Entitlement

Bartholomew · Apr 1, 2011

The dialogue that surrounds Dragon Age 2 is at least as interesting as the dialogue contained within it. It's ongoing, and you can't lose anywhere you plug yourself in, really, unless you're lead DA2 writer David Gaider. How many people does that apply to, though? One or two, at most. Anyway, there are concerns about the game's erotic menu, concerns which are wholly valid.
For example, David Gaider is being called on the carpet for not catering to "straight male gamers," but there is also a petition going around to get him sacked for having the temerity to write gay characters who are interested in sex.

Then, from http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/304/index/6661775&lf=8

To summarize, in the case of Dragon Age 2, BioWare neglected their main demographic: The Straight Male Gamer.
[...]
Its ridiculous that I even have to use a term like Straight Male Gamer, when in the past I would only have to say fans

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/FireDavidGaider/

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Fire David Gaider for Stereotyping Gays
Published 6 days ago
As 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.

It felt very odd that my male companions kept making passes at me, when I never found any interest or even flirted with them. This sort of thing shows that gays are unable to be normal people and think nothing about sex. This is the type of garbage that has people believe that gays shouldn't serve in the military. We are human beings that are the same as everyone else!

Please sign this petition if you wish that Dragon Age senior writer David Gaider should be fired.

(A - The penny arcade blog entries seems to be defending the writer, but then immediately proceeds to, in the comic, associate the gay elements in DA2 to beastiality. So that kinda pisses me off.

(B - Boo fucking hoo. There's a game with gay characters who also have personalities? I've been playing the game, and I found the entire cast of characters rather well thought out. You do get rivalry points for turning down one of the homosexual character's advances, but those points basically represent when you hurt someone's feelings--so it's kind of a natural response. I refuse to feel bad that people with homophobic thumbs find themselves uncomfortable for trying to min/max their party's stats through simulated social manipulation.

(C - I'll point out that this was a non-issue when this company wrote lesbian characters in Mass Effect. There is social hypocrisy at work here.

Maxinquaye · Apr 1, 2011

Hahahaha!

As a gay man that's been flamed for describing myself as homosexual (apparently the US religious right uses the word, and therefore a "eurofag" like me can't use it) I find some of the conversations on your side of the pond intriguing.

JohnnyGottaKeyboard · Apr 1, 2011

AS to the third quote (asking for petition signatures): I'm not even mildly convinced a gay man wrote that. It reeks of a twentysomething manchild (not that there aren't a lot of those that are gay...!) trying to parody his notion of a whining gay man. So, maybe I'm just hoping the writer isn't really a gay male. And seriously, an agressive gay man is the "worst" sort of stereotype? Not even close.

BunnyMaz · Apr 1, 2011

Oh noes! How dare there exist a gay character for you to choose to otentially have sex with! How very dare they!

Seriously though, this is quite fanboy typical. I'm reminded of the derision of a certain subsect of male comics fans who have an issue with female comics fans wanting less woman-thong-butt front and centre in the pages. And then Citizen Steel got a single image on the cover of a comic that DROVE THEM INSANE.

AlexPiper · Apr 1, 2011

Bartholomew said:
(C - I'll point out that this was a non-issue when this company wrote lesbian characters in Mass Effect. There is social hypocrisy at work here.

Actually, there were some people who got pretty cheesed off about Liara, as I recall. There was certainly more initial media outcry over it at the time than I've seen over Anders, though I don't think anyone tried to ask that Drew Karpyshyn be fired.

Bartholomew · Apr 2, 2011

I think Dragon Age 1 had a similar character. Also an elf. I'm starting to wonder if the writers aren't intending the elves to all be bisexual. (The "Gay" character people are flipping out about will solicit you no matter what your gender is.)

JohnnyGottaKeyboard · Apr 2, 2011

Bartholomew said:
(The "Gay" character people are flipping out about will solicit you no matter what your gender is.)

Which--from what I understand, I never played as a female--is exactly how Zevran was in DAO.

Gale Haut · Apr 2, 2011

Bartholomew said:
I think Dragon Age 1 had a similar character. Also an elf. I'm starting to wonder if the writers aren't intending the elves to all be bisexual. (The "Gay" character people are flipping out about will solicit you no matter what your gender is.)

Hahaha. Sounds like a programming shortcut. That's probably how we Quiltbaggers came to be, right? The ultimate programming shortcut in compiling the macrocosm.exe...

