9243 réponses à ce sujet

[zvbxrpl]

Sahariel wrote...
I was mainly responding to earlier posts in this thread that when people raised the perfectly valid point (as you just did) that there are positive lgbt individuals in the game. Some people were very quick to grasp at straws and point at Morinth as at worst part of some sort of sinister agenda against the gay community or simply that without thinking they had produced a character that would cement anti gay senitment. My post was pointing out the absurdity in that position.

Peace.

See, I'd say there's middle ground between "Bioware is slandering lgbt folk with its portrayal of Morinth," and "It is unreasonable to find fault with the Morinth/Nef relationship."  FWIW, the whole plotline looked a little too much like the old 'evil gays preying on our innocent straight kids' chestnut for me to be entirely comfortable with it.  But, old chestnut is old, so it's kinda hard to pick up on.  I think the whole thing could have been avoided if Nef had been interested in girls pre-Morinth, but maybe Bioware figured that a previous healthy relationship would have made it sort of unbelievable that she would fall for the whole "Tall, Dark, and Edgy" routine or something.  But any unfortunate implications are just that--unfortunate.  A good rule of thumb is to never attribute to malice what is simply attributable to tone-deafness, and that holds extra true for Bioware, which is at least trying in an industry that is notoriously wimpy about including gay characters.  All we need to do is politely let it be known that, "Hey, Bioware, this sorta doesn't look good.  Work on that."

[Sahariel]

massive_effect wrote...

Sahariel wrote...

I suspect massive_effect you suffer from little more than a little closed mindedness (and who hasn't at some stage?  I know I have), so I impore you just in the privacy of your own mind open your heart just a little.

By what authority are you speaking regarding your ideology of "close mindedness vs an open mind"? To whom or what would I open my heart?

Simply put re: your earlier post:

"Gay relationships bear no fruit. They are purely self-serving. So, I don't want that to be glorified in my games.

It dosn't so much imply a closed mind as pretty much out and out states your mind is closed to the emotional or practical validity of gay relationships. That of course doesn't preclude you being the most open minded fellow in every other avenue of your life, but as has been mentioned I'm only going off one statement and that statement is a closed minded one.

Also my perception of your closed mind on this issue isn't an ideology it is merely a perception, which is subject to change as I percieve new things. And by what authority? I have a mind, capable of perceiving and communicating my thoughts, nothing more. However I could turn that question upon it's head and inquire by what authority you can make the statment "Gay relationships bear no fruit. They are purely self-serving.

And all I was asking you to open your heart to is the greater vistas of human experience. I'm not asking you to be gay for a day or anything, merely to empathise with those who are. I can say this with abosolute certainty empathy is never a bad thing.

Also please understand this: If your position is intractable and absolute, which as you reply I increasingly suspect it is. You will have to live with the fact that there will be people with just a fierce devotion to flexibility and tolerance of their fellow man as you seem to be in it's opposition. In any case much love and peace to you, whichever direction you choose to go.

[Sahariel]

zvbxrpl wrote...

Sahariel wrote...
I was mainly responding to earlier posts in this thread that when people raised the perfectly valid point (as you just did) that there are positive lgbt individuals in the game. Some people were very quick to grasp at straws and point at Morinth as at worst part of some sort of sinister agenda against the gay community or simply that without thinking they had produced a character that would cement anti gay senitment. My post was pointing out the absurdity in that position.

Peace.

See, I'd say there's middle ground between "Bioware is slandering lgbt folk with its portrayal of Morinth," and "It is unreasonable to find fault with the Morinth/Nef relationship."  FWIW, the whole plotline looked a little too much like the old 'evil gays preying on our innocent straight kids' chestnut for me to be entirely comfortable with it.  But, old chestnut is old, so it's kinda hard to pick up on.  I think the whole thing could have been avoided if Nef had been interested in girls pre-Morinth, but maybe Bioware figured that a previous healthy relationship would have made it sort of unbelievable that she would fall for the whole "Tall, Dark, and Edgy" routine or something.  But any unfortunate implications are just that--unfortunate.  A good rule of thumb is to never attribute to malice what is simply attributable to tone-deafness, and that holds extra true for Bioware, which is at least trying in an industry that is notoriously wimpy about including gay characters.  All we need to do is politely let it be known that, "Hey, Bioware, this sorta doesn't look good.  Work on that."

