EA Defends Itself Against Thousands of Anti-Gay Letters

donniebaseball23 writes "Video game publisher Electronic Arts has not only had to defend itself against 'worst company in America' labels, but GamesIndustry International has revealed that EA's been receiving thousands of letters protesting the inclusion of same-sex relationship content in games like Mass Effect and Star Wars: The Old Republic. The campaign against EA appears to be led by Florida Family Association and the Family Research Council. The letters threaten to boycott purchase of EA games if the company won't remove the LGBT content, and many allege that EA was pressured by LGBT activists to include the content, which they say is forcing LGBT themes on children playing the games. 'This isn't about protecting children, it's about political harassment,' said Jeff Brown, VP of corporate communications."

Re:Well I say

[nschubach]

I can't help but to side with EA on this... if they want to boycott, fine.

So, protect you from *yourself*??

[crazyjj]

In those games, you actually have to ACTIVELY PURSUE gay relationships. So are these groups arguing that game makers have an obligation to stop good Christians from their *own* desire to pursue gay relationships? Because I'm pretty sure that eliminating the POSSIBILITY of gayness in a game is not going to make them all into good Christian heterosexuals, especially if they're *that* determined to pursue the gay endings.

Political harassment?

[minkowski76]

I think EA needs to check their facts. Sending in letters to let a corporation know you do not approve of their behavior isn't 'harassment', it's freedom of speech, which is precisely why it is enshrined within the founding documents of the United States of America, and simply because letter senders speak from a position many deem 'unacceptable' doesn't violate that groups right to speak on behalf of their beliefs, unless you think everyone is required to accept homosexuality. Seems to me EA also missed the part whereby some thousand or more game-players exercised their right to free speech with respect to Mass Effect 3's ending, which seems odd to me, as it would appear it's quite acceptable to decry a video games ending like children throwing a tempter tantrum, but if you write a company to criticize their choice to popularize life-styles that conflict with your personal and cherished beliefs, your letters are labeled 'political harassment'. But I guess manipulating the masses is one good quality of every successful video game company. For the record, I'm a independent atheist, but everyone has the right in my opinion to say what they want, and if the US continues trending in it's current direction, the following link portends our future: http://catholicexchange.com/canada-orders-pastor-to-renounce-his-faith/ [catholicexchange.com] Not really where I want to see civilization trend.

Re:Well I say

[foradoxium]

seriously?

I mean if they have big burly men going at it I'd believe all the hooplah, but have you SEEN the mass effect vids? Its two hot girls. With starwars, I don't believe any of the LBGT stuff is 2 men..just women, again.

This isn't LGBT...this is straight up interactive pr0n for men.

Re:So, why don't they...

[DrgnDancer]

There's a pretty simple way to avoid same sex relationships in the game... don't flirt with characters of the same sex. Seriously, Bioware handles relationships worse than Stephenie Meyer. The conversation paths necessary to get into "romance" with an NPC are pretty much lit up with landing lights. It's not like you're going to be choosing random friendly options and suddenly realize that the character has fallen for you.

Ironically one of the things that upsets FOM about the idea of same sex relationships in The Old Republic (which don't actually exist yet, despite what the article says, they're promised for a future update), is that you might inadvertently interact with people having same sex relationships with *their* NPC companions. Never mind that there's no interaction with other people's companions, and you can't possibly know what the romantic status of any companion relationship is for someone else. You might get gay cooties from grouping with someone who is having freaky sex with his avatar's virtual friends while you're not looking.

Re:Well I say

[Grishnakh]

Well, thanks to the Streisand Effect, this bunch of assholes at EA are going to profit handsomely because another bunch of prudish, backwards religious assholes are making a big deal out of this silly issue.

Personally, I'm rooting for the assholes at EA. I'm really sick and tired of the religious nuts around here.

(Note that not all religious people are bigoted nuts like these morons; there's a bunch of Christian churches these days which openly state that LGBT people are welcome, generally the Lutherans, Presbyterians, and Episcopals.)

Re:The Homosexual Agenda

[DrGamez]

I don't think I'm very good at being gay if this is the kind of agenda I'm supposed to be living.
9:00am Go to work
5:00pm Come home from work
7:00pm Cook dinner for partner and myself
12:00am Sleep

Other than the obligatory orgy every other week there isn't much difference from a straight couple I'd imagine.

Re:Yoda says....

[pluther]

Letting a character you are playing in a game have the option to pursue a same-sex relationship within that game is not forcing anything on you. Get over it.

How come you people never complain about the inter-species relationships?