Electronic Arts Receives Support From LBGT Activist Group All Out

Written by: Jason Winter (@winterinformal) | April 10, 2012 7:11 pm

32 Comments

Electronic Arts isn’t bowing to pressure regarding homosexual relationships in its video games.

Just two days after launching a campaign, activist site AllOut.org received 60,000 signatures on a petition to show support for EA’s LGBT-friendly gameplay options in games like Mass Effect 3.

Celebrities such as Aisha Tyler, Stephen Fry, and Neil Gaiman have also come out in favor of EA’s stance, which AllOut Executive Director Andre Banks says “makes a real difference” for its “positive portrayals of gays and lesbians.”

Such options are not yet available in Star Wars: The Old Republic, but that hasn’t stopped some from still — wrongly — condemning the game. According to an article posted on GamesIndustry.biz last week:

The Family Research Council, led by Tony Perkins, is also involved. “In a new Star Wars game, the biggest threat to the empire may be homosexual activists!” said Perkins.

Must be the pink lightsabers.

Electronic Arts Receives Support From LBGT Activist Group All Out

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http://www.facebook.com/MelanieDawnMcGreevey Melanie Dawn McGreevey

Good! you go EA! equality for all, even in games.
http://twitter.com/Latinkuro Latinkuro

Easy because swtor is not a stand alone game, it is a social online game. you want same sex relations play stand alone games.
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Faolan-Cheveyo/100001818857610 Faolan Cheveyo
  
  That was a stupid thing to say, and you’re a stupid person for saying it.
  
  Seriously, though, that argument makes no sense. Bioware is not forcing you to hook up with another person online. The relationships happen in the story and there is nothing wrong with giving every person a chance to be themselves in the story, or for their character to be what they envision them to be. If the character is homosexual, then why shouldn’t they be given the same shot at a romance story arc as the heterosexual characters?
  
  The most important thing to remember, is that they are not forcing you to even participate in those relationships. Your character does not have to be romantically involved with any of their companions. If you do not want a gay character, you don’t have to play a gay character. You do not, however, have the right to deny another person the ability to do so.
  
  SWTOR is an RPG, not simply an MMOG.
http://twitter.com/EthernetCitizen Niklas

I can see arguments against to much sex in games aimed for younger generation (doesn’t agree with them thou)

but to try “censure” games from the reality that there are different types of couples/romances is just ridiculous.
http://twitter.com/Sanovah Nick

not going to get into gay vs straight argument, but I have to ask. Do we really need sex of any kind in our video games? When I play halo I really don’t care if MC gets it on with either a dude or a girl. As far as i’m concerned lets just keep sex and sexual orientation out of our video games and let me just kill people
- http://www.facebook.com/chaz.rpg Chaz Davis
  
  You could apply the same question to movies, comics, novels, etc. Besides It’s not the actual “sex” what is important, but the relationship and chemistry between the characters. I dont know, maybe some people prefer a completely sterile and sexless universe in video games or movies, but I think they are fine as they are now.
- Suicideking666
  
  Its not saying there should be sex in all video games, but that games where there is sex and/or sexual situations that it shouldn’t be, forced to be, limited to hetero-sexual relationships/situations only.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_33HUDE4ILCWYJZGTKQXRAPF4OE Domingo4th

after EA being awarded WORST COMPANY of 2012 (Bank of America is second btw) it’s obvious they’d do something like this to improve PR….they’ve had issues about this ever since ME2/DA2 so why do something about it NOW instead of before?
- Warfox Mihomiti
  
  Their fans did it by giving to charity to draw attention to their own selfish wants and to make themselves look better. EA’s just learning from the people who gave them money.
http://twitter.com/FragMentalz Joseph Price

Mike! Put those glasses back on! You’re schafting it up.
http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

I want to know about the romance option for Khem Val. Should we start a petition for Khem Val to get the loving he/she deserves?
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ronny-Sunrock/100002737688676 Ronny Sunrock

BioWare have sad that same sex will come soon™ in SWTOR. Most likely in the end of this year.
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Michael-Johnson/1353890372 Michael Johnson
  
  Nice to see Bioware will be wasting time with more features no one cares about.
Kayara

What I don’t get is why games insist on thrusting same sex couples down our throats? If there’s a lesbian couple then there’s an awkward sex scene and if there’s a gay couple there’s some awkward make-out session yet straight couples barely get any sort of attention in games.