I can understand why the Morinth/Nef relationship could leave a nasty taste in people's mouths, but I do maintain there is nothing endemic in the narrative that really implies the negativity some have chosen to infer. I do concede that the plotline and character is reminiscent of an old trope we are gladly rid of now, but I am looking at this in isolation and not in a wider context. In that respect perhaps I am wrong, but I still personally enjoyed that sidequest as I suspect many others did who did not see a bi = evil subtext.

In fact I would like raise a counterpoint that perhaps for the many that didn't see or derive anything negative about bisexuality from that side quest, we have perhaps moved on as an audience, and as such the old trope didn't even factor into our imaginations at all. What I will say at this point is that we will be such a day when such things won't matter, but I think perhaps drawing attention to it may in fact forestall such a reality.

Again I would reiterate that if they had linked Morinths bisexuality explicitly with her evil nature I would be more than willing to lead the charge against the defamation of the lgbt community, but again I go back to my earlier point that we cannot afford to have any sacred cows, if it is not alright to show a bisexual character who also happens to be evil, then we shouldn't be able to show any race, creed, gender, religion or nation in a negative light either.

[Princess_Ozma]

Sahariel there is a problem if the only bi character happens to be evil, but this is clearly not the case, we have Liara, Jack (at least situationally), Kelly and for that matter possibly the whole Asari race, when the whole race is effectivly pan-sexual (well not pansexual since they avoid their own race for the most part), the fact that Morinth is pansexual as well is not a problem... Her nature is no more tied to her sexual preferences then the Asari who runs Omega, even if it is tied to her sexuality in a different sense.



So I agree with you.

[Maugrim]

massive_effect wrote...

Sahariel wrote...

I suspect massive_effect you suffer from little more than a little closed mindedness (and who hasn't at some stage?  I know I have), so I impore you just in the privacy of your own mind open your heart just a little.

By what authority are you speaking regarding your ideology of "close mindedness vs an open mind"? To whom or what would I open my heart?

So you don't support the Miranda, Tali, Thane or Garrus relationships correct?

Because none of those relationships can "bear fruit".

[Princess_Ozma]

makenzieshepard wrote...



So you don't support the Miranda, Tali, Thane or Garrus relationships correct?

Because none of those relationships can "bear fruit".

Huh, is Miranda infertile? I don't remember that  being mentioned, I'd figure her father would want her to be fertile.

[Uszi]

Princess_Ozma wrote...

Huh, is Miranda infertile? I don't remember that  being mentioned, I'd figure her father would want her to be fertile.

It's at least mentioned in Miranda's shadow broker file:
http://masseffect.wi.../Miranda_Lawson

"While we cannot firmly attribute the cause of the benign neoplasm to the
irregularity in your genetic makeup, we can confirm that the
progressive damage renders you unable to conceive a child."

That mentioned, obvious troll is obvious:

massive_effect wrote...

Gay relationships bear no fruit. They are purely self-serving. So, I don't want that to be glorified in my games.

I take as my evidence the fact that this nonsense stopped immediately after Pacifien called him out on it.

I also take as my evidence that murdering mother****ers, even for the "right" reason, is purely self serving.  So is intimidating people into doing what you want.  So is charming them into doing what you want.  So is lying to them to get them to do what you want.  So is beating them until they do what you want.  And all that is endlessly glorified in the Mass Effect games.  Mass Effect is built upon the altar of Shephards anti-social problem solving skills.

And, honestly, you don't want purely self-serving behavior glorified in your games?
What about launching a blue turtle shell at the 1st place person in MarioKart?

How is that anything but purely self-serving, violent behavior?  If one were to truley embrace this criteria for the games they play, you'd be limited to Pong and Tetris.

Modifié par Uszi, 06 janvier 2011 - 09:03 .

[jakeforti]

zvbxrpl wrote...

Sahariel wrote...
I was mainly responding to earlier posts in this thread that when people raised the perfectly valid point (as you just did) that there are positive lgbt individuals in the game. Some people were very quick to grasp at straws and point at Morinth as at worst part of some sort of sinister agenda against the gay community or simply that without thinking they had produced a character that would cement anti gay senitment. My post was pointing out the absurdity in that position.

Peace.