Zoombie · Apr 2, 2011

When I turned Anders down, I didn't do it because I hate homosexuals...I did it because Anders was a dick. Seriously, something about that guy just rubs me the wrong way.

Maybe it's because he's a mage supremacist...

Bartholomew · Apr 2, 2011

Which--from what I understand, I never played as a female--is exactly how Zevran was in DAO.

If I remember correctly, yes. I don't even think Zevran had different dialogue. He was just straight up interested in the player, period.

Zoombie said:
When I turned Anders down, I didn't do it because I hate homosexuals...I did it because Anders was a dick. Seriously, something about that guy just rubs me the wrong way.

Maybe it's because he's a mage supremacist...

I have a rogue, and I'm currently running TEAM DOOMLASER. Anders, Hawke's Sister, and the cool Dwarf with the V-name that I can't recall. The other characters all fricken whine about anything I do, ever.

Maxinquaye · Apr 2, 2011

I tried to play a mage and got Hawke's brother. My god, what a whiner. I let him die in the deep roads.

Shadow Dragon · Apr 2, 2011

Bartholomew said:
I think Dragon Age 1 had a similar character. Also an elf. I'm starting to wonder if the writers aren't intending the elves to all be bisexual. (The "Gay" character people are flipping out about will solicit you no matter what your gender is.)

Actually DAO has two bisexual characters that you can get with, that's in your party. Zevran and Leliena (I probably messed up the spelling). This is odd that they'd complain now. Bioware has a history of GLBT characters in their games.

JohnnyGottaKeyboard · Apr 2, 2011

Zoombie said:
When I turned Anders down, I didn't do it because I hate homosexuals...I did it because Anders was a dick. Seriously, something about that guy just rubs me the wrong way.

That--well, in reverse--was how I felt about Morrigan in DAO. After giving her the golden mirror, the two grimmoires and killing her mother for her, she was pretty interested in getting to know my character better. But I just didn't like her. My character did of course eventually sex her up to save Alistair and himself at the end.

Shadow Dragon · Apr 2, 2011

JohnnyGottaKeyboard said:
That--well, in reverse--was how I felt about Morrigan in DAO. After giving her the golden mirror, the two grimmoires and killing her mother for her, she was pretty interested in getting to know my character better. But I just didn't like her. My character did of course eventually sex her up to save Alistair and himself at the end.

I love that scene. Whether it's you, Alistair or Loghain, the guy looks terrified while she's approaching him. :tongue

Ludicrum · Apr 8, 2011

AlexPiper said:
Actually, there were some people who got pretty cheesed off about Liara, as I recall. There was certainly more initial media outcry over it at the time than I've seen over Anders, though I don't think anyone tried to ask that Drew Karpyshyn be fired.

If I'm not mistaken, wasn't the media outcry over there being sex in the game at all? At least, that's what Fox news harped on about.

Bartholomew said:
(A - The penny arcade blog entries seems to be defending the writer, but then immediately proceeds to, in the comic, associate the gay elements in DA2 to beastiality. So that kinda pisses me off.

Or perhaps he reads the Bioware forums. Seriously, I don't think there is a man, woman, or monster that someone there hasn't asked to romance.

Ludicrum · Apr 8, 2011

Zoombie said:
When I turned Anders down, I didn't do it because I hate homosexuals...I did it because Anders was a dick. Seriously, something about that guy just rubs me the wrong way.

Maybe it's because he's a mage supremacist...

You know, I could do a Beavis and Butthead joke about him rubbing you the wrong way, but I'm better than that.

At first I liked Anders because I still had fond memories of him from Dragon Age: Awakening. Then he started whining, and whining, and whining some more. And then, as you said, he turned into a mage supremacist and performed a certain unspeakable act in the game's climax. Even though I was romancing him at the time I chose to make him pay for what he did.

Entitlement

Bartholomew

Comic guy

Maxinquaye

That cheeky buggerer

JohnnyGottaKeyboard

Who let this guy in...?

BunnyMaz

Ruining your porn since 1984

AlexPiper

Wayward Wordsmith

Bartholomew

Comic guy

JohnnyGottaKeyboard

Who let this guy in...?

Gale Haut

waxing digital artistic

Zoombie

Dragon of the Multiverse

Bartholomew

Comic guy

Maxinquaye

That cheeky buggerer

Shadow Dragon

JohnnyGottaKeyboard

Who let this guy in...?

Shadow Dragon

Ludicrum

Ludicrum