What EA's Gay Friendly Status Means for Their Games

J Station X writes

"‘EA are the most gay friendly place to work in all of the games industry’, a bold statement? Absolutely. Is it one that can be backed up with real, actual, verifiable statistics? Again, yes. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), who like to keep tabs on companies doing good, non-discriminatory things to their employees and treating them like plain old human beings, no matter how they identify, have rated EA a 100 out of 100 for equality in the workplace. But what does the publisher’s gay friendly status mean for their games?"

[2pacalypsenow]

that their games are GAy , cant even finish a game on BF4

[Blaze929]

lol gay - which originally meant being happy. Funny how definitions change.

I don't think homosexulaity - especially same-sex intimacy - should be pushed and portrayed in our media. And if so, it should be for ages 18+. Got homosexual content in your game? Automatic M rating. Homosexuality in your movie? Automatic R rating. Because you need to be MATURE to understand that.

Kids should not be getting confused by seeing things that are not natural to the continuation of LIFE. These images and ideas should not be planted into their heads as okay. Some kids see this and think, "hmm, I guess it's okay to be in a same sex relationship." where they 'may' have neeeever gotten that idea otherwise.

I mean we literally have Macklemoore right now on the radio getting hella plays pushing that homosexual agenda in music. It's a damn shame how that's acceptable on the radio now.

What's next? Religion in our media? "EA is the most religious friendly place to work!" It's no different to a Muslim not wanting to play a game with Christianity in it - they would 'prefer' not to see it.

That's just my opinion. Just my preference. I'm not attacking homosexuals nor am I bashing them. I actually have three gay male friends - which is more than A LOT of people can say. I just don't want to see it.

People want this so bad to be accepted as normal. If it was meant to be and something okay, the human population would cease to further exist. Take it how you want.

[Nerdmaster]

You're right. Let's make those teenagers who started developing feelings for people of the same sex to stay away from everything related to homossexuality, to make them think that they're different from everybody else, that they're wrong to have those feelings, and that the only way to be happy is having sex with a person of the opposite sex.

Oh, and the "human population would cease to further exist" is the most idiotic reason to be against homossexuality. Even if half or more of humanity was gay, there would be enough people to continue reproducing, and a large percentage of gay people want to have children.

[2pacalypsenow]

@Blaze929
Well said

[JaPo]

You're dumber than a box of rocks, son. Just because what you're saying is 'your opinion' doesn't make it any less shitty or misinformed. As human beings we do a lot of stuff that isn't conducive to 'our sole purpose of reproduction' such as using contraception, being in monogamous relationships, and legally imposing minimum age limits for sexual intercourse. There are CHOICES we make as human beings, though, and I'm sure you wouldn't disagree with any of them. Being gay isn't a fucking choice though 99% of the time, or do you suppose people would CHOOSE to be discriminated against and not given the same opportunities of heterosexual people on the basis of 'not being normal'. You need to think before you open your mouth and spout some bullshit you've not got the faintest idea about.

[AridSpider]

@Nerdmaster I think you are mixing your personal feelings into what Blaze said.

"Let's make those teenagers who started developing feelings for people of the same sex to stay away from everything related to homossexuality"

if you have already started developing feelings, then what Blaze said was not directed to those people. To me, what I understood, he means children who arent already showing gay tendencies.

"to make them think that they're different from everybody else"

well, they are...

"that they're wrong to have those feelings"

well, depending on your religion - it is wrong.

"and that the only way to be happy is having sex with a person of the opposite sex. "

again, mixing your personal feelings. Are YOU gay? You seem hurt...

"Oh, and the "human population would cease to further exist" is the most idiotic reason to be against homossexuality."

he never even directly said he was against it.

"and a large percentage of gay people want to have children."

yeah, too bad they CANT. Straight up CANT. For a REASON

[Dehnus]

As a homosexual male I sooo agree. We are only 7 billion on this earth and we need to keep breeding like horny little rabbits. Keep providing the babies, we might need to eat them some day to survive. ;).

