The Family Research Council slam Star Wars: The Old Republic over same-sex marriages.
[Update: Apologies, the Star Wars: The Old Republic update has not been implimented. The article has been corrected to reflect these and other changes.]
Ah, conservative Christian groups. You give them an inch, they think you’re trying to poke it somewhere unwelcome. President of the pro-family group ‘Family Research Council’, Tony Perkins, has described the proposed implementation of same-sex marriages in Bioware‘s new MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic as ‘Star Warped’, suggesting that many young players are being taken to the ‘dark side’.
The mini-podcast, which you can listen to after the break, is at least a calm and measured objection – unlike some other, hysterical, shots taken at the games industry lately. Are they right to criticize Bioware for this feature? It’s hardly the first time that they’ve been caught up in sexual controversy through the first two Mass Effect titles – ‘Alien Sideboob‘-gate, unabashedly addressing sexual orientation and sex itself within their recent titles.
At present, the update is still pending, despite the release of the first major content update for the MMORPG, Rise Of The Rakghouls, but given the activity of the FRC, who currently maintain an action group focusing on US politics relating to their interests, we may see a formal statement given out towards Bioware in the coming weeks.
This writer’s opinion? Star Wars skirted the whole issue of sexuality, well, apart from the incest-y bits, throughout the films, and although there’s a huge, over-arching continity in there somewhere, does it really matter? Surely, the question I’d like answered is why people seem to think that getting married via a video game is anything short of insane.
Here’s hoping we get to see some really bitchy online divorces. It’d be like Kramer Vs Kramer, but with lightsabers. Put like that, it sounds kinda fun.
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Two corrections:
The update has NOT gone through. SWTOR released their first major content update, 1.1 Rise of the Rakghouls, but it did not contain the same-sex romance feature. The patch notes are available online.
Also, Bioware HAS done male-male same sex romances before, lots of them: Dragon Age and Dragon Age II each had fully voiced, fully animated male/male romance options.
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gaygamernet (January 30th, 2012)