Dragon Age 2 Lead Writer Blasts Homophobic Fan

[shemoanscazrex3]

That was funny but I'm a straight, african american gamer, and I play as a white chick. I haven't decided on her orientation yet but whenever I see things like this it ticks me off

 

[DeathWyrmNexus]

snip

The important thing that everybody is missing when they quote statistical percentages of bisexuality/homosexuality: It is a single player game. It is about Hawke's story and what the player might want. The romance is accessible to whatever permutation YOU want when you're playing. It isn't about a queer quota so we arrive at a neat 10% of the population. It is about letting players roleplay the experience and have the story They want.

Some players will want to have a gay Anders love affair.
They can.
Some players will want to have hot lesbian action with Isabella.
They can.
Some players will want to have old fashioned straight sex with Anders.
They can.
Some will want to go the bishi route and gay up Fenris.
They can.
And so on.
The only real problem if any is honestly there (I don't care but I can see it) is that you can't fuck Aveline or gay up Sebastian. All in all, I don't care. I liked certain aspects of them but had no romantic interest in them at all.

This issue is never going to be about a realistic population of gays vs straights. That isn't the point of a game. It may have a place in a population sim for collecting data in some roundabout odd way but not in a game. The point of a rpg is to play the role you want and have the story you want so far as the game will allow. So why I can understand developers making decisions and saying certain characters are a certain way, Alistair and Morrigan as examples, I can also heavily support the idea of having them be open to either gender because it isn't about population based queer quotas/percentages, it is about entertainment and accessibility without nuking the plot.

Granted i did mention in my original post I see where they were going with it, and i don't have a huge problem with it, doesn't ruin the game for me. I merely air on what i was explaining, but not for the reasons that the OP made on the Bioware forums. Nor really for purely selfish reasons either. Just a preference that i see is human interaction grounded in some realism - from where i stand. On some levels i agree with Xaositect who posted a reply to another poster on the same matter.

But like i said, i know and understand why they do it, and in a certain perspective very commendable, but from my perspective having ALL of them that way felt sort of cheap to me.

Considering that it made for extra work to make that many NPCs available to both genders, I honestly don't agree with the word cheap. It would have been easier to just lay down the dev hammer and limit gender attraction but instead, they pushed their voice actors and developer gnomes to make the majority of the NPCs available.

Doesn't sound cheap to me at all, sounds... Accessible. Inclusive. Extra work.

I mean lazy in the sense that it comes off to me as mere pandering and fan service. Don't take me wrong, I do NOT like stereotypical oversexed females (though Chun Li is the one and only exception for some reason with me and my lizard part of my brain) or the overly strong woman trying to match the men (in military games when they show up).

That extra work doesn't have any evolution really. In fact, despite the fact that i loved Merrill and have seen (not playing the game 8 times to see how all the romances go), none of the romances are particularly strong. They carry themselves mostly on their character, they're sexuality not an issue (when for some people it is). They all just seem to swing the other way depending on what default gender the player picked. All the LI's are essentially blank slates, and i was hoping to see a dark line with some of them.
Even if one of them was just straight up not straight was simply gay/lesbian/else i'd of been cool with that as well. I'm saying EVEN if i - as a straight male - was not included for one of the LI's would be cool with it. Why? because it would be one of the very rare times when an NPC was simply out-there gay/lesbian/else, That'd of been very interesting twist to it.

Even an evolution perhaps in an NPC changing their sexuality i would of greeted well - with intrigue that a game was even doing that. Shows that the medium could grow as an interactive art form.

That's what i mean by lazy.

All that you said is true though, the bit of extra work is nice, but like i said before though.

Is it so wrong to ask for developers to rather then just go the All are BI, to actually make a good decent straight/gay/bi/lesbian only character? or is that crossing some sort of line?

