If you’re an avid gaymer, then this little piece of news that you want to here. Following in the footsteps of-games like Skyrim and Dragon Age, Bioware’s DLC to Star Wars: The Old Republic titled The Rise of the Hutt Cartel will feature same gender romance (SGR) which is geek talk for gay characters. Unfortuntely for now these will be non playable characters but developers are still hopeful that with time this will change.
Jeff Hickman, executive producer to game development explains why the delay:
“I realize that we promised SGR (same gender romance) to you guys and that many of you believed that this would be with a companion character.
Unfortunately, this will take a lot more work than we realized at the time and it (like some other pieces of content we talked about earlier in the year) has been delayed as we focused on the changes required to take the game Free-to-Play.
As we have said in the past, allowing same gender romance is something we are very supportive of.”
So fellow gaymers, are you looking forward to this upcoming feature or do you want more?
If like me, and you enjoy role playing games (RPG) like Skyrim, Mass Effect 3, and others that provide a rich full life experience into expansive worlds, then you want those games that allow you to create your own character, you often want that character to reflect you. Having the options to customize the experiences by customize the character’s attributes like height, eye color, are natural. Shouldn’t sexual orientation be a factor as well? I mean if a marriage option is included in the main story arc or the result of a side quest or just to make the experience richer, there should be a way to do so.
Now some games have made progress in this. Both Skyrim and Mass Effect 3 allow you to do this and there are rumors that the new Dragon Age game will also share this feature. And despite this refreshing evolution, there are still some game manufacturers and creators that feel that marriage equality is still “too controversial”.
And unfortunately, one of my favorite game franchises still feels marriage equality is controversial. Final Fantasy by Square Enix, a game franchise that expands decades long that has provided thousands of hours of rich full characters and story plots will soon be releasing the next chapter in their gaming experience. “Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.” recently had a Q and A in which they frankly said that in their new game that will now have a marriage feautre will only have opposite sex “traditional” marriage:
As for same-sex marriage, this is an extremely controversial topic that has been under discussion in the MMO world for the past few years. First we would like to start out with opposite-sex marriage, and then consider the feedback from our players in order to make a careful decision. I can’t say whether or not it will be possible at this point in time. I’d like to keep dialog open with our players as we deliberate the matter.
Of course my question is, why not just include same sex marriage in the game to begin with? It isn’t a requirement of the game and just something you can do if you choose to do so. So why not just already have that available for the LGBT gamers like me that regularly buy these games along with their overly priced downloadable content (DLC). What about our experience?
If the option exists t\for a character to marry, then that should reflect all gamers not just the majority demographic. At best this is lazy and shoddy of them to leave it out and at worst showing a prejudice bias towards LGBT gamers. And to those hecklers in the gaming world saying we’re asking for too much, you’re wrong. All we want is to have the same experience in our characters as you and this takes nothing from you. Square Enix, your bias is showing.
Geeks OUT — a group dedicated to LGBT visibility in the gaming and comics community will host its first-ever local event: The 2012 Dallas WiiLYMPICS at the retro bar Barcadia this weekend starting Sunday at 6pm.
With Dallas Comic Con : Fan Days ending at 5pm on Sunday October 21st gaymers can compete at the WiiLYMPICS for Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals in events like the like Mario Kart 4 X 100cc Challange and the Wii Sport Doubles Tennis event.
DR Hanson of Geek Out says that “Just because Fan Days ends at 5 p.m. on Sunday doesn’t mean Fans have to go home,” Hanson is hoping the event entertains gay geek visitors attending Dallas’ Comic Con as well any local gaymers looking to get out and meet and compete.
Sign up goes from 6 to 6:30 p.m. on Sunday October 21st with competitions beginning soon after. Barcadia will also offer all attendees $4 you-call-its.
To all the gay geek extraordinaire out there make sure you mark your calendars next August as organizers have something great in mind for you. Next year twill be hosing a convention that will be the “the first gaming and tech convention with a focus on LGBT geek culture.”
GaymerCon Kickstarter that invites diversity for the LGBT community to express our ideals freely. Director of the GaynerCon Kixkstarter Jack DeVries“Gamers come in all sizes, genders, races and sexual identities.”We want to show the world that we are here. We want people to be able to open up and be themselves and have that be OK.”
The organizers wanted to create an environment in which LGBT would feel safe to explore their love of all thing gaming without the bullying and name calling commonly found in other gaming conventions. The project needed at least 25000 start up captiol and have already succedded that after four days with the current tally being over 39000.
The response has been mostly accepting but there are a few that fear that this GaymerCOn could create division amongst the gaming community. What these critics fail to realize is that this division they’re trying to avoid already exists.
A not too bright commented on the upcoming GaymerCon on VentureBeat said, “Why do gay people need their own gaming convention?? Are normal gaming conventions not good enough? … Do we need hetero and polygamy gamecons now? How bout for swingers? … My point is why do we need extra specialized gaming conventions for a particular subgroup,” This dimwit fails to realize that there are a. already a plethora of gaming conventions that glorify heterosexuality and condemn LGBT.
Who the hell wants to be harassed when all they weant to do is have a good time? This isn’t about exclusion, it’s about recognizing a group of people that are constantly shunned have support. And EVERYONE is welcome.
The destination pf the convention will depend on the most convenient place for those attending and will be set some time after the fundraiser. If you’d like to further expand this project you can donate here.
