Star Wars game adds Same-Sex option

[TheGodlessUtopian]

http://www.queerty.com/the-force-is-with-us-new-star-wars-rpg-adds-gay-option-20110918/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

For those of you who didn't know.

[Susurrus]

This is funny because the existence of homosexuality in the Star Wars universe has been flat out denied up till now.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

This is funny because the existence of homosexuality in the Star Wars universe has been flat out denied up till now.

...as it has been in many popular universes.A shame because there is so much more these creations can be other than shameless promotions of "hetero-normality."

[Susurrus]

...as it has been in many popular universes.

Including our own, by some.



A shame because there is so much more these creations can be other than shameless promotions of "hetero-normality."

Indeed so.

[eric922]

I've been following this game since it was announced, I knew Bioware would add it eventually, they've had same-sex romance arcs in all of their games, including their previous star wars game, Knights of the Old Republic.

From what I've read they are a fairly progressive company, not socialists of course, but they were recently voted the best company to work for in Canada.

[bcbm]

This is funny because the existence of homosexuality in the Star Wars universe has been flat out denied up till now.

The lore-based objections to gay romances in TOR was uniformly straightforward: "There are no gays in Star Wars." This statement claims that George Lucas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lucas), and LucasArts (http://www.lucasarts.com/) in his stead, object to homosexual characters, themes, and narratives in Star Wars and have banned their inclusion in the mythos on all levels. This is simply not true. While Star Wars does not actually include the Krakthorian Gay-Beast (http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/4/29/), a number of homosexual characters do exist in the lore. Two gay characters named Goran Beviin (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Goran_Beviin) and Medrit Vasur (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Medrit_Vasur)—Mandalorians (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Mandalorian) and trusted Lieutenants of Boba Fett (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Boba_Fett)—appeared in a number of novels, mostly in the Legacy of the Force (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Legacy_of_the_Force) series. A number of species in the Star Wars universe, such as the hermaphroditic Hutts (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Hutt), include same-gender pairings or tans-gender members. LucasArts and BioWare even collaborated together on the lesbian characters of Juhani (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Juhani) and Belaya (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Belaya), who appeared in Knights of the Old Republic (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_Knights_of_the_Old_Republic), although they were not expressly labeled as such and a bug allowed male characters to also romance Juhani until this was fixed in a patch. Even in the films we have the examples of C-3PO (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/C-3PO) and R2-D2 (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/R2-D2) and their little "ro-bro-mance". Granted, they are robots, but in Star Wars robots have personality (http://www.torocast.com/index.php/editorials/item/228-dont-be-surprised-if-droids-have-personality), and both of these robots have been explicitly said to have "masculine personality" programming (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sexes#Droid_gender_programming). It's ambiguous what robot-robot romance would actually consist of and it's certainly possible that the love shared by the two leading droids is more of the "philia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philia)" variety, but it stands as a reasonable interpretation that they are in a dedicated, loving relationship as two "male" counterparts (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Counterpart).
http://www.torocast.com/index.php/editorials/item/246-dont-be-surprised-if-tor-includes-gay-romance

[Smyg]

This is funny because the existence of homosexuality in the Star Wars universe has been flat out denied up till now.

Denied by George Lucas, not by the expanded universe. As mentioned by the previous poster, Juhani and Belaya in KotOR 1 - on which this game is based - were both either bisexual or lesbian. Bioware has, as a matter of fact, a pretty long tradition of same sex relations in their games.

[Q]

So, will Han remain solo? I think not.

Someone had to make that joke

But yeah, this definitely reflects a positive change in wider society. Being gay is becoming more and more part of "normality".

[StoneFrog]

Yay for wielding two lightsabers :lol:

[Mather]

The Sims 3 also allows for gay characters. My first Sim ended up getting married to his boyfriend.

I'm sure there are other games which have gay characters?

[Tablo]

Yes, very positive to see homosexuality approaching normalcy. Still got a lot of work though.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Denied by George Lucas, not by the expanded universe. As mentioned by the previous poster, Juhani and Belaya in KotOR 1 - on which this game is based - were both either bisexual or lesbian. Bioware has, as a matter of fact, a pretty long tradition of same sex relations in their games.

I too have noticed this which is even more puzzling to why Bioware originally said that same-sex attractions wouldn't be part of the game.Why didn't they plan to include it from the very beginning?

[eric922]

I too have noticed this which is even more puzzling to why Bioware originally said that same-sex attractions wouldn't be part of the game.Why didn't they plan to include it from the very beginning?
It likely comes down to development time and cost. This is Bioware's first MMO and it's going to be larger than all of their other games combined, they probably wanted to make sure they had time to implement the key stuff, combat, story, VO, etc. before focusing on side projects.

They are likely being rushed a lot by EA(now there is a company we need to get rid of) and didn't want to risk going too far over deadline.

Bioware has done that a lot with this game said stuff like "we can't talk about that" or "We'll see at launch" and end up adding it.

[Veovis]

This is good news. I was severly disappointed when I was playing Mass Effect and found out that I couldn't hook up with Garrus while playing the male character. (oh those turians!)

[TheGodlessUtopian]

This is good news. I was severly disappointed when I was playing Mass Effect and found out that I couldn't hook up with Garrus while playing the male character. (oh those turians!)

I never got around to initiating a intimate encounter with any character.Is same-sex hookups possible in the second Mass Effect? I know they were in the first one but never got to that point in the second.

[RHIZOMES]

This is good news. I was severly disappointed when I was playing Mass Effect and found out that I couldn't hook up with Garrus while playing the male character. (oh those turians!)

I created a femshep purely so I could romance Garrus in ME2.

I never got around to initiating a intimate encounter with any character.Is same-sex hookups possible in the second Mass Effect? I know they were in the first one but never got to that point in the second.

Yep. Male Shep - Jack/Miranda/Tali. Female Shep - Garrus/Jack/Thane.