Honestly, I'd rather them be bi. Then I am not cut out of a relationship because I am not wearing the right gender hat. Think of it this way, Anders is gay if you're male, straight if you're not. He might be bisexual or he might simply be a NCP with which you are able to have a relationship. It is a game, not a profound landmark of sexuality. It has a story, a good one, and characters you can interact with at your discretion. I think what people really need to do is let it go and let them have the optional sexuality. It is the player's story. Let the player decide if the NPCs are gay or not.

To be honest, I'm happier with the option to fuck who I want rather than be stonewalled over gender in my fucking storyline... As a straight man, I think we need to drop that hang up. If it matters to the story, sure, make them bi, het, or gay. Usually... It doesn't mean dick, so let it be open and let the players have their fun. Don't like it? Don't do it. I have no desire to EVER see men kiss but I will fight to the death their right to do it.

 

[Popido]

I dont like the gay choice either. They feel like "necessary gay" characters to me. We already had necessary black guy and now this. WHERE THE FUCK IS MY LADYBOY!?!?!?!?

 

[John Jiao]

Gaiden is my new HERO. He completely hit the nail on the head.

 

[NeoGuardian86]

snip

The important thing that everybody is missing when they quote statistical percentages of bisexuality/homosexuality: It is a single player game. It is about Hawke's story and what the player might want. The romance is accessible to whatever permutation YOU want when you're playing. It isn't about a queer quota so we arrive at a neat 10% of the population. It is about letting players roleplay the experience and have the story They want.

Some players will want to have a gay Anders love affair.
They can.
Some players will want to have hot lesbian action with Isabella.
They can.
Some players will want to have old fashioned straight sex with Anders.
They can.
Some will want to go the bishi route and gay up Fenris.
They can.
And so on.
The only real problem if any is honestly there (I don't care but I can see it) is that you can't fuck Aveline or gay up Sebastian. All in all, I don't care. I liked certain aspects of them but had no romantic interest in them at all.

This issue is never going to be about a realistic population of gays vs straights. That isn't the point of a game. It may have a place in a population sim for collecting data in some roundabout odd way but not in a game. The point of a rpg is to play the role you want and have the story you want so far as the game will allow. So why I can understand developers making decisions and saying certain characters are a certain way, Alistair and Morrigan as examples, I can also heavily support the idea of having them be open to either gender because it isn't about population based queer quotas/percentages, it is about entertainment and accessibility without nuking the plot.

Granted i did mention in my original post I see where they were going with it, and i don't have a huge problem with it, doesn't ruin the game for me. I merely air on what i was explaining, but not for the reasons that the OP made on the Bioware forums. Nor really for purely selfish reasons either. Just a preference that i see is human interaction grounded in some realism - from where i stand. On some levels i agree with Xaositect who posted a reply to another poster on the same matter.

But like i said, i know and understand why they do it, and in a certain perspective very commendable, but from my perspective having ALL of them that way felt sort of cheap to me.

Considering that it made for extra work to make that many NPCs available to both genders, I honestly don't agree with the word cheap. It would have been easier to just lay down the dev hammer and limit gender attraction but instead, they pushed their voice actors and developer gnomes to make the majority of the NPCs available.

Doesn't sound cheap to me at all, sounds... Accessible. Inclusive. Extra work.

I mean lazy in the sense that it comes off to me as mere pandering and fan service. Don't take me wrong, I do NOT like stereotypical oversexed females (though Chun Li is the one and only exception for some reason with me and my lizard part of my brain) or the overly strong woman trying to match the men (in military games when they show up).

That extra work doesn't have any evolution really. In fact, despite the fact that i loved Merrill and have seen (not playing the game 8 times to see how all the romances go), none of the romances are particularly strong. They carry themselves mostly on their character, they're sexuality not an issue (when for some people it is). They all just seem to swing the other way depending on what default gender the player picked. All the LI's are essentially blank slates, and i was hoping to see a dark line with some of them.
Even if one of them was just straight up not straight was simply gay/lesbian/else i'd of been cool with that as well. I'm saying EVEN if i - as a straight male - was not included for one of the LI's would be cool with it. Why? because it would be one of the very rare times when an NPC was simply out-there gay/lesbian/else, That'd of been very interesting twist to it.

