Dragon Age Inquisition Banned in India due to Portrayal of Homosexuality

[clippen05]

ironically this is a side effect still being felt from the days of colonial rule where it was made illegal

Yes, clearly it was the evil British that caused all of the problems. It's not like they were ruled by Muslims before the British came that are know for their 'tolerance' of homosexuality.

 

[babinro]

Sounds like the Indian government was looking out for their countries best interest....said no one ever.

Have they allowed previous Bioware RPG's? I'm assuming they simply choose to pick on this game arbitrarily while allowing things like Mass Effect or even Dragon Age Origins into the country.

 

[Hazzard]

ironically this is a side effect still being felt from the days of colonial rule where it was made illegal

Err try reading some history. Before the British took over the majority of the country was ruled by the mughal empire. The rulers of which were muslim, initially they were liberal, but emperor Aurangzeb imposed Sharia law in the 1660s.

It's colonial era laws that get used to enforce it, but I find it funny how this is the same chunk of land that produced the Karma Sutra.

 

[Albino Boo]

ironically this is a side effect still being felt from the days of colonial rule where it was made illegal

Err try reading some history. Before the British took over the majority of the country was ruled by the mughal empire. The rulers of which were muslim, initially they were liberal, but emperor Aurangzeb imposed Sharia law in the 1660s.

It's colonial era laws that get used to enforce it, but I find it funny how this is the same chunk of land that produced the Karma Sutra.

You are factually incorrect, how can colonial era law enforce sharia law when the British had no colonies in India 1660? During the period of rule of the East India company the British did not change the law that governed the mughal empire. The East India company power came from the fact it was a feudatory of the Mughal empire. The emperor was still officially in charge. Please try to know some history before posting.

 

[Westonbirt]

Huh. I thought India had a much more diverse gender identity structure than the largely binary structure in the West. While that doesn't prevent them from having negative perceptions of homosexual behavior, it strikes me as inconsistent from a Western perspective.

*looks into the issue for a moment*

Huh. So they do recognize a third gender for crossdressers and transgender folks who don't identify with their gender assigned at birth, yet homosexuality is still a crime. Progress is funny sometimes.

People make the error of looking at issues with a strictly western POV, adding or subtracting "progressiveness points" on a spreadsheet and then making a little conditional format thing.

This part of Asia has a history of accepting a certain type of MTF transgenderism (and BTW Pakistan too). This doesn't mean they are accepting of homosexuality or more broad gender identity concept dear to western social justice, it is a specific cultural happenstance. India is still, like the former USSR or China, very much conservative and puritan ; it's just that what they want to conserve is not exactly the same.

It also helps not to conflate all the ideologies that are or have been present at any point in India's history or the relative liberalism that large city centres can project due to their storied and inherent cosmopolitan tolerance.

 

[Hazzard]

I'm talking ab

ironically this is a side effect still being felt from the days of colonial rule where it was made illegal

Err try reading some history. Before the British took over the majority of the country was ruled by the mughal empire. The rulers of which were muslim, initially they were liberal, but emperor Aurangzeb imposed Sharia law in the 1660s.

It's colonial era laws that get used to enforce it, but I find it funny how this is the same chunk of land that produced the Karma Sutra.

You are factually incorrect, how can colonial era law enforce sharia law when the British had no colonies in India 1660? During the period of rule of the East India company the British did not change the law that governed the mughal empire. The East India company power came from the fact it was a feudatory of the Mughal empire. The emperor was still officially in charge. Please try to know some history before posting.

I'm talking about laws like Section 377, law may not be the right word, but I'm splitting hairs here.
It was implemented under British Rule and it's rules like that which are used to justify punishment of Indian Homosexuals.

With proper control over India and the end of the Mughals new laws would have been put in place. I never said it was Sharia law that was punishing homosexuals. Stop making it out to be Islam that dominates India, Sharia law is not used in India, instead they have the Muslim Personal Law.

 

[Albino Boo]

I'm talking about laws like Section 377, law may not be the right word, but I'm splitting hairs here.
It was implemented under British Rule and it's rules like that which are used to justify punishment of Indian Homosexuals.

With proper control over India and the end of the Mughals new laws would have been put in place. I never said it was Sharia law that was punishing homosexuals. Stop making it out to be Islam that dominates India, Sharia law is not used in India, instead they have the Muslim Personal Law.

Try knowing some dates. Sharia law was introduced in 1660s by the Emperor Aurangzeb https://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Mughals/Aurang2.html 90 years later the Bristh where granted a firman as a fudetory of the Mugahl empire. The East India company expanded is influence, however is remained within the framework of mughal law. It was not until 1858 after the Indian mutiny that direct rule was established over the most of the territory of the mughal empire. 100 years AFTER the first British colony.

