Commander Shepard Still in the Closet on the PS3?

Patrick Velky Writes: Part of the appeal of Mass Effect is that it lets players impose their personal characteristics and ideals on their unique Shepard avatars. So I find it strange that BioWare would find it necessary to deprive their gay, lesbian, and bisexual audiences of this single aspect of immersion. On this level, I can’t help but think that it is a bit alienating to certain fans. There are tons of forums in which LGBTQ players who love the game question this seemingly arbitrary brick wall, which brings me to my main question: Will homosexual relationships be a possibility in Mass Effect 3 and the PS3 port of Mass Effect 2?

[nopunctuation]

personally i think that if they were to make shepard gay it would lower game sales because most gamers are males and dont want to see that stuff in games no to mention the game would probably get banned pretty quick because homosexuality is still pretty rejected in society even today but put lesbians in the game because thats hot lol

[Chris399]

I know lots of gay couples and friends. I'm not sure where you live, but in most large centers of population, being gay is perfectly acceptable (if not acceptable in an individual's mind, most of the time they know enough to keep their disapproval to themselves). It's just as ignorant to attack or dislike someone for their sexual preference as it is to be a bigot regarding race or gender.

Thing was, in Dragon Age, you only saw the gay content IF YOU WANTED TO. So unless you're seeking it out (which means you're gay), who cares? If a gay option exists for players, it doesn't affect my (heterosexual) play-through whatsoever.

[ChickeyCantor]

"being gay is perfectly acceptable"

Its funny how everyone thinks their spectrum is the most colored.

Don't blame you, its a human thing.

And I so want my FemShep to be doing Tali... XD hahaah(not kidding)

[Chris399]

and quote it as if it's a complete thought. When it's not even a finished sentence.

In large, metropolitan centres of civilization - NY, Toronto - places of culture and education, being gay IS acceptable. That's what my statement implied, but clearly you have comprehension issues. Thanks for posting another ignorant comment, Sidar. Awesome stuff. I actually thought you to be a bit beyond that, but you've come far short of my expectations. Throwing in a typical frat-boy, "lesbians are o.k." comment was exceptionally base of you. Keep the hate alive.

[dragunrising]

In Dragon Age your "forced" to have homosexual relations with Zevran or create a female character if you want the "getting with everyone" (or whatever its called) trophy/ achievement.

My point is moot on account you need to "do" Alistar as well and he is straight. You would need to create a female avatar regardless. Just saying...:-p lol

It would be difficult not to have a choice and so I support the option to choose ones sexuality without restriction.

[ChickeyCantor]

im not ripping on you, there was no bit of sarcasm in my post whatsoever.
Just saying.

I mean not everyone sees it/experience it the same way thats all.

"Throwing in a typical frat-boy, "lesbians are o.k." comment was exceptionally base of you. Keep the hate alive."

Sure... I mean you dont even know about my sexuality.
Your loving insight of my character and wear about is amazing.

I know you dont like me, but judging like that doesn't really say anything good about you now does it?

You are reading way to deep into my comment.
LOL
Talking about ignorance...meh.

[Chris399]

You reply to a rather serious debate with some offhanded, obscure, slightly-homophobic remarks and you expect someone not to respond? Perhaps you should read your comment again, and ask yourself why people are hitting you with disagrees.

I didn't really dislike you at all, before this thread. Sure, I've always questioned your fervent obsession with Nintendo. But when you step into an area of mature, social debate with childish arguments and comments, expect to be reprimanded. You're right, I DON'T know you. All I know is what you post. And what you posted was ignorant, so that's my opinion of you now. You didn't respond to what I actually wrote, just a select segment of it. And you posted the typical, lesbians are o.k. comment: "And I so want my FemShep to be doing Tali... XD hahaah(not kidding)" Quote. "Sure... I mean you don't even know about my sexuality." Really? You just posted a comment about two digital chicks having sex and how you'd like to see that. I can't infer something about your sexuality from that?

Don't get pissy with me because you completely misrepresented yourself or misconstrued your words (if you did). If you're this sensitive to judgments online, good luck in real life. I'm not really sure what fantasy land you live in where you think that people don't judge others. This entire thread is FILLED with judgment-based arguments and opinions: mine, yours, nopunctuations, EVERYONES'. Disconnecting from a discussion and throwing out the "judgments" and "you don't know me" card when the argument simply isn't stacked in your favour is weak.

[ChickeyCantor]

" slightly-homophobic remarks"

I guess you missed that one particular line that contradicts all of this.

" You just posted a comment about two digital chicks having sex "

Because thats the relation ship i would have like to see with my character.
Non of the MALE characters seem interesting enough. This is hateful? LOL

You wanted me to say I would love to do a Turian?
Have you seen the guy?

