ME3 Homosexuality Chapter (meant to be Ironic?)

[Kahunaburger]

Also, just for kicks, I just messaged Miss Hepler on the Bioware forums in order to clear this all up. She's on maternity leave so I may not get a response for a while (or at all) but I'm sick and tired of all the unwarranted hate for Bioware, so I figured it'd be worth a try.

Good call - this is pretty plausible either as something Bioware's actually doing, or something someone whipped up in MS Paint to troll haters.

 

[Thaius]

I agree entirely, actually. The annoying thing to me is that this is still a hot issue in our culture; though most people will not try to force gay characters to be straight, many players will feel uncomfortable going along with a "homosexuality is awesome!" chapter, but any response other than that will be considered evil. I love, I mean freaking love, the Mass Effect games, but this is getting a little out of hand.

EDIT: That is to say, if it's actually how the game is being designed. I kind of hope it was just an ironic, satyrical post.

 

[Nimcha]

Hah, it had me fooled if it's indeed a troll!

 

[barash]

I left that :trollface there for a reason people.. Some of you lot are waaaay too uptight

 

[icaritos]

OK, gay people in games. Here's the thing about me and homosexuality: I don't care. It does not bother me or matter to me or even have anything to do with me. I do not want to face the issue because I have too much shit to face on a day to day basis anyway. Bioware seems to be pulling a LOLSODEEP load of shit, the kind that normally fills a game with gore, female nudity, and language but this time fills it with unusual (as in, not often included into games) options. The problem is that this isn't really working, it feels like it's being shoved right down my throat and I really, really don't like it. It would be fine if I could avoid that part of the game altogether, but oh no, I must see something about homosexuality anyway.

Yeah man, you're so right. You should be able to just avoid situations you don't want to face in the game. I mean, I hate politics, I don't want anything to do with it. Yet Bioware forces me to meet with that stupid Council every time I want to play ME1! I don't want politics shoved in my face, I just want to shoot stuff and kill Reapers!

To be fair, you don't deal with politics. You just yell at/get yelled at by members of the council or representatives of authority. Even Tali's trial was the bare minimum of politics.

Also, just a quick note, politics do have to do with the main story. You need whole races to stop the galactic onslaught, so of course you'll be dealing with (very watered down) inter-species politics. Where homosexuality fits into the main plot, the actual story not the side quests, the plot of stopping a living apocalypse, is anyone's guess.
_And that's what's going on. Something that has no relation to the grand scheme of things is being shoved into your face as the story takes a halt to deal with issues of homophobia. I say "takes a halt" because they say "entire chapter" not "one mission/a few convos between missions". If it was only for those who looked for it (i.e. the drama of having a homosexual romance) then there'd be no issue. It's optional so it doesn't matter if it's part of the main plot or not and can be a part if you want it to be (like with the whole love interest thing in general).
I mean, even if the plot involved homosexuality (or to be even broader: the issues of societal pressure on a personal scale ala Persona 4 or something) in some way then it'd be fine.
But it doesn't.
And it isn't.

It seems to be pretty clear that homosexuality is being used as a catalyst for some tension in the crew. That to me seems a perfectly valid story. They could've also used the racism issue, and maybe they will.

I can see we're not going to agree on this. Fine. I'll stay with my original point then: you're overreacting. The only one who's actually making a big deal out of this is you.

No it isn't a good thing, it is a terrible, terrible thing.

The first games handled homosexuality perfectly, in that no one gave a shit. It gives a sense that humanity had developed to a point where discussing who a person was fucking was completely trite. Now to backtrack that is to suggest that, 200 years from now after having discovered space travel and alien species, we would still be wondering whether someone sexuality has an effect on their character.

To summarize, in any other game such discussions would be valid. But in a game that supposedly represents the future of humanity I'd like to think we would be beyond such a pointless mentality. Hell I fucked Tali and no one batted an eye why the fuck should they care if someone was gay, it makes no sense.

 

[Kahunaburger]

I left that :trollface there for a reason people.. Some of you lot are waaaay too uptight

Haha, I totally believed that. Well played, sir.

 

[LiquidGrape]

Now that we've established that the thing shouldn't be taken seriously, I would like to address some points about the recent discourse which I find problematic.

