Right. And they do that. Juhani, Sky, Silk Fox, Liara, Leliana, Merrill, Fenris, Steve, Kaidan, Samantha, Sera, and Josephine are LGBT and their sexuality is not part of the plot.
And it's ALSO okay to create LGBT characters that deal with LGBT themes. Like Dorian.
You forgot Anders
David Gaider @davidgaider
Note to Tumblr: I did not write the IGN article, nor decide to have it focus on Dorian or to call him a "breakout character".
David Gaider @davidgaider
It's from the perspective of a gaming journalist who found Dorian refreshing, and I think he explains why rather well.
Neither Dorian nor Sera are great characters, and I think the sexuality is overhyped. Sera > Dorian, but only because she at least tries to help other people, even if she's terrible at it.
Neither Dorian nor Sera are great characters, and I think the sexuality is overhyped. Sera > Dorian, but only because she at least tries to help other people, even if she's terrible at it.
I'd definitely disagree with you about Sera, but on the issue of sexuality, yeah, I completely agree. It's not enough to simply stick a character on the LGBT paradigm and then call it a day; when writing a character, no matter the medium, one should be focusing on making them engaging, interesting and sympathetic before you start wondering where they sit on the Kinsey Scale. Now, if you can do both (Leliana, Korra, Commander Ivanova, just to name a few) then hell yeah, all the more power to you. But the former ultimately trumps the latter. Personally, I'd rather have a likeable character who just so happens to be straight over a complete ******* who just so happens to be gay, but maybe that's just me. Diversity and representation in storytelling is an important thing, but not the only important thing, and certainly less vital than a nuts-and-bolts aspect of storytelling like, say, solid and consistant characterization.
As such, it's very hard to applaud Bioware for their continued stand on LGBT issues in Inquisition when there are significant problems in both the narrative and gameplay. Having gay characters is nice and all, but it doesn't really make up for the eight-slot limit, or the absence of meaningful quests, or the fact that Corypheus is the worst villain in the franchise, or the general lack of nuance and depth to the setting, or the fact that the Inquisition only exists because the writers made every other organization in the setting stupid/corrupt/incompotent/randomly evil, or the fact that "because the plot says so" seems to be the driving factor behind too many decisions and motivations, or the inability to effectively resolve most of their long-standing plot threads (what Mage-Templar War?). There are more important things than winning a GLAAD award.
But the headlines never say "Bioware's first male gay character" it just says gay character which really excludes Sera cause she is gay as well, but Sera is never mentioned, just Dorian.
And like I said, technically Sera can be recruited before Dorian so technically Sera is Bioware's first gay character.... but that claim for some odd reason only goes to Dorian.
The head lines is not what bioware said. That was a miss interpretation of the writer of the article. David Gaider only said this is the first gay character he has written.
Neither Dorian nor Sera are great characters, and I think the sexuality is overhyped. Sera > Dorian, but only because she at least tries to help other people, even if she's terrible at it.
Dorian is a great character. Sera is also is a well written character intended for some people not to like. Any hype for them was made by the fans.
As the title says, Dorian gets credit for being the first gay character from Bioware but Sera was homosexual as well and she was in the same game and could actually be recruited before Dorian.
So why all the spotlight on Dorian?
Because IGN is racist against elves.
So why all the spotlight on Dorian?
I feel like representing lesbians isn't as big of a risk in gaming culture because they are so highly fetishized by dudes. In general, I feel like you see more lesbians in the media more often than gay men, because as always, the world is so much more concerned with titillating men's tastes more than anyone else's (edit: which is total utter bullsh*t if anyone needs reminding). Gaming culture is especially like this unfortunately, so I think it's natural that there would be so much spotlight on a major, well-developed gay male character. The way I see it, adding major lesbian characters to a straight male-dominated space of entertainment is "easier" because "lesbians are hawt", but adding a major gay male character? How often do you really see that in video games? If it has happened at all outside of the Bioware universe, I'm positive it doesn't happen more often than having lesbian characters.
I feel like representing lesbians isn't as big of a risk in gaming culture because they are so highly fetishized by dudes. In general, I feel like you see more lesbians in the media more often than gay men, just because as always, the world is so much more concerned with titillating men's tastes more than anyone else's. Gaming culture is especially like this unfortunately, so I think it's natural that there would be so much spotlight on a major, well-developed gay male character. The way I see it, adding major lesbian characters to a straight male-dominated space of entertainment is "easier" because "lesbians are hawt", but adding a major gay male character? How often do you really see that in video games? If it has happened at all outside of the Bioware universe, I'm positive it doesn't happen more often than having lesbian characters.
