I don't know how well it would fly, but why not just give the player the power to design every major NPC. I guess it would increase the amount of voice work, but a lot of games already have robust NPC creation systems.RatGouf said:
Lack of Gay Character Options in RPGs "A Shame," Says BioWare Producer
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How are you gonna explain fucking a man?
Even if we squash the beef, I ain't touching your hand.
Even if we squash the beef, I ain't touching your hand.
Well I'd rather see them making decent skill systems (DA2 was a step ahead, but a few awesome cookie cutter ones among a dozen of sub par isn't the way to go) and great encounter designs (sneak ahead, place traps, sneak attack squishies > I spawn behind ur doodz, killing all your magez!) with a distinctive enemy roster, but kids these days need dating sim elements in their RPGs I guess.
Who cares about the gameplay you will be doing 70% of the time if you can screw waifus.
Who cares about the gameplay you will be doing 70% of the time if you can screw waifus.
Don't the major RPGs already include gay character options? I'm pretty sure I could play a lesbian in Dragon Age and Mass effect obviously, but also Kingdoms of Amalur, Skyrim and Dragon's Dogma. The only RPGs I've played recently where I couldn't are the ones with a predetermined character they're telling the story about(Persona 4, Tales of Vesperia, Witcher 2) and the Dark Souls games(because they don't have shallow romancing options and dialog trees at all in those games). In the games where you choose your appearance and your love interest, I think they're all good about letting you pick whatever gender you like. What's he talking about?
As much I like it how Bioware does make an effort on making LGBT characters, I feel like they've been focusing too much on romances in general to not only where sexuality feels hamfisted, but they're taking too much room on stage from all the other important aspects of their games. People play Bioware games for the world, character development, and story, not romances. I remember in earlier Bioware games that romances weren't advertised or even touched upon, they were just little rewards and easter eggs you could get for taking the time to get to know and connect with your party members. Then there's the issue on having LBGT characters only existing for the PC to experience which makes it feel like these characters are gay for the sake of being gay, and not because it's part of a overall complex and detailed character. It be nice for once to actually have a LGBT party member that you couldn't romance at all so that one trait wouldn't define everything.
You know why is it I never hear anything about Dragon Age Inqusition's gameplay, combat and how the game is going to run, everything is about whether or not there are gay characters in it, I want to see gameplay improvements not romance stuff because that stuff is not my main focus to play an RPG.
Not only is this statement trite but it's needlessly focused. Of course a creator should be able to tell the story they want, and what does it matter if the story includes more than one specific character or several clearly defined identities?Adamantium93 said:
Uh, says who? Yes, there's many RPGs that absolutely follow this mantra but that's not how the entire genre is defined.Adamantium93 said:
No one "chose" homosexuality as a sticking point, it's just been largely deemed irrelevant, and your list of customizable features is misleading to the point of dishonesty. Even your typical Bioware game doesn't include all or even most of these options (or they're such footnotes they're barely worthy of mention). What's more, some of these features are actually required in order to even begin creating the character, their sexuality is not.Adamantium93 said:
But we're not (and who is we anyway?). Some RPGs allow players to create the kind of character they'd like to travel the world in as a vehicle, but their options are always going to be limited based on what the developers thought was important to include into the game. Sex and romance is not always at the top of the list of priorities, neither is sexuality.Adamantium93 said:
Very few games actually do this; most of them are trying to sell the setting, or the combat, or magic, or dragons or whatever is most impressive looking or painstaking. Blank slate characters are not a reliable selling point to people because they are typically only as valuable as the player treats them. Some people dedicate pages of art or slash fiction to their character, some people can't even remember their names.Adamantium93 said:
Agreed. I really do not see any problem with having gay characters/gay romance options in a game. I can understand the argument if every character is bisexual, but even then I have seen games have that and still pull it off well. To me, a big part of RPGs should be about roleplaying and making your own persona as you play. And while obviously not every RPG goes for this route, I think that those that do should allow you to bone whatever gender you please, if they do allow boning at all.
You know, I don't get the hamfisted sexuality argument. I mean, I haven't seen that much of Dragon Age 2, but from what I've seen in it the characters don't go "Oh by the way did I mention that I'm gay? Because I'm gay," every three seconds. If a person's sexuality completely defined who they were, you literally should not be able to name anything else about them and they would bring it up every three seconds. And that would be an appallingly bad character. Again I haven't seen much, but I haven't seen anything like that from DA2, or really any Bioware games. Heck, Traynor in ME3 only off handily mentions that she's a lesbian if you go out of your way to woo her (And in the Citadel DLC). I just don't follow your argument.NemotheElvenPanda said:
Would be cool to see a non-romancible gay character though.