I would readily agree that, in the midst of a struggle for the survival of organic life as we know it, a whole chapter dedicated to sexual prejudice would be rather uncalled for.
It's not a realistic notion, but as we are now aware, it was never even mentioned in the first place.

However, I do think that Mass Effect should address these sexual themes by other means. So far, the franchise has had dubious sexual politics at best, allowing only the female incarnation of Shepard to pursue homosexual relationships.
Even then, the relationships are either A) not recognised by the game as a "real" romance (Kelly Chambers) or B) partly composed of a female alien whose obvious and actual gender has been denied by BioWare, time and time again.
Furthermore, it would appear Shepard is the one female in the galaxy who's managed to pull off a relatively stable homosexual relationship with an Asari, seeing as every other Asari coupling in the games are either heterosexual or doomed to fail.

Liara's parents? The xenophobic saleswoman? Morinth's prey?
I do not believe BioWare ever intended to reflect it as such, but judging solely by its presentation in the games, it would appear lesbianism be dangerous, dawg.

Hudson's announcement that ME3 will contain real and tangible options for players roleplaying a homo or bisexual Shepard is great news.

 

[JohnnyDelRay]

Apart from the last line about making unique lovemaking scenes, I'll admit I took that post somewhat seriously. But I am also doubting they will include a chapter like this in the game. Gay choices is fantastic, let people choose what orientation they want to be is fine with me. Having a chapter about it is a lil forced. Having every damn character hitting on you is also no good (I hate how they made every character potentially bi in DA2, why not just each have their own for gods sake).

From what I've read so far, they have only stated that gay relationships with Shepard are possible, so I wouldn't take this too seriously guys. Romance will be as always, don't expect anything too revolutionary otherwise (like getting one of your crew pregnant).

 

[IBlackKiteI]

I think that this is a good point, but it's more a point about bioware's general failure to portray convincing romances than a specific issue with gay romances in particular. Honestly, potentially-lethal sex with your top engineer/hacker makes a lot less sense than garden-variety sex with someone who shares your pair of X and/or Y chromosomes or an alien analogue.

Yeah, basically I'm not entirely sure what to think about the homosexuality thing being somewhat forced into ME3 and I'm pretty much 50/50 on whether its actually true or not until any sort of confirmation or something, but as for the existing romances Tali's in particular was downright absurd.

So its repeatedly stated that these people will die if they leave their suits, that human and other alien DNA is poisonous to them, that you need every crewmember alive and at peak performance, and that Tali is the best techie on the ship and you can kill her for the sake or sex?
Then if you do it she is almost completely ok? Rewriting what was repeatedly stated over and over again?

My point is theres no way around this. What if you don't want Shepard to bang Tali because he cares too much? Why can't you take the option that isn't ridiculously ridiculous? Why is it that upon refusing to sleep with her this path of the game ends?
Why is that in Bioware games romance paths are never considered complete until after the characters have sex?

This is a bit unrelated, and of course its not going to happen, but imagine if in the aftermath of Mass Effect 2 Tali gets sick and dies or is permanently hospitalized as a result of sleeping with Shephard?
Bioware wants immersion? How 'bout having Shep holding his former lover's hand as she lies in a comatose state because of him.
Imagine what that could do to a player who gets emotionally invested in their games and cares about Tali.

Oh yeah, and your username and avatar make me crack up.
A lot.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

What does this have to do with the Reapers? What's this have to do with...anything?

I only quoted this part because it seems to be your main problem. You can ask that question about almost anything that happens in the game. This is simply character development. In a universe where racism is still very much an issue (among humans and aliens) it is not a stretch to tackle homophobia as well.

I think you're overreacting. You might as well use the exact same arguments for the whole romance idea as well. "Why put that in the game, it has nothing to do with the Reapers!"

This. So much this. Well said Nimcha!

I'm really looking forward to ME3 - the more I hear about it, the more I want to play it.

Also, Ian - why an entire chapter? Why not? Mass Effect 1 devoted an entire chapter to an evil plant monster. And what makes you think that this "entire chapter" won't also have some shooting of Cerberus Troopers or Husks in it? I mean, the evil plant monster chapter had Geth in it. And the "Jacob's father issues" chapter in ME2 had mechs in it. Just because we're dealing with homosexuality for a chapter doesn't mean we don't get to shoot stuff.

