A Message To Bioware

I wanted to start with this trailer of Mass Effect 3, because I think it’s important.  How many other game studios portray a woman in a positive light, a leader, one who goes into battle the way portrayed here in Mass Effect 3?  It’s obvious that Bioware pays attention to the community, and they listened when there was such excitement over the creation of FemShep.

Now, Bioware, you’ve taken this massive step and ignored all those who say the usual misogynistic things about women.  Time for the next step.

As the trailer for Mass Effect 3 says, Take Back The Earth.  Earth is a pretty big place that we humans live on.  It’s not just filled with binary options of male and female.  There’s a whole colour palette of people out there.  African American, First Nation, Australian Aboriginal, Pakistani, Arabic, Jewish, Chinese, Japanese, and so much much more.

I know, Mass Effect went double down by adding in the option for Male Shep to have a gay relationship in the game.  Once again, bravo to Bioware for this step.  By doing this, game players can play an option of Mass Effect 3 that mirrors their own life.  That they can say “hey, this is the kind of relationship I want” whether that be straight, gay, lesbian, or bisexual.  On top of that, Bioware has taken the step to make sure that not only was a male version of Shepard available as a choice, but there’s also a female version that is just as important to the story and plot.

Keep progressing forward, Bioware.  As I said, the world is a full colour palette of people that would more than like wish to have something familiar in their video game experience, not what western media calls the norm (ie, straight, white, male).  To anyone who feels they need to argue against something like this, don’t.  You may say that yes, there was a femshep, but why do we need all the other changes.  That’s because it’s still a small percentage of the whole.  Besides, why does anyone feel they have to have a voice about someone else’s gaming experience.

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• Why did Bioware add a gay option to Mass Effect 3? [Quote Of The Day] (io9.com)
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• Mass Effect 3 Trailer: FemShep Takes Back Earth (gamerant.com)
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