Even an evolution perhaps in an NPC changing their sexuality i would of greeted well - with intrigue that a game was even doing that. Shows that the medium could grow as an interactive art form.

That's what i mean by lazy.

All that you said is true though, the bit of extra work is nice, but like i said before though.

Is it so wrong to ask for developers to rather then just go the All are BI, to actually make a good decent straight/gay/bi/lesbian only character? or is that crossing some sort of line?

Honestly, I'd rather them be bi. Then I am not cut out of a relationship because I am not wearing the right gender hat. Think of it this way, Anders is gay if you're male, straight if you're not. He might be bisexual or he might simply be a NCP with which you are able to have a relationship. It is a game, not a profound landmark of sexuality. It has a story, a good one, and characters you can interact with at your discretion. I think what people really need to do is let it go and let them have the optional sexuality. It is the player's story. Let the player decide if the NPCs are gay or not.

To be honest, I'm happier with the option to fuck who I want rather than be stonewalled over gender in my fucking storyline... As a straight man, I think we need to drop that hang up. If it matters to the story, sure, make them bi, het, or gay. Usually... It doesn't mean dick, so let it be open and let the players have their fun. Don't like it? Don't do it. I have no desire to EVER see men kiss but I will fight to the death their right to do it.

ehh.. I've already expressed my opinion, and i understand what your saying, and no it wasn't like in Dragon Age 2 there wasn't someone i liked as a straight male. Nor do i want to make it seems like a big huge frickin deal.

Of all the issues with Dragon Age 2, the choice to make them all bi is a small one in my opinion.

I just prefer clear defined well written characters that are gonna follow a set canon - if they're gonna bother to keep track of it. To me the Tabula Rasa bit sticks with the main character's look and decisions in the game world, not really anything else really. That's merely my preference.

So i express my disagreement, merely that.

 

[DaROC1993]

I completely agree with Gaider. This type of request is highly offesive even to hetrosexual individuals such as myself. To think such things could be said in my name. He should speak for himself, as I am quit sure hes standing alone to this point. I rather enjoyed seing that there was finally an unbyist option to be involved in a relationship with characters of the same sex. It showed that Bioware was looking out for everyone who likes games, not just the hetrosexual community.

 

[Paradoxrifts]

Seeing the even bigger popularity of DND and MMO like WOW, it's not that much of a gamble to pull a Traditional RPG. Sure they are doing it on a massive scale (some will argue that the quality is not present though). Players have plenty of trad RPG options (nowhere near as shooters mind you), now one that is LGBT friendly? That's a different story. And that's a big part of why they would do it.

How many studios are making them?

Off the top of my head I would list, Bethesda Softworks, Bioware, Obsidian Entertainment and CD Projekt. That isn't a very long list when you consider how long these games take to develop from opening pitch to sending the finished product off to market.

Not a lot to choose from. You have done nothing to refute my original point that given the lack of competition gamers either have to take what they've been given or simply go without.

Also I really don't agree that 10% is generous. In fact I find that more and more people are sexually fluid and gender fluid. Like you said it does need a much bigger, better survey. Not to mention there's the whole issue of people not labelling themselves either. For example people would consider me a lesbian, but I consider myself queer if i label myself at all. I am married to a woman, am attracted to women, but I occasionally am attracted to men and the in between. Gay/Lesbian VS Straight is just not accurate anymore for most people.

At a guess I would say that you like most everybody else sees in others exactly what you expect to see and that once you surround yourself with like-minded friends your perception can end up becoming somewhat skewed. So that's why collecting good empirical data is so important before you go out making all sorts of unfounded claims.

If you don't wish to be corrected then don't make claims you cannot back up with anything other than anecdotal evidence.

You also assume that all straight male, like you or the OP would never play the game as anything else but a straight male character. Of both personal experience and from the post that is simply not true. Many straight guys will play a female and some will play as guy who are bi/gay regardless of their own orientation if they like who that means they'll get to romance.

I assume nothing of the sort.

