The Character Romance thread (Official)

It certainly shouldn't be hard.  They should have gotten the opinions of at least a few gay guys, since everyone has differing opinions.  It's obvious they didn't though, that or anyone they did ask was too afraid to say anything other than "This is great!  Gay guys are going to be so happy with their options!". 

Bioware anxiously hovering over two big red buttons pre-Andromeda release that say "ADD M/M CONTENT" and "POLISH CORA SEX SCENE"

If the studio environment is as bro-y as it's rumored to be, probably not. There's probably not many women either. :/

I had an interview at a major studio that's notoriously filled with bro-culture, and even from the interview there's this air of hostility that did not make me want to work there in any way, shape, or form and I can't even imagine trying to work and actually be productive in that kind of environment.

because that's not really how writing for characters should work?

Because not all gay people will have the same reaction to the same content?

Ok then. We'll just let them stick to the plan they've been using and get more awfully written gay characters. Great plan.

Agreed. It's just common sense to do that.

And I'm sure they did do research or at the very least relied on their past experiences, but you don't need your work checked over by others to make sure it passes muster.

But I think this comes down to differences on writing style

Yeah, they wouldn't be adding improvements if they were majorly liked now would they? Can you stop being the devil's advocate for one day? Can we just talk without you coming in and derailing the conversation?

I didn't say universally. I'm talking about this team in particular.

It's not though. Bioware writers work on a team. Their writing process is already collaborative. Bringing someone in with specific lived experiences to provide feedback on an m/m romance isn't substantially different than having someone proofread for grammar, plot holes, or continuity.

If it's not done by the writers, it should be done by the editors since it's their job to check over a writer's work "to make sure it passes muster". Bioware's editors should be even more involved than a typical print editor, since they are essentially editing a commodity rather than an individual writer's vision.

Well, but there comes in the part we can't know about. Did they put the Naughty Dog animator on Cora by accident and Coramancers just got lucky, or did they put their most talented animator on the romance that they had decided was the most important romance on purpose? Because he is also a (human) resource in the game-making process that is probably allocated with some thought behind it.

I do agree that ME:A has a lot of problems that can be squarely blamed on just bad management because I have been in projects at work that, in the end, looked a little bit like ME:A (on a much smaller scale, but with the same issues of weaknesses in just about every area committed by sub-teams that I knew could do much better) and they do usually come about thanks to confused and/or incompetent leadership. You're right it's very likely most individual employees may not even have had the oversight of the project to really know what problems might be happening. Considering the state of the game at release, they probably were busy enough trying to get their own stuff in line by the time the deadline rushed towards them.

I'm still somewhat leery that Halon's Razor applies here, though ("Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."). The ME series has historically had its problems with the depiction of especially gay/bisexual males. It's disheartening but I feel like management may have looked at this and gone "this area of the game is not up to par with everything else and that's okay."

Oh god! Tomorrow? YAS, Finally!!