Poll: Homosexuality in Mass Effect 3

[Josue Rodriguez]

I know this is a bit late to the news but since I've been playing Mass Effect 2 again on a second playthrough I wondered again about the news that Mass Effect 3 will have homosexual companions.
I gotta say first that I love the Mass Effect franchise and it's universe, the writing is awesome and their characters interesting and diverse. What I've been hearing a bit was that some players thing adding the homo factor to an already established character such as Ash or Kaiden would soil their characters of their developments...
I think, would it really?
In my first play with Mass Effect I was a male, I knew very well there would be no homosexual relationships with males so I struck up one with Ash even though I would have liked for it to be Kaiden. She died (lol). In Mass Effect 2 I wanted to try with Miranda but never really got around to it in the gameplay, before I knew it the game was over.
In Mass Effect 3 Kaiden will be available again as a squad member... could I then get my wish?
What I find funny is that they say it might ruin his character, but I don't see how
In Mass Effect 1 Kaiden was a friend, it's all I saw him as, when I played as a female he felt like a different character than the one in my male playthrough
In Mass Effect 2 he was pretty much absent in the regard of relationships.
My point is after all this blabbing, will making Kaiden gay or bisexual in Mass Effect 3 for MY playthrough in the span of two games change his character to the point of it being soiled? Or hell, with the Joker =D
I'd really like to see what people think of this.

 

[Gorilla Gunk]

Oh this is going to get ugly...

 

[twistedheat15]

Shepard: Garrus, ya got a min?

Garrus: Can this wait? I'm in the middle of some calibrations.

Shepard: Sorry, but no. I've kept this missle at bay long enough, and now it has to blow...

Garrus: Bring it on! Let's see if my reach can beat your "explosive" power...

*techno music begins to play. Screen fades to black*

 

[Soviet Steve]

No but I'm far more concerned with origin than the actual story of the thing at this point.

 

[viranimus]

Honestly, Bioware has long beaten this to death. Its getting to the point of it becoming an offensive cliche now. Perhaps adding homosexuality just for the sake of creating the illusion of being enlightened might not be such a good idea.

http://gamepolitics.com/2011/03/29/gay-gamer-calls-bioware-writer-be-fired

EDIT: Yes I think it stands to reason modifying a deeply ingrained char trait would without question modify that char.

 

[mireko]

I don't think it will change anything. The relationship stuff never leaks into the main game unless you've already pursued a relationship with that character. Besides, what heterosexual behavior of Kaidan's would be negated by him coming out of the closet?

People are still going to ***** and whine about it across the Internet with a whole slew of nonsensical and ridiculous arguments (look out for the phrase "shoving it down our throats"), but those people are dicks. Ignore them.

 

[AD-Stu]

Maybe I've missed something, but I don't remember reading anywhere that the sexual orientation of existing characters was going to be changed - and based on past performance, Bioware isn't likely to make every character romanceable by both genders.

Take Dragon Age: Origins, for example: as a female character you could romance Leliana, but not Morrigan and ditto for Zevran but not Alistair if you were male. So I'd be surprised if they go the retcon path, and instead expect it'll be catered to by new / returning bisexual characters.

 

[Ruedyn]

Kaiden isn't gay? Not even bisexual. I think I lost a bet with my cousin.

 

[daftalchemist]

Kaidan will still be a sissy ***** whether he's straight or not, so I don't really see what the problem is. I'm really tired of people blowing things like this out of proportion, like whether or not a game is still canon when new features are added is some kind of CRAZY CONTROVERSY! It's not. It's a new feature. The characters are only what you imagine them to be. I always viewed Kaidan as a 10 year old girl anyway, so I guess that's what he is.

 

[TakeyB0y2]

Well, to be honest, they don't have to make a once-percieved-as-straight character gay, just establish that they were always bisexual, but either

A) Weren't previously interested in Shepard for one reason or another
B) Figured Shepard didn't swing that way and never pushed the issue

Buuuuut honestly, I don't think it'll cause and huge changers to the already established characters. My male (and decided canon) Shepard will continue to be asexual, while my female (non-canon) Shepard will wrap as many people around her finger as she possibly can.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

As long as it doesn't turn Garrus gay I'll be fine. There is absolutely nothing from the first two games that indicates that he was bisexual, and it would be insulting for them to suddenly turn him into a bi just so that Bioware can go "Look! We're tackling gay romance in games! Aren't we progressive?"

 

[Josue Rodriguez]

Maybe I've missed something, but I don't remember reading anywhere that the sexual orientation of existing characters was going to be changed - and based on past performance, Bioware isn't likely to make every character romanceable by both genders.

Take Dragon Age: Origins, for example: as a female character you could romance Leliana, but not Morrigan and ditto for Zevran but not Alistair if you were male. So I'd be surprised if they go the retcon path, and instead expect it'll be catered to by new / returning bisexual characters.