All I'm asking for is that Bioware allows the market to take an active hand in setting up the exact percentages of heterosexual, bi-sexual and homosexual relationships that are available for players to pursue.

It is not exactly like they don't have the information available as Bioware has previously shown it's hand by making public certain anonymous information that was mined from Mass Effect 2 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/103281-BioWare-Mines-Data-From-Mass-Effect-2]. All they have to do is let the less popular choices atrophy in favour of adding more choices that more people actually want.

Is that so wrong?

 

[mental_looney]

Ah I ran away with anders 2 mages agaisnt the world, girl though and flirted with everyone until he made me stop...

I enjoy the romance options in the end you can make a character that is you or someone entirely different, I don't see why the game should be restrictive and male pandering all the way through its not duke nukem, it's called by bioware a dark adult fantasy, it's not dirty or sordid in the game it's supposed to be love and I think it's done pretty well.

 

[scones_better]

If i go by your logic, then you and OP shouldn't be whining about the gay content. If so little games of that type are available then why not just take it as it is? That's what you are suggesting after all. I don't see how your statement backs up your point of view any more than mine.

Seeing the even bigger popularity of DND and MMO like WOW, it's not that much of a gamble to pull a Traditional RPG. Sure they are doing it on a massive scale (some will argue that the quality is not present though). Players have plenty of trad RPG options (nowhere near as shooters mind you), now one that is LGBT friendly? That's a different story. And that's a big part of why they would do it.

How many studios are making them?

Off the top of my head I would list, Bethesda Softworks, Bioware, Obsidian Entertainment and CD Projekt. That isn't a very long list when you consider how long these games take to develop from opening pitch to sending the finished product off to market.

Not a lot to choose from. You have done nothing to refute my original point that given the lack of competition gamers either have to take what they've been given or simply go without.

Also I really don't agree that 10% is generous. In fact I find that more and more people are sexually fluid and gender fluid. Like you said it does need a much bigger, better survey. Not to mention there's the whole issue of people not labelling themselves either. For example people would consider me a lesbian, but I consider myself queer if i label myself at all. I am married to a woman, am attracted to women, but I occasionally am attracted to men and the in between. Gay/Lesbian VS Straight is just not accurate anymore for most people.

At a guess I would say that you like most everybody else sees in others exactly what you expect to see and that once you surround yourself with like-minded friends your perception can end up becoming somewhat skewed. So that's why collecting good empirical data is so important before you go out making all sorts of unfounded claims.

If you don't wish to be corrected then don't make claims you cannot back up with anything other than anecdotal evidence.

Let me assure you I've met my share fair of people who don't agree with me. But so far the feedback i see on forum such as afterellen, after elton, (both HUGE website for LGBT people) many other LGBT oriented material such blogs for Queer YA, webomics, and so forth are showing that more and more people are being fluids. Just because I don't have the stats (not any more then you do by the way, like i said I actually AGREE with you that a proper census should be made. Your 5% isn't anymore valid then my personal sampling) doesn't mean its impossible. And like i said in my original answer to you, I am indeed curious about their stats. If it turned out that the numbers were fairly high it would prove that a large percentage of gamers are LGBT and if they are low they would show that the company are being even more altruistic than initially assumed.

You also assume that all straight male, like you or the OP would never play the game as anything else but a straight male character. Of both personal experience and from the post that is simply not true. Many straight guys will play a female and some will play as guy who are bi/gay regardless of their own orientation if they like who that means they'll get to romance.

assume nothing of the sort.

All I'm asking for is that Bioware allows the market to take an active hand in setting up the exact percentages of heterosexual, bi-sexual and homosexual relationships that are available for players to pursue.

It is not exactly like they don't have the information available as Bioware has previously shown it's hand by making public certain anonymous information that was mined from Mass Effect 2 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/103281-BioWare-Mines-Data-From-Mass-Effect-2]. All they have to do is let the less popular choices atrophy in favour of adding more choices that more people actually want.

Is that so wrong?

