Anti-Gay Email Campaign Floods Electronic Arts

[Andy Chalk]

Anti-Gay Email Campaign Floods Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts has received "several thousands" emails and letters protesting same-sex relationships in its games.

In March, the Florida Family Association launched an similar noises [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/116231-Family-Values-Groups-Launch-Email-Campaign-Against-BioWare] in January, when FRC President Tony Perkins said "the biggest threat to the empire may be homosexual activists" and called on his audience to speak out against them.

It appears that followers of these "family values" groups have heard and obeyed, as Electronic Arts confirmed that it has received "several thousand" letters complaining about the presence of same-sex relationships in games like The Old Republic and Mass Effect 3 [http://www.amazon.com/Mass-Effect-3-Xbox-360/dp/B004FYEZMQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333639849&sr=8-1], and threatening to boycott its games if they're not removed. Not that it really matters, as Vice President of Corporate Communications Jeff Brown said the company has no plans to change or censor anything.

"Every one of EA's games includes ESRB content descriptors so it's hard to believe anyone is surprised by the content," Brown told GamesIndustry [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-04-04-ea-defends-itself-against-thousands-of-anti-gay-letters]. "This isn't about protecting children, it's about political harassment."

Brown also dismissed the suggestion that EA was somehow pressured into including LGBT characters in its games, although he acknowledged that a number of forum posts criticizing the company's stance have been deleted for violating its content rules. "We have met with LBGT groups and sponsored industry forums to discuss content and harassment of players in online forums," he added. "In short, we do put options for same-sex relationships in our games; we don't tolerate hate speech on our forums."

Same-sex relationships aren't actually available yet in Star Wars: The Old Republic but BioWare and EA have said the option will be added at some point in the future.


Permalink

 

[Something Amyss]

I'm always glad to see important issues like fake gay marriages in a fake universe get the attention they deserve.

 

[Tetsuo Panyagua]

"the biggest threat to the empire may be homosexual activists"

They're actually identifying themselves with the bad guys?

 

[superbowlbound]

I would have figured gay groups would protest because Shepard suddenly chose to be gay in the third game after being straight for the first two...

 

[Danial]

"the biggest threat to the empire may be homosexual activists"

They're actually identifying themselves with the bad guys?

Here's me thinking that the greatest threat to the empire was 2 meter wide exhaust ports and Ewoks.

Homosexuality hurts no one etc etc if it hurts you then you are lying yada yada Free DLC in the summer La-dee-da and No one thinks anything these idiots have to say is in any way shape or form important.

Now if you excuse me, I have communication officers to Scissor.

I would have figured gay groups would protest because Shepard suddenly chose to be gay in the third game after being straight for the first two...

I was technically gay for 2 of them, A sexual alien race in the form of a human female or not My Shepard wanted her some Liara.

 

[Zen Toombs]

Hey, can someone post the email of Bioware so we can flood them with praise for allowing homosexuality in their games? 'Cuz that's what I want to do.

I'm always glad to see important issues like fake gay marriages in a fake universe get the attention they deserve.

Toombs approves +7

Keep up the good work.

 

[Wierdguy]

Well... I guess even EA is bound to do something right for once. Dissmissing these "Family value" organizations for the bullshit they are certanly earns them a big plus in my books =p

 

[GonzoGamer]

i always laughed that you never got a peep out of these groups if a character got their wild thang on with a different species but heaven forbid if it was two people of the same gender.

its been a long time since ive been able to say this but good on EA and i respect them for not giving in on this

To nutcases like Santorum, it's the same thing, and he's said so. And that's why his name is now synonymous with the byproduct of anal sex.

So they expect Bioware to care that a bunch of morons who aren't gay but are obsessed with gay sex, and who wouldn't buy their game anyway, don't want others to buy it either. They don't know gamers very well.

I don't believe homosexuality is a choice but clearly, bigotry is.

 

[Albino Boo]

Alright then- Family values nutters, time for a Lesson in the economy.