See, I'd say there's middle ground between "Bioware is slandering lgbt folk with its portrayal of Morinth," and "It is unreasonable to find fault with the Morinth/Nef relationship."  FWIW, the whole plotline looked a little too much like the old 'evil gays preying on our innocent straight kids' chestnut for me to be entirely comfortable with it.  But, old chestnut is old, so it's kinda hard to pick up on.  I think the whole thing could have been avoided if Nef had been interested in girls pre-Morinth, but maybe Bioware figured that a previous healthy relationship would have made it sort of unbelievable that she would fall for the whole "Tall, Dark, and Edgy" routine or something.  But any unfortunate implications are just that--unfortunate.  A good rule of thumb is to never attribute to malice what is simply attributable to tone-deafness, and that holds extra true for Bioware, which is at least trying in an industry that is notoriously wimpy about including gay characters.  All we need to do is politely let it be known that, "Hey, Bioware, this sorta doesn't look good.  Work on that."

oh wow, you are reading waaay too much into this, seriously.  the game has more positive gay-related themes than any game I've EVER played.  In fact, I'd say you're the one who's biased and unintentionally settings gays apart by not treating gays as equal to straights.  I hate to reference South Park (just because of its nature), but this reminded me of one episode where Chef (a black man) saw a picture of a black stick figure being hung and a bunch of white stick figures cheering.  While the intent behind it had been obvious in the show, the children didn't understand why he was so upset because all they saw was a picture of some stick figure being hung.  Bioware obviously did not even intend to go there even a little bit.  You're being archaic and ridiculous.

[Princess_Ozma]

oh wow, you are reading waaay too much into this, seriously.  the game has more positive gay-related themes than any game I've EVER played.  In fact, I'd say you're the one who's biased and unintentionally settings gays apart by not treating gays as equal to straights.  I hate to reference South Park (just because of its nature), but this reminded me of one episode where Chef (a black man) saw a picture of a black stick figure being hung and a bunch of white stick figures cheering.  While the intent behind it had been obvious in the show, the children didn't understand why he was so upset because all they saw was a picture of some stick figure being hung.  Bioware obviously did not even intend to go there even a little bit.  You're being archaic and ridiculous.

Not so much... the fact is that this trope while mostly discredited is still alive... the gay killer is still out there in cinema, waiting to strike.

These two videos deal with the trope, the first is mostly about Capirca but is very well done and well thought out:

http://www.youtube.c.../10/ZBlzjGnCMQk

The second is more on the funny side but looks at a history of movies:



it's not being archaic this plays out like hundreds of novels and films about the gay menace that were published up to the 80s at the very least, and so can be quite triggering for some.

A great volume of cautionary tales, warning young girls or boys about dangerous predators who would subdue you and lure you away from the *ahem* straight and narrow were published, and the fact that this is a deviancy from a genetic defect even helps make it fit that trope.

Bioware is pretty gay friendly, so I'm not worried about intent, but intent doesn't matter to someone whose been triggered.

[ElitePinecone]

Princess_Ozma wrote...
snip for brevity

I'm being contrarian for the sake of the argument, but surely the whole Ardat-Yakshi 'concept' (as envisioned by the developers) is equally a commentary on 'evil people coming to steal your kids' as 'here is the tragedy that can come from accidents of birth'. The fact that Samara's daughters didn't choose to be A-Y, and that (Morinth aside) they definitely don't enjoy being so, is 'tragic' enough (in the literary sense of the word); the dossiers on Samara in Lair of the Shadow Broker are some of the best writing I've seen in a Bioware game, ever.  

Yes, it's true, the Ardat-Yakshi could be based on the experiences of non-straight people in not-so-recent and more recent times (social ostracism, loss of contact with family, internment). But exploration of difficult content isn't endorsement, and it shouldn't be taken as such. The nuanced discussion of the effect of Ardat-Yakshi syndrome on both children and the parents (and their different reactions) is full of drama and pathos; whether or not this is loosely based on real-life exclusion of people based on genetics is (in my view) a fairly moot point. It's far more interesting, in my view and from a dramatic viewpoint, to focus on the tragedy of Samara's other twro daughters (and her personal loss) than the 'evil lesbian demon' trope that Morinth has been suggested to represent. 

[Princess_Ozma]

Again I don't think the reaction was ever based on intent, I personally enjoy Morinth I just see were the evil lesbian idea is coming from, and I respect that it could be triggering... it isn't for me, I just see where it could be.



Like for example there's a certain Black Man who rules over basically a jungle tribe of white women that he dragged down to the level of savages... remind you of anything?



Again obviously not the intent, and it was good that there was another black character present to point out how disgusted he was... but still you could break that down and examine it in terms of cultural preceptions towards african americans.



I'm not decrying Morinth I'm simply pointing out that those who are making the connection to have a solid basis to do so.