I’m not saying that I want sex thrust in my face; I’d just like to know why, when it’s anything other than the norm(that includes cross-race relationships), does it have to be shown off. Why not just leave sex out of the games. By all means include relationships but keep that kind of thing behind doors where it’s meant to be.
- Giel-Jan Ottens
  
  ‘yet straight couples barely get any sort of attention in games.’
  
  Hah. This is incredibly amusing. I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, perhaps you haven’t been paying attention. But the baseline for almost ALL media (games, movies, books, etc) is straight characters in straight relationships.
  
  Of course they do not receive attention, much less specific attention, because they fall into a place that has been normal in games for a very long time, and nobody will ever argue that it’s terrible they’re being forced to play a character that flirts with people from the opposite sex in dialogue.
  
  But more recently, the non-straight community has become more empowered and more vocal because they are in a much stronger position, both in terms of cultural awareness and in terms of having the support of their peers. Is it wrong for non-straight people in this day and age to expect representation in these forms of media? I don’t think so. If BioWare were to make a game with only white men as characters, presuming the game and story didn’t have a plausible explanation for why, there would be outrage.
  
  This is exactly the same. In this example of ME3, the gay sex scenes are EXACTLY the same as the straight ones, and they’re achieved in more or less the same way. It is not more or less difficult to achieve either, and all that really changes in that incredibly short cutscene is the person who you’re cozying up to.
  
  Sex is a natural part of human beings. I think it is unrealistic to assume that when you take on the persona of someone else in a game (because that is the ‘thing’ about RPGs), I don’t think it’s out of the question to include sex, as long as it’s not just there as a shock factor. I would, perhaps, agree that technically those scenes (though in ME3s case they are incredibly non-revealing and intensely short) might not be necessary and that perhaps players should be given the option of whether they want to see them or not.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Tyler-Far/100003668308820 Tyler Far

Damn. That was an awkward scene to watch. Static, sketchy, poorly done… Typical. I don’t give a damn who’s getting it on with who in game, but do I really need to watch? Sure, have romance in, that’s a major part of a lot of stories after all, but I don’t need to see it. If I wanted to watch porn I’d go look for some =/
Warfox Mihomiti

Games have a rating system for a reason. Between those and game reviews, customers should be able to make an educated decision on what they buy. Mature games are not for kids. Period. If you give them to them anyway, fine, but that’s on your shoulders at that point. If there’s sexual content, either buy it, or don’t buy it. Don’t complain about it afterwards as if you didn’t know it was there. Game reviewers and forums are usually pretty quick about letting you know if there’s content in the game you might object to. How about people stop pre-ordering things they don’t know for sure they want, and make an adult decision about how to spend their money for once? Blaming a company for taking your money is like blaming plants for taking water you poured on it. Be more responsible with your decisions.

M rated games are for adults, people who should supposedly be able to make rational decisions about whether or not they want to experience content in the games they buy. The existance of a game with content in it that you dislike doesn’t give you a right to send hate mail or threats to a company that made it. Those are the acts of the immature and prejudiced. There’s no possibility of gaming struggling out of its infancy and growing into an artform if we can’t all grow up.
Phasra

@Kayara:disqus & @facebook-100003668308820:disqus None of the scenes in bioware games are “showed in our faces”. The scenes are there, for people who want them, but they can be easily avoided (by choosing different dialog options) if you’re not interested in that kind of thing.

I already played ME3 3 times – only one of those characters could be considered gay (femshep with liara as romance target) and that was the only play-through where I was shown gay romance scenes (or as you put it – they were “showed in my face”). The 2 other shepards I played already were: a) male with tali as romance target (no gay scenes) b) female with no romance target (no gay scenes).