Good point. I always found it fun to do a Lesbian Shepard playthrough in Mass Effect by romancing Liara, or a Lesbian playthrough in DA2 by romancing Merril, but as a guy, I just cannot bring myself to doing a m/m romance in a videogame. 
Dorian is a great character. Sera is also is a well written character intended for some people not to like. Any hype for them was made by the fans.
No, Dorian was hyped up by Gaider before the game was released. "He's gay, but he still kicks ass" is a quote I remember.
And Dorian's pathetic as a character. He ranks down with Liara as one of the worst BioWARE's ever made. I can ignore Dorian, at least, and I don't have to be forced to talk about how great he is.
I'd definitely disagree with you about Sera, but on the issue of sexuality, yeah, I completely agree. It's not enough to simply stick a character on the LGBT paradigm and then call it a day; when writing a character, no matter the medium, one should be focusing on making them engaging, interesting and sympathetic before you start wondering where they sit on the Kinsey Scale. Now, if you can do both (Leliana, Korra, Commander Ivanova, just to name a few) then hell yeah, all the more power to you. But the former ultimately trumps the latter. Personally, I'd rather have a likeable character who just so happens to be straight over a complete ******* who just so happens to be gay, but maybe that's just me. Diversity and representation in storytelling is an important thing, but not the only important thing, and certainly less vital than a nuts-and-bolts aspect of storytelling like, say, solid and consistant characterization.
As such, it's very hard to applaud Bioware for their continued stand on LGBT issues in Inquisition when there are significant problems in both the narrative and gameplay. Having gay characters is nice and all, but it doesn't really make up for the eight-slot limit, or the absence of meaningful quests, or the fact that Corypheus is the worst villain in the franchise, or the general lack of nuance and depth to the setting, or the fact that the Inquisition only exists because the writers made every other organization in the setting stupid/corrupt/incompotent/randomly evil, or the fact that "because the plot says so" seems to be the driving factor behind too many decisions and motivations, or the inability to effectively resolve most of their long-standing plot threads (what Mage-Templar War?). There are more important things than winning a GLAAD award.
See, this is the part that I can't even remotely understand. Why does it matter whether or not who screws who? I'd be perfectly fine with 9 completely unscrewable characters who had deep, nuanced personalities and had banter that made me laugh, get the feels, or both.
You want diversity? There's your diversity. Rather than cookie-cutter characters, deep and rich folks with lots of nuance. The fact that people even bring up color or sexuality or whatever is what I find troubling. It wouldn't come up at all if it was pointless.
See, this is the part that I can't even remotely understand. Why does it matter whether or not who screws who? I'd be perfectly fine with 9 completely unscrewable characters who had deep, nuanced personalities and had banter that made me laugh, get the feels, or both.
You want diversity? There's your diversity. Rather than cookie-cutter characters, deep and rich folks with lots of nuance. The fact that people even bring up color or sexuality or whatever is what I find troubling. It wouldn't come up at all if it was pointless.
It's called "reverse-racism". It's expressing a need for emphasis because of colour or sexuality, but rather in a seemingly 'positive' light, than say a negative (i.e homophobic or racist).
Imo it's just as bad -- true equality is everybody is treated the same, and only criticized for the actions and decisions they make -- colour or sexual orientation, gender etc shouldn't even come up.
As such, it's very hard to applaud Bioware for their continued stand on LGBT issues in Inquisition when there are significant problems in both the narrative and gameplay. Having gay characters is nice and all, but it doesn't really make up for the eight-slot limit, or the absence of meaningful quests, or the fact that Corypheus is the worst villain in the franchise, or the general lack of nuance and depth to the setting, or the fact that the Inquisition only exists because the writers made every other organization in the setting stupid/corrupt/incompotent/randomly evil, or the fact that "because the plot says so" seems to be the driving factor behind too many decisions and motivations, or the inability to effectively resolve most of their long-standing plot threads (what Mage-Templar War?). There are more important things than winning a GLAAD award.
I think the game would have been better written if it was in the hands of writers who understand the fact that a character does not become compelling by virtue of being a minority. In the hands of writers who understand the concept of the hero (which they certainly attempted to embrace with Inquisition, vapid as that attempt was) is fundamentally opposed to the concept of people being 'equal.'
I think the OP has a valid inquiry. Could it be that Dorian was written, developed as a character and put into the game before Sera was? Perhaps Bioware is simply seeing this from a linear development perspective.
