EA defends itself against thousands of anti-gay letters

Darkong

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So at pretty much the same time when EA gets an award for being an awful company this story has emerged:

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-04-04-ea-defends-itself-against-thousands-of-anti-gay-letters

In a nutshell, EA has received lots of letters of complaint over the option for players to have their in-game avatars pursue same sex relation in some games (Mass Effect 3, etc).

Its something of a barometer of behavior in the modern world, you know you're a world class douche when you're doing something which makes EA look like the good guys.
 

omicron1

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It seems to me like the spirit of inclusiveness should extend to those of us who think Don't Ask Don't Tell was good policy, and would like to be able to tell Steve Cortez so. You know, rather than being forced to commiserate with him or ignore him completely. But hey, inclusiveness only works one way, right? It doesn't count if you're on the wrong side.
 

Kahunaburger

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omicron1 said:
It seems to me like the spirit of inclusiveness should extend to those of us who think Don't Ask Don't Tell was good policy, and would like to be able to tell Steve Cortez so. You know, rather than being forced to commiserate with him or ignore him completely. But hey, inclusiveness only works one way, right? It doesn't count if you're on the wrong side.
Would you expect a modern game with dialogue options to give you the option to oppose giving women the right to vote?
 

dyre

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Haven't played ME3, but I remember DA2 seemed to have a ton of bisexual characters for some reason. Imo Bioware should make more exclusively gay or exclusively straight characters, because right now it feels like all my teammates want to fuck me no matter who I am...
 

omicron1

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Kahunaburger said:
omicron1 said:
It seems to me like the spirit of inclusiveness should extend to those of us who think Don't Ask Don't Tell was good policy, and would like to be able to tell Steve Cortez so. You know, rather than being forced to commiserate with him or ignore him completely. But hey, inclusiveness only works one way, right? It doesn't count if you're on the wrong side.
Would you expect a modern game with dialogue options to give you the option to oppose giving women the right to vote?
I expect any game dealing with issues under debate to serve both sides equally. For example: If there is a question dealing with religion, I should be able to respond either as a religious person or as an atheist. If there is a question dealing with gay marriage, I should be able to respond either for or against.
 

Kahunaburger

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omicron1 said:
Kahunaburger said:
omicron1 said:
It seems to me like the spirit of inclusiveness should extend to those of us who think Don't Ask Don't Tell was good policy, and would like to be able to tell Steve Cortez so. You know, rather than being forced to commiserate with him or ignore him completely. But hey, inclusiveness only works one way, right? It doesn't count if you're on the wrong side.
Would you expect a modern game with dialogue options to give you the option to oppose giving women the right to vote?
I expect any game dealing with issues under debate to serve both sides equally. For example: If there is a question dealing with religion, I should be able to respond either as a religious person or as an atheist. If there is a question dealing with gay marriage, I should be able to respond either for or against.
Even if it's anachronistic? If you were playing a dude in pseudo-medieval wherever, would you expect a "you know, I think our government is running up too much debt. Spending is out of control, and needs to be reigned in. Here's a copy of Atlas Shrugged." dialogue option?
 

Savagezion

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omicron1 said:
Kahunaburger said:
omicron1 said:
It seems to me like the spirit of inclusiveness should extend to those of us who think Don't Ask Don't Tell was good policy, and would like to be able to tell Steve Cortez so. You know, rather than being forced to commiserate with him or ignore him completely. But hey, inclusiveness only works one way, right? It doesn't count if you're on the wrong side.
Would you expect a modern game with dialogue options to give you the option to oppose giving women the right to vote?
I expect any game dealing with issues under debate to serve both sides equally. For example: If there is a question dealing with religion, I should be able to respond either as a religious person or as an atheist. If there is a question dealing with gay marriage, I should be able to respond either for or against.
Isn't there an option to not have gay sex in the game? I am confused.
 

Zhukov

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Gotta protect them kiddies.

