BioWare Explains Why There's No Homosexuality in Mass Effect 2

[Actual]

I mean, my dad--who is 100% straight--once chewed me out for using the word "fag". I couldn't stop laughing at the sheer irony of it, but it was still kind of annoying.

Being gay doesn't give you an excuse for bad language. Am I missing something here? I'm 24 and my mum still slaps my wrist if I let my tongue run away with me. I don't think there is an age limit for good parenting.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I mean, my dad--who is 100% straight--once chewed me out for using the word "fag". I couldn't stop laughing at the sheer irony of it, but it was still kind of annoying.

Being gay doesn't give you an excuse for bad language. Am I missing something here? I'm 24 and my mum still slaps my wrist if I let my tongue run away with me. I don't think there is an age limit for good parenting.

I think it's more about the straight guy telling off the gay guy for a gay slur.

 

[McNinja]

Saw this on Kotaku earlier. They dodge the question and respond with some BS about it being a PG-13 movie (despite the game being rated M. You know, for mature).

I can't stand Bioware anymore. I was on the edge, but they've dodged questions like this more than once (see AngryJoe's Dragon Age: Awakening review, and the interview in it) and that, coupled with their newfound lack of quality products, is ridiculous.

 

[Treblaine]

Or if you cut out the BS, they didn't want to alienate the huge, homophobic demographic that makes up about 95% of the 360 audience.

This is very telling about where gaming is at at the moment. To be honest a PG-13 action movie would be even more reluctant to include a male male scene or relationship that isn't 'camp' or played for laughts.

I think bioware should have been more brave with ME2 it and let the male character romance who he chose, male or female. All it shows is a lack of trust for the 360's audience.

No, I think Microsoft know if they put an option for man-Shepard to hitch up with a "male alien species" then 95% of XBL users would not touch it or even begin to explore the possibility to the point where htye'd never know it was there.

It's more a lack of trust of the news media, who will play the game every which way they can until they get the "controversial" gay outcome and then have a headline saying some bullshit like:

"VIDEO GAME WHERE YOU HAVE GAY SEX (the bad kind, i.e. guy-on-guy, eww gross!!!!)"

And all the gutless spineless Xbot dweebs who are so insecure about their sexuality feel so threatened by this they all proudly announce that they won't touch it, the critics will sense the tide of public distaste and pander to the readers rather than be objective:

"don't worry homophobes, turns out the game was shit anyway, you don't have to worry about missing out on anything"

And not to mention all those paranoid and idiotic parents who think something like this would somehow turn their son the WRONG SEXUALITY D:<
I don't know if they think things like that would "corrupt" their precious children (wait, only 17+ are allowed to play this game) or if they think they can delay the inevitable by denying them the ability to experiment:

"What's that boy, you decided to make your character gay in this video game... oh DEAR GOD NO! Please God, take me, not MY SON!"

Also, why the fuck are bioware talking about going to make a "PG-13 kinda game" when Mass Effect 1 and 2 are rated M (that IS only for people 17+) which is equivalent to an R-rating 17-18 years old depending on the state, and they knew full well they'd get that rating.

 

[Actual]

I mean, my dad--who is 100% straight--once chewed me out for using the word "fag". I couldn't stop laughing at the sheer irony of it, but it was still kind of annoying.

Being gay doesn't give you an excuse for bad language. Am I missing something here? I'm 24 and my mum still slaps my wrist if I let my tongue run away with me. I don't think there is an age limit for good parenting.

I think it's more about the straight guy telling off the gay guy for a gay slur.

I do get that, but I can totally see where the dad's coming from. Kids are always trying to come up with excuses why it's ok to say bad words. Maybe this fella is an adult but it won't change things in the parent's eyes.

I also disagree with the whole idea that's it's ok to use a slur if you're part of the group it's aimed at. If you take away the offensiveness of a word, I'm going to have to come up with other slurs to offend people with.

 

[Lucane]

It's their game. If the lead writer envisions Shephard as straight, then straight he/she can be. If you want a gay character so bad, go make a game with a gay character in it.

It doesn't mean they hate gays, for fuck's sake. They go through the effort of producing a story and people whine because the story isn't how they wanted it; it seems pretty childish to me.

I guess you can't make everyone happy.

Your sexual preference doesn't have any effect on the main story it's a side story you can choose to sleep with the whole other gender of your crew or no one at all and if you play as a renegade both ways you'd have the same ending. So saying it's a story arc is a weak excuse.

If it's that shepard is straight is the canon story it's still illrelivant as an excuse to say they didn't want to program it in since you'd have to do whatever they want till they say take over since they could code the the option and just say it isn't canon. Now if they say there wasn't time to code it properly then there'd be nothing to argue or that it never came up in debate in development would work too but how they ansewered bares a shadow of doubt.

Yeah, but perhaps they didn't envision any of your crew as gay; asari are moot because it has no meaning to them. So they now have to make one of their characters gay to satisfy people?

Once again; their story, their characters, their rules. You may envision Shephard as gay all you want - but, like in real life, if his interest is not gay, nothing will likely happen.

Edit: Yeah that's what I touched on in the "never came up in delevopment part" that includes all the characters but again not the excuse they used which would solve most of the current contreversy in this thread an else where on this topic but they didn't.

 

[Grampy_bone]

I guess this has already been said many times but it bears repeating: the complaint of the lack of a homosexual romance option in the game is really the complaint of the lack of a lesbian option. As in, "Dude, my FemShep has to have sex with another dude?! That's totally gay!" Guys want to be able to sex up women regardless of their avatar's gender. This basically blows 90% of the complainers' arguments right out of the water.

