223 réponses à ce sujet

[ChuiDuma]

Amazing how many people participated.Thanks a lot to everybody!

 

Just starting to do some statistics here, counting everyone that was reasonable easy to identify on the gender (male/female) and orientation (heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual with pansexual lumped together with bisexual).

 

I could identify 147 people for the stats. Don't take slight if the presentation or wording isn't entirely accurate, I did my best to get a reasonable statistic, without any bias here.

 

• heterosexual male: 49 (33,33%) 
• heterosexual female: 46  (31,29%)
• bisexual male: 5 (3,40%) 
• bisexual female: 20 (13,61%) 
• homosexual male: 14 (9,52%) 
• homosexual female: 13 (8,84%)

Total 147

 

So that means at least for the forumites:

• While straight males are the single biggest group, their lead is only very slim. In total, only every third person who was identifiable in this thread is a straight male.
• LBQT are roughly one third and are far, far, far above the american national average (please note that transgender forumites were assigned to the group of their self-identified gender)
• In total, females are slightly stronger represented here than males (53% vs. 47%).

If I may make a statement here: Everybody is of course welcome in this game.

However, anyone who makes a statement such as "straight male gamers are the demographic BioWare must cater to, because they are the only ones who really play RPGs, while girls only play casual games" should be laughed at, because this is yet another (in no way representative!) indication that 'tis not so.

 

I think it's awesome that you took the time to do this! It's pretty cool to see it all laid out like that. 

[Vindicare175]

Straight male , I generally only do M/F or F/M romances , once in a blue moon I've done F/F and I never do M/M.

[Ina]

Amazing how many people participated.Thanks a lot to everybody!

 

Just starting to do some statistics here, counting everyone that was reasonable easy to identify on the gender (male/female) and orientation (heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual with pansexual lumped together with bisexual).

 

I could identify 147 people for the stats. Don't take slight if the presentation or wording isn't entirely accurate, I did my best to get a reasonable statistic, without any bias here.

 

• heterosexual male: 49 (33,33%) 
• heterosexual female: 46  (31,29%)
• bisexual male: 5 (3,40%) 
• bisexual female: 20 (13,61%) 
• homosexual male: 14 (9,52%) 
• homosexual female: 13 (8,84%)

Total 147

 

So that means at least for the forumites:

• While straight males are the single biggest group, their lead is only very slim. In total, only every third person who was identifiable in this thread is a straight male.
• LBQT are roughly one third and are far, far, far above the american national average (please note that transgender forumites were assigned to the group of their self-identified gender)
• In total, females are slightly stronger represented here than males (53% vs. 47%).

If I may make a statement here: Everybody is of course welcome in this game.

However, anyone who makes a statement such as "straight male gamers are the demographic BioWare must cater to, because they are the only ones who really play RPGs, while girls only play casual games" should be laughed at, because this is yet another (in no way representative!) indication that 'tis not so.

 

I like this. Wish you had taken Asexuals into account as well though. Pretty sure there were a few who indicated that as their orientation.

[Steelcan]

word of caution, the population of BSN is not a good sample source

 

We are already prejudiced towards BioWare games and romances

[daveliam]

word of caution, the population of BSN is not a good sample source

 

We are already prejudiced towards BioWare games and romances

 

Agreed.  But I think that s/he specifically stated that the poll was representational of BSN posters only ("forumites").  Even so, it's still a self-selected, biased sample.  However, I'm not sure, but I don't think anyone is looking to treat this like a viable academic study.  I don't see many (schall_und_rauch, 2014) citations in their future, which I think was kind of their intention.

[Lilaeth]

Straight female, that's how I usually play, though I did romance Morrigan once as a male Warden.  Given the choices available in this game, I'm thinking I will be celibate this time round. 

[AshesEleven]

Straight male, who does both straight male playthroughs and straight female playthroughs, pretty much equally.  This time, though, I'm considering romancing Dorian at some point.  I'll see how much I like him during the game.  

[Cylan Cooper]

Straight guy here. One who plays both genders and all sexualities. I'm most looking forward to romancing Blackwall in Inquisition. My favorite romance in Origins was M/M Zevran. I'll probably romance Dorian and Sera at some point and enjoy every minute of it, those two characters are awesome. I primarily play men but I usually enjoy my playthroughs where I play a lady more for some reason.

[Lenimph]

I am a bisexual female. I tend to only do f/f romances in Bioware games. This is because the male romances almost never appeal to me at all. Blackwall might change this and I might eventually do a m/m playthrough to see the Dorian romance.

