EA brushes off parents group's complaints about same sex romance o

[Cyhort]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/ea-dismisses-concerns-of-pro-family-anti-gay-groups-6370109

 

One of the things I've loved about BioWare since Dragon Age is that they included gay romance options and it's pretty cool to see their publisher not cave to the pressure of these stupid parent groups. Games have ratings for a reason. If you don't want your kids exposed to things then do research before you go out and buy whatever your kid asks for. Common sense is a wonderful thing.

[Andy78]

A big company taking a stance for common sense If I hadn't read it I never would have believed it.

 

A game with a gay relationship possibility? Shock and horror!! It's the end of civilisation as we know it.

 

A game where you go around shooting people, chopping their heads off, ripping their spines out? Oh, bless, let's buy it for little Johnny's tenth birthday.

 

These parent groups are concerned about exposing their children to gay relationships in games, but there is no concern at all about exposing them to violence. In what world does that make sense?

 

This reminds me of the incident when the South Park film came out and Scary Spice took her under-age (I think it was her nephew) to see it at the cinema and left in disgust over the language content. It was rated 15 for a reason.

 

If a film or game is rated 18 (or the US equivalent NC-17) and you choose to allow your teenage child to see/play it, you can't start complaining about explicit language, sex content or other similar adult material.

 

Parent's have a responsibility to use both the ratings and their own common sense, and stand up to their children.

[Gene Splicer PHD]

Yes, EA, that paragon of corporate values...

[Cyhort]

Yes, EA, that paragon of corporate values...

 

To be fair that was voted on by people who read a blog while a lot of people are still pissed off about the Mass Effect 3 ending. EA's way better then they used to be. They at least try putting out games now instead of just updating the roster for Madden and charging 50 bucks for it. But yeah this one thing doesn't make them the best company ever or anything. I just think it's kinda cool.

[W_L]

I miss Fable, when I could marry the cute boy next door and have kids with him.

[Dee]

It's really good to see someone in the industry acknowledging that heterosexuality is not the only aspect of sexuality out there. Now, if we could only get a major publisher to start embracing that and putting those characters in the forefront... I have hopes for the future!

[Gene Splicer PHD]

EA is in complete damage control mode because of the crap they're taking about being the worst company. They're gaming the forums on reddit and 4chan (i.e. people are being paid by EA to promote the good things EA is doing).

 

In the meantime,

 

origin

and this, my personal experience that's happened TWICE with them.

1. Buy a new PC

2. Attempt to install EA game, and transfer the product key to the new box.

3. Fight with EA about whether I own it and should be able to move it from one machine to another (their SA says I can, but really, I can't).

4. End up disgusted.

 

 

I don't buy from, nor support, EA in any way, regardless of their apparently token support of LGBT issues. In any case, it's cheaper for them to take a stand to support an existing game, than it is to rewrite endings (which they are now doing with ME3,and you'll pay for the new DLC with the better ending anyway).

 

EA sucks. In every way possible, they suck. They suck worse than Apple, they suck worse than Microsoft. Bobby Butthole is the bottom feeding scum of the tech industry.

Edited April 6, 2012 by Gene Splicer PHD

[Myr]

I miss Fable, when I could marry the cute boy next door and have kids with him.

 

There is Fable II and Fable III you can still play on Xbox 360. which reminds me... I need to clean up achievements on both those games...

 

And yeah... Dragon Age and Mass Effect are both rated M for Mature. Best Buy will card you to buy them. I don't even get carded to by booze any more... but I get carded to buy a bloody game?

 

I do hate EA. But I love Bioware. I have all their games. Was not happy when Bioware became part of EA.

[Cyhort]

I don't hate EA, and not just because of this. I never had the problems with them that other people had, mostly because I never played sports games, but I've never had a bad EA experience. I've never been forced to use Origin to play an EA PC game (unlike Steam) and despite what people like to claim they haven't destroyed BioWare either. I've got no complaints. If I was gonna complain about a game company it would be Activision but they've already killed off my biggest problem with them (the constant Guitar Hero games) so I don't even have that much of a problem with them either.

[Krista]

I like Bioware for DragonAge.. I haven't really gotten into the other games yet.. Mass Effect looks ok.. though.

[Andy78]

I can remember playing a game called Virtual Villagers and you had to get a man and woman to go into the hut for certain activities in order to produce a baby villager.