 

[masterhibb]

The real answer is super easy: Mass Effect is clearly inspired in no small measure by Star Trek, and as we all learned from Star Trek, no one is gay in space. Case closed!

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I also disagree with the whole idea that's it's ok to use a slur if you're part of the group it's aimed at. If you take away the offensiveness of a word, I'm going to have to come up with other slurs to offend people with.

Perhaps the idea that the word isn't actually offensive might be the best way to look at it? Gay used to mean "happy and carefree" a few decades back.

 

[KAPTAINmORGANnWo4life]

OH MY GOD WHO CARES?!

Seriously.

 

[Decabo]

As someone who is pro-gay marriage, I really can't blame BioWare. Even though gays certainly deserve representation and equal rights, Bioware has some boundaries for these characters. ME isn't as personal as Dragon Age. You're always Shephard, and they envision him/her as being straight. Plus, let's also keep in mind that many of these characters might not be gay.

Isn't it possible Jacob only likes dudes? He was with Miranda in the iPhone ME game,

Thane had a wife,

and Garrus... does anyone really want to see a man-on-turian romance? I didn't even want a woman-on-turian one...

Miranda for the same reason as Jacob,

Tali would be stupid because most of her people are womanly anyway, so it suits her character better to fall for a masculine person because she probably doesn't associate with them too often,

and Jack would probably be offensive to lesbians, because she's a butch bald *****, which is pretty much the stereotypical lesbian.

 

[jamesworkshop]

Or if you cut out the BS, they didn't want to alienate the huge, homophobic demographic that makes up about 95% of the 360 audience.

This is very telling about where gaming is at at the moment. To be honest a PG-13 action movie would be even more reluctant to include a male male scene or relationship that isn't 'camp' or played for laughts.

I think bioware should have been more brave with ME2 it and let the male character romance who he chose, male or female. All it shows is a lack of trust for the 360's audience.

No, I think Microsoft know if they put an option for man-Shepard to hitch up with a "male alien species" then 95% of XBL users would not touch it or even begin to explore the possibility to the point where htye'd never know it was there.

It's more a lack of trust of the news media, who will play the game every which way they can until they get the "controversial" gay outcome and then have a headline saying some bullshit like:

"VIDEO GAME WHERE YOU HAVE GAY SEX (the bad kind, i.e. guy-on-guy, eww gross!!!!)"

And all the gutless spineless Xbot dweebs who are so insecure about their sexuality feel so threatened by this they all proudly announce that they won't touch it, the critics will sense the tide of public distaste and pander to the readers rather than be objective:

"don't worry homophobes, turns out the game was shit anyway, you don't have to worry about missing out on anything"

And not to mention all those paranoid and idiotic parents who think something like this would somehow turn their son the WRONG SEXUALITY D:<
I don't know if they think things like that would "corrupt" their precious children (wait, only 17+ are allowed to play this game) or if they think they can delay the inevitable by denying them the ability to experiment:

"What's that boy, you decided to make your character gay in this video game... oh DEAR GOD NO! Please God, take me, not MY SON!"

Also, why the fuck are bioware talking about going to make a "PG-13 kinda game" when Mass Effect 1 and 2 are rated M (that IS only for people 17+) which is equivalent to an R-rating 17-18 years old depending on the state, and they knew full well they'd get that rating.

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbox360/dragonageorigins?q=dragon%20age

user score 7.3

looks like the 360 comunnity wasn't that bothered nor the wider market with sales over 3.2 million for a game with anything goes attitude to sexuality

DA:O invalidates the entire thread

 

[JWAN]

I would take a guess and say because most of the gaming public are straight males who want to see a good set of titties bounce and believes that 2 sets of titties bouncing is an even better scenario.

hell, that could just be me.

 

[JWAN]

OH MY GOD WHO CARES?!

Seriously.

People who want to be offended so they can:
A. sue
B. write a book, present on Oprah
A/B
and make money.

 

[HotFuzz]

Does it really matter? you would throw off the entire game because you cant make shepard gay? if there were an option and people were grossed out by this theres a simple solution, Just dont make your shepard gay go for Miranda with her perfect ass and sweet lookin bra.

 

[Zap Happy]

I don't think it would have worked. Unlike in Dragon Age, Shepard is an established character. He wasn't gay in ME 1, so I think having him switch for ME 2 would have felt unexplained and awkward. In Dragon Age there is no established character, so anything can happen and still make sense.

 

[Cryo84R]

Lesbians aren't homosexuals, they are awesomesexuals!

Don't flame me.

 

[GoGo Yubari]

What BS answers from both. I WAS having a hard time deciding between Valve and Bioware in the 6th round voting of March Mayhem until I read these cop out answers from Casey and Ray. A gay relationship is not more explicit than a hetero one.

Voting for Valve right now.

 

[blindthrall]

So Bioware is saying that FUCKING AN ALIEN, which is technically bestiality, is less offensive than same-sex relations? Huh. Moot point anyway, because I wouldn't want to play as teh ghey, but the option should be there.

Imagine if Grunt rapes Shepherd when he's released from the tank if you don't pass the persuade challenge. That would be cause for a reload. This is why I like Fallout better. Fallout 2 thought nothing of making you a Super Mutant's gimp for the night if you lose to him at arm-wrestling. The bastard had a power fist too.

This also illustrates why Mordin is my favorite ME2 character. If you don't have any romance plots ongoing by a certain point, he shoots you down, male or female.