After all, nobody needs to see me. Heck when having a night out with my Boyfriend, I should keep to a private room in the restaurant. Lord knows little Jimmie might get upset about me buying my Boyfriend lunch.

And so nice of you to have three gay friends! We are so blessed that you took 3 of us in to be friends with. Ofcourse no more then three, after all they might start hitting on you. You are after all God's gift to women, and by that Homosexual Men as well. Why, we can't keep our hands of your 150 kilos of raw blubber!

Thank you for putting me in my place, so I will never wish to see any form of romance I can relate to. No... only the honeymooners type of relationship should we accept in our games, ofcourse the wife gets her teeth knocked out once in a while, but that will only teach her to keep in her place ofcourse.

You heterosexual white men are so wise. Oh I bask in your greatness!:D

[JaPo]

lol at AridSpider thinking someone else is mixing their personal feelings into an 'objective' argument when you're doing the same but worse. Your comments indicate that you believe being gay is either a 'choice' or that gay tendencies are something heterosexual people can catch if they are sufficiently exposed to homosexuality. If you knew absolutely ANYTHING about what you're talking about, beyond what you were taught by either your church or bigoted parents, you'd realise how stupid you sound. Being 'normal' means absolutely nothing apart from that it indicates membership of a statistical majority. Resorting to the 'they can't have kids' argument shows you haven't actually put any thought into this at all. Unless you honestly think having children is the ONLY purpose in social life, gay people should PRETEND to be straight and have children, and that you can SHOW me some reasonable evidence that the small % of gay people in the world have any significant effect on population....

[PoSTedUP]

i think its naural for straight men to be repulsed by the sight of two guys making out, just like its natural for people to be born gay, as well as animals being gay too. i wouldnt tell my future kids its wrong tho, i wouldnt want them to think that. i wouldnt condone the idea either tho. two guys together doesnt bother me but when they kiss in public or look at me that way it just makes me uncomfortable. i just have to deal with it. if its in games, its in games... i think straight men have to stop being such p*ss*es about it even if they dont agree with it for w/e personal reason. but at the same time i kinda understand the concern about their kid turning gay (because i do think it is possible, and in many cases, that a kid has turned gay at a younger age for different reasons). and i personally would like to see my genetic blood line carried out and have genetic grandchildren (if they decide to have kids). if they are gay then they are gay, but if i feel that the way i raise them and what they are exposed to can change that, i most certainly will try not to expose them to it, but never tell them that it is wrong, i wish for them to think the way that i do (gay or not) with an open mind and love for people.

[JaPo]

"i think its naural for straight men to be repulsed by the sight of two guys making out, just like its natural for people to be born gay, as well as animals being gay too."

"i wouldnt condone the idea either tho."

"two guys together doesnt bother me but when they kiss in public or look at me that way it just makes me uncomfortable"

"but at the same time i kinda understand the concern about their kid turning gay"

"if they are gay then they are gay, but if i feel that the way i raise them and what they are exposed to can change that, i most certainly will try not to expose them to it"

You honestly could not fulfill the archetype of 'thinly veiled homophobic' any better. Lots of 'buts' and contradictions. And I don't mean you hate gay people. I mean you have a phobia of them. You just don't realise your stance on it and discomfort with it is a product of your environment and by no means a natural characteristic of your being. There is still an inkling of you which just doesn't like it. But that can change, you can become completely tolerant.

[PoSTedUP]

i dont think its wrong but i wouldnt tell a straight man or my son to go out and try some ****. and one can tollerate something but it doesnt mean he is ok with it or it doesnt bother him. i can tollerate pain but that doesnt mean that it doesnt hurt. i can tollrate people eating pork grinds but that doesnt mean i dont think its f******* gross and makes me kinda sick. im pretty sure a phobia is a fear of something, i dont fear pork grinds, they disgust me, same with two guys making out. ifi could help it i would because i dont like putting it that way (but its the truth). the thought of pork grings always made me grossed out, same with two guys makng out. i can tollerate it, i still dont like seeing it, nor do Like feeing pain, but can tollerate it. i think its pretty ignorant to not understand that everyone is different, has different tastes, preferences, feelings and beliefs. these are mine.

