Via Kotaku, Demian Linn at Bitmob has a lengthy article going over the experience he discovered in his review copy of Dragon Age: Origins– specifically, the variations of sexual encounters a player can have in the game. Aside from the expected heterosexual encounters, there is also room for gay, lesbian and apparently even transgendered sex scenes.
It seems a little silly to make such a big deal out of this inclusion, but I have felt in the past– with respect to the sex scene in Bioware's other title, Mass Effect– that if you're going to have a same-sex scene available for players who create a female character, there's really no reason to not make one available for the male characters as well. I guess I didn't quite expect Bioware to pull out all the stops to facilitate that one.
Demian's entry has extensive (and rather unsafe for work) images screenshotted from the liaisons, although the article itself goes to great lengths to avoid revealing any spoilers about the plot. His ultimate conclusion is that it's a good start, but the representation seems to validate stereotypes negatively:
What you learn about the characters, however, isn't so interesting — all of your romantic prospects adhere to parochial stereotypes. Both females seem wildly different at first, but are ultimately only interested in monogamous relationships, while the gay male character prefers a no-strings-attached open relationship.
So what's the point of all this? Good question. Sex is a very difficult game design challenge, no surprise there, and Dragon Age does it right when it incorporates sex directly into the narrative (the aforementioned spoiler I don't want to reveal). But the casual sex, which could be used as a tool to deepen your understanding and empathy for the other characters, tends to reinforce the idea of women as alternately jealous, catty, smothering, and weak-willed (easily taking back a lover that has strayed), while perpetuating the stereotype of the promiscuous gay/bisexual man. I guess what I'm saying is…the sex could be better.
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Review: Dragon Age: Origins
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Conservative WorldNetDaily criticizes gay Dragon Age sex scene
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