Row in America over gay characters in EA video games

[Vergil'sBitch]

If you're easily offended, better not read.

Row in America over gay characters in EA video games

Page last updated at 11:57 GMT, Tuesday, 10 April 2012 12:57 UK

Mass Effect 3 is one of the games Christian groups are unhappy about
A row has broken out in America over a computer games company including gay characters in its storylines.
Electronic Arts is being criticised by Christian campaign groups who say it is setting a bad example for young people.
Over the last few years EA has introduced gay characters, giving the option to flirt, kiss and even go for a drink in a virtual gay bar.
It's thought several thousand complaints have been received but EA says it has done nothing wrong.
The company has reportedly described the complaints as "political harassment" and said the 'gay' content is only an customisable option, not a mandatory part of the game.
Mass Effect 3 and Star Wars: The Old Republic are two high profile games that are being criticised.


The Florida Family Association, a US Christian campaign group, is encouraging people to contact EA and Lucasfilm to protest.
It says there are no gay characters in the Star Wars films and describes the inclusion of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) elements as "propaganda".
Jeff Brown, EA's Vice President of Corporate Communications, told gamesindustry.biz: "Every one of EA's games includes ESRB content descriptors so it's hard to believe anyone is surprised by the content.
"This isn't about protecting children, it's about political harassment.
"In short, we do put options for same-sex relationships in our games; we don't tolerate hate speech on our forums."
On Monday, Stephen Fry and Screenwipe host Charlie Brooker both tweeted their support of EA.
Brooker posted a link to a petition, which currently has 64,000 names, and wrote: "EA targeted for including gay romance in a videogame? What is this, the 1930s? No. We didn't have games back then."
Stephen Fry added: "If you do nothing else today, do join me and @Yoda to help game-maker @ea stand strong against anti gay hate & the dark side."

So it's okay blowing someone's brains out, but the game is wrong for having gay characters... where have the morals in life gone?! Because being gay is more of a threat than guns.
Plus? YOUNG PEOPLE? What's the age rating on this in the US, 7+?! 'cos in the UK it 18PLUS!

(Not wanting to start a flame war, but wanting to share another hilarious piece of news. Plus I'm methodist christian, so I'm not hatin' on anyone, before anyone accuses)

 

[V]

As long as it's optional and not a part of the game you have to do, can't see how they're forcing the gay on anyone.

 

[ZeroLove]

Them Christian extremists. Too bad you can't hire an assassin to kill them. Wait, I think I've already said something like this before.

 

[Satsui no Hado]

Well,it's cute how they think the biggest threat in the game would have to be gay characters.Also,rather than saying the game's a bad impression on children,(When it's not even suitable for children to begin with.) how about you just not let your kids get the game?

 

[chocolateghost79]

hey you extremist christians!​

this is what i think of you ^​

 

[Sieghart]

Oh you extremist christians........you made this world very funny.
Oh and please i need the source.

 

[lorddemolatron]

Seeing what in America is happening even these content in games makes me laugh, but In Poland also could be examples of nonsense, like church in Poland tried once to ban Pokemon games or attacked from time to time HP books as satanistical.

 

[sylvanas]

Seeing what in America is happening even these content in games makes me laugh, but In Poland also could be examples of nonsense, like church in Poland tried once to ban Pokemon games or attacked from time to time HP books as satanistical.

seriously? O.O

 

[Angel]

Meh - people are divided over a number of aspects of the media (like Harry Potter, as Lorddemolatron said).

I take the stance of if you don't like, don't buy. Games, books, films - they are all optional in life. So opt out, if you want. I'm not a supporter of homosexuality by any stretch of the imagination but I personally found the gay sex scenes in Dragon Age hilarious and I always make gay characters in games where possible. Because it's just a game - and seriously, in Dragon Age the expressions on their faces is just too good to miss out on. I lol'd all the way through.

Your children should not be playing adult-rated games anyway, if it's that big a deal. Whether you agree with homosexuality being portrayed in the media or not, you have to accept that it's not going to go away just because you want it to. Educate your kids the way you believe to be right for your family but make sure they know the difference between disagreeing with something and spreading hatred.

That said, the Florida whatever they are have a right to stand up for what they believe in and it ought to be respected just as much as other people's rights to support the inclusion of homosexuality in games. But only so long as it's not accompanied by, "die faggot die!" or "you're all going to burn in hell!".

We already know EA will burn in hell...but not about this :troll:

 

[V]

I think those campaigning against the optional gay content may believe that games are too influential on children and that nobody has the power anymore to stop children playing or seeing them. You don't tend to see this reaction with movies that may feature gay characters or romance, or even TV shows, but a lot of people do seem to think that the video game industry has enormous 'corrupting power' because children surely like video games. I partly blame the media and those people who immediately point to video games when something bad happens. Say someone goes and shoots some other kids in their school, it'll be all over the media if they even owned a video game once that had guns in it, rather than the fact that gun laws are too lax, or the parenting bad. People want something to blame it seems, and video games are an easier target than guns laws or parents.

