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Sure, why not. I don't mind different cultures within the game viewing sexuality differently. It'd be a realistic way to approach it. As interesting an idea that is, one that I think would be great for storytelling. I fear that would bring in an entire legion of litigation against this game. I could just see it now "Game maker Obsidian promotes hate crimes against gays!" No thank you. It would definitely be an interesting idea, but as I said in another post the problem with exploring homophobia and other social issues that face homosexuality is that if you deal with the issue frankly, you're likely to make a lot of people feel uncomfortable or persecuted, whichever group they identify with. Even if it was successful it would cause quite a lot of controversy, put the public relations guys through a fair bit of grief, and easily hijack the game's legacy. It would be a gutsy narrative decision, and not one to be taken lightly. But it is realistic to have homophobia and sometimes lot of crimes related to that, here in BR lots of gay people are murdered everyear, the Midia always portrays those crimes as hate crimes.I personally dont have much against gay people, but I really do think they are causing unecessary chaos with their stance, they could avoid that by doing what most heterosexual respectable people do regarding their own sexuality, they don`t go around announcing it to the whole world, sometimes causing mayhem, why not leave as something private? IMO they would get more respect that way. OMG I can't even. Are you aren't from the middle ages? Gays are causing unnecessary chaos because they want equality?

Let me clarify why its bigoted, and why every bit of inclusiveness is critical. Because, thankfully, we have made great strides in regard to racism, no one needs to make a thread suggesting that they include dark skinned characters. They will. And if anyone suggested that they shouldn't, didn't need to, or that it was "pandering," everyone but the most racist among us would consider that offensive and bigoted. We live in a world where people think (rightly) that we don't have to respect the opinion of a racist that dark skinned people are inferior or unnatural, but unfortunately we should (wrongly) respect the view that gay and lesbian people are unnatural, sick, broken or inappropriate. This, like racism, shouldn't be tolerated. Because, like it or not, its bigotry. Jusyifying it with religion doesn't make it not bigotry. Substitute "dark skinned" everywhere any post in this thread mentions gay and lesbian people and you'll realize why "bigot" is exactly the right word for those who don't want gay characters in this or any other game.

People tend to like seeing characters they can identify with in various ways. If you consider that pandering, much of the game is. True but you don't see those people getting together and petitioning for representation, and furthermore you don't always see those characters always represented in every game. It differs from game to game based around what the devs want, and not what they are pressured into doing by entitled people. Most minorities are represented by default nowadays and do not NEED to get together and petition for representation. There is still major opposition to gay characters in games (or dialogue options that allow players to role-play as gay). So what if there is major opposition to gay people? Go out and fight against the discrimination instead of acting like you're being discriminated in a game if you're not represented in it. I mean why are you wasting your time here asking for gay characters in a video game instead of fighting for gay marriage or to be treated equally. I mean do you see how absurd that is? Oh believe me I do lol.

And as a presumably straight gamer, you don't need to have these kind of topics to play an RPG with depictions of straight relationships. The whole point is similar to the idea of racial representation. If I am a black father I want my kids to see black characters in movies, books, tv and games that they can relate to and look up to and feel validated by. This is the same things for gay people, regardless of bigotry.

This is hugely important. If our culture, which includes video games, made these kids feel they were ok the way they are, this number wouldn't be so high. I just want to feel represented in the game I am playing. This post has a much nobler goal.

First, there is a difference. Homosexuality is something that has existed in every culture, at every moment, in every place of the world. Sometimes hidden and punished, sometimes openly but it's universal at least in the human species. I have a hard time imagining how something so incredibly important cannot be included if other mature theme (and especially if any sexual theme) is present inside the game, even more when the game itself want to ensure the immersion of the player in a credible world. But the fact is it's a minority that probably only makes up about 2-5% of the population and that doesn't mean there needs to be special considerations for them in video games, or really anything really. When I meet people I don't find out if they are gay or bi or whatever. They're just people. I don't care about their sexuality and different sexualities don't need be represented in every game. A credible world doesn't have people informing you of their sexuality. That's just pandering which is exactly what Bioware does to the gay crowd by including gay characters. I know gay people who are offended by the gay characters that they write because they are so unrealistic and misrepresent them. That's what people are asking for. It's irrelevant. I'm probably not going to know what 99% of the characters' sexuality is in the game. So why is it important that they include gay characters? So a minority feels catered and pandered to? Its not pandered to, its included. No RPG with any character development will have no mention of relationships between characters. That said, what I am asking for is that those "mentions" whether that includes romance options or simply character stories, include some same gender pairings. That's not special treatment. I'm sure if the game only featured homosexual relationships you wouldn't play it, I mean Christ look at the uproar over Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 3, and those only balanced straight and gay characters. If one out of every 20 characters you encounter, or two out of a dozen companions are gay or lesbian, that shouldn't offend you. Unless you are a bigot.