... no pun intended.

 

[SnowyGamester]

People are boning aliens and homosexuality is still an issue? I think that's the least of their worries.

 

[Fanboy]

Link or it didn't happen. I can't find the original post myself, so I am calling bullshit.

Obvious trolling aside, I wouldn't mind Mass Effect exploring the hot topic issue of homosexuality and how alien species and their religions view it, but I would not focus a large portion of the game on the topic. In honesty, I wish they had approached this theme in Mass Effect 2 when the situation was less dire. But I guess the universe coming to an end is as good a time as any to explore your sexuality...?

Spoiler: OMG, I take back everything I said. I just found this... this is so depressing!

 

[Nimcha]

I left that :trollface there for a reason people.. Some of you lot are waaaay too uptight

If I had a hat I'd tip it, well done sir.

Now I'm kinda disappointed, I wish it was real.

 

[ZeroMachine]

Majority of people thought it wasn't so out of place for people to think the world was flat.

Yeah, that's right, I'm pulling that card.

Nah, in all seriousness, just read it, seriously read it over and over again, and tell me if a logical company would really pull stuff like that.

I don't buy it for a second.

With the idea that it could be trolling (from a representative of Bioware...nice job ass (not you, them)) I can see how this could and likely is fake. However, let's be honest here, that post was written with no signs of sarcasm aside from the stupidity it would be if it was actually implemented. And the "we're working very hard" bit as well as their place in Bioware makes the post seem all that more genuine.
That and the aforementioned rectons and changes constantly being implemented...
I think more people need to learn how to be sarcastic, because you don't get credit for fooling someone if you did it wrong.
Like you with the "world is flat" bit. You almost had me until I saw the italics. That made me laugh. XD
Especially since you have no idea how many real trolls actually try to use those kinds of examples @ __ @

No hard feelings all around then

I'm glad you realize I was never attacking you, just your point. I never attack a person. That's a weak way to win an argument.

But the way I see it with her post, it's less blatant trolling and more playful satire.

 

[Camaranth]

Let me put it this way....I'll decide if it needs to be judged when I play it. Not Before.

 

[guidotron82]

Now wasn't one of the things in the ME (as all the cool kids are calling it) games getting the dysfunctional crew of the normandy to play nice (or as near as a bunch of hyper charged alpha types playing in that arena can get to nice)

also wasn't part of the mass effect franchise the whole facing the issues of now in the context of sci-fi? or am i just too stupid to live?

seems to me that the back room jonnies (to use the term that the BBC used to use for anyone that actually did work)have it just a tiny bit spot on.

but then I'm a little tipsy.

 

[Friendshipandmagic]

I thought the reason that Shepard didn't have homosexual choices was because he, you know, wasn't homosexual. Especially since there have been NO HINTS that he was gay at all. Not through body language, voice inflection(how he talked to people he might have a crush on or something like that, and NOT the stereotypical flamboyant crap seen in all other forms of media), or anything else really.

Then again with Shepard, all he does is stand still with his eyes fixated in one place, and has no emotion in his voice. Male Shepard at least.

Then again, Bioware seems to be rather fond of ret-conning as of late.

Um no hints? You can have a relationship with a female member of your crew in the first game if you picked female Shepard.

And yes, she is female and the relationship was gay. It said right in the codex that Asari are an all female race. Therefore the Shepard I played was in fact, gay.

Honestly it would be great for a company to stop catering to the white/strait male demographic for once.

 

[Sejs Cube]

If they really wanted to be controversial they would have the gay plot involve krogan.

Just sayin'.

 

[Pedro The Hutt]

No, seriously,

Am I the only person that can tell that the Bioware forum post is tongue-in-cheek?

Just look at it and think about all the criticism they've gotten over Dragon Age 2. They wouldn't do that, they wouldn't force a homosexual encounter on someone, AND they wouldn't have an entire section of an action/rpg scifi story based around your or your shipmate's coming out party.

You guys are actually taking this seriously? What the hell...

Even if it wasn't, I don't see how having homosexuality in a piece of fiction that you can't dodge is any problem, in fact, I would welcome it (not that it should derail the whole story, but you know what I mean). But then, I survived all seasons of new Doctor Who, maybe I'm just desensitised. =p (Remember people, it's okay to be Takei!)