Anonymous asked: I heard people are really happy that Bioware has made same sex romance in Mass Effect 3 available. What's your take on it?
Well, it’s kind of old hat for me, considering you could have a lesbian (although alien) romance in the first game (and some hints of one and a dalliance in the second game).
However, as I understand it, Mass Effect 3 is bringing in a same sex romance for male Shepard, which wasn’t an option in the previous games.
A lot of people seem to feel like it’s shoehorned in, or it’ll cause continuity or narrative flaws if some characters in your squad suddenly burst out of the closet. However, given Bioware’s history (such as Dragon Age), it shouldn’t be all that surprising to anyone that same sex options are going to be included in this game.
If anything, I’m more surprised at the lack of same sex male relationships in Mass Effect.
As to the ‘continuity/narrative’ problems… I feel like a lot of people forget that romances are entirely optional. You’re not forced into them, and you actually have to put in some effort to get into one. If you’re not someone who has an interest in playing a gay character, then just don’t play one.
I also give Bioware more credit than to think they’d just shove a same sex romance in there awkwardly. Characters are their strength, and they rarely get them wrong.
My main playthrough has femShep in a relationship with Liara (also reconciled in the Shadow Broker DLC), and frankly, I actually care about Liara (or rather, Shepard does when I play her). Bioware creates three dimensional characters who you actually want to get to know, and their life or death actually matters to you, which is saying a lot for a game, where most of the time you kill your teammates for teh lulz.
So I guess my take is; it’s about time there were same sex romance options for male Shepard, and thank God for Bioware being this kind of company, who actually acknowledge that LGBTQ gamers exist, because not many game companies do.
Complaining about them doing this is like complaining about a choose-your-own-adventure book having too many options, and not being a confined narrative. For your choices to resonate in a game, you have to have the freedom to make them.