[massive_effect]

Pacifien wrote...

massive_effect wrote...
By what authority are you speaking regarding your ideology of "close mindedness vs an open mind"? To whom or what would I open my heart?

Only you have the answers to those questions, so if you feel someone has an incorrect interpretation of who you are, you can either set the record straight by providing them with more context or you can move on.

I didn't know that a moderator was allowed to take sides.

My point was that morality is very real. Ideas are very real. Whole nations have been formed and gone to war over morality and ideas. Ideas and morals must come from some authority.

You are suggesting that each man has his own truth. Whatever he makes up in his perverted imagination is true. I am saying that the truth must be sought without fear.

A simple truth which I have sought and found is every child in the history of the world is born to one mom and one dad. This means they were born from "straight" parents, thus nobody is born gay or lesbian. Being gay or lesbian is an immoral choice that is made on a temporary or life-long basis. If it is a life-long endeavor, such gay and lesbian relationships bear no fruit. The only way to bear friut is to reject that lifestyle choice, and find someone of the opposite sex.

[ElitePinecone]

Attempting to jump in before this gets nasty; please take the discussion of contemporary politics/society/morality of homosexuality to other areas. I can understand you have a certain point of view, but that debate is not the topic of this thread.



You'll appreciate (and hopefully respect) the freedom for this thread to exist and discuss topics about which you hold a strong view. Regrettably, discussion of contentious issues tends to rapidly get out of hand. In the interests of keeping this thread open for further debate about in-universe topics, please try to refrain from posts that might spark something unwelcome.

[massive_effect]

Sahariel wrote...

Also please understand this: If your position is intractable and absolute, which as you reply I increasingly suspect it is. You will have to live with the fact that there will be people with just a fierce devotion to flexibility and tolerance of their fellow man as you seem to be in it's opposition. In any case much love and peace to you, whichever direction you choose to go.

I'm honestly trying to help. I know a few openly gay men and I treat them with the same respect as any other man. Given the circumstances, I could easily live out a gay lifestyle. I understand the temptation. But, due to my circumstances, I know that it would be a mistake.

[massive_effect]

ElitePinecone wrote...

Attempting to jump in before this gets nasty; please take the discussion of contemporary politics/society/morality of homosexuality to other areas. I can understand you have a certain point of view, but that debate is not the topic of this thread.

How else can we debate the inclusion of such relationships in the plot of the game?

So, it's okay to fully embrace and legitimize it, but not okay to criticize it?

So, anyone that disagrees can only say "No."?

[KMYash]

While I have to disagree with your arguments massive_effect, I think the problem elitepinecone was trying to point out was that, this is a debate about the game. Not real life. I think it might be more appropriate to debate what the addition of homosexual relationships would do to the video game.



Some of the things that you have written can be rather offensive to homosexual/more openminded (in this particular topic) people in this forums. This dissuades actual, intellectual debate.

[ElitePinecone]

massive_effect wrote...

ElitePinecone wrote...

Attempting to jump in before this gets nasty; please take the discussion of contemporary politics/society/morality of homosexuality to other areas. I can understand you have a certain point of view, but that debate is not the topic of this thread.

How else can we debate the inclusion of such relationships in the plot of the game?

So, it's okay to fully embrace and legitimize it, but not okay to criticize it?

So, anyone that disagrees can only say "No."?

There are groups you can join that vehemently argue the opposite to what this thread proposes. You can even start an opposing thread, if you wish. My only concern is that this thread doesn't become a battleground for competing ideologies and entrenched positions, especially when the language veers towards what could be construed as offensive (I don't find what you posted offensive; others may). Far too many genuine threads with some fantastic discussions have been derailed by far less.  

So yes, there is a place for criticism, but it possibly isn't this thread. Discussion of the morality or otherwise of homosexuality tends to rapidly spiral out of hand, making the stated topics of this thread difficult to debate. When dealing with very strongly held beliefs, the kinds of viewpoints many in this debate hold, civility is sometimes difficult to maintain. One indignant response to morality-based criticism is enough to fatally derail this thread. 

Edit:

KMYash wrote...
I think the problem elitepinecone was trying to point out was that this is a debate about the game. Not real life. I think it might be more appropriate to debate what the addition of homosexual relationships would do to the video game. 

That is exactly what I was trying to point out. 

Modifié par ElitePinecone, 06 janvier 2011 - 03:10 .