Here is a map of the Mughal Empire as you can see it dominated India

Again please try to know some history before posting.

 

[Hazzard]

I don't think I'm being clear, I'm saying that Section 377 enforces homophobia now, I'm not saying it enforces Sharia Law.

More on topic, Indian politicians seem to be afraid of anything outside of heterosexuality when it comes to sex.

 

[Euryalus]

It's always depressing when you hear about bannings or alterations to games in the name of protecting people from some vague sort of moral corruption.

[insert overused Benjamin Franklin quote]

 

[RICHIERICAN]

Oh, if you're inclined to do something positive about it, I encourage anyone with an Indian friend who is interested in this game to give them a hand in finding some way to obtain it anyway.

Can you please give a link to this news??

 

[Risingblade]

Perhaps if DA:I had rape content as part of its design, India would have been okay with that.

Please don't flame me before you look up information in regards to rape culture in India. Thank you.

Well Origins did have rape in it, so maybe you're on to something.

 

[Something Amyss]

Huh. So they do recognize a third gender for crossdressers and transgender folks who don't identify with their gender assigned at birth, yet homosexuality is still a crime. Progress is funny sometimes.

There are a few Middle Eastern countries which are similar, that recognise at least some level of transgender identity but for which the penalties for homosexuality are harsh. I remember the old standards for transsexual care actually recognise this as thing. Which baffles me, but hey.

Perhaps if DA:I had rape content as part of its design, India would have been okay with that.

Please don't flame me before you look up information in regards to rape culture in India. Thank you.

Crap. Now the MRAs are gonna come knocking.

I never understood banning games with this kinda content, because in my experience with BioWare games, you will hear maybe one or two lines of dialogue about a character's sexuality, and that will be it unless you choose to pursue it. It's not even like you can accidentally end up being gay in the game, but of course, this is one of those backwards ideas that that any content that portrays someone as being gay in a good light will end up turning some perfectly straight people or children, and my god think of the children!

Hey, it's a gateway. I played/read one of those "Choose Your Own Adventure" books when I was a kid, and the wrong gender was the protagonist, and now look at me.

 

[RICHIERICAN]

This the only link I can find on this : http://www.hardwarebbq.com/dragon-age-inquisition-available-india-due-breach-local-content-laws/

 

[Don Incognito]

If true, maybe this will at least serve as a reminder as to what censorship actually means in the real world, compared to what so many people think it means.

 

[Albino Boo]

I don't think I'm being clear, I'm saying that Section 377 enforces homophobia now, I'm not saying it enforces Sharia Law.

More on topic, Indian politicians seem to be afraid of anything outside of heterosexuality when it comes to sex.

This was the original quote

ironically this is a side effect still being felt from the days of colonial rule where it was made illegal

This statement is factually incorrect because as I have demonstrated sharia law was enforced long before British rule, further more India has been independent for 60 years and entirely free to set its own laws. The British have nothing to do with it.

 

[OpticalJunction]

this is terrible, it's just a video game for god's sake. let's hope other countries don't follow suit.

 

[JimB]

Oh, if you're inclined to do something positive about it, I encourage anyone with an Indian friend who is interested in this game to give them a hand in finding some way to obtain it anyway.

Er, while I appreciate the intent behind this suggestion, I suspect that exhorting this site's users to enable Indian nationals to break the laws of their country will be frowned upon.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

Apparently a ton of people in India who bought Dragon Age: Inquisition just got notices announcing that their purchase was canceled because the Indian government actually BANNED the game. According to people on the Bioware Forum, this ban was due to the positive portrayal of homosexuality in the game.

I don't know how huge the Indian market is, but this is just nuts. Many game developers pretend that LGBT folks don't even EXIST. It's sad to see one that goes that extra mile being penalized for it.

you know, THIS is actually worth fighting for

i can get behind defending the cause of DAI being unbanned in indie and indians player having the chance to play the game

i dont know how to help tough

 

[brtt150]

Well India is missing out.

That's up for debate. *rimshot*

This is pretty horrible... banning the game because it has gay people.
Sometimes videogames, and their contents, and a nation's reaction to them, can say a lot about the current mindset in that place.

Or you know, the mindset of the legislators who banned it. But no, feel free to accuse an entire populace (including those who wanted to play the game) of being horrible terrible homophobes.

Homophobia is highly prevalent in India's populace.

http://www.pewglobal.org/2014/04/15/global-morality/table/homosexuality/

 

[h@wke]

Perhaps if DA:I had rape content as part of its design, India would have been okay with that.

Please don't flame me before you look up information in regards to rape culture in India. Thank you.

Well Origins did have rape in it, so maybe you're on to something.

Eh when was that like?