Gay Gamers Want Dragon Age 2 Writer Fired

[Loonerinoes]

So wait wait...Anders is a stereotypical gay person...and Zevran was NOT and he didn't deserve a petition?!

This is retarted beyond belief. I mean, Zevran caught a bit of flak for being so stereotypically promiscuous, sure. Heck, I kinda liked him regardless, but if anyone said that Zevran was a bit of a stereotype on 'loose gays', I'd probably say "Yeah...maybe, I mean - there's a little bit more to him than that if you dig through his past, but fair point I think."

Anders on the other hand is completely obsessed with his personal mission and I honestly thought it was a bit clearer as to why he's slightly more forward about it - because his personal mission is utterly draining his energy and hence he's that much more desperate to find love (and relief) where he can. And even FURTHER than that, Anders actually doesn't take the relationship as something minor, unlike say...Isabella might. So...in what possible way is he a 'stereotype'? If anything, he's the exact opposite of Zevran (hilariously, they both also faced off in Act 3 for me and the difference between them is made clear at the end of that quest) - someone who won't dump Hawke for another person, even though he might still place them second to his mission.

Really...I guess the only thing I can think of at the end of this story is this being a simple case of the following mindlessness...

 

[Redem]

You know when Anders nuked the chantry I wondered if they would be anykind of controversy, because in a way he acted like a fanatical sucide bomber (ok he didn't blow himself up but clearly didn't care if you executed him and even was rejoice by the fact it would make him a martyr) and by doing so not only stabbed you in the back, but destroyed any sort of peaceful resolvement in the conflict between the templar and the mages

but no the real controversy came from the fact that Anders has a crush on Hawke and they both have a pee-pee

 

[DementedSheep]

You?re not going to be happy that someone else doesn?t return you feelings and some people are bad at taking rejections. Did he expected him to jump up and down in joy when you reject him? He is going to be hurt obviously. That has nothing to do with sexuality, it could just be a trait of that character. He is the one who is linking it with being gay. Not to mention its only 15 rivalry points. Easily fixed.
And most the bioware romances practically throw themselves at your feet if you even look at them.

 

[Twilight_guy]

I think he's a troll. Note the fact that immediately after bashing the writer he then says that thee writing on the entire game sucks. That sounds trollish to me. Either way, I don't think any online petition like this is ever going to work or that they'd ever fire their writer over such a small complaint. Not to mention the idea boils down to "I know you're trying but you didn't do it perfectly so don't try at all" which when you're talking about representing homosexuals in games that's a bad idea. We need to start somewhere and work through the screw ups to get it right.

 

[Sumtaedium]

... bloop!

 

[Stewie Plisken]

If you refused to make your moves on a gay character then you are received rivalry points for not wanting to be gay for the character.

Wait, what? Anders came on to me early on, but I changed the subject of the conversation and everything went smoothly. No rivalry points, no further efforts, nothing.

 

[Mantonio]

I've met and known my fair share of gay men unfortunately and everyone of them is a complete and utter hornball....much like any man.

Oi, sexist.

 

[PeterDawson]

I'm with Gaider on this one. It's singling out one character whose sexuality has nothing to do with his personality. Hell, methinks bisexuals might have more to complain about since the main love interests can all go both ways (I don't count Sebastian as a main since he's DLC-based), including the person the gamer seems to be complaining about. I gotta say this feels a bit more understandable than the Resident Evil 5 controversy about African zombies in Africa, but again I feel its a case of missing the point and jumping to the wrong conclusion.

 

[Ailia]

This guy needs to be punched. Hard.

The characters act more realisticaly in this aspect - they hit on you because they're interested in you, and they're not going to wait around for you to show interest. Real life is like that - I found it great to see such situations in a game.
Anders is just a desperate little bastard who wants a little lovin' before he goes nuts and destroys everything. Can't really blame him for that.

And hoesntly, Gaider is one of the best game writers out there; asking to have him fired is one of the dumbest moves you could pull in this period of gaming.

 

[maddawg IAJI]

". If you refused to make your moves on a gay character then you are received rivalry points for not wanting to be gay for the character,"
-Misinformed gamer.

That is just plain false. You don't get the rivalry points for rejecting them, you get them for being a dick about rejecting. I've been playing as a straight Hawke and never once have I received Rivalry points for not following a Romance.

"This is completely wrong, homosexuals do not approach people and force them to kiss us, the person that wrote this game should be fired for stereotyping homosexuals in such a disrespectful way, as well as creating the worst writing in characters, plot and everything else in DA2."

You're right, it false, along with everything else you said. Most of the characters in the game that you can have a homosexual encounter with are loners if he has yet to notice. Fenris has been on the run for the past 3 years and has never had anything close to a friend, Anders fears being found by the Templars. The only stereotype present here is the common theme of a subordinate falling for their leader. Its amazing how people start jumping to conclusions.