Oh man, I laughed so hard at this.fight me in space said:
DMX - Where the Hood at, those were the days (of casual homophobic remarks, unfortunately)
I think the only objectively good and believable male romance, especially a gay one, was Sky from Jade Empire. Not only was he not a emo and stereotypical mess but kept his cavalier, roguish attitude throughout the game no matter your relationship with him, you also kind of had to go out of your way to romance him as a male character a bit more than a female one since, just like in real life, relationships between people of the same-sex doesn't really happen often. That single touch made it incredibly realistic and relatable for me.mechalynx said:
The problem comes when you make the character's defining trait as gay. I find that the character is just there to make a social commentary and nothings else. I know that this has been mentioned before but look no further than Fallout New Vegas. Veronica was a lesbian and she only mentioned it once or twice and that was it. It wasn't her defining trait it was just a extra tidbit of information to make the character feel more real.
You mean like how Jennifer Hepler was embraced by the fans for telling the stories she wanted to tell?Makabriel said:
But real talk, here is a creator talking about the kind of games he and his people would like to make. Yet because these stories aren't exclusively about straight white men the assumption is they must be doing it out of some evil mandate for "political correctness".
Have you considered that maybe they want to reach a wider demographic with their games beyond teen to middle age straight white men? Or that maybe, just maybe, they want to write stories that could star characters of different types?
And again, this is all optional content in the RPG. No one is going to sit you down and force you to take the same sex game options. If the fact that those options EXIST and that someone else might be enjoying them bothers you so much, you really should stop to ask yourself why that is.
That's fucked up bro. I'm sorry you apparently grew up on/still ingest those Rush Limbaugh-levels of hatred and bigotry. Whenever you feel like seriously examining your beliefs and thinking beyond those hateful, illogical slogans the talking heads shout every day the 21st Century will be over here for you.Nicolaus99 said:
This is ridiculous. Everyone knows that only straight, white males play video games and that the only characters they can identify with are straight, white males. Where does this guy get off acknowledging that other sexualities exist?
Seriously though, the lack of same sex options in games that bill themselves as "role-playing" is a bit sad and it's nice to see someone else point it out.
Seriously though, the lack of same sex options in games that bill themselves as "role-playing" is a bit sad and it's nice to see someone else point it out.
Also it's funny that just this week George R. R. Martin came out talking about how he got requests for gay m/m sex scenes mostly from female readers.
Clearly there is a large audience of straight people who enjoy male/male and female/female romances. This isn't the work of some secret gay organization who torment poor creators into including "their kind" in games, it's simple market demand. And if creators catering to market demand bothers you, you really shouldn't be playing AAA games in the first place.
Clearly there is a large audience of straight people who enjoy male/male and female/female romances. This isn't the work of some secret gay organization who torment poor creators into including "their kind" in games, it's simple market demand. And if creators catering to market demand bothers you, you really shouldn't be playing AAA games in the first place.
As a gay man, i don't want to play as a gay character if he is poorly written and just there for the sake of it being there to appease the more vocal minority. If you're truly passionate about making a gay character and him having great development and growth and other things that a character needs to be compelling, not just a gender identity then you should write one and for no other reason one should be written.
> implying gamers are a hive mind and agree on every subject (welcome back to the nest broodmate, shall we synchronize now?)Kamui-Moshiri said:
> implying this also implies gamers in this topic (including yourself) also say these things.
> implying great conspiracy to appear on the surface as a contradictory bunch when we are all secretly in agreement.
> implying assimilation complete, activating thread abandonment protocol Alpha.
But seriously? Stop. This formatting doesn't belong outside of 4chan and it's annoying there too.
Kamui-Moshiri said:
Remember that Nintendo commercial from a few years ago with the young woman who said "I'm not a gamer"? I guess it comes back to the more diverse demographics of game players allowing the term "gamer" to be used simply to describe the dudebros who game. Which is a shame, clearly said dudebros believe they're what it means to be a gamer. And Mtn Dew and Doritos marketing believes it as well, maybe we should all speak up so we don't slip into believing it ourselves.UberPubert said:
No, your formatting remains the same.Kamui-Moshiri said:
Rather pointless now, isn't it? As a defense of game developers or as a criticism made by another person towards them what's the loss? Two or more people having conflicting ideas?
It isn't even as if one person making both statements is in the wrong. The desire to see game developers produce the content they legitimately wish to is not contradictory to criticizing the content they make. Disagreeing with someone is not the same as wishing they had never spoken at all.