Gay gamers call petition for David Gaider’s dismissal
Luke Stratford March 26, 2011 - 8:59 am
And a hurp-de-durp-de-doo. Really, sometimes events just make me want to chew my own face off in some kind of hateful death-gurn to escape the stupidity of other people. Nevertheless, with my journalistic jockstrap firmly strapped on, it’s time to pass on the good news.
Quite recently, Dragon Age 2 came under fire from a particular user on their forums, who voiced concerns on the disproportionate level of straight/gay relationships available, not to mention the overt passes made by allies, regardless of the player’s gender or orientation.
Writer David Gaider wasted no time in ripping into the argument at full tilt, but it would seem that the problem hasn’t gone away. As it happens, now he’s managed to piss off the gay gaming community, with a petition being raised to summon Gaider’s dismissal from staff.
‘As a homosexual playing Dragon Age 2, I’ve witnessed the worst stereotype homosexual characters in this game. If you refused to make your moves on a gay character then you are received rivalry points for not wanting to be gay for the character.
This is completely wrong, homosexuals do not approach people and force them to kiss us, the person that wrote this game should be fired for stereotyping homosexuals in such a disrespectful way, as well as creating the worst writing in characters, plot and everything else in DA2.
It felt very odd that my male companions kept making passes at me, when I never found any interest or even flirted with them. This sort of thing shows that gays are unable to be normal people and think nothing about sex. This is the type of garbage that has people believe that gays shouldn’t serve in the military. We are human beings that are the same as everyone else!
Please sign this petition if you wish that Dragon Age senior writer David Gaider should be fired.’
Is it genuine? Well, the presence of any subject on /v/ is never going to aid credibility, but at 149 signatures and rising, there must be some who are genuinely annoyed at the depiction of gays in gaming. Is that enough to call for a writer’s dismissal? Of course not – if he’d designed a gaggle of simpering, lisping nancy boys who fled at the first sign of danger, then we might have a problem. What we got was varying flavours of defined, strong character types, trapped in a flawed system.
Whatever happened to letting someone down gently? Hell, the last two people I asked out became lesbians. Was I mad? No – but severely cockblocked.
Comments (2)
People are idiotic. If they don’t like the game, don’t play it. You can’t make everyone happy, ever. The only right that has been infringed upon is Raider’s right of free speech if he is fired.
Amazing. So the ‘realism’ of sexual orientation and interaction is not real enough in a fantasy role playing game. huh. And here I am criticizing Dragon Age for having too much talking… how stereotypically heterosexual of me. I’m all for freedom of choice, but I have a tough time not poking fun at this ridiculousness.