[NicSage]

I do not like same sex relationships in games.

It's called being Queer for a reason look up the word.

[Fireseed]

Oddly enough I want to thank you for this comment, while browsing through N4G you'll come across unfavourable fanboys like MariaHelFutura, DragonKnight, PowerOfGreen, and the like. You'll begin to get frustrated with their bias towards a certain piece of plastic....

But this comment reminds me that above all this video game stuff, there are still people who are FAR more scummy than them. People like you :)

[DeathOfTheFanBoy]

Fireseed - well said dude, high five*

nikrel - I have gay friends, and in no way are they any lesser human beings than my straight friends.

You however have the IQ on a tomato.

[cleft5]

100% agreement Fireseed.

[ravinash]

@ nikrel

The answer to that is no.

You can't just throw round a word and then say it's just a word. There is no such thing.
The word in your context indicates that it is wrong.....no, it is not.

Even your arguments about the animal kingdom is incorrect if your implying that no other creatures on this earth has shown homosexual tendencies.

Yes your allowed to disagree, but you can't demand that a large part of the community gets sweepted under the carpet just so you don't have to look at it.

You are free to disagree, but you’re also free to turn away when you see a gay couple on the street, turn the channel over when you see it on TV, or not buy that game. No one is shoving it in your face...their just trying to live out their live and be free the same way you are.

[Jovanian]

@nikrel

Who the hell are you to decide what is or isn't 'natural'?

You can type out gigantic responses justifying your bigotry all you want, but at the end of the day you are being very homophobic. And do not bring in this ridiculous 'natural order of the animal kingdom' stuff, because you have no idea what you're talking about

[Jihaad_cpt]

Seems awfully judgmental.

[MWong]

@nikrel
I don't think anybody was forcing you to accept or tolerate being gay or an alternative lifestyle. EA gives you the choice of what kind of relationship you want to have, in their games. Also as a fellow American I have to say, having the freedom of speach doesn't give you a free pass to being a @#$%. Everybody just needs to relax and go kill some space aliens trying to destroy earth or something.

Doesn't bother me at all. I say why not have it in more video games? It's When I played Fem-Shepard, I always had a romance with Liara until ME3.

[ravinash]

It's called being queer because people from an earlier age who were to insecure to deal with people different from them selves put these labels on them.

Like so often with these labels, the people they get placed on wear them like a badge of honour to prove that labels will not change them or bring them down.

I hope you wear the title of “pathetic” with the same pride.

[NicSage]

I think LGBT are strange.

Does that make you feel better?

[JsonHenry]

Seeing as how I am not personally homosexual I prefer to not see it in movies or games myself. Although the stuff in video games is tame enough typically I still don't like to see it.

Doesn't mean I hate homosexuals or wish they'd change. Just that since it is not my preference I don't want to see it.

[NicSage]

Thank you Sir!

I said the same thing, yet people are so sensitive about the subject they lash out at anyone that does not support something they do not understand or agree with.

Hell take out all sexual content from games, I find them a nuisance in most cases.

[ravinash]

Nothing wrong with saying you don't like watching them.
I only have a problem with people who feel all gay content has to be removed from all media.

I'm not gay, I rather watch a stright couple. But I under stand that there are different people in the world and those people need stories which make a connection with them as well.
You can't make all games/music/books/movies for just the main group of people and say everyone else will just have to enjoy that.

[Shane Kim]

I support anything that is gay, I'm no homophobe or racist or whatever. But these people that are in these "categories" are way too jumpy and always feel discriminated against, not caring that I'm being descriminated for stating my opinions. Sadly, this is always the case...it's always the loudmouths that are being heard and felt sorry for. Homosexuals, religious people, minorities etc.

