Please more Queer: The Mass Effect Romances are no longer up-to-date

Actually, romances in the Mass Effect Trilogy are a fairly simple thing. I talk to the respective team or crew member I'm interested in whenever I have the opportunity to do so. After a certain period of time (in Mass Effect 2 only after completing the respective loyalty mission), I can flirt and finally seal a romance - if Commander Shepard has the right gender. Oh yes, there was something.

When I first played Mass Effect 2 on my PS3, I wanted nothing more than a romance with Tali. The quary was simply done with her determination, intelligence and faithfulness to the fleet, but also its open vulnerability. Too stupid only that I had chosen a female shepard. And if himself Jennifer Hale, the voice of Femshep wishes a romance with Tali, I'm not alone.

But this representation is still missing in the original trilogy. Sure, the three parts have already around the 10 years on the hump, but the Legendary Edition has shown me again that the romances of trilogy are no longer up to date.

Development within the series

In 2007, it was still a big deal in the first Mass Effect that there was a lesbian romance with a female Shepard and Liara. So big even that the conservative US channel Fox has changed and bioware the pansexuality of Jack and the homosexuality of Jacob in part 2 line. There it is almost even more depressing that with Kelly Chambers a romance option for a female shepard nevertheless remained in the game - apparently the danger was smaller that someone at lesbian would interfere instead of gay representation.

Luckily, a lot has happened since then, how even the later Mass Effect parts show. In Part 3, there is not only a homosexual option for each Shepard (the first gay option for a male shepard in the series), but also four bisexual partners: Kaidan, Liara, Kelly (only when ME2 continued) and Diana Allers.

to the author Almost 10 years ago, Eleen has launched Mass Effect 2 on her PS3 and directly leaves a bit of her quyo team member. The bigger was the disappointed, as a relationship with a female shepard was not in it. She has made the romance in a later pass with a male shepard, but a bit melancholy about what-if it has always remained.

Andromeda even goes on. To release the game, there were two homosexual options for romances for the male Ryder (a third was in the form of the Angaraner Jaal by patch, as a gay ryder otherwise could not get the trophy for 3 romances) and the female ryder even had the choice Between 4 female liabilities.

MY OR MY PERSONAL SHEPARD

But why is it so important that Mass Effect receives more non-heterosexual romances? Why representation is important, our author Jolina has already illuminated by psychological side. People who are not part of the LGBTQIA + community can be made more accessible that there is nothing different of different sexualities.

For me personally more important but also that I want to feel seen, even when I play Zock. A Nielsen Games 360 study from 2020 shows that 10% of players identify themselves over 18 than LGBT +. In many games (including the Mass Effect Trilogy), there are significantly less queer romance options compared to choosing for heterosexual players.

At the same time, Mass Effect is a role-playing game whose course is characterized by my decisions. Not only can I influence the story, I can also play my or my shepard as well as I want it. This includes not only dialogue options and appearance for me, but also the sexuality of Shepard. So I want my shepard to be about homo or bisexual, I would like to live out in the game as well as every heterosexual romance.

Just a game with as much variety as the Mass Effect series (Aliens! There is aliens!) Do not favor heterosexual love.

And where is the solution?

In addition to Mass Effect Andromeda, other bioware games also offer better representation than the original trilogy. The four romances in the main game of Dragon Age 2, for example, are all open to female and male Hawkes.

Of course, the game also criticized his approach of player-experienced characters - that is, characters that stand independently of sex on the protagonists - and sparked a discussion about representation versus playful freedom, which goes too far at this point in their entirety. Because of course, it's nice when players can freely choose themselves according to their preferences, whether they take homo or heterosexual romances in games. At the same time, characters like Dorian from Dragon Age show: Inquisition that even the sexuality of the characters themselves can be an important part of their identity. His story illuminates the difficulties that queere people in their everyday life often reduce Dorian not only on his homosexuality.

A comprehensive solution for everyone is not here. Surely I wish for homosexual shepards just as many and diverse options as for the heterosexual counterpart, but the original trilogy can no longer meet me this desire.

That's why my hope is about future Mass Effect Games: I wish every player and each player to play Mass Effect as they want. Whether your personal protagonist is hetero-, homo-, bi-, pan-, or perhaps asexual. Oh, and a new romance with Tali I would not say no ... you can hope.

This article is part of our hero * indoor theme week, that is still running until August 13, 2021 and presented you daily exciting new articles around the topic of video game characters. All items of our hero * Interior theme week can be found here in the overview.