BioWare smacks down whining straight male gamers

[Ian David]

BioWare smacks down whining straight male gamers – Apparently some straight dudes are so scared of teh gay that they can’t even handle having fictional dudes hit on them. BioWare recognizes that they have an audience that isn’t just those tools and creates games for that let you have relationships with anyone, no matter your character’s gender. From Joe.

More:
http://networkedblogs.com/fQLi3

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Why Bioware Enforces They Deserve My Money
Mar 20th, 11 / 109 Comments / Share this Entry

I don’t write often enough about games on my blog. However, I wanted to share something cool about a game company, Bioware. Recently they released a game called Dragon Age 2. This game has been played non-stop by Ray and Dave since it came out, and I’ve been watching it. It’s an awesome rpg. You get to choose to be a mage, warrior or rogue and the game changes depending on every decision you make. The non-linear story is very cool and allows for a different experience each time you play through, depending upon the companions you choose to have with you. Additionally, your companions in the game flirt with you and you can choose to flirt or not flirt back. The gender of the companion doesn’t matter; they’re all omnivorous.

On the Bioware forums, a player complained (this is the forum thread the complaint and the response came from) that Bioware neglected their main demographic, the straight male gamer, by having the straight male gamer have to ‘put up with’ men hitting on their character in addition to women.

One of the Bioware staff members, David Gaider, made a wonderful response to this player, which I wanted to share in part with you:
The romances in the game are not for “the straight male gamer”. They’re for everyone. We have a lot of fans, many of whom are neither straight nor male, and they deserve no less attention. We have good numbers, after all, on the number of people who actually used similar sorts of content in DAO and thus don’t need to resort to anecdotal evidence to support our idea that their numbers are not insignificant… and that’s ignoring the idea that they don’t have just as much right to play the kind of game they wish as anyone else. The “rights” of anyone with regards to a game are murky at best, but anyone who takes that stance must apply it equally to both the minority as well as the majority. The majority has no inherent “right” to get more options than anyone else.

More than that, I would question anyone deciding they speak for “the straight male gamer” just as much as someone claiming they speak for “all RPG fans”, “all female fans” or even “all gay fans”. You don’t. If you wish to express your personal desires, then do so. I have no doubt that any opinion expressed on these forums is shared by many others, but since none of them have elected a spokesperson you’re better off not trying to be one. If your attempt is to convince BioWare developers, I can tell you that you do in fact make your opinion less convincing by doing so.

More:
http://phyrra.net/2011/03/why-bioware-enforces-they-deserve-my-money.html

[howard112211]

1. I got Dragon Age part one, about six weeks ago and now have 160 hours playtime in.

The game really rocks. Haven't tried the second part yet.

But indeed, I was thinking the same. That game has enough stuff in it to make a few people's heads explode: Atheism, ambiguous moral situations, witchcraft (ironically the witch is an atheist), homo and bisexuality, female priests and what not.

Definately worth playing. But beware: It has the potential to suck you in to a point where you'd rather play the game than do real-life.

[The Philosopher]

2. My favorite part

"And if there is any doubt why such an opinion might be met with hostility, it has to do with privilege. You can write it off as “political correctness” if you wish, but the truth is that privilege always lies with the majority. They’re so used to being catered to that they see the lack of catering as an imbalance. They don’t see anything wrong with having things set up to suit them, what’s everyone’s fuss all about? That’s the way it should be, any everyone else should be used to not getting what they want."

[howard112211]

3. Best of all is that they are bitching about a perfectly good game.

I haven't been immersed in something as much since my Ultime Online summer. And they are complaining about being hit on by the elf assassin with a leather fetish? Get real, there is plenty to see, also for the heterosexual male, in this game...

Edit to add: My experience with part one of Dragon Age is that the "romance options" only become manifest if one pursues them at least to a certain degree. Makes one wonder who was hitting on the elf and then chickened out when he "hit back" ...

[The Philosopher]

7. I haven't played

any of these games yet. I don't own a gaming system. I'm not even sure I'd enjoy Dragon Age enough to get to the romances, it's not my genre of choice. But a love story during a zombie outbreak? I'm there, by God, I'm there! But I'm glad there are games out there for us. Hopefully the trend continues and someday they'll make a Battlestar Galactica game where I can hit on Apollo. After all, he's left entirely alone at the end of the series on an unknown planet all by his lonesome...sure seems like he'd get lonely... :evilgrin:

[Factoid]

6. I'm impressed.

This is a great quote, and I'm going to shamelessly steal it and use it in many other arguments with people I know. :D

[The Philosopher]

8. Same here

But I have a feeling some will shrug it off as intellectual, post-modern BS. But, God, it's such a sexy quote.

[IrishEyes]

4. I'm glad I bought Dragon Age 2.

I'm not male and I play video games.

[thanks_imjustlurking]

5. Well. I may have to buy a game from them.

And I'm not a gamer, by any means.

[Iggo]

9. Filed under 'Gifts For Gamers'

Thanks for the tip.

[howard112211]

10. A couple of screenshots for the curious: