Dragon Age Inquisition Banned in India due to Portrayal of Homosexuality

JMeganSnow

New member
Aug 27, 2008
1,591
0
0
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.
 

JMeganSnow

New member
Aug 27, 2008
1,591
0
0
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.
 

Mezahmay

New member
Dec 11, 2013
517
0
0
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.
 

ninja666

New member
May 17, 2014
898
0
0
Looks like they'll have to turn to swashbuckling if they want this game, then. They can only blame their government for that.
 

Aerosteam

Get out while you still can
Sep 22, 2011
4,267
0
0
Well India is missing out.

Also has this happened before at all? All of Bioware's recent games have had homosexual characters in it, but I didn't hear any of them getting banned for it.
 

Mezahmay

New member
Dec 11, 2013
517
0
0
Aerosteam said:
Well India is missing out.

Also has this happened before at all? All of Bioware's recent games have had homosexual characters in it, but I didn't hear any of them getting banned for it.
It can only be banned by the government if they care enough about it to know. I'd be interested if there's enough outcry about this and someone in the Indian government goes something like "My God, there's more of this stuff?!" and more games get retroactively banned in India. I really doubt that will be the case unless ex post facto laws are status quo in India.
 

DementedSheep

New member
Jan 8, 2010
2,654
0
0
I'm curious, did they ban the other ones or did they not notice that you have had bi and gay people in bioware games before?
 

Saetha

New member
Jan 19, 2014
824
0
0
Mezahmay said:
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.
I know this is kind of off-topic, but isn't the deal with India's recongition of non-binary genders more of a religious practice than an actual advancement of social issues? As in, it's not like any random schmuck of the streets can claim they were born male and female, only members of a specific, dedicated sect of their religion are allowed to do so - the bulk of the population is expected to adhere to the gender binary. Or do I have my information wrong?
 

Someone Depressing

New member
Jan 16, 2011
2,417
0
0
They're only now banning Bioware games for being a tad, teensy weensy bit gay? They're a little late.

India is a very multi-cultural place, so people there pretty much cover the full spectrum of language, religion, race and sexuality. So the fact that they're banning it, religious reasons aside, is just absurd.
 

Pr0

New member
Feb 20, 2008
373
0
0
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.
 

Seishisha

By the power of greyskull.
Aug 22, 2011
473
0
0
As absurd a notion this seems to me im actualy slightly more curious about the nature of the ban than the actual act of it, i mean is this just a case of retailers are not allowed to sell it but you could aquire an import copy, is it region locked in origin so that it wont work regaurdless and so on.
Pretty strage anyway, im not gonna get into the social aspects of such a ban because honestly im not in a position to judge another countries policy in this regaurd, it would be nice to hear from some of the residents this has actualy affected though.
 

laggyteabag

Scrolling through forums, instead of playing games
Legacy
Oct 25, 2009
3,301
982
118
UK
Gender
He/Him
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!
 

Aaron Sylvester

New member
Jul 1, 2012
786
0
0
That's the least of India's problems.

Most of the country is still living below the poverty line and is traditionally backwards, running on caste systems [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste_system_in_India], status, etc. The government and politics are immensely corrupted no matter which state you're in. Mindsets often revolve around religion and/or superstition.

The country has a BILLION problems and I honestly don't see it ending well on the path that it's going, the population spiralling out of control and issues relentlessly getting worse. Pretty much one look at any city will show that everyone only cares about living for today and/or going overseas the moment they have the opportunity.

Gay acceptance is a far-off distant thing, the country first has to take baby steps towards whatever little progress it can manage.
 

small

New member
Aug 5, 2014
469
0
0
ironically this is a side effect still being felt from the days of colonial rule where it was made illegal
 

Albino Boo

New member
Jun 14, 2010
4,667
0
0
small said:
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.
 

deathbydeath

New member
Jun 28, 2010
1,363
0
0
Aerosteam said:
Well India is missing out.
That's up for debate. *rimshot*
8bitOwl said:
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.
 

KINGBeerZ

New member
Apr 22, 2012
147
0
0
It's sad, not only is that a really backwards view, but they'll miss out on a game that looks pretty good, India was actually a lot more tolerant of homosexuality and people who identify as the opposite gender originally, then the English came and destroyed a lot of Indian culture (at least that's the case to my understanding, I could be incorrect).