EA defends itself against thousands of anti-gay letters

SageRuffin

M-f-ing Jedi Master
Dec 19, 2009
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Fr said:
anc[is]
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.
[Raises hand]

Wait! I only did so for achievement grinding. I was disturbed enough by Hale's voice acting making it seem like my FemShep was essentially screaming "fuck me now!" every time her and Jacob talked. As far as I'm concerned, my FemShep's only had eyes for Ash... at least, until one Samantha Traynor - ahem - came around...

Don't get me wrong. I love Hale's work, but talking to Jacob was cringe-worthy.
 

Vault101

I'm in your mind fuzz
Sep 26, 2010
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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.
Im not sure what point your trying to make

all he ever says is "I had a husband" did that seriously freak you out that much?
 

TheSteeleStrap

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May 7, 2008
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I haven't played ME3, but why do people care about an option that they don't need to do? Basically... Shut up. Just shut up.
 

Uszi

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Feb 10, 2008
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As a Floridian, let me say that the Florida Family Association shames us all.

They're the same people behind this shit:
http://floridafamily.org/full_article.php?article_no=140

And this shit:
http://floridafamily.org/full_article.php?article_no=144

And this shit:
http://floridafamily.org/full_article.php?article_no=108

And... so on
http://floridafamily.org/full_article.php?article_no=118

It's wonderful that an organization that essentially advocates for Christian doctrine to subvert secular law is currently fueling xenophobic, anti-Islamic fears about our state allowing "Sharia Law."
 

Zen Toombs

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Nov 7, 2011
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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...
Is that a problem?

'Sides, what's wrong with bisexual people? They're far more fun. :3

Although I do see your point. I agree that more characters should be exclusively gay, seeing as we have far too many straight people about.[footnote]After responding to GiantRaven, I feel the need to change the footnoted sentence to "we need more exclusivly gay characters and straight male characters. [gay male]Shep and [straight fem]Shep need some love![/footnote]
GiantRaven said:
Mass Effect 3 isn't at all like Dragon Age 2 in that regard. Of the new relationship options there is, I believe:

- 1 gay male
- 1 bisexual male
- 1 gay female
- 1 bisexual female

So sexuality is dependent on that character, rather than Shepard's gender.
Kinda, but the romances are heavily weighted on the male side.

As for the additions in Mass Effect 3, there is
- 1 gay male
- 1 bisexual female
- 1 gay female

Also, you can now romance either Ashley as [fem]Shep or Kaiden as [male]Shep.

- 3 straight females
- 4 bisexual females (counting Liara)
- 1 gay female
- 1 straight male
- 1 bisexual male
- 1 gay male.

For those keeping score at home, that means [male]Shep has 9 possible romances in Mass Effect (two of which are homosexual) 3, and [fem]Shep has 7 (5 of which are homosexual).
If you add in Mass Effect 2 romances, then you get one more bisexual romance and two more straight male romances, bringing the totals to [male]Shep at 10 (2 homosexual) and [fem]Shep at 10 (6 homosexual).

Sourcey source [http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Romance#Mass_Effect_3].
 
Apr 28, 2008
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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.
Um... they do do that.

You get a point when talking to him, where you can say you're interested, or that you don't swing that way.

I believe the scene happened this way:

Set: Purgatory bar. Up on the dancefloor. Cortez is at the bar.

Cortez starts talking to you, then says "And besides, at least the view isn't bad". The camera then focuses on some guy dancing in the background.

You then have the options to say "What about me?" or "I prefer the other dancers". The first option causes you two to kiss and starts the romance. The second option then focuses on all the Asari dancers, and makes you guys just friends.
 

wisemithrandir

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Nov 21, 2010
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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.

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.
So, basically your problem is not the fact that gay issues are in the game, but that you can't debate with in game characters over your personal concepts? So it's not that the gay is there, but that you can't debate in game about it.
 

Jitters Caffeine

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DrVornoff said:
Another thought that occurs to me. I hear a lot of guys ***** about how much they hate it when Zevran or Anders hits on you, but they never say anything about how sexually aggressive Isabella is. If you play a female, she hits on you out of the blue too. Yet the guys never complain about this. Hmm, I wonder why that is?
It's a classic double standard. I didn't play as a female Hawke, so I can't really say for how Isabella acted in that respect. When I was playing, I just wrote off Isabella, and Zeveran for that matter, as being at least being playfully flirtatious and at worst being portrayed as almost hyper-sexual. I did notice that the game seems to attribute the "friendly" or "nice" responses to your comrades as also being "flirtatious" in a lot of the personal dialogues. Thankfully though, Dragon Age 2 actually shows you whether your response is flirtatious or not. One of the few really positive aspects of the game.
 

