BioWare, this past week, came under a bit of fire from a player of their latest game, Dragon Age 2, for allowing homosexual relationships within the game. His biggest complaint seems to be that BioWare, in creating a game that offers players of all genders and sexualities to build characters and relationships that appeal to them (or, at least, closer to that than pretty much other game available), they somehow neglected straight male gamers. BioWare's official response was, essentially, "We didn't make a game for straight male gamers, we made one for everyone. Deal with it." Something which I applaud them for. I haven't played DA2, myself, as I'm still playing the first one, but the first one even offers a world with a fairly mature outlook on sexuality - some people are straight, some are gay, some are bisexual, and it's not a big deal.
Not that BioWare is unfamiliar with controversy related to homosexuality. When the first Mass Effect was release, there was a bit of an uproar over the fact that you could, potentially, have a relationship with another female (provided your character is a female) and then consummate said relationship. Naturally, the family values crew got a hold of this and started calling it a sex simulator or something despite the fact that there's exactly two points in the game where you can have sex, and only one of which is shown in any level of explicitness. I mean, if CGI alien asses are enough to get someone off, then so be it. Who am I to judge? It just seems like any level of anger over that is a bit, well, dumb. Especially considering it's an M rated game. It's not for kids.
At any rate, it's a bit refreshing to see a video game company take a relatively progressive view on sexuality. Not that it's terribly surprising from a company based in Canada started by a couple doctors, but still.
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