Or perhaps they are really bothered by the gradual acceptance of gays in society, and try to contest its inclusion in entertainment every step of the way. Perhaps to them every gay character in a game sets a precedent for more acceptance and more gay characters in everything. In that sense I can see why they do it - if I had THEIR view, which I don't - because precedences are set all the time in video games and they evolve fast, and the young come to accept and adapt to things far more quickly than older generations. I think this is why they are so afraid of it.

Basically "the more people see things the more they get used to them" and accept them or even become drawn to them. If I were afraid of homosexuality or a gay hater, I would be afraid of this because it is happening and gays are becoming slowly more and more accepted and portrayed in the media. Since I'm not adverse to it though, I'd say what is happening is a good thing. Can't have too much love and tolerance in this world.

...It leads on to the idea of whether a person is born gay or chooses it as a lifestyle. If it could only be established that people don't choose their attractions themselves, then the only worry from games or any other media would be of being influenced into leading a lifestyle falsely, since nobody could just be "turned gay" by playing them. Which would be no different from being influenced into other lifestyles falsely... good parenting helps with that.

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

You know, this whole article reminded me of .hack//GU allowing you to marry Endrance, who is the only male character you CAN marry.

Of course I married him. XD It made him happy.

But in all seriousness, I think Christian extremists need to A: Look at the game's rating and B: Start leashing their children instead of going with C: Blame the game/company.

 

[darkslayer13]

Message for annoying excessively religious people: homosexuality exists, get over it.

It is just stupid to have a problem with a video game because some of the charicters are gay. The entire point of Bioware games is that you define who your charicter is. Forcing someone to play a straight charicter would compleatly defeat the point of playing games like Mass Effect.

 

[Satsui no Hado]

One of the funniest things about this is how late their response is.

Fable did the same thing even all the way back in it's launch at 2008, nobody said anything.
Skyrim did the same thing, nobody said anything.
Dragon Age did the same thing, nobody said anything.
But now all of a sudden, Mass Effect and Star Wars have crossed some sort of border?! I swear,these people are almost as bad as the people who got offended by the My Little Pony character known as "Derpy Hooves".

 

[Angel]

One of the funniest things about this is how late their response is.

Fable did the same thing even all the way back in it's launch at 2008, nobody said anything.

Hehe - how about back in 2005 (?) when Fable TLC first came out? You could dress up as a woman to get a man to sleep with you (part of the Darkwood Bordello side-quest). Cross-dressing, prostitution AND homosexuality? GASP!

 

[Satsui no Hado]

Hehe - how about back in 2005 (?) when Fable TLC first came out? You could dress up as a woman to get a man to sleep with you (part of the Darkwood Bordello side-quest). Cross-dressing, prostitution AND homosexuality? GASP!

Yet,guess what,this is going to blow your mind....you ready for it?Nobody said........anything.GASP!!!

 

[Angel]

Yet,guess what,this is going to blow your mind....you ready for it?Nobody said........anything.GASP!!!

*mind. blown*

 

[Sparda's rejected son]

Every one of EA's games includes ESRB content descriptors so it's hard to believe anyone is surprised by the content.

Parents stop blaming companies and start watching your kids. Buy them age appropriate games and this won't be a issue.

The Florida Family Association, a US Christian campaign group, is encouraging people to contact EA and Lucasfilm to protest.
It says there are no gay characters in the Star Wars films and describes the inclusion of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) elements as "propaganda".

As man who has studied the Judo-Christian Religion way to much this is "code word" for "LGBT is a sin, a evil thing that shouldn't exist period." That is what they really mean.

 

[Vergil'sBitch]

Oh you extremist christians........you made this world very funny.
Oh and please i need the source.

If you mean the source of the article
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/17661888

Hehe - how about back in 2005 (?) when Fable TLC first came out? You could dress up as a woman to get a man to sleep with you (part of the Darkwood Bordello side-quest). Cross-dressing, prostitution AND homosexuality? GASP!

SRSLY?! why did no one tell me this before :lol:.

And you can have Gay relationships in Dragon Age? I got rid of a damn good game. (Not in that way, i didn't even know that you could have relationships in DA)

 

[Angel]

SRSLY?! why did no one tell me this before :lol:.

And you can have Gay relationships in Dragon Age? I got rid of a damn good game. (Not in that way, i didn't even know that you could have relationships in DA)

Yeah, with Fable TLC you can either get this guy drunk to find out where the deeds to the bordello are or you can don a giant red wig and some other accessories and seduce him instead. It's a lot of fun...and then you can either keep the place open as a brothel, sleep with customers and make some decent money or you can turn it into a women's refuge. There's a demon door nearby that gives you a big purple pimp hat as well

Yeah, in DA you can definitely have some guy-on-guy fun with that weird little elf rogue guy...I think his name began with a Z? Zevran - that's it. Either way, it's funny as flip to watch your character and him get it on. It's the music and the facial expressions that make me lol the most. If there's a YouTube video, you HAVE to watch it.

EDIT: here ya go - Zevran and male Warden getting it on:

 

[V]

Sex scenes in games are nearly always unintentionally hilarious XD

The one that always cracked me up the most was Max Payne 2 with Mona Sax. Clothes-on hugging