I understand what he is trying to say, but he isn't really winning a lot of points with anyone. Mainly due to his arguments being either false or not remembering that the way they're attracted on you isn't affected by the homosexuality, but by their personality.

 

[irani_che]

ah ha ha
now can we please move past this obsession with trying to include women and homosexuals in blatant "no-one feels left out" ways and start using the subtlety tool

 

[Dastardly]

Permalink

I was kind of waiting for this particular backlash, to be honest.

It's very hard for games to cater to a fringe demographic without accidentally parodying that demographic... or at the very least caricaturizing it. It's not malicious or intentional. It's just the way we conceptualize things: if it's different from what we know in some ways, we tend to minimalize the things that are similar and thus exaggerate the things that are different.

What makes a straight man different from a gay man? By and large, the only difference is who they have sex with. That's the key difference. And so, when we create a homosexual character, we feel a certain responsibility to prove it's a homosexual character by making a big deal out of the thing that identifies him as a homosexual.

And, of course, the other problem is a classic with NPC dialogue--sometimes we forget how many times the player is going to hear a particular line, either in the same playthrough (if it loops) or in multiple playthroughs. That can turn a perfectly natural dialogue into gross generalization, even stereotypical chatter.

The answer, in this case, is one the developers have already touched on as a regret--they need to allow the player to initiate these romances. Unless the core gameplay centers on sex, romantic/sexual entanglements need to (if present) be something the player has to seek out. Then it's simply a matter of ensuring you provide a variety of options.

But, as with any art, it's often too tempting to broadcast something we've added, for fear that it might be missed or underappreciated... By and large, I think these guys were bold to take on the issue, but there was some mishandling.

Those railing against it need to realize that only by allowing people to make and learn from mistakes are we going to get developers to be equipped to capably handle these sorts of issues. If you snap at them for each misstep, however unintentional, you're only going to make them afraid to learn the right way to deal with it.

 

[AngelOfBlueRoses]

For those saying that all of them being bisexual is highly unlikely, you have to remember that most people are bisexual to an extent. That extent being that some straight males would have another male out there that they'd find attractive. Sure, they wouldn't go out LOOKING for them, but they're out there. It's much rarer for someone to be 100% straight or gay. Now, this "extent"? Hawke is a beast, whether man or woman. Hawke simply is. Everyone wants him/her and anyone would follow that sexy piece of ass!

As for on topic, I already made a post about that.

 

[katsumoto03]

You know, they have a point. Gays are people too, and they can be just as completely fucking retarded and miss the goddamn point just like any of us.

 

[weker]

hmmm gays are obsessed with sex is a stereotype? The only gay stereotype that I know was a over feminine man who is good with people and textiles. A sex obsessed character to me is just a bad character. I would call this over sensitive (ironically) as I never seen anyone complain about a male character being butch and overly masculine.

 

[Weofparadigm]

Poor David Gaider. Man can't catch a break

 

[Delock]

Wait, so he's upset that gays are misrepresented here?

... But everyone is bi... there were no gays. The only non-bi love interest was Sebastian, who was straight and celibate, which was part of his whole extremely religious personality.

And why Fenris? Anders was not only the aggressive one (even to my male Hawke. Fenris kept things professional the entire time), but well... crap, can't do this without spoilers.

Spoiler

He went fucking insane at the end. Practically the whole game was about showing just how close Kirkwall was to the edge, while it being a very "human" down to earth sort of story where there was no clear antagonist like the first game, which all added up to that stunning moment where he acts as the opposite of Morrigan and takes away your third option. Hell, I had to make Hawke ask him what the hell he was thinking because I literally couldn't think anything else.

For those of you wondering what exactly happened, he decided that he was going to effectively stop negotiations towards the status quo where mages are ruled over by the Chantry (DA's religion) by destroying the large church in the center of the entire city with a huge magical bomb so that everyone would know it was a mage who did it. He sets it off right as you're about to get the leader of the templars (enforcers of the church) and the mages to go to the head priest who has proved to be the only one who could handle things with these two. She was in the church.

It seems to me if you're going to talk about the same sex partner who misrepresents things, I'd go after the one who did that, or did you not play far enough?

 

[Jake0fTrades]

If he is fired, I will cry for humanity.

 

[Callate]

Ho-kay, just signed the petition.

You know, the other petition.

Because genuinely aggrieved or not, the "fire Gaider" petitioner is a jerk. It's just a question of whether they're of the petulant type with an overdeveloped, self-centered sense of entitlement or the simple inflammatory attention-seeking type with parental issues.