You kind of are. Let me put it if this way. If it turned out that the majority was Gay (Lol don't worry, I don't think that, i think LGBT are a fair number but i'm far from thinking we are majority), would you say it was okay for Bioware to let the straight choices "atrophy" and instead fill their worlds with Gay characters? I wouldn't. And why should they get ride of those? I honestly don't know their numbers, but I doubt that the game is selling less because there's not enough choices for straight male gamers. Like I said the romance is a very small part of the Dragon Age game. I don't see why they couldn't make it interesting for everyone. Of what i understand of your argument, I think you are implying that they are badly investing their money. If thats the case, you haven't proven to me that they are in fact losing money over this.

 

[NeoGuardian86]

snip

eh ignore this. I thought you were responding to me and i don't know how to delete this.

 

[godfist88]

Because apparently "straight, male gamers" are not pandered to enough in games?

This guy knows Duke Nukem Forever is coming out this year, right?

unless it gets delayed another 12 freaking years, he should nothing to complain about after that.

 

[Paradoxrifts]

If i go by your logic, then you and OP shouldn't be whining about the gay content. If so little games of that type are available then why not just take it as it is? That's what you are suggesting after all. I don't see how your statement backs up your point of view any more than mine.

Because he wants to get the same value for money that you want for yours. This is and has always been a simple competition for resources and representation. I see no reason why he should be happy that Bioware has ceased making their games solely with his demographic in mind. While I myself don't suggest that they return to believing that everybody in the world is white, straight and male what I do think they should be doing is attempting to please the people who are actually buying and playing their product.

No more, no less.

You kind of are. Let me put it if this way. If it turned out that the majority was Gay (Lol don't worry, I don't think that, i think LGBT are a fair number but i'm far from thinking we are majority), would you say it was okay for Bioware to let the straight choices "atrophy" and instead fill their worlds with Gay characters?

That I think would be more than fair.

I wouldn't walk into a bar that caters to the LGBT community and expect special treatment because I'm straight. I would however choose to spend my money elsewhere, which I think everyone can agree is more than reasonable solution.

The problem however lies not in the fact that people are not willing to live and let live when it comes to matters of sexual preference but that when it comes creating expensive entertainments such as Hollywood blockbusters and triple-A video games which must be paid for collectively, there happens to be only so much room on the swing set. Somebody always misses out on being represented.

But the matter is simpler than that. Nobody needs to know the sexual preference of every single person who ever plays Dragon Age 2. It's completely unnecessary.

All that really matters is that enough players are actually making use of the options provided so as to justify their continued existence. Pay to play, get what you pay for.

 

[faefrost]

As a straight male I have no real issues with the choose your own path to romance options. With the possible exception of Anders. It isn't so much the being hit on by the gay guy, as it is the over the top and annoying way that there seems to be no middle ground in any communications with that character. He is either hitting on you and all lovey dovey creepy, or he hates you. Fenris is fine. sebastian is great. The whole thing only goes where you take it. Of the girls, yeah Isabella is a bit trampier in her hitting on you than you might outright care for, but she at least seems to have some middle gears in choices and conversation options. The Anders character really is the source of all the complaints. Just poorly scripted compared to the others and seems to be pushing the whole romance thing a little too hard. What makes this even worse is for most playthroughs Anders really is the main and only healer option, which means you are stuck with the annoying turd.

 

[Blindswordmaster]

My problem isn't with the possibility of homosexual relationships, but that I couldn't turn down Anders without getting rivalry points. Is adding "I just like you as a friend" too much to ask? Not that I wasn't flattered.

If/when girls do that to you, does it make you warm to them?

It's worth noting that Ladyhawkes can't turn down Anders without getting rivalry points either. Are you basically asking for a special hetero getout clause which allows you to turn people down without making them feel bad or influencing their perception of you?

Because that certainly doesn't exist in real life..

Yes I do get a get out. Because we aren't the same sexual orientation, not that I just didn't want to fuck him. It's different between homo- and heterosexuals. I'd be understanding if a women I liked was a lesbian. It's impossible for her to be attracted to me, so that's it. Anders needs to grow up and respect my sexual orientation.