If they see something homosexual in a game they're not supposed to be playing then... good God, they might ask their parents an awkward question or two then go back to not giving a shit. Horrors above!
 

omicron1

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Kahunaburger said:
omicron1 said:
Kahunaburger said:
omicron1 said:
It seems to me like the spirit of inclusiveness should extend to those of us who think Don't Ask Don't Tell was good policy, and would like to be able to tell Steve Cortez so. You know, rather than being forced to commiserate with him or ignore him completely. But hey, inclusiveness only works one way, right? It doesn't count if you're on the wrong side.
Would you expect a modern game with dialogue options to give you the option to oppose giving women the right to vote?
I expect any game dealing with issues under debate to serve both sides equally. For example: If there is a question dealing with religion, I should be able to respond either as a religious person or as an atheist. If there is a question dealing with gay marriage, I should be able to respond either for or against.
Even if it's anachronistic? If you were playing a dude in pseudo-medieval wherever, would you expect a "you know, I think our government is running up too much debt. Spending is out of control, and needs to be reigned in. Here's a copy of Atlas Shrugged." dialogue option?
Implicit in this answer is the assumption that the debate will/should be resolved in your favor - a problematic assumption at best. There is room to argue that in past/fantasy settings certain options are not reasonable to present, but as far as future settings are concerned, implicitly deciding hot-button topics one way or another is a good way to piss off a sizeable chunk of your fanbase.

Savagezion said:
omicron1 said:
Kahunaburger said:
omicron1 said:
It seems to me like the spirit of inclusiveness should extend to those of us who think Don't Ask Don't Tell was good policy, and would like to be able to tell Steve Cortez so. You know, rather than being forced to commiserate with him or ignore him completely. But hey, inclusiveness only works one way, right? It doesn't count if you're on the wrong side.
Would you expect a modern game with dialogue options to give you the option to oppose giving women the right to vote?
I expect any game dealing with issues under debate to serve both sides equally. For example: If there is a question dealing with religion, I should be able to respond either as a religious person or as an atheist. If there is a question dealing with gay marriage, I should be able to respond either for or against.
Isn't there an option to not have gay sex in the game? I am confused.
Yes - but there is not an option to disagree with the concept.
 

Pearwood

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omicron1 said:
issues under debate
That's kind of the point, the debate's over in most places. Virtually all of Western Europe has some equivalent of same sex marriage, designing games just to cater to a few backwards places in America is never going to happen.
 

Kahunaburger

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omicron1 said:
Kahunaburger said:
omicron1 said:
Kahunaburger said:
omicron1 said:
It seems to me like the spirit of inclusiveness should extend to those of us who think Don't Ask Don't Tell was good policy, and would like to be able to tell Steve Cortez so. You know, rather than being forced to commiserate with him or ignore him completely. But hey, inclusiveness only works one way, right? It doesn't count if you're on the wrong side.
Would you expect a modern game with dialogue options to give you the option to oppose giving women the right to vote?
I expect any game dealing with issues under debate to serve both sides equally. For example: If there is a question dealing with religion, I should be able to respond either as a religious person or as an atheist. If there is a question dealing with gay marriage, I should be able to respond either for or against.
Even if it's anachronistic? If you were playing a dude in pseudo-medieval wherever, would you expect a "you know, I think our government is running up too much debt. Spending is out of control, and needs to be reigned in. Here's a copy of Atlas Shrugged." dialogue option?
Implicit in this answer is the assumption that the debate will/should be resolved in your favor - a problematic assumption at best. There is room to argue that in past/fantasy settings certain options are not reasonable to present, but as far as future settings are concerned, implicitly deciding hot-button topics one way or another is a good way to piss off a sizeable chunk of your fanbase.
There are two errors in your argument.

The first:

Pearwood said:
omicron1 said:
issues under debate
That's kind of the point, the debate's over in most places. Virtually all of Western Europe has some equivalent of same sex marriage, designing games just to cater to a few backwards places in America is never going to happen.
The second is that in the context of the Mass Effect setting, gay marriage is not a controversy. Much like how it isn't a controversy in Assassin's Creed II. Settings that aren't the modern world are under no obligation to have their political issues mapped to modern political issues, and it is in fact often strains the suspension of disbelief when they do.
 

dreadedcandiru99

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Kahunaburger said:
Pearwood said:
omicron1 said:
issues under debate
That's kind of the point, the debate's over in most places. Virtually all of Western Europe has some equivalent of same sex marriage, designing games just to cater to a few backwards places in America is never going to happen.
The second is that in the context of the Mass Effect setting, gay marriage is not a controversy. Much like how it isn't a controversy in Assassin's Creed II. Settings that aren't the modern world are under no obligation to have their political issues mapped to modern political issues, and it is in fact often strains the suspension of disbelief when they do.
Pretty much this. Support for marriage equality has been steadily trending upward for years, so it stands to reason that by the time we're flying around in space, nobody will think anything of it. Hell, it's pretty much beyond debate now.
 