RPG is all about role-playing. Sometimes, I like the option to role-play someone who is similar to me in real life, sometimes – I want to role-play something completely different. Why can’t I role-play someone with different sexual preferences than me?
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=518607879 Christopher Mitchell
  
  This. In all the recent controversial games all homosexual experiences had to be sought out and were easily avoidable. For example the sex seen in DA2 wouldn’t have been homosexual if the player made a male character or had chosen different dialogue.
- delVino
  
  I agree with you. The first two letters in RPG stand for Role Play. It’s all about options. The more options there are the more freedom you have in creating a character as unique or not as unique as you want it. Just because the options for a same sex relationship or any other option in fact is there does not mean you MUST take it.
http://www.facebook.com/uglywhiteman Keith Baldwin

I will be politically incorrect and say what a lot of people are thinking. We are all for gay relationships in our games, as long as it is girl on girl. You put some hairy guy on hairy guy in my game, and I am out of there.
- http://www.facebook.com/markince Mark Andrew Ince
  
  Then your obviously in it just for the thrill, which is kinda sad really…….
Randall_Wolfcry

Once the election year is over all the militant right wings in America will go back into their holes to play Halo and leave everyone else alone. All the “outcry” is more of a poutcry that everyone will forget about.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Dean-Oyebo/665286600 Dean Oyebo

I’d hardly call the romance scenes of Bioware games explicit, from my experience you just see a kiss or embrace and it’s faded to black. You don’t see full nudity, the animations are awkward and it’s over in moments without really inspiring feelings one way or the other. At least not to me. If anything they’re tastefully done. I really don’t see what the big deal is about here and like others have said you have the option not to pursue a gay relationship if you really are that against it. They most certainly are not shoved in your face or forced upon you in any way and even if they were I feel sorry for people who can’t see past such things.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Michael-Johnson/1353890372 Michael Johnson

CAPTAIN! WE NEED MORE DAMAGE CONTROL!
http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

It was funny watching BW presenter squirm when answering the question about why there was no same sex romance options in SWTOR. The answer that SWTOR would get a same sex romance option by the end of the year, seem to be pandering to a well organized, vocal special interest group.
http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/63JPQGCIFENA6GSRQN43SEBIPA LOLWUT?

Non-issue. Rated “M” for mature. It would be like going to an “R” rated movie and complaining that I saw frontal nudity.
http://twitter.com/Nipper1184 Nipper

Does anyone else think Mike S looks ALOT like Jay Hegard without glasses?
- Kagitaar
  
  He sort of does…maybe he’s Jay’s good twin?
http://www.facebook.com/elias.rowan Elias Rowan

I can’t wait for the day when people are just people.

/waiting for the world to blow up
http://twitter.com/LiamRdsn Liam Richardson

If you don’t want your kids playing the games, don’t let them, don’t spoil it for the rest of us that do.
Kagitaar

Ah, this reminds me of when Mass Effect came out and all the same religious freaks went nuts over Liara and the sex scenes in general (which I think were the best they’ve ever done, they were sexy without going into even an R rating, the newer ones from Dragon Age on are just awkward like DA or cuddling like ME2). Like with most things, the vocal minority puts up a stink because they have nothing better to do; soon enough they’ll have another group of people to berate and/or they’ll be shamed into the darkness of ignorant backwardness.

Mike, just to clarify, KotOR had the possibility of a lesbian relationship with Juhani, Mass Effect didn’t technically have a lesbian romance due to Liara being a mono-gendered asari (I know, semantics), and there were bisexual characters in both Dragon Ages, not gay/lesbian as they really didn’t seem to care about your gender (game mechanics they may be).

You know how you guys always ask what’ll bring players back to SWTOR? Well when my female inquisitor can seduce Ashara, then I’ll play again.

Electronic Arts Receives Support From LBGT Activist Group All Out

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