 

However in DA:O (first Bioware game where I did a romance{played kotor briefly but didn't finished because it was borrowed}) I was romancing Leliana "just for fun" because I identified as straight at the time. I justified it to myself by romancing Alistair as well(even though I didn't really like him), thinking to myself that it might "add drama to my gaming experience" but in reality I was just in denial, I liked Leliana 100x better then Alistair and I didn't want to admit it. This actually led to one my first existential crisis's about my sexuality, putting to my face how much I suppressed my desires for other women and eventually led to coming out to myself.

 

But it's ok people. Play out of your comfort zone. It's not going to turn you gay or anything. 

[schall_und_rauch]

Agreed.  But I think that s/he specifically stated that the poll was representational of BSN posters only ("forumites").  Even so, it's still a self-selected, biased sample.  However, I'm not sure, but I don't think anyone is looking to treat this like a viable academic study.  I don't see many (schall_und_rauch, 2014) citations in their future, which I think was kind of their intention.

Barely 150 answers, interpreted by myself, from a forum, is in no way respresentative. I'm fully aware of that. Well, what can I say? I work with what I have, as long as I don't see anything else more representative.

And, no, it was certainly not an academic study, never was intended to be such. I think it's just great that we have such a diversity of people and ways to play the game. And I enjoy reading people's contribution.

 

 

So while it the numbers here are not representative, I wonder if they are really biased. Neither my initial question nor the way I counted was biased in any way, since I didn't favor any specific outcome. Is the sample of the people posting here biased? Perhaps. I could imagine that homosexuals are more active here on the forum as opposed to the average DAI gamer, since BioWare is one of the few (or only) video game companies who address homosexual romance so explicitly. So it makes sense that people looking specifically for that become more engaged than people who will play DAI as "just another way of spending the time while waiting for Pillars of Eternity/The Witcher 3".

So, yeah, there is probably some bias.

 

But still, I think it shows that some of the so called "facts" about market share for certain demographics and player interests may not be as clear cut as certain people like to claim. I also think that the wide range of how the contributers chose romances outside of their rl preference shows that the "they get more options than us"-discussions matter not to so many people as it seems to be. 

 

But that is something other threads have shown as well: The loud, strong outcry on game forums is, more often than not, the complaint of a vocal minority rather than that of a silent majority.

[dantares83]

bisexual male.

 

Romances I have tried in Bioware games...

 

DAO: male mage with Morrigan (main), female noble human with Alistair

DA2: male Hakwe with Anders, male Hakwe with Merril (restart from main because i dont like Anders doing what he did)

 

ME1: male Shepard with Ashley (main), female Shepard with Kaidan

ME2: male Shepard with Miranda (main)

ME3: male Shepard with Miranda (main)

 

DAI: planning my first playthrough playing a female mage, romancing Cullen, or male Mage romancing Cassandra

[Reptillius]

I'll just say that I'm not picky too much on the romances in the games. I've been role playing in various formats for over 2 decades.  I've learned to be a lot more open about a lot of things with what have been at times vastly different characters I'm playing. Each one has a little piece of me to connect to them but it's not necessarily has to do with sex, whether physical or orientation.

 

That being said I've played all of the different LI options at different times.  I'm a little bit of a fan for Leliana but I'm a sucker for redheads and I like how she changes a bit throughout it (and I could realisitically see myself having some long and interesting philosophical and theological conversations with her if she were a real person).  Otherwise I'll finish up by saying I do play female characters a bit more when I have the option because I usually end up staring at my own characters backside for hours upon hours and staring at a guys just isn't as visually appealing to me for all that time.

[Ina]

I primarily play men but I usually enjoy my playthroughs where I play a lady more for some reason.

 

It's kinda the same for me. I'm female and by default in games I much prefer playing a woman, but somehow in the Dragon Age games I tend to enjoy playing men a little more. Maybe because it's so character based and I like seeing a different perspective.

[Mentxi]

Gay male

 

I have multiple characters and I usually play with both genders. When I have to choose who I want to romance, I pick the characters I like, if this makes my character straight, well, so be it. In DAO I picked Morrigan and then Alistair and I still think they are the best looking LIs ever ; in DA2 Isabela warmed my bed and Anders warmed...well, everyone knows how that ended...

 

Aaaaannnndddd... for the very first time, I really like the gay options in a Dragon Age game.

[Ap0crypha]

Straight female.

 

I prefer playing straight female characters, and in fact always play them first. However, as far as a "head canon" goes, I will play a straight male characters if none of the guys appeal to me (Jade Empire) or if the story flows better with the straight male romance (male!Warden and Morrigan in Origins). 

