will say Persona 4 having played the game. Multiple times. Before EC stated the obvious and said it was awesome. I was genuinely surprised when he wasn't romanceable. Persona 4 is a JRPG. You are thinking of the bad ones, like FFX.

Of course. Everyone played Persona 4 before Extra Credit made it fashionable. Which is why it was the most talked about game on the forum.

I'm seriously not following your last two sentences. Persona was in the first paragraph. It wasn't related to the second paragraph unless you though by "lots of" I meant "all." Your snobbery is noted. I don't care what JRPGs you like.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Well, according to Extra Credit the best game to ever feature homosexuality is Persona 4, so that will probably be the consensus among the population on this site.

I'm not sure what it means for a game to be gay friendly. I know lots of JRPGs have their villians as flamboyant and feminine pretty boys, but I think that's more a Japanese thing and less a throw the gays down the well thing.

I will say Persona 4 having played the game. Multiple times. Before EC stated the obvious and said it was awesome. I was genuinely surprised when he wasn't romanceable. Persona 4 is a JRPG. You are thinking of the bad ones, like FFX.

Of course. Everyone played Persona 4 before Extra Credit made it fashionable. Which is why it was the most talked about game on the forum.

I'm seriously not following your last two sentences. Persona was in the first paragraph. It wasn't related to the second paragraph unless you though by "lots of" I meant "all." Your snobbery is noted. I don't care what JRPGs you like.

Looking back, my last couple of sentences are....disjointed. I'm just saying that you are coming off a little snobbish. There were Atlus fanboys before that EC episode. Implying that anyone who says Persona 4 is just repeating EC is a little douchey.