No the game should only feature white Anglo Saxon Protestant heterosexual male characters. Do you not realize how bigoted it is to not want minorities in games? Or they should be but shouldn't ask for it? Let me just get back to the back of the bus with Rosa Parks then. Never said I didn't want minorities. I just think the devs should have the creative freedom to choose what kind of characters they have instead of minorities lobbying for special treatment and demanding it. I mean look at your reaction to my post, people are bigoted for not wanting to give minorities special treatment? If Obsidian doesn't include gays are they homophobes? If they don't include black people or latinos are they racist? It's some kind of sick joke and the LGBT community are just pressuring the devs to include them instead of letting Obsidian do their own thing. Being included in a video game is not special treatment. Do you also think using the same water fountain is special treatment? And yes, making a game without any representation of minorities is pretty bigoted. Its not pressuring, its saying to them "you have gay fans, we'd love to be represented in this new game."

No the game should only feature white Anglo Saxon Protestant heterosexual male characters. Do you not realize how bigoted it is to not want minorities in games? Or they should be but shouldn't ask for it? Let me just get back to the back of the bus with Rosa Parks then.

I'm asking for both. If they have companion romance options (which I would like) they should have same sex options. Regardless of if they do, they should include some gay companions and NPCs (like New Vegas.)

I don't think that's a fair assessment of Bioware's reasons for being so gay friendly. Dragon Age Origins featured gay characters before any fan feedback, and Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 3 had more integrated and less stereotypical inclusion of gay characters. But this wasn't after being "bullied" by fans. David Gaider, DA's lead writer, and Bioware's founders own words, Bioware wants to be inclusive and show how they appreciate their fans. They are a progressive company that loves their gay fans. They weren't bullied. I hardly think a minority as small as the gay population could bully Bioware. That's an excuse from people who don't want to believe that Bioware loves and appreciates their gay fans.

Its not about "fanfiction level romance" its about wanting a universe that has some LGBT people in it and if the game allows for romances, that it allows for a same sex option. Its about a few lines of dialogue, not 50 shades level graphicness.

The amount of bigotry in this thread is disturbing, but I guess to be expected. Homo correctness terrorism? Sodomites? Really? Is it 2012? That said, if the mods read this, please clean up the bigot posts and don't close the whole thread. The point, again, is creating a story that everyone can relate to and that is inclusive. If the game will have mentions of opposite sex romance it would be wonderful to have mentions of same sex romance. Obsidian (and Bioware, and RPGs in general) has a lot of gay fans, and we would love to be included in this dream project RPG. That's it. No political agenda.

A gay person most certainly can, but not in the same regard that you can relate to a character like yourself. Its uncomfortable to enjoy a universe that denies you exist. (coughSWTORcough:()

BioWare tried that already... It didn't work. Worked perfectly for me. That's one of my favourite aspects of DA2, really. It's more complex that "I want to have sex with everything that moves", obviously; I just find the setting where sexual orientation is virtually nonexistant (and thus not an issue) really interesting. I agreed that this worked great, it was just too uncomfortable for bigoted players. Another great example was Mass Effect 3. Mostly straight party members and NPCs, some bi ones, some exclusively gay ones. The fact that hugely important characters, like Kaidan, where "PC sexual" made the game great. In my universe, Shep was with Kaidan. If someone wanted to play it where Shep was with a female and Kaidan was orientationless (or dead lol) that's their choice. The bottom line was DA2 and ME3 were games where players of any orientation could have the story they wanted. How that's a bad thing is beyond me.

Because to some people inclusiveness is important. No one is saying the game should be full of obvious gay people. It should be like FONV or Spartacus - in a whole universe of characters, some should be gay. Would you want to play if the game featured no characters like you? Can't you just imagine, that the nameless shopkeeper in the game is gay and that's all? Why do you insist, they should state their preferences anyway? Its impossible not to state it unless you have a genderless game. If you talk to a shopkeeper and he mentions his wife, its stated sexuality. If every character is implicitly straight, that's not really a relatable universe for a gay player.