 

As far as playing LGBT characters…I don't, really. I'm not saying anyone who does is wrong, or that anyone who is LGBT should be killed with fire, it's just out of my comfort zone.

[GeminiParadox]

Female bisexual with a strong preference for men.

I MUCH prefer playing a female character, but I plan on making a male Inquisitor to romance Dorian. I'd also romance Sera as a female character. If I liked Cassandra enough, I'd possibly make a male character to romance her. I make my characters separate from myself. They often don't have much in common with me but are designed to fit into the story that I want the game to tell. In this case, Dorian is the LI I'm leaning toward and I'm more than happy to accomodate his orientation by playing a male.

In DA:O, I played a lesbian female who romanced Leliana. In DA2, I played a straight female.

[Master Race]

I'm fairly set on RP'ing my first Inquisitor like Oberyn Martell from game of thrones which would make him bisexual. However it all depends on if casual sex will be in Dragon Age or if you only get to hook up with who you romance/maybe prostitutes. If you can only hook up with who you romance i will probably make him straight like me irl.

[StaceysChain]

Straight, white female here. I've played both genders with both different races and sexual orientations in different RPGs. My main "canon" Warden is a male elf who romanced Morrigan. I also have a female lesbian Warden who romanced Leliana and a bisexual male Warden who romanced Morrigan and Zevran, eventually choosing Zevran. My main Shepard in Mass Effect is also a bisexual woman who romanced Liara but ultimately chose Garrus in the end, but found women like Miranda, Samara, Kelly and Traynor and men like Kaidan, Thane, and Vega very attractive, as well as every single Turian she came across (at least in my headcannon lol). I've also played a male Shephard who stayed loyal to Liara. I've also roleplayed a gay male who romanced Julien in Dragon's Dogma, a black lesbian in Fallout 3 (I don't care that there's no chez la femme option in it) and I'm planning to play a gay Latino in my next playthrough of Fallout: New Vegas. As for Inquisition, the only romance I have planned out so far is a straight Iron Bull romance with my female Qunari, but I'll probably do a m/m and a f/f romance regardless.

 

I will admit that I do usually play as Females first, because in the end I am female. But in the long run I've never had a problem playing characters of either gender, different races or sexual preferences. Not only are they fun to play, but they're part of life too.    

[Fredward]

Bisexual male and I play everything. Playing F/F used to feel kinda awkward and clunky but that stopped after one FHawke x Isabela playthrough. Currently the only LI that really has my interest is Dorian. Sera and IB are runners up while Blackwall and Cass seem too tightlaced warrior-types to be romantically interesting. Solas looks too much like Nicholas Cage. I may or may not try Cullen at some point depending on how he is in game, I've never really gotten his mass appeal. And I don't get enough of vibe from Scribbles yet to make even a semi-informed judgement yet.

[sandalisthemaker]

I am a gay guy, and I tend to mostly play as gay male protagonists (who are celibate if romance options are unavailable like in ME 1 and 2 ).  All my male Wardens and Hawkes were gay, even if they didn't romance anyone.

 

I have played as a straight female elf in DAO, however, she never had sex with Alistair. Kissing was as far as she would go. My other female characters were all celibate.  I could not play as a female in DA2 at all due to femHawke's walk/run animations.  I would consider playing a straight female in DA:I eventually to romance Blackwall, if I can get over the Femquisitor's walk/run. Don't know if I will be able to, though.

 

Playing straight guys is something I tend not to do, unless the game forces me to. The majority of them do, so when I have the choice, I avoid it at all costs.

 

However, I may just romance Cassandra eventually since she is awesome. 

[TheGhost88]

Heterosexual Male here, I usually play straight male play through's first. I usually play an f/f play through at some point. I haven't done an f/m play through yet though i may at some point. I'm happy with how bioware has done romances in Inquisition having characters with set preferences instead of DA2's less realistic (though necessary gameplay wise). In Inquisition i plan on romancing Josephine who i think is freaking adorable.

[MissMayhem96]

HeteroAsexual female here, I always play as a female and do m/f or f/f romances. I hardly ever play as a male and even though I'm White, I usually play a character of a different race. I'm planning on romancing Josephine or Solas for my first playthrough.   I also hope that the end goal of DA:I romance isn't sex (which I have read that it isn't and that romances are suppose to feel natural), and I can roleplay a character who is Asexual, and perhaps voice that option with LI's.

[Arvaarad]

Even if I did play self-inserts, I'm the "will pork anything that wants to be porked" flavor of pansexual, so it wouldn't matter.

However, I understand the appeal of playing a particular preference if it's very underrepresented in media or something that the player can't safely express in real life. I'm fortunate to be in a progressive environment, but others aren't so lucky.