What's the argument here? That the stuff you didn't like would have been better if there had been less gay content? How would that have worked, exactly? A straight version of Dorian would have still needed content. I don't see how gayness burns more zots.
I think he was saying that BioWare focuses too much on placating minorities rather than focusing on the basic gameplay and storyline elements and pleasing as many gamers as possible. Just a guess.
But Gaider even kind of admitted, the heterosexual character doesn't need much development because people assume that is the default. So yes, it takes more effort to write a homosexual character that is subtle and doesn't seem like a token.
Dunno why I burst out laughing reading this.Clearly they need to check their privilege. This triggers me.
You are forgetting that while diversity is important to everybody, to some, it is also about representation.
To some, it really is important to see that they're just there, openly, and no one can give them crap about it. We are supposed to feel comfortable and to have an opportunity for escapism in games. I believe this ranks higher than having whatever a believeable character is by whomever's definition, rather than to risk alienating a considerable part of our population because there is a lingering possibility it may worsen the potential quality of the narrative in dubious ways.
(Seriously, developers have so many different ways to do that, really. I'd take a flamboyantly disco-dancing Dorian, who happens to make a gay guy with terrible taste happy, over another Grey Warden demon army any day of the week.)
The reason why we point out every gay character as "the gay character", is the same (and I do apologize for reusing that analogy) as why you would point out the one black guy in a team as "the black guy". Because it absolutely isn't pointless. Because of simple empirical deductions, you still cannot just do that. BioWare can tell you what they want, it's not normal for a reasonable amount of major characters to be gay, as it is not normal for a protagonist to be black or asian. If you do that, in glorious 2015, you have to justify yourself: "He does have a point with his dad!", "The game takes place in Asia/Ghetto Gangster environment", "She's the best ever, and super skilled. Wow, what a woman. I only say that because she clearly is doing a job that any bum of a man usually does." or "The guy is from a far away land and very mysterious"
edit: removed the original quotation, since this turned into a rather generally directed statement.
I feel like representing lesbians isn't as big of a risk in gaming culture because they are so highly fetishized by dudes. In general, I feel like you see more lesbians in the media more often than gay men, just because as always, the world is so much more concerned with titillating men's tastes more than anyone else's. Gaming culture is especially like this unfortunately, so I think it's natural that there would be so much spotlight on a major, well-developed gay male character. The way I see it, adding major lesbian characters to a straight male-dominated space of entertainment is "easier" because "lesbians are hawt", but adding a major gay male character? How often do you really see that in video games? If it has happened at all outside of the Bioware universe, I'm positive it doesn't happen more often than having lesbian characters.
This, sadly.
Media is all about dudes and their feelings.
I'll say this: If they do articles about gay characters that highlight their sexuality in future games, then I'll agree with people who think it's weird. But Dorian was a huge first. He was the first gay male companion ever in a Bioware game. That's a huge deal to many people. Again, the first lesbian companion was introduced 11 years earlier. It's about time that a gay male companion was introduced. So it got press. I'm really not seeing what the issue is here. Outside of the fact that the headlines were incorrect (He's the first gay male companion; not the first gay character), this actually is something that many people have been waiting for and would want to read an article about.
The head lines is not what bioware said. That was a miss interpretation of the writer of the article. David Gaider only said this is the first gay character he has written.
Silly white hetrosexual cis males. everyone knows Lesbians don't exist.
You are forgetting that while diversity is important to everybody, to some, it is also about representation.
To some, it really is important to see that they're just there, openly, and no one can give them crap about it. We are supposed to feel comfortable and to have an opportunity for escapism in games. I believe this ranks higher than having whatever a believeable character is by whomever's definition, rather than to risk alienating a considerable part of our population because there is a lingering possibility it may worsen the potential quality of the narrative in dubious ways.
(Seriously, developers have so many different ways to do that, really. I'd take a flamboyantly disco-dancing Dorian, who happens to make a gay guy with terrible taste happy, over another Grey Warden demon army any day of the week.)
But is a medieval setting the best setting for this, especially when it's been established that most countries in that game universe consider it to be weird, and thus uncommon? Or would this be better suited to a futuristic or even modern game universe where social standards have... been redefined to accommodate those behaviors?
You'd take an optional homosexual character over a plot line? Well... I wouldn't. And to put that into perspective, I wouldn't take the straight white male over a plot line either.
Dorian is one of my favorite companions from Inquisition, but the gay companion boat sailed all the way back during Origins with Leliana and Zevran. One could claim that those characters were bisexual, but why quibble?
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