Sexual Orientation Now Permitted in Gamertags on Xbox Live
Microsoft announced today that sexual orientation will now be permitted in gamertags on Xbox Live.
This seemed enevitable considering the direction the games themsleves have taken over the past couple years. Sites like GayGamer have been around for a while and have quite the sizable following.
Rockstar created an entire extension of their popular Grand Theft Auto series based around a gay character.
Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tonyis the second of the two episodic expansion packs for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC versions of Grand Theft Auto IV, developed by Rockstar Northand released for the Xbox 360 on 29 October 2009 and will be released on the PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows on 30 March 2010. It is the fourth expansion pack in the Grand Theft Auto series, and the fourteenth release overall.
The Ballad of Gay Tony follows the exploits of a new protagonist, Luis Fernando Lopez, a recent member of the Dominican drug dealers and the personal bodyguard of Anthony “Gay Tony” Prince. Rockstar Games claim in their press release that this episode “injects Liberty City with an overdose of guns, glitz, and crime” and that “players will struggle with the competing loyalties of family and friends, and with the uncertainty about who is real and who is fake in a world in which everyone has a price.” – Wikipedia
Mass Effect 2 is an action role-playing game developed by BioWare Edmonton, with assistance from BioWare Montreal, and published by Electronic Arts. The game is the sequel to Mass Effect, and was released on PC and Xbox 360 in North America and India on January 26, 2010, Australia on January 28, and Europe and New Zealand on January 29.- Wikipedia
Mass Effect 2 has an ongoing forum for non discrimination of sexual orientation specifically for romantic involvement development in character relationships.
One of the users stated:
“There should only be same sex romance options if in fact the NPCs you can have romances with are gay or lesbians. Regardless of what you think should be, not everyone is homosexual or have homosexual tendencies. In fact only 2% in a given mammalian species are homosexual or show homosexual tendencies.
I am in support if it makes sense for story wise and it fits the setting. Placing homosexual romances for the sake of just having a homosexual romance but otherwise does not fit in the story or themes of the game I do not support.” – Killian Kalthorne
Dragon Age Origins allows characters to have same sex relationships and they are not mutually exclusive to your parties observance, as seen in the video below. The New York Times wrote an article about it. Here is an except:
“BioWare, the game studio in Edmonton, Alberta, that created Dragon Age: Origins, said the inclusion of the gay sex scene, as well as other romantic interludes, was not meant to incite arguments or bolster any social causes, but to provide players with an gaming experience.
“This isn’t a product about controversy,” Mike Laidlaw, the game’s lead designer, said in a telephone interview. “It isn’t a product designed to shock, by any means.”
Instead, Mr. Laidlaw said, the game “is designed to celebrate player choice and create a story that is reactive to the way you choose to play it.” The key to creating a believable game experience, he said, “is telling a good story.” He added, “Among the tools that we have as storytellers, I see romance as being one of the principal ones.””
Ogrehn likes to watch!
The times, they are a-change-ing.
A Letter from Marc Whitten: Update to Xbox LIVE Code of Conduct
Published March 5, 2010
Dear Xbox LIVE members,
Since the beginning, Microsoft has made an investment in the security and safety of Xbox LIVE and created tools and monitoring practices to ensure it is a fun and welcoming entertainment experience for people of all races, nationalities, religions and sexual orientations. And thanks to this investment and the enthusiasm of community members like you, we’re proud to be the strongest and most diverse online community of its kind at 23 million.
The Xbox LIVE Terms of Use and Code of Conductare designed to create a place where people can safely enjoy all of the ways to interact on our service, be it online multiplayer gaming, photo sharing, Netflix parties, or social games such as 1 vs 100, without fear of discrimination or harassment. As the service evolves and our customers provide us with feedback, these rules evolve to incorporate new features or changes in how people wish to interact.
With that in mind, I’d like to announce an update to the Xbox LIVE Terms of Use and Code of Conduct which will allow our members to more freely express their race, nationality, religion and sexual orientation in Gamertags and profiles. Under our previous policy, some of these expressions of self-identification were not allowed in Gamertags or profiles to prevent the use of these terms as insults or slurs. However we have since heard feedback from our customers that while the spirit of this approach was genuine, it inadvertently excluded a part of our Xbox LIVE community. This update also comes hand-in-hand with increased stringency and enforcement to prevent the misuse of these terms.
I truly believe that our diversity is what makes us strong: diversity in gaming and entertainment options, and diversity in the people that make up this amazing community. I look forward to seeing you on LIVE soon.
Jump in,
Marc Whitten
Gamertag – Notwen
www.twitter.com/notwenhttp://www.xbox.com/en-US/press/2010/0305-whittencodeofcoduct.htm