[jethead]

massive_effect - mass effect games are known for letting the player make the moral choices, in this game franchise you can be evil if you wish to. there's murder, torture, even genocide. the fact that you can make choices based on your own morality enhances your gameplay: the existence of my lesbian shepard makes your shepard that much more valid because it is your choice to create him the way you wanted, not game developers. role playing, you know. the more choices, the better.

if rejecting homosexual relationships even though you understand the temptation is an important moral choice for you, it should be also fun to reject them in the game.

[EpicGamerMonkey]

I'm straight and I support this movement.

I have always been very open about a lot of things, and sexuality is one of them. We as individuals should have the right to chose who we love, why we love them, and when we want to love them. It's no one else's damn business.

I hate to bring religion and politics into this, but they do play a part in how people think in relation to what is "normal" in society. Religions tell us what to believe in and what's right and what's wrong. Politics bases laws and regulations on what's been determined what's right and what's wrong. Then Society as a whole adopts these notions of what's right and what's wrong.

But as time progresses, what's right and what's wrong changes. Look at the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" military policy banning gays from the military. For a long time, people thought gay people shouldn't be able to serve for whatever far-fetched reason. Now, DADT got overturned and deemed unconstitutional.

Times are a-changing. Hopefully society will stop hating on people due to their sexuality and hate on people that are genuine a-holes.

That aside, I do hope BioWare adds more same-sex options in ME3. It's not like haven't had same-sex options in ME2. (FemShep x Kelly, Samara/ Mirinth) I wouldn't understand why they wouldn't add male x male options. The only thing that would oppose them are radical Christians and Right-Wingers. 

Modifié par EpicGamerMonkey, 06 janvier 2011 - 03:59 .

[massive_effect]

I've made my point. I'm just sharing my opinion about what I would like to see, or not see, in the game. I won't comment any further.

[Sahariel]

massive_effect wrote...
A simple truth which I have sought and found is every child in the history of the world is born to one mom and one dad. This means they were born from "straight" parents, thus nobody is born gay or lesbian. Being gay or lesbian is an immoral choice that is made on a temporary or life-long basis. If it is a life-long endeavor, such gay and lesbian relationships bear no fruit. The only way to bear friut is to reject that lifestyle choice, and find someone of the opposite sex.

I'm afraid that simple truth is simply not valid to a modern educated perspective. That statement you just made doesn't work unless you reject modern studies of science and genetics. Just because everyone is born from a straight relationship (whilst absolutely true) it does not logically follow that both the parents HAVE to be straight. In many instances historically gay men and women have been forced to conform to a societal "norm" and have taken partners of the opposite sex and had children.

To say nothing of the concept of evolution through genetic mutation. It is even possible for both parents to contain two parts of a condition which whilst they don't posses the condition themselves they will pass on to thier children, ie sickle cell anemia.

I am going to make a leap here and guess you are a religous sort, most likely Christian of some flavour, and should such be the case I'd like to point out about as much page real estate in the bible is devoted to saying you shouldn't conduct same sex relationships as there is to taking how you shouldn't eat pork, but again I'm going to go out on a limb here and suspect you like bacon. You talked in another post how we all conform to personal perspective on truth, but cherry picking things from your sacred text that you want to follow and things you don't is pretty much doing that.

[zvbxrpl]

Sahariel wrote...

I can understand why the Morinth/Nef relationship could leave a nasty taste in people's mouths, but I do maintain there is nothing endemic in the narrative that really implies the negativity some have chosen to infer. I do concede that the plotline and character is reminiscent of an old trope we are gladly rid of now, but I am looking at this in isolation and not in a wider context. In that respect perhaps I am wrong, but I still personally enjoyed that sidequest as I suspect many others did who did not see a bi = evil subtext.

In fact I would like raise a counterpoint that perhaps for the many that didn't see or derive anything negative about bisexuality from that side quest, we have perhaps moved on as an audience, and as such the old trope didn't even factor into our imaginations at all. What I will say at this point is that we will be such a day when such things won't matter, but I think perhaps drawing attention to it may in fact forestall such a reality.

Again I would reiterate that if they had linked Morinths bisexuality explicitly with her evil nature I would be more than willing to lead the charge against the defamation of the lgbt community, but again I go back to my earlier point that we cannot afford to have any sacred cows, if it is not alright to show a bisexual character who also happens to be evil, then we shouldn't be able to show any race, creed, gender, religion or nation in a negative light either.