Kahunaburger

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ravenshrike said:
Kahunaburger said:
omicron1 said:
It seems to me like the spirit of inclusiveness should extend to those of us who think Don't Ask Don't Tell was good policy, and would like to be able to tell Steve Cortez so. You know, rather than being forced to commiserate with him or ignore him completely. But hey, inclusiveness only works one way, right? It doesn't count if you're on the wrong side.
Would you expect a modern game with dialogue options to give you the option to oppose giving women the right to vote?
That would be awesome, but only if it were a steampunk game.
Haha, I think I wrote it wrong - I meant a game in a modern setting.
 

Elamdri

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omicron1 said:
It seems to me like the spirit of inclusiveness should extend to those of us who think Don't Ask Don't Tell was good policy, and would like to be able to tell Steve Cortez so. You know, rather than being forced to commiserate with him or ignore him completely. But hey, inclusiveness only works one way, right? It doesn't count if you're on the wrong side.
To paraphrase Mike Kraulik

I would burn everything I have built to the GROUND if it meant I could catch people like you in the flames.

:D
 

wintercoat

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omicron1 said:
It seems to me like the spirit of inclusiveness should extend to those of us who think Don't Ask Don't Tell was good policy, and would like to be able to tell Steve Cortez so. You know, rather than being forced to commiserate with him or ignore him completely. But hey, inclusiveness only works one way, right? It doesn't count if you're on the wrong side.
Wait..so you want the option to ignore him, commiserate with him, or ignore him, rather than just commiserate and ignore? Cortez's entire character growth revolves around letting go of his dead husband. There would be no character interaction with him if you told him to fuck off with his gayness. So...just ignore him.
 

Fr]anc[is

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dyre said:
Haven't played ME3, but I remember DA2 seemed to have a ton of bisexual characters for some reason. Imo Bioware should make more exclusively gay or exclusively straight characters, because right now it feels like all my teammates want to fuck me no matter who I am...
To be fair it does mean more options for the same amount of work. IIRC there were 4 romancable characters open to everyone, as opposed to only 1 for each gender/orientation combo. I would rather have that way then have it be like the waste of time and effort Jacob from ME2. Because who the hell romanced Jacob.
 

Savagezion

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omicron1 said:
Savagezion said:
omicron1 said:
Kahunaburger said:
omicron1 said:
It seems to me like the spirit of inclusiveness should extend to those of us who think Don't Ask Don't Tell was good policy, and would like to be able to tell Steve Cortez so. You know, rather than being forced to commiserate with him or ignore him completely. But hey, inclusiveness only works one way, right? It doesn't count if you're on the wrong side.
Would you expect a modern game with dialogue options to give you the option to oppose giving women the right to vote?
I expect any game dealing with issues under debate to serve both sides equally. For example: If there is a question dealing with religion, I should be able to respond either as a religious person or as an atheist. If there is a question dealing with gay marriage, I should be able to respond either for or against.
Isn't there an option to not have gay sex in the game? I am confused.
Yes - but there is not an option to disagree with the concept.
Wouldn't not having gay sex be disagreeing with the concept? Unless you mean by not having gay people at all in the game. Then the option to disagree with the concept would be at the checkout counter.
 

PaganAxe

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omicron1 said:
Kahunaburger said:
omicron1 said:
It seems to me like the spirit of inclusiveness should extend to those of us who think Don't Ask Don't Tell was good policy, and would like to be able to tell Steve Cortez so. You know, rather than being forced to commiserate with him or ignore him completely. But hey, inclusiveness only works one way, right? It doesn't count if you're on the wrong side.
Would you expect a modern game with dialogue options to give you the option to oppose giving women the right to vote?
I expect any game dealing with issues under debate to serve both sides equally. For example: If there is a question dealing with religion, I should be able to respond either as a religious person or as an atheist. If there is a question dealing with gay marriage, I should be able to respond either for or against.
Both times I've played as male Shepard in ME3, I became buds with Cortez (and nothing more as I had other love interests in those run throughs). So it is possible to talk with him without getting him as your love interest. Being the straight character shouldn't automatically make you a homophobe, and being acceptable to homosexuals shouldn't automatically make you homosexual yourself.