 

I loved the message that came up if this was tried with two guys "These villagers are unable to participate in that activity".

[Myr]

Well, remember EA also has The Sims franchise where you can make guys Whohoo!

[Cyhort]

I spend too much time trying to get my Sims to eat and empty their insanely small bladders to even START trying to get them to get with guys, lol.

[Cia]

Another recent article about this was brought to my attention, here. At least the company isn't running in fear from bigots.

[Erebus]

Uhm, There are no gay romance options in Star Wars: The Old Republic, they announced they wouldn't be including them a few months before launch.

 

However, there is an, extreemly funny scene, in wich you do a holotransmission with someone, who answers in underwear, and says he and the visitor are having loads of fun

[Sympathia]

EA...they have the muscle to fund GREAT projects that coult potentially turn into awesome games...but I dunno, I get a feeling they are rushing games out. Look at SWTOR or ME3...Both of these games are awesome..until you get to a certain point, after that both games feel unpolished.

 

I mean for the love fo god, ME3 was AWESOME..like REEEALLY AWESOME, only to be completely ruined in the last 10 freaking minutes?! I didnt know about the controversity regarding the ending until I finished the game and found myself on the BW forums ready to rage.

 

and btw, the ending DLC will not change anything, it will simply elaborate =/

[JamesSavik]

Who cares what parents want. They don't buy and play video games.

 

Market games to gamers- a much better plan.

[Fishwings]

Who cares what parents want. They don't buy and play video games.

 

Market games to gamers- a much better plan.

 

 

Exactly. Dead space 2's campaign, "Your mom hates Dead Space 2," was hugely successful

[Cyhort]

Who cares what parents want. They don't buy and play video games.

 

This part isn't really true. Parents buy games for kids all the time. Especially if they're rated M. Which is why I thought the Dead Space thing was kinda dumb. Anyone who would be young enough to care that their mom wouldn't like the game would NEED their mom to buy it for them.

[JamesSavik]

OK- if you are 12 and your parents buy your stuff.

 

A lot of gamers I know are adults and ALL of US buy their own stuff.

 

The idea that video games are just for kids is WAY, WAY out of date. I resent parents trying to dumb down games so they are ONLY appropriate for their 10 year olds.

 

If parents want to control what their kids are playing, then they should take care of their OWN business and quit trying to force the government or the industry to do it.

[Celethiel]

Um they dumb down anime....so does it really surprise you that they do the same "for the children" on Video games

[Sympathia]

Dont know anything about the anime market, but there's A LOT of adult gamers around so it would practically be suicide for a big gaming company to go for like...PEGI 12 or something

 

But god forbid parents have to actually do some parenting...much easier to avoid raging teenagers by placing the blame/resposibility on somebody else.

[Fishwings]

Yeah I agree to the above. The companies target the bulk of their consumers which are mainly adults, with kids representing only a small fraction of their sales. Also I know many parents who don't really care enough to investigate what their child plays yet they'll still buy the game for them.

[Raijen]

It seems that some parents want video games to perform the same role for which they employ television shows: to baby sit their kids rather than actually human-ing and being a parent. I am glad that EA is essentially telling parents to eff off. It's time that people put asshats in their place.

 

Besides... You don't have a problem with the thought of contaminating young minds with images of guns, blood, and death fights, but the moment that two dudes establish any emotional connection with each other it's the end of the world? Small wonder little timmy ends up being a douchebag who beats women and prowls craigslist for DL hookups... Just saying.

[thephoenix]

It seems that some parents want video games to perform the same role for which they employ television shows: to baby sit their kids rather than actually human-ing and being a parent. I am glad that EA is essentially telling parents to eff off. It's time that people put asshats in their place.

 

Besides... You don't have a problem with the thought of contaminating young minds with images of guns, blood, and death fights, but the moment that two dudes establish any emotional connection with each other it's the end of the world? Small wonder little timmy ends up being a douchebag who beats women and prowls craigslist for DL hookups... Just saying.

 

I hate it when they interfere with the playing style of other people. If they don't like it, they shouldn't buy it. Simple as that. Whatever happened to freedom of choice?

 

I also agree about the violence vs. sex part. Violence is very commonly seen in movies everywhere yet a single ..uh...private region show on the big screen suddenly makes it R rated or NC-17.