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[Khevan77]

This thread has a high potential to become hostile.  I ask anyone who posts here to please be respectful, no matter which side you stand on.  I will ask, however, that if you have some issue with any suggestion or comment I make in this opening post, please take a moment and examine the reasons for your issue.  This is meant in the most polite and respectful way I can phrase it, since text neuters emotion from a message, and I don't want anyone to be unduly offended by what I'm about to say.

I urge Bioware to include as many realistic, well written homosexual characters as heterosexual characters in DA:I.  I also urge this company to include more than a token character of color, perhaps Rivaini or even another culture we haven't seen yet.  Lastly, I urge Bioware to create strong, independent female characters.  Not all need to be ball-busting feminists, but I want to see and Inquisitor who just happens to be female, rather than a "Female Inquisitor," if you get my meaning.  Any and all of the above can be mixed and matched, for example, a strong female PoC lesbian.

Bioware has a track record of including options for homosexual players, for which I commend the company.  They have also shown, through the example of a female Commander Shepard, that they can have a strong woman who doesn't fall prey to too many of the typical stereotypes and tropes we see too often in media.  People of color are underrepresented (to my admittedly faulty memory), unless you as a player create that as your avatar for the given game.

The reason that I urge these things from Bioware, is that I've seen too many comments on this site and on others, arguing against many of these things.  I am a heterosexual white male, and over the past couple of years, I've come to the conclusion that I do, indeed, enjoy a level of "white male priviledge" that I will not apologize for, but would instead like to see all people, regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation to enjoy.  I did not choose my race or gender, or who I am inclined to love.  Neither did those who differ from me.  I cannot understand what others go through based on those characteristics, but I can try to, and I can try to do what I can to level the playing field, so to speak.

DA2 handled romances in what I feel were a clumsy manner.  I was not a particular fan of having every romance option be herosexual, and the way some of the characters react when rejected was uncomfortable, to say the least.  I, personally, would prefer one heterosexual, one bisexual, and one homosexual character of each gender, simply to have the option of having a character say "No" to my PC, but failing that, I would rather see 4 herocentric romances than what we saw in, say ME3, where a straight, male Shepard had as many as 6 romance options, and any other Shepard half that or less.

I would really, really like to see more people of color represented in game, as well, even beyond romance options.  The only companions in any Bioware game since Mass Effect 1 who were not white were Jacob and Isabela.  This is a major imbalance, in my opinion, and I would like to see DA:I right the scales, as it were.

To those who would say that the above is "pandering to a minority," I ask you this:  Why do you care?  What harm to you, personally, would come about if these suggestions were followed?  Again, I ask this in a respectful manner, since text doesn't convey emotion.  People of color, women, and homosexuals have been discriminated against for far too long in society, and gaming has the ability to reach millions of people.  If we start seeing positive examples of these "minority" groups in media, perhaps that will change.  It certainly can't hurt. 

Bioware may very well be in the final stages of character design and whatnot for DA:I.  They may very well be taking these things into account, and after all, it is their story to tell.  But if there's some room for adjustment, I simply ask that these things be considered.

I hope that this thread will not devolve into personal attacks, and instead engender some meaningful discussion on this topic.  I may be hoping for too much, but I am an eternal optimist.

[David Gaider]

Appreciate the thoughtful tone of the original post. Many of the things you suggest are things we already do, but you are correct in suggesting there are also things we can do better.

As I've said previously, it never hurts a company to, at some point in development, ask "why not?" That doesn't mean reality is going to turn topsy-turvy, the setting will lose all coherence, and the quality of the story will be tossed to the wayside. It doesn't mean we will do all those things, or do them to the extent that some may like--no single game can be all things to all people, after all-- but it never hurts to have the question asked. There is no danger that, if the suggestion isn't immediately and vehemently contradicted, we developers will suddenly lose all reason and make it our #1 priority.

I'm going to shut this thread down, however, as it's certainly going nowhere good. Threads like this rarely do, and the manifesto-like nature of the original post is only going to make the descent even quicker. Thank you to those who contributed in a thoughtful manner, and to the others who simply cannot conduct themselves in a civilized fashion a few bans will be handed out.

Modifié par David Gaider, 27 novembre 2013 - 06:33 .