I understand they won't change every character, I'm leaning that hopefully Kaiden will be an option, since he was my favorite character in Mass Effect 1, similar to Alistair in Dragon Age Origins, but I know that Alistair would be really silly to change in a future game IF they add him to a future installment...wait a minute...(O)___(O) (it be silly to change Alistair)
and honestly they never really mention sexual orientation in Mass Effect, Kaiden doesn't really say, "I only love women". Ah...bugger...

 

[Thunderhorse31]

As long as they don't "pull an Anders" with Garrus, it'll be fine.

But so help me God...

 

[Josue Rodriguez]

As long as they don't "pull an Anders" with Garrus, it'll be fine.

But so help me God...

I'm seeing it in my head...
oh god...I hope not...Anders was extremely melodramatic...

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

yes it would, your sexuality (like other aspects of your identity) help shape who you are as a person and what your perspective on life is, and this being bioware (by that I mean great writing and character development) it would effect the character.

 

[faefrost]

This always gets me with Bioware. There is nothing wrong with a gay character or two. The key is don't specifically create a "gay character". And please for gods sake take the "seduce and marry/bed/bungabunga" the NPC's out of the equation. It adds little and takes away more.

Now as a counterpoint, look at the two major gay NPC's in Fallout New Vegas. Vyolet and Arcade Gannon. Obsidian did a superb job of making them real people instead of simply "gay characters". Their stories are great and at times heartbreaking. They are something that any player may feel for regardless of your actual stand on homosexuality. and they did it in large part by taking the sex out of the equation. The charatcres sexual orientation is a part of their backstory, but it isn't really a part of their personality or interaction with you. Compare that with Dragon Age 2's Anders (/shudder). Yeah yeah I know that in theory he would hit on anybody male or female, but sorry he came off as the flamingly obnoxious overly stereotyped gay character. Please don't do that again in MA3? Pretty please. Better to tread litely and avoid this whole bomb of in game subject matter than to do it wrong... again.

 

[DirgeNovak]

I have reach, and he has flexibility... why not?

Seriously, I doubt an established character like Kaidan would openly flirt with a male Shepard without being flirted with in the first place. If the player breaks the ice and the other character simply responds favorably, I see no characterization problem. It could simply mean that the character was hiding his/her interest for Shepard in the previous games, and being flirted with just opened their shell. That could actually be great if handled right.

I probably won't experience it myself, since I intend to pursue my original love interests, Jack and Thane - and maybe Liara if I make a third Shepard, but it's nice for those interested.

 

[karkar]

I think the poll question is poorly worded, personally. If the sexuality of a character is never explicitly stated until a certain point, that certain point will define their sexuality, thus altering the way the character is viewed. If Kaiden were to be revealed as gay (or more realistically, bisexual, as female PC's have the option to romance him in ME1), then that adds to his characterization. It might make him more or less likable, depending on your beliefs, but I think to most players, it simply add depth to his character, giving more perspective on his life. This goes both ways (heh), as my perception of Garrus was altered slightly when he told his story about "letting off steam" with a female member of his barracks. The Asari have the ability to reproduce with most other species, regardless of gender, but I don't think the game ever explains how sex works in Turian society. One would assume that it is predominately heterosexual, as that seems to be the only purpose for a species to have two genders (as opposed to the genderless Asari), but sexuality in Turian culture is still mostly a mystery, and that one story sheds only a tiny bit of light on the topic.

Sexuality in Mass Effect is an interesting topic because it makes one think how sex might be approached in a future with multiple sentient species interacting with each other. Perhaps society in the Mass Effect universe is more accepting of homosexuality, or perhaps it is a prejudice that has persisted through time. Having an established character come out as gay or bisexual could be an intriguing way of exploring how human civilization works in the distant future of ME, but only if it is elaborated on to some extent. To return to my original point, I think it is undeniable that it would "change" the character in some way. The question is, would this change add or detract from the character's intrigue?

 

[NickCaligo42]

I couldn't care less about whether someone or another comes out of the closet, but I don't feel like Bioware does romance tastefully in the first place, much less homosexual characterization. Case in point...

As long as they don't "pull an Anders" with Garrus, it'll be fine.

But so help me God...

This. There's much bigger problems with Dragon Age 2 across the board, but the way characters magically change sexuality so that they're ALL into you, ALL the time, is really irritating.

Thing is, I don't think they do it so much as an important trait to round out characters as much as they do it to give us a set of blow-up sex dolls. And I resent it greatly, if I'm being honest. I buy video games to play video games, sometimes to experience a story, not to have my sexual tastes second-guessed by an overly persistent waiter with a tray of sci-fi strumpets. If I wanted that, I'd be playing a Japanese eroge game, not the game about being a starship commander. I'm really not trying to be a prude when I talk about this, but I feel like it's a huge distraction and these games would be better off without trying to force all the shipping.

 

[Marcus Kehoe]

I don't care, I'm not having gay sex with my character, if someone else does more power to them. I won't know if kaidens gay because hes dead in all my playthroughs.