" And you posted the typical, lesbians are o.k. comment: "
No I posted the choice i would have like to make if Bioware allowed it. Its not a " fuck yeah lesbian porn". To me FemShep is on the Lesbian side anyways( she is rather BUTCH if you ask me, not saying all lesbians are butch, if you played the game you should understand what im talking about, hell she even made a comment that would suited MaleShep better). getting a relationship with Tali would only fit ( or any other girl).

Whether you agree with me or not, you are going way to hard against my comment. I didnt mean anything bad with it.

I'm not pissy, you are, cause everything seems so offensive to you. You are reading to hard into my comment. you really are.

Judge me all you want, but saying im being the typical gay hater. And me being homophobic, just sounds like you are trying to push some matter which is unnecessary.
Assuming this is " weak ".

[nopunctuation]

sorry man i personally have no problem with the gay people you know what you do behind closed doors is your business etc but your kidding yourself if you think homosexuality is 100 percent accepted its not quite there yet when you see republicans who still want to ban gay marriage altogether then you have the dont ask dont tell thing which probably barely got repealed because of democrats but that was a part of our society for a long time because no one wanted to accept them we are getting close but the stubborn older generation was taught that homosexuality was wrong and even a mental illness and that is not something that will go way until they die off which probably wont be for another 30 years minimum

[Chris399]

Remember Rosa Parks? That was only 1/2 a century ago, and in a time of far less social awareness and liberties than we have today. I never said homosexuality was 100% accepted, not at all, anywhere in my post. But hate IS on it's way out.

[drosera1]

I realise you think you're being funny with your username being "nopunctuation", but really, maybe your username should be "noeducation".

[nopunctuation]

ha i guess you cant see the irony in the name and my avatar since it is in fact a punctuation mark this is a purely satirical account that pokes fun at how typing has devolved over time as we shorten things or even blatently mispell words like own to pwn just because we are lazy and cant type the whole damn word dont act like you are better than me and have perfect grammar if you have ever used lol when you could have just as easily typed that is very funny pretty soon we will give up punctuation all together and more people will probably be typing like this just to be trendy and lazy just be glad that i didnt decide to go with nospaces as a name instead because that shit is hard to read

[Venatus-Deus]

Read this by a guy smarter that both of us. When finished you will realize that your satirical account is pointless and your aim misguided.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/...

[-Superman-]

Yea, i like it
(Im not gay)

[beavis4play]

forget whether anyone is for or against homosexuality - that isn't the issue here.

i don't think providing this option offers any real change in the game, and therefore it's not needed. if people want to play this game because you can be a homosexual? then, i'd say they're playing it for the wrong reasons.
i played the ME2 demo on ps3 and enjoyed it (i'll get the game on day1). the demo did NOT include anything about sexual orientation and it was FUN to play -

forget all of this "will it" or "won't it" crap concerning homosexuality -

in the grand view of the game - it's fun regardless of this question.

[man0fsteel]

in Mass Effect you choose the Gender and look of Shepard if you do not know that already, The author is saying that there should be an option to choose, not to make it one way or the other.

[spdarksky]

Oh man. This really makes me sick. I want to puke.

[visualb]

really? wow you're weak stomached.

[FragMnTagM]

Why would you WANT to puke? Shouldn't that say I AM GOING to puke?

Nice homophobic comment by the way.

[gorebago]

Lol. Don't try to make a logical argument unless you can frame it properly via punctuation,etc. Otherwise it lools like a mess. I type on my phone with a virtual keypad and I still make an effort even though it still sucks.

Who cares if Shepard wants to play with some blue alien cock? This is such a stupid thing to blog about.

[Acquiescence]

but that image is the gateway to all kinds of nightmares. That is some seriously creepy shiznit.

[gorebago]

I think it's funny especially if you played the games.

[ChickeyCantor]

I could go for a Turian but that scared me.
I could go for Thane, but that just seems off.
I could go for the only human, Jacob, but he's a weird one.
I think Zaeed is a robot. Irrational motherfucker.
I dont care about Kelly.
I rather flirt with Miranda.
I think Jack deserves to be treated like sh/t.

But my FemShep should totally do Tali.
Dont know how she looks under that suite. But that makes it all interesting. Plus she is one of the likable characters imo.

[Software_Lover]

They have the freedom to make the game they want. Just as people make a big fuss about christians cant impose their beliefs on others, that is a two way street. You cant make someone make a gay character. Get over it. If you want to be gay, go play Dragon Age. The option is there for you. If you want to play a christian game, go play Left behind.

Are we gonna argue about every character in every video game that doesn't have a gay option? Or every game that doesn't have a black lead character?

