It started out as a nothing-to-see-here story: A nerd complained at great length about the male/male romantic option in Bioware's recent Dragon Age 2. Ho hum, another fine mind damaged by heteronormative culture; we've seen this played out a million times or more. (Here's his opener: "To summarize, in the case of Dragon Age 2, BioWare neglected their main demographic: The Straight Male Gamer.")
But: Check out the response from Bioware Senior Writer David Gaider (pronounced "GAY-dahr"*). It is smart. It is respectful. It patiently argues with the premise and conclusions of the initial post. It takes the moral high ground by pleading for civility among those who have flamed the poster as the thread gains notoriety. It is the very model of Internet citizenship. Here is a sniplet, but please do read the whole thing:
The romances in the game are not for "the straight male gamer". They're for everyone. We have a lot of fans, many of whom are neither straight nor male, and they deserve no less attention. We have good numbers, after all, on the number of people who actually used similar sorts of content in DAO and thus don't need to resort to anecdotal evidence to support our idea that their numbers are not insignificant... and that's ignoring the idea that they don't have just as much right to play the kind of game they wish as anyone else. The "rights" of anyone with regards to a game are murky at best, but anyone who takes that stance must apply it equally to both the minority as well as the majority. The majority has no inherent "right" to get more options than anyone else.
*Note: probably not.
Thanks, Slog tippers Tom and Ben!
The Stranger Testing Department is Rob Lightner and Paul Hughes.