Dragon Age 2 is building up quite a bit of lore both on and off the consoles (or PC if you’re so inclined). Here’s the story as it stands: a gamer named Bastal posted a thread on Bioware’s SocialNetwork entitled Bioware Neglected Their Main Demographic: The Straight Male Gamer. He claims DA2 neglected its core audience by making homosexual romance just as prevalent as heterosexual romance, an unjust ratio in his view.
This prompted Bioware’s senior writer, David Gaider, to tactfully respond in defense of the non-straight male gamer, straight females and homosexuals a.k.a. everyone else. He stated that romance is there for all, and no gaming audience should be neglected whether they’re the base or the minority. Instead of getting + 1′s for inclusion and cultural sensibility, however, he got a gay gamer appalled and petitioning for his being fired. Are either of these reactions justified?
The gay gamer, only identified as Oakland in his petition, says,
[a]s a homosexual playing Dragon Age 2, I’ve witnessed the worst stereotype homosexual characters in this game. 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.
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.
Obviously this person as well as Bastal react extremely to a game mechanic that, no doubt, was meant to provide more depth into this widely popular RPG. While I let the gaming world decide if either side makes a point, I’ve decided to flex my bard skills in celebration of this Dragon Age drama:
Oh noble Bastal, keeper of the old ways
thought Dragon Age 2 shouldn’t be played by the gays.
Ser Gaider struck this hater
with a wise word or two
only to get stung by merry Oakland, who hates Gaider too.
wow you actually wrote about an actual game for once
inorite
It’s been a while. I tend to focus on cultural news and features. I figure there’s enough folks writing about specific games. Although, if you check the timeline …
What is this? News?
Bioware should just ignore such ignorant comments. Some people tend to forget that video games are simply entertainment, not a mirror of current society. How about a game where only gay and lesbian relationships are “socially” acceptable, and straight relationships are frowned upon?
That would be an absolutely fantastic use of videogames as a means to convey social commentary.
Generally I think the whole ‘romance in games’ thing is dumb and should be left to the sims. Otherwise who cares who kisses whom?
Gotta love forum drama. Anders is always causing trouble even in the real world, though I admit he was a little over the top when you let him know you were straight.