Sexuality in Mass Effect

[Wutaiflea]

After a couple Mass Effect sessions, I got to thinking about the romance options. I'm sure this has occurred to others, but still.

A female Shepard can romance both sexes. You can roleplay her as straight, gay, or somewhere in between; it's totally up to the player whom she's into. A male Shepard, on the other hand, can only romance women. Even if you WANT to play a gay ManShep, you're simply not allowed.

After Dragon Age, which allowed the PC to fall just about anywhere on the sexuality spectrum, I was sort of hoping that Bioware had come to understand that their audience is not entirely male and not entirely hetero. But no, apparently not. And as a gay girl gamer, I think that really sucks.

What do you think?

I agree with you that it would seem unnecessarily specific to say you can be a gay female but not a gay male, but I was kind of under the impression that in the original Mass Effect, your character's options were a heterosexual romance, or a romance with what is essentially, an androgynous person.
Admittedly the Asari are perceived as female because they appear so (I think Liara describes Asari as being "maternal"), but at the core, Asari are neither specifically male or female.

I don't think you have the option in Mass Effect 2 either, do you? Beyond Morinth and Samara.

On the subject as a whole, I think in games like ME and Dragon Age where you create your own character and have romance options that it would be nice and very positive to have a range of sexualities available to you.

 

[moretimethansense]

After a couple Mass Effect sessions, I got to thinking about the romance options. I'm sure this has occurred to others, but still.

A female Shepard can romance both sexes. You can roleplay her as straight, gay, or somewhere in between; it's totally up to the player whom she's into. A male Shepard, on the other hand, can only romance women. Even if you WANT to play a gay ManShep, you're simply not allowed.

After Dragon Age, which allowed the PC to fall just about anywhere on the sexuality spectrum, I was sort of hoping that Bioware had come to understand that their audience is not entirely male and not entirely hetero. But no, apparently not. And as a gay girl gamer, I think that really sucks.

What do you think?

Edit: Because my point seems to be flying over the heads of certain people:

I AM NOT PUSHING AN AGENDA. I AM NOT TRYING TO FORCE YOU TO LOVE GAY PEOPLE OR EVEN AGREE WITH ME. I AM NOT ASKING FOR A GAY CHARACTER TO BE SHOEHORNED INTO THE GAME FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF BEING GAY. I AM SIMPLY NOTING THAT WHILE THERE IS A RANGE OF SEXUALITIES POSSIBLE FOR A FEMALE CHARACTER, A MALE CHARACTER CAN ONLY BE HETEROSEXUAL, AND THAT SEEMS LIKE A STEP BACK FOR BIOWARE. I THINK THAT IS INTERESTING! IF YOU DISAGREE, THAT'S FINE, BUT PLEASE REFRAIN FROM BUILDING STRAWMEN! THANKS!

I don't know if this has already been said but, there is no M/M romance in Mass Effect because at the time Bioware didn't think they could do it without it looking ridiculess.

Also it was NOT a step back, Dragon Age came out after Mass Effect thus Dragon Age was a step forward, though they could have had a M/M romance in ME2 they said they didn't because Male Shep was already established as straight.

Bullshit I know but what can you do.

 

[Terminal Blue]

When we are on the subject of Asaris sexualilty, Are they Shemales or what? Do they have a penis that will come out when they have sex with lady and when they have sex with men it will go in?

Yes, because all sex must involve a penis and all the lesbians in the world who think otherwise are wrong!

Not to mention that they reproduce through their nervous systems..

On a more serious note, it's likely that demand for gay romance sub-plots in games is generally pretty low, not to mention that it's really hard for developers to judge the tone of gay male romance correctly (Zevran in Dragon Age for example didn't seem to endear himself to a lot of G/B gamers. Probably because he was pretty much a bisexual stereotype). While it is prominently missing I can understand if the developers just didn't think enough people would make use of it to justify the effort involved. While it's a shame and a slight disappointment, it's not really a big deal.

As numerous others have mentioned, because the Asari are mono-gendered it can be argued that that's not technically a gay romance. It's definitely a 'queer' romance for a female shepherd, but that's as much about the interspecies thing as it is about gender characteristics.

 

[Xaositect]

16 pages worth of chatter when the answer simply is "Bioware are pussies".

They wussed out in ME1, and with ME2 dumbing the living shit out of the game for dumbass shooter fans, it was only going to get less likely.

On the subject of asari, they are female, and a relationship with them is a lesbian relationship in terms of the human woman. In terms of the asari, its just a "relationship". People cant seem to get it into their thick skulls the impossibly simple nature of the asari. They are an all female race. As such, they have no concept of gender, because they are all simply "asari". Not "asari women". Just asari. The have vaginas. They bear children. They breast feed. They even have "feminine" and "maternal" traits. They are female.

Again, from the point of view of a human male, its a heterosexual relationship with an asari. From the point of view of a human female, its a homosexual relationship, because thats just how it fits. From the point of view of the asari, its just a relationship, regardless of the sex of the partner.

Even the lesbian relationships got cut back in ME2, but they are still there because the majority of gamers who play the lesbian romances are dumbass "hawt lezbeen sexorz" type morons.

