*Romance distribution spoilers* Make your voice heard about the lack of romance options, sex scenes,

Okay, I haven't played the game since I found out about our romance situation...hopefully the other outcome isn't something like "let's plan those things later". Because I know for sure, I really don't want children.

I understand. It wouldn't be so bad to have such a unique romance experience in the game if we had many options to pick from, but when Gil's the only full option in the game-it sort of sucks if you aren't okay with the outcome.

Hello,

Off and on I've been considering responding to this. I don't tend to broadcast which way I swing so while I'm not closeted I don't go out of my way to discuss it either. In the end I decided to reply though. Sorry if this is too long to read. I'll go over two things, first about Jaal then the general situation.

I'll admit while I felt snubbed the Twitter campaign surprised me:
twitter.com/hashtag/makejaalbi?f=tweets&vertical=default

There are a few key facts shaping my thoughts on the #MakeJaalBi Twitter thing and general outrage. Firstly when they first unveiled Jaal there was some general hype over a new alien, but in the time between that and release they teased him incessantly. What made this weird is they said they wouldn't talk about which way characters swing, or whether they could be romanced in game, yet kept the teasing.
Example: (In combination with the Aaryn Flynn tweet it's replying to.)


Now nothing in that teasing says who it's directed to but when specifically asked they always said they couldn't say. There are many other tweets and statements spoiling bits and pieces of the character's personality that made people freak out with hype too.

So when the early access started people data mined, and even posters on the BSN fan boards who urged caution thought he was definitely bi. A random sample of the jubilation:
bsn.boards.net/post/409218/thread

A post explaining with pictures (under the spoiler) why they thought he's bi (note that it's right for everyone else):
bsn.boards.net/post/408420/thread

Then around Saturday they couldn't find any voice files, so people started to worry (random example of the rising panic):
bsn.boards.net/post/422589/thread

If I understand the data mining topic (and a disclaimer that I might not 100% have a handle on it) Jaal is bi in the code with his dialogs having Scott as a valid romance partner, except it turns out his first flirt was cut from the game for both Sara and Scott. Some were speculating the game treats it as if Sara did flirt and that Scott did not, and that if Scott did it would probably break due to incomplete data. *Regardless* of any of that though, it's strange that Jaal's files look like he's bi and the mining was correct for everyone else.

To make matters worse, even several reviews suggested Jaal was bi. It turns out they probably confused friendship stuff with romance. They (developers) said they wouldn't have characters string people along with flirts if there was no chance, but it turns out Scott can't attempt to flirt at all. For the other straight characters, it's possible to be told by the characters they aren't interested. Just when they decided to make Jaal straight is a huge question mark because of all that.

Lastly on the Jaal topic when you see usernames with "†" tacked on on the BSN fan boards it's due to the IGN guide. When the embargo lifted IGN very quickly put a guide up and the romance section got a few things wrong. Those were quickly corrected, and soon " †" appeared by characters IGN wasn't sure about. Hilariously for a time that included Liam who was known to be straight for a long time. Jaal had the "†" by his name for quite some time and it wasn't until an anonymous dev told a couple reviewers that he's straight that people were sure what the truth was, because the Prima guide actually erroneously said Kaiden was straight in Mass Effect 3. It became something of a small meme to include "†" in the username in sarcastic response to the situation. Now to be fair to the IGN editor, she very quickly said she'd find out if Jaal was straight asap while that was going on.

Okay onto the situation in general, there are a few factors and not everyone feels exactly the same way. There is a certain media pattern when trying not to annoy straight males . I'm not saying EA/Bioware did this but it's a laundry list and every check box (other than not having LGBT characters at all) was checked:
1.) All nudity is either in the context of m/f or f/f scenes, or is played for laughs. Female nudity being for titillation and male nudity being for laughs is a long standing pattern in media in general.

2.) This is the third or fourth time a character looked to be bi in the files but turned out straight for Bioware. I don't know how many of those were confirmed directly by Bioware though. I think it's the third time for Mass Effect, the first in the first game the second with Thane in the second game. They actually did make Kaiden bi in Mass Effect 3, unlike in the first game.

3.) All m/m romantic prospects in the game do not use uniquely modeled faces.

4.) Of the two, neither is in the squad and one of them isn't even on the Tempest.

5.) In the squad there are f/f relationships. It may be unfair, but it could be taken the wrong way as if they were trying to not gross out straight males with m/m content, while (perhaps unfairly to straight and bi males) f/f is assumed to be titillating for some of them.

6.) The achievement thing I don't personally take issue with but it's just another thing on the list. Of the two potential m/m romances, I'm not sure if both even count for the achievement. They may, but even if they did that's 2/3. Like I said I don't personally take issue with it and it's just one of many things. Jaal and the achievement get the most attention when it's the overall situation that is so infuriating.

Here is a fan chart laying everything out pattern wise:
Where the creator posted it: bsn.boards.net/post/460984/thread
Direct link: pbs.twimg.com/media/C7tRWyqVAAAk-NB.jpg:large

Note there is an old version of that chart floating around, with the mistake they note in the post I linked to. It seems to link to a twitter image, but I don't know the creator's twitter to get the actual Tweet.

There seems to be clear circumstantial bias against m/m relationships in the Mass Effect series even while strides have been made for inclusion, and that as a whole is what is fueling the achievement drama and #MakeJaalBi.

If you actually made it through that thanks. I know it was probably overly long.