Not everyone reacts the same way. Some people just don't take rejection. At all. I mean how many stories about stalker/murderers have we heard? Someone being dumped by their spouse going bunkers? Or suicidal? You might personally have the maturity level to accept that a relationship can't ever happen because of the other's person orientation, but some people don't. He really wanted you, you say no, he's pissed off by it. That's actually accurate to real life. And let me tell you, as a queer woman, not all guys take the "I prefer women, sorry" all that well. Some are gentleman some are not.

If that's the case then it has nothing to do with his sexual orientation, and it's all about him not taking rejection well. If that's true, then I stand firmly by my original statement. Anders: grow up and act like a fucking adult. Don't make me use my battle axe on you.

 

[scones_better]

If i go by your logic, then you and OP shouldn't be whining about the gay content. If so little games of that type are available then why not just take it as it is? That's what you are suggesting after all. I don't see how your statement backs up your point of view any more than mine.

Because he wants to get the same value for money that you want for yours. This is and has always been a simple competition for resources and representation. I see no reason why he should be happy that Bioware has ceased making their games solely with his demographic in mind. While I myself don't suggest that they return to believing that everybody in the world is white, straight and male what I do think they should be doing is attempting to please the people who are actually buying and playing their product.

No more, no less.

Resource, I could understand your logic. Representation? I'm sorry but most think in life are arguably geared toward straight white males. By your logic, the female option shouldn't be available either since there's less female gamers then male ones. Not to mention, you seem to forget that not all white straight male are against homosexual options, female options and different races options. Sure he wants what he wants, but he is not the sole representative of the demographic, I'm sorry. Plenty of straight male players play the game as a female character or as a gay character, wouldn't removing these options be also unfair to them? You and the OP seems to think only LGBT people play gay characters but thats false.

That I think would be more than fair.

I wouldn't walk into a bar that caters to the LGBT community and expect special treatment because I'm straight. I would however choose to spend my money elsewhere, which I think everyone can agree is more than reasonable solution.

The problem however lies not in the fact that people are not willing to live and let live when it comes to matters of sexual preference but that when it comes creating expensive entertainments such as Hollywood blockbusters and triple-A video games which must be paid for collectively, there happens to be only so much room on the swing set. Somebody always misses out on being represented.

But the matter is simpler than that. Nobody needs to know the sexual preference of every single person who ever plays Dragon Age 2. It's completely unnecessary.

All that really matters is that enough players are actually making use of the options provided so as to justify their continued existence. Pay to play, get what you pay for.

To me that's just segregation. Gays go on one side and Straight on the other.

And if all that matters is that enough people using the system to justify its existence, then I have a feeling the numbers are in favor of that system. I have a hard time believing that Bioware would have bothered to make every character bi this time around if it wasn't. Their goal with that was to give as many options to their player, and clearly they felt that people wanted more choice gay and straight.

 

[Blindswordmaster]

Yes I do get a get out. Because we aren't the same sexual orientation, not that I just didn't want to fuck him. It's different between homo- and heterosexuals. I'd be understanding if a women I liked was a lesbian. It's impossible for her to be attracted to me, so that's it. Anders needs to grow up and respect my sexual orientation.

My experience says that if that's really true you're probably a minority.

For various reasons (because of my course, because of the kind of events I go to and so forth) I get to meet a lot of lesbians in the context where their lesbianism is obvious. Certainly considerably more than most of the population.

Of those lesbians, the vast majority have virtually no close straight male friends. If you dig into the reasoning behind this, you will unearth a catalogue of experiences in which straight men have proven pathologically unable to deal with lesbianism. Heck, one of my best friends was literally pushed up against the wall and groped by a guy who insisted to her that she wasn't a lesbian and was totally getting off on it.. in a gay club.