Oh and Bioware has specifically said "you dont have complete control over Shepard, its a third person narrative in Mass Effect going for a PG-13 (WTF!?) action audience".

In short Bioware are a bunch of dumbass pussies who wussed out and invented stupid excuses (yeah, you went for the PG-13 action vibe by adding numerous fictional drug references, copius amounts of foul language, and also added in straight sex).

For the record Im a heterosexual guy who wouldnt even touch said gay content with a barge pole if it were included. I just believe others have a right to want and to get it included. They pay as much as me for the game, why should they get shafted? I just mainly comment because I simply cannot stand Biowares blatant hypocrisy and stupidity on this issue, and also the amount of dumbass gamers who seem to flock to this issue like flies on crap.

 

[Fawcks]

Maybe someday I'll be allowed to romance a werewolf?

 

[Krylock]

A gay shep? That would totally ruin his badassness.

 

[warm slurm]

A gay shep? That would totally ruin his badassness.

No, it wouldn't. Gay > straight.

 

[Nimcha]

A gay shep? That would totally ruin his badassness.

No, it wouldn't. Gay > straight.

I'd say his sexuality doesn't affect his badassness at all. To say otherwise would be weird.

 

[reg42]

A gay shep? That would totally ruin his badassness.

A gay Shepard would be fabulous

A gay shep? That would totally ruin his badassness.

No, it wouldn't. Gay > straight.

Because one is totally better than the other

 

[SuperCuddleBear]

Its a very simple case of target audience. Lets be brutally honest here. Most gamers are not gay. Most gamers are not female. The target audience is middle-class, male hetero. I think Bioware simply didn't see it as being very popular, so didn't bother.

As with the sexuality choices for Females in the game, its simple, and i cant find any other way to put it than: Every man loves lesbians. Was it necassery to put in the game? No, but we take it with open arms.

 

[Krylock]

A gay shep? That would totally ruin his badassness.

No, it wouldn't. Gay > straight.

I appreciate you voicing your opinion, but not everyone has the same opinion.

 

[Nimcha]

I do wonder though, if the option of a 'lesbian' romance with Liara wasn't in the game, would the issue of not being able to have a gay romance with a male Shepard even be brought up?

I for one do not think it would. I like the option of romancing Liara as a female Shepard, but I wouldn't have complained it had been the other way around.

 

[northeast rower]

16 pages worth of chatter when the answer simply is "Bioware are pussies".

They wussed out in ME1, and with ME2 dumbing the living shit out of the game for dumbass shooter fans, it was only going to get less likely.

...

In short Bioware are a bunch of dumbass pussies who wussed out and invented stupid excuses (yeah, you went for the PG-13 action vibe by adding numerous fictional drug references, copius amounts of foul language, and also added in straight sex).

For the record Im a heterosexual guy who wouldnt even touch said gay content with a barge pole if it were included. I just believe others have a right to want and to get it included. They pay as much as me for the game, why should they get shafted? I just mainly comment because I simply cannot stand Biowares blatant hypocrisy and stupidity on this issue, and also the amount of dumbass gamers who seem to flock to this issue like flies on crap.

If you're going to make an argument, swearing gratuitously and calling the developer a "dumbass pussy" and an audience "dumbass shooter fans" (so they have a different taste in genre than you, so what?) is not the best way to make that argument. There may have been some genuinely good stuff in that post, but I skipped over most of it because you made you argument in an immature way.

On Topic:

Bioware actually has code and dialogue in the game that allows for a lesbian romance with Ashely or a gay romance with Kaiden. It didn't make it in for whatever reason, though. As for Mass Effect 2, there just aren't any gay relationships as far as I know. Maybe it just doesn't fit with any of the characters (with the possible exception of Jack), though I'm pretty sure that you can romance Kelly Chambers as a woman.

 

[Nimcha]

, though I'm pretty sure that you can romance Kelly Chambers as a woman.

'Romance' is a big word, all you can do is have dinner and she can do some suggestive dancing in your cabin

 

[northeast rower]

, though I'm pretty sure that you can romance Kelly Chambers as a woman.

'Romance' is a big word, all you can do is have dinner and she can do some suggestive dancing in your cabin

Lack of a better term here. I guess you could say seduce, but that is taking the game a little too far.

 

[Nimcha]

, though I'm pretty sure that you can romance Kelly Chambers as a woman.

'Romance' is a big word, all you can do is have dinner and she can do some suggestive dancing in your cabin

Lack of a better term here. I guess you could say seduce, but that is taking the game a little too far.

Fair enough!

 

[JediMB]

~snip~

For the record Im a heterosexual guy who wouldnt even touch said gay content with a barge pole if it were included. I just believe others have a right to want and to get it included. They pay as much as me for the game, why should they get shafted? I just mainly comment because I simply cannot stand Biowares blatant hypocrisy and stupidity on this issue, and also the amount of dumbass gamers who seem to flock to this issue like flies on crap.

/clap

Language aside, I salute you, good sir.

I have mostly the same attitude, although I do touch the lesbian content since I prefer to play female characters. (And Liara and Leliana are just ridiculously adorable characters.)