Bioware Games sees Real People.

A post on the forums for Bioware Games from a disgruntled player complained that the game Dragon Age:Origins had a male character that flirted with male Player Characters, and that the game was no longer looking after the needs of the Straight Male Gamer.

David Gaider, Lead writer at Bioware, replied:

The romances in the game are not for "the straight male gamer". They're for everyone. We have a lot of fans, many of whom are neither straight nor male, and they deserve no less attention. We have good numbers, after all, on the number of people who actually used similar sorts of content in DAO and thus don't need to resort to anecdotal evidence to support our idea that their numbers are not insignificant... and that's ignoring the idea that they don't have just as much right to play the kind of game they wish as anyone else. The "rights" of anyone with regards to a game are murky at best, but anyone who takes that stance must apply it equally to both the minority as well as the majority. The majority has no inherent "right" to get more options than anyone else.

There's a fair bit more and I am thrilled to see David taking a stand on this. OK, you get the last paragraph too:

Romances are never one-size-fits-all, and even for those who don't mind the sexuality issue there's no guarantee they'll find a character they even want to romance. That's why romances are optional content. It's such a personal issue that we'll never be able to please everyone. The very best we can do is give everyone a little bit of choice, and that's what we tried here.

And the person who says that the only way to please them is to restrict options for others is, if you ask me, the one who deserves it least. And that's my opinion, expressed as politely as possible.

Yay.

They missed out "Major Male Character starts with a W"

The Jane Austen Drinking Game.

And the guys lose it over Sense and sensibility

Courtesy of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.