Yearlongjester

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Feb 14, 2010
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Is it really a big problem to some people? Steve said something about a husband and I just went "Oh dude's gay, I'll just make sure he knows where I'm at and we're cool." There's a good video on Youtube somewhere bemoaning the Anti-gay movement, I'll have to find it.
 

Pharsalus

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Jun 16, 2011
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Darkong said:
you know you're a world class douche when you're doing something which makes EA look like the good guys.
Not gonna read the rest of the chatter but can I put this quote on my facebook? It's gold.
 

Crowghast

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Aug 29, 2008
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How about... and bear with me for a second, [i\]no-one has sex at all?[/i] Problem solved. More time for character development that isn't sex-related, and shooting and space adventures abound. And then people who don't like gay sex [i\]AND[/i] people who don't like sex being in the video game in the first place can all be happy.




I mean, seriously. All of these arguments for or against it really twist my stomach in a knot. It makes me uncomfortable to read them. Everyone needs to stop being so negative to each other.
 

Clive Howlitzer

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Jan 27, 2011
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I played a male Shep stuff and the only gay stuff I saw was like, a single line of dialogue. I never even saw anything else. Is that really enough to drive people nuts?
 

Subaltern

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Mar 28, 2012
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Clive Howlitzer said:
I played a male Shep stuff and the only gay stuff I saw was like, a single line of dialogue. I never even saw anything else. Is that really enough to drive people nuts?
There are a whole lot of really, really sexually insecure and bigoted people out there.
 

Dorian6

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Apr 3, 2009
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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.
omicron1 said:
Jitters Caffeine said:
I was raised in the Church, so you really need to watch your mouth. I never said I had anything against any religion, you're just assuming I do because I think it's wrong to discriminate against people because they're different. And I'm not ASSUMING that discrimination against a group of people is Bigotry, I'm outright saying it. Based on the fact that the definition is intolerance based on personal prejudices towards another group of people. You're basically saying gay people shouldn't exist, and just because other bigots like to get together and talk about how much they hate a particular group of people doesn't make them right. It just makes them a higher concentration of hateful people.
My apologies for my ill-judged jab; it applies well to ~70% of Escapistgoers. Nonetheless, the principle remains the same - it is an attempt to saddle one's opposition with negative terminology and judicial bias, just as the terms "homophobe" and "bigot" are.

What I am saying is very simple: You can believe whatever you want, do whatever you want, as long as you don't make me believe it or respect your actions. I should not have to support your position, or refrain from stating mine, in the public sphere. [http://catholicexchange.com/canada-orders-pastor-to-renounce-his-faith/] I should not be barred from adopting children because they might grow up to believe as I do. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-12598896] I should not have to cater a wedding I disagree with. You may disagree with me, but you may not ban me from discourse or make my beliefs hate speech - not before proving that they are wrong. Until that point - while homosexuality is still undecided as to its very nature, whether it is intrinsic or extrinsic - attempting to enforce your view of the issue is tantamount to tyranny. That is all.


Pearwood said:
Right. They just want same-sex couples to never have the same legal rights married couples have. Not at all discriminatory. Argue your case all you want but don't bother trying to pretend it isn't rooted in homophobia, your argument is saying gay people don't deserve the same legal rights. If we were living in some kind of alternate universe where marriage was a purely religious ceremony and didn't confer any kind of legal status then we could discuss this properly without there being any homophobia or accusations of homophobia but that's not the case.
You are beginning from the invalid postulate that homosexuality is similar in classification to race or gender - that it is inborn, impossible to alter. As long as your arguments rest on postulates that are not accepted by both sides, no conversation may take place.

At this point, I have said my piece, outlined my positions. I'm not moving from them. Good day to y'all.
Translation: "Too many people in this forum disagree with me, so I'm going to leave before you can poke holes in my tightly held beliefs. Nomatter what evidence you provide, or how sensible your argument is, I will never admit that anyone else's opinion is reasonable or valid. But I have to make sure that I tell you the reason is that I just don't feel like talking about this anymore. If I just stop responding, you might think it's because you've silenced me with your logic. Goodbye *sticks fingers in ears* LALALALALALALA"
 

Seanfall

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May 3, 2011
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Of all the things to take issue with with EA they pick this? Seriously....it's two animated sprites rubbing similar junk together. I just...people...I can't even give word to how stupid this compliant is. Say what you want about EA at least their not anti-gay fucktards. I really hope that we breed this kinda stupid out of the human race in a few generations. It's a game....yes a very good Role Playing Game. But just because someone says. "Gee my Male Shep wants a piece of that Kaiden ass." Doesn't mean he or she is in turn gay. Unless they are...in which case...who gives a crap anyways? They don't like the gay scenes don't make shepard gay. Those close minded twits.