When you DO NOT BUY THE PRODUCT TO BEGIN WITH you cannot boycott it. If i disagreed with the giant pink dildo company, i cannot boycott them because i do not buy the products. Similarly if you do not buy games you cannot boycott them.

Why is their point of view any less valid than that of those poeple complaining about the ending of ME3? I don't I agree with it, but they are as just entitled to express to their point of view as anyone else. How do you know the private opinions of other players, have you empirical data saying only liberals buy games? My experience of online play seems to suggest that there is rampant homophobia amongst hardcore gamers. I don't think there has been a day when I haven't heard some sort of homophobic insult when playing online.

 

[Azex]

its 2012...this is still an issue with some people?

 

[Uber Waddles]

Really? People have nothing better to do than this...

This kind of stuff gets on my nerves - we don't worry about issues like inflation, the national debt, teenage pregnancy, people starving, or genocide. But god forbid a game developer adds an option to have a gay relationship - then we have to get our panties all up in a bunch.

Its an option - the game doesn't throw it in your face (on purpose). Its not like "Sheppard can be gay, now get to the orgy pit!" Its something that's just there - straight people can have relationships, why can't homosexuals?

The only ammo these people can carry is that the game does throw it in your face, but very subtly - something you'd have to play the game to notice. There were a few times were I accidentally pursued a relationship without realizing I was pursuing a gay relationship. I believe Kaiden said he felt uncomfortable, and one of the options was presented from there without me realizing "I'm trying to romance this person". That never happened with any of the straight dialogue, but I attribute that more towards sloppy last minute integration over a mastermind pro-gay agenda.

Seriously though - forgive my language - but its a fucking game. You can make songs about sex with transexuals from the late 90's and movies about the beauty of gay love in the early 2000's. Are people gonna seriously get mad because there is an option, in a game that does not revolve around sex, as an option, in 2012?

Heres an idea to people who do that: worry about YOUR life, YOUR problems, or problems that effect YOU. Then, worry about issues that effect OTHERS lives, on a life of death basis. Then you can worry about strangers who prefer one sexual organ over another.

 

[RaikuFA]

Ebisimaru [http://goemon.wikia.com/wiki/Ebisumaru], Tony [http://earthbound.wikia.com/wiki/Tony], Jun Kurosu [http://megamitensei.wikia.com/wiki/Jun_Kurosu], Kanji Tatsumi [http://megamitensei.wikia.com/wiki/Kanji], Flea [http://chrono.wikia.com/wiki/Flea].

Why don't they go after Konami, Nintendo, Atlus and Square?

And those came off the top of my head.

 

[Something Amyss]

Hey, can someone post the email of Bioware so we can flood them with praise for allowing homosexuality in their games? 'Cuz that's what I want to do.

I like that idea. positive support.

Toombs approves +7

Keep up the good work.

Merci.

"the biggest threat to the empire may be homosexual activists"

They're actually identifying themselves with the bad guys?

To be fair, I doubt they've seen the movies, since they feature gay robots. Or whatever.

Didn't you hear? Gay love scenes caused the Reaper invasion.

Now, if you said "caused the Mass Effect 3 Ending," you'd have support. >.>

 

[jurnag12]

Thousands of letters, eh?
I wonder how long it'd take to burn them in, say, a central heater.

 

[mjc0961]

Online passes.
Draconian always online DRM.
Disc locked content.
Overpriced, low quality DLC.
Buying up good developers and running them into the ground.
Origin and everything wrong with it (going to leave it at that so I'm not sitting here all day writing this post).
Banning you from all your game purchases (including single player games) if someone swears at you on an EA forum.
Banning people from all their game purchases for modding the single player portion of a game.
Removing private match options from Battlefield 3 so they could force people to pay a lot of money to rent servers.
And more that I can't recall immediately off the top of my head.

None of that stuff is important as those are all completely acceptable ways to treat your paying customers. My unwavering appreciation and support go out to this group for not letting EA get away with the one thing they do that's truly wrong: having gay characters in video games.