That's an extreme example, but similar experiences are incredibly commonplace. Men who claim they're understanding about being rejected, then prove to be moody, clingy little bitches later on. Men who never stop making advances. Men who say inappropriate things or try to involve themselves indirectly in their lesbian 'friends' sex lives. Men who treat their lesbian friends as surrogate girlfriends and demand constant emotional engagement from them. On the other hand, there are men who treat their lesbian friends with complete kid gloves and refuse to go near them. Neither is genuinely 'understanding'.

My personal theory is that it's to do with the way men are raised to behave in sexual relationships. Men are taught to be persistent, assertive, even slightly aggressive in expressing their desires. For gay men, this leads to interesting dynamics which often force men in that position to moderate their behaviour. But still, gay men can be incredibly forward and assertive.

Heck, I was out last night and some guy literally pulled me over and kissed me on the mouth. It was inappropriate, especially since my boyfriend (who fortunately isn't exclusive like that) was standing a few meters away. I didn't mind, we were in a gay club and to a certain extent gay clubs can be about random intimacy with strangers, but even though it was fucking presumptuous I would not have come across well to that guy if I'd told him to get off. Most men aren't taught to be 'reasonable' when it comes to making advances, it sucks but it won't change just because you can convince yourself you're not like that.

So yeah, you say you'd be understanding.. I personally will believe it when I see it. If you are one of the minority who genuinely are respectful in that regard, good for you, you give me hope for our sex. But I didn't manage to handle that situation well, I've never met anyone who has, and until it happens to you I'm not convinced you could either.

If I found out that one of my female friends was a lesbian, it would definitely change our relationship: I would be making lesbian jokes every second. Because that's how we roll. I'm fat and my friends tell fat jokes. The problem with many boys today (because real men don't act like this) is that they're still in that juvenile, conquest phase. Don't worry, most boys eventually grow out of it. Rejection happens, you don't always get your way. If I had my way, I'd have gotten laid in high school and I'd be driving a car from this century. Deal with it. You get rejected, by women, by employers, by other people, do you ***** about it? Set the employer's car on fire? Stalk that woman? No. Do I handle rejection well? Well, after all the rejection I've experienced, I would certainly hope that I've learned to handle it well. You put yourself out there, tell a woman that you like her, and she tells you that she just wants to be friends, or she just rejects you completely. I pick myself up and move on. I deal with it, because that's what a man does. I accept others others as they are. I respect the choices people make, even if I don't totally agree with them. I've grown up.

 

[Blindswordmaster]

Yes I do get a get out. Because we aren't the same sexual orientation, not that I just didn't want to fuck him. It's different between homo- and heterosexuals. I'd be understanding if a women I liked was a lesbian. It's impossible for her to be attracted to me, so that's it. Anders needs to grow up and respect my sexual orientation.

My experience says that if that's really true you're probably a minority.

For various reasons (because of my course, because of the kind of events I go to and so forth) I get to meet a lot of lesbians in the context where their lesbianism is obvious. Certainly considerably more than most of the population.

Of those lesbians, the vast majority have virtually no close straight male friends. If you dig into the reasoning behind this, you will unearth a catalogue of experiences in which straight men have proven pathologically unable to deal with lesbianism.

I'd also have to ask my theoretical gay and lesbian friends some questions. Because I don't know all that much about that and I'd like to understand it more. Blame the anthropologist in me.

 

[Daemonate]

I like how the majority doesn't get special treatment, and they cater to special interests when it comes to sexuality and gender issues...but when it comes to game design - well, the guys who liked DA:O, Baldur's Gate etc etc, that minority, well, they're just a minority and we are busy pandering to the important majority who like cheap thin actiony console titles.

What? You're a complaining minority? Get with the program, you don't have the power/right to dictate to the majority! We like shit games!

Funny how that logic doesn't apply to other minorities - you know, ones that might actually impact your PR if you offend?

 

[Kinguendo]

Because there were absolutely no romantic choices deigned to pander to the straight male demographic within Dragon Age 2.

TIG BITTIES!

Ahem, excuse me.

OT: I like my characters to represent me as much as possible... and I have been hit on by gay guys before so that just adds to the realism. Although I have never been hit on by any elves...