I agree, mostly.  I think that, like Princess Ozma said, the trope is discredited, but not extinct.  That means that someone living in a place with some more backward views on gays would be uncomfortable with the plotline.  FWIW, until I sat and (over?)thought, my reaction to the storyline was mostly "This is really sad.  Poor kid.  Poor Samara."  I was certainly not trying to accuse anyone in Bioware or on the forum, and I think that moving from a very progressive town that I'd lived in all my life, to college in a rural Ohio town with some real problems re:bigotry-in-general has given me a skewed picture of how lgbt folks are treated in society.  My mental picture sort of skews toward places that are not my (in-general, over the top in terms of leftishness, with tolerance being largely a side effect) old hometown as being more homophobic than they are in reality.  Plus, I'm an undergrad, so reading too much into stuff is kind of second nature to me.

I may well be making a mountain out of a molehill, but even so, my basic point in my first post was that Bioware was unwittingly kind of playing into an old, ugly stereotype that is thankfully largely out of fashion, and that, rather than treat them as enemies, we should do what a friend does when another friend accidentally offends somebody:  tell them what it was they said that made that person (in this case, a couple of posters on the thread) mad, so that they can know where the other person is coming from, in order to better judge whether they did or did not do anything wrong.

I should have been clearer, especially given the argument that I missed upthread, and I think what I was intending as serious-thoughtful read more like serious-argumentative, which is my own fault.

EDIT: And the point in your second paragraph about how acting like progress hasn't happened may make further progress harder is well-received.  I ought to keep that in mind.

Modifié par zvbxrpl, 06 janvier 2011 - 05:52 .

[TopcatPlayer]

BiancoAngelo7 wrote...

Also, personally I kinda mentally blocked out the gay sexual advances I got in Dragon Age, not having to deal with that in ME is a big relief. Especially because for some reason in Dragon Age it kinda broke the game immersion element for me somehow, kind of like "why did I get hit on by a gay elf? Oh yeah, they did that to leave options open to all types of characters"

here's a quote from me that i posted on my Mass Effect group Homosexual Romances in Mass Effect 3

TopcatPlayer wrote...

weedyfun wrote....

There are a few people on this site who is 100% opposed to the idea of adding gay options to all romances. "I don't want my Shepard to be gay blah blah blah". Wwell, then don't choose the gay option! Is it so hard for them to accept?

I know right? It's like they dont want to interact with even a made up character like that. How would these people be in real life. What i usualy like in Bioware games, especialy in DAO, is it shoves other cultures and races and ways of thinking in your characters face and you've got to learn how to get along if you want to survive. Good life lessons there.

Just letting everyone know, i'm a straight male, not gay, and i find the lack of homosexuality in ME less emersive and less realistic. I mean it's the future... do gay men just not exist in the future? Give us a lesbian crack at Jack at least, we know she's bi!

Modifié par TopcatPlayer, 06 janvier 2011 - 06:49 .

[TopcatPlayer]

BiancoAngelo7 wrote...

Pacifien wrote...

You know, a character doesn't really have to be defined by his sexuality. He doesn't have to bring sexual innuendo into every conversation. Doesn't have to throw in feeders to see if another guy is interested. He could simply not be interested in pursuing a romantic relationship until the Reapers are on his very doorstep and he has an epiphany that leads him to grab Big Ben Sniper Guy and kiss him passionately before it's all over.
People complain that Shepard is a wooden plank in the games, but the reason why is because it allows great leeway for someone to roleplay the character, filling in the blanks that are never explicitly covered within the game. If you roleplayed Shepard as having no romantic interest in the first two games, it's perfectly reasonable he would be "suddenly" gay in the third game. That is fair.
If you did roleplay Shepard as some hopeless romantic in need of companionship in the first two games, then maybe his sudden turn of interest from the ladies to the men might seem odd. That is the way you chose to roleplay it. There is no wrong way to roleplay.

Huh, I never thought of it that way. I guess with a game like ME one can never quite think of all the possibilities lol. Although it is possible it would still seem really just kinda "off" with the Shepard character to me.

but that's the great thing about true roleplaying, if you dont feel Shepard would do that, then dont make him, the controller is in your hands. Your actions inform who Shepard is. What we're asking on this thread is why this 1 option to fully define Shepard is left vacant? It's a problem, a design flaw that removes the emmersive quality of the game. How is less choice good in a game that boasts MASSIVE EFFECTS of how your actions inform and change the universe, the characters around you, and most importantly Shepard him/herself.