Sexuality in Mass Effect

Mar 18, 2017 22:25:00 GMT Saboru said:

I've never got the percentage thing. From various discussions in the gaming sites of the internet as near as I can tell it should always be applied to sexual orientation, but must be actively avoided when considering gender, ethnicity, age or disability. It has an oddly specific scope.

Would you mind elaborating, I'm not sure I understand.

All I pointed out, is that the percentage of gays among consumers of video games is likely similar to their percentage among the general population, and that representation for them goes above said percentage.

So again, what is the complaint?

Mar 18, 2017 23:27:51 GMT Saboru said:

To the scope of the percentage argument. I'm maybe derailing into the general here, but indulge me. You're arguing this as an artifact of percentage based representation, but limiting yourself to one data point. If it's valid and that's what's going on it's going to apply more widely. So, I picked a few other traits to consider and I've got to say the percentages there look shot. If that's the case, whatever is going on in video games, percentage based representation isn't it, and if it's not what's happening in general then what's the logic for this instance being the exception.

You mentioned ethnicity, age, and disability, IIRC.

Age and disability are largely irrelevant for most games like Mass Effect, you can't have an old guy going into combat, and you can't have someone disabled there either.

Even Joker as the pilot was rather farfetched, considering that even the slightest G-force pressure should have shattered his skeleton into million pieces.

And you did have older people like Hackett and Chakwas in ME.

(that's without even going into the question of what is the benefit of adding old and disabled people into the game, it might make a handful of the consumers happy, but that's about it)

As for ethnicity, I don't actually think it matters. I want a good story and interesting characters, I don't particularly care about their skin color.

My favorite show right now is the Expanse, and the cast there is rather diverse. I care about merit, not race.

A good story that makes sense should be a writer's first and foremost priority, everything else should be secondary.

Mar 18, 2017 22:25:00 GMT Saboru said:

I've never got the percentage thing. From various discussions in the gaming sites of the internet as near as I can tell it should always be applied to sexual orientation, but must be actively avoided when considering gender, ethnicity, age or disability. It has an oddly specific scope.

Would you mind elaborating, I'm not sure I understand.

All I pointed out, is that the percentage of gays among consumers of video games is likely similar to their percentage among the general population, and that representation for them goes above said percentage.

So again, what is the complaint?