Pretty soon devs are gonna be forced to make a Black lead character that is gay in every game.

[Kingmitch23]

"They dont have to make him gay if they dont want to"

your right nothing wrong with that (if their was then the majority games games would be wrong)

I think the issue is if a dev wants to make a gay character (or a character that the player can control sexual orientation) then that should not be ridiculed or shunned

[codename13]

yuk ...
Day by day this world is filling with mentally sickness ppl.
Looks like zombie apocalypse is not so far. :P

[FragMnTagM]

Sexual preference is not a mental illness.

[tigertron]

Its good that you can choose for all audiences; personally, my femshep in the first game was straight and there was some chemistry between her and Kaiden, however in ME2 I'll make her have a bit of a romance with Jacob.

I've toyed with the idea of making her romance Garrus, but I think they should remain as friends, but hey, the great thing about this game is that you can do whatever.

[Panzerkanzler]

I really don't care. I find homosexuality (the physical act(s)) utterly disgusting but since we get a choice in a game whether to persue such an action what would the fuss really be? Those who want do it, others don't and everyone's happy. Not buying a game because your fictional character has the option to do something you will not have it do is a bit strange.

[thawind]

that gay-characters in ME i wouldn't even play the game anymore..that shit just sick if you asked me..some people in this world is mentally f**ked.

[FunAndGun]

Why don't you just quit life while your at it.

I guarantee there is someone in your life, that you know, who is gay. Maybe you don't know they are, but they exist.

Would you turn down help from someone if they were gay? What if your best friend turned out to be gay? Would you never play with your "mentally f**ked" friend anymore?

You can hate what you don't understand, but one of these days your judgments will be harder to justify.

[thawind]

lol u must be gay..b/c sound very sensitive

[FragMnTagM]

Once again, another homophobic comment that is not based in reality. Your comment reminds me of the FOX talking heads.

Homosexuality is not a choice. It is not a mental illness. It is, however, a choice to hide your true emotions about it and appear very straight, and even date and have sex with the 'proper' sex, but if you are gay, you are gay.

I have several friends from high school that turned out to be gay, they are no more or no less my friend because of it. Did it creep me out a bit? Yes. Did it ruin our friendship? No.

Some people are truly ignorant and should just give up on life.

[NYC_Gamer]

i would never play a game with some gay dude as the main character

[Panzerkanzler]

But he would only be gay if you decided so. If you would chose to romance a female he would be heterosexual. What exactly is your problem?

[AceofStaves]

And the problem with having the option is what, exactly?

In "Dragon Age," the male/male encounter with Zeveran has to be sought out. It's not automatic, so it's not as if anyone is forced to play the scene if they don't want to. I have no problem with lesbian options in games. They don't interest me, and I wouldn't seek out those subplots, but I wouldn't boycott a game over it. I'm very comfortable with my heterosexuality; homosexuality doesn't threaten me in any way.

Regardless of personal opinions on this issue, there are gay/lesbian gamers out there. I see no reason why their life experience can't be represented in games, as long as those storylines are optional.

Considering that a lot of video games involves killing, theft, etc., I can't help chuckling at gamers who have religious objections about this particular issue.

[CoLD FiRE]

I support gay sex as long as the receiving party is a cute boy aged 22 or lower.

Edit: No lower than 16!

[CoLD FiRE]

so those who disagreed want to fuck 50 year old men!

[Darrius Cole]

Xbox = Mostly in the US & Europe
PS3 = Everywhere else in the world

How would gay sex being in a video game fly in the Middle East, Korea, China? There is more to consider than just the attitudes in the US & Europe.

The question is "How many sales would they gain vs. How many sales would they lose"

Why would anyone expect mature conversation on a adult topic on a site called "News 4 Gamers." You should expect a lot of adolescent comments. Which is what you got.

[watchman]

So I gess Paul(apostle) was judging when he said.

1 Corinthians 6;9 "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, passive homosexual partners,5 practicing homosexuals"

If you want to quote the bible to rebuke someone make sure you take it as a whole, judging is saying something that God as not said. But homosexuality have been talk about many times in the bible.

Now let's go back to the topic. So homosexual are offended cause there's a heterosexual act? Then are they heterosexalphobic? lol

[man0fsteel]

i'm sure if it was Sarah and Eve it would be alright...right?

Its appalling that people can not just step outside of ignorance for just once, and speak without predjudices.

[sbizarre]

I love freedom of choice. Its great to find a game where you can choose to be female and what you look like.. it would be even better to be able to control the little details like what sex/s interest you and who would become your love interests. :D I really hope the ps3 ME2 has the choice.. if not i will just have to wait for dragon age 3. :)