And once again, I'm not homophobe, racist etc, this is just the way society works.

[HighResHero]

You I think you are entitled to your opinion nikrel, but just try not to be disrespectful people in the process. Not that you were necessarily.
EA's gay-friendly status means it trys to be as gay-friendly as possible, which may attract a larger audience. It also means that their games will probably be as PC as humanly possible in general.

[360ICE]

Nobody has forced you to accept anything. They're just using their freedom of speech, basically, to call you a "dick", because you used yours to call a large group of people people "queer".

Most of us do things far more strange or uncommon things than being gay. I, for instance, am a PlayStation Vita owner, and have almost never been called queer because of that.

Even more important than not being queer: Gay people accepting that they're gay is likely to make them happy. So why not cut them a break, and stop labeling them as queer, when they do something as rare and awesome as further their own well being without hurting others?

Added:
Also, you didn't say the same thing as JsonHenry. He said that while he doesn't want to see gay people being intimate (at least, that was heavily suggested), he is perfectly okay with gay people being gay, he'd just rather see something of his own preferences himself.

You said you don't like seeing same sex relationships in games AND then went on to say that it's called beign queer for a reason.

[NicSage]

@ravinash

You make good points.

I wasn't just throwing around a word, I used it exactly as I intended " strange " I do not call people fags or anything derogatory. I use words & I feel sorry for the lack of vocabulary that the world uses now, If I do not understand something I look it up. I enjoy knowledge.

You are right about the animal kingdom, after research there are more than 1,500 species that exhibit homosexual pratices, what I personally was implying is that the natural order is what I consider a human male and female procreating, a human male & male can not procreate nor can a human female & female procreate. I am sorry that I did not articulate myself.

The large part of the community will never be swept under the carpet, I was only saying I do not like the acts depicted in games.

I do look away when I see something that I do not like, I also have stopped watching shows for things I do not agree with as well, i'm not talking sexuality either.

You seriously can not say these issues are being shoved in the face of everyone, look at the title of this article. If it wasn't being shoved in everyone's face then we would not even see titles about this. Homosexuality will be considered normal if & when people stop saying " i'm gay & it's ok ".

Stop talking about it and just live, that is when something becomes normal.

[360ICE]

"Stop talking about it and just live, that is when something becomes normal."

Such utter crap historically. We have and have had civil rights movements for a reason.

[ravinash]

Thanks for the constructive reply; I think I can respect you a lot more now that you've clarified what you were meaning.

I do agree with the point to say that it will be better once homosexuality is considered normal in the general media (that is, it's not a big issue to see it).

I think a good example of this would be from Last of Us and how ND did things in that game.
There was a character that was gay, but it wasn't the point of that character in the story, just a small detail about them. That was very well done.

I do have to agree that gay characters can sometimes be shown as being gay is the most important thing about that character.
You don't see being heterosexual being pointed out in most other characters. What I like to see is a mature story about the human experience and part of that is all the different humans there are in the world.

Thanks for the constructive reply; I think I can respect you a lot more now that you've clarified what you were meaning.

I do agree with the point to say that it will be better once homosexuality is considered normal in the general media (that is, it's not a big issue to see it).

I think a good example of this would be from Last of Us and how ND did things in that game.
There was a character that was gay, but it wasn't the point of that character in the story, just a small detail about them. That was very well done.

I do have to agree that gay characters can sometimes be shown as being gay is the most important thing about that character.
You don't see being heterosexual being pointed out in most other characters. What I like to see is a mature story about the human experience and part of that is all the different humans there are in the world.

[Dehnus]

Oh you sneaky sod, you changed your comment quickly to make those below you look like fools. It said earlier that you did not wish to see it in any form in any game.

Such a backstabbing thing to do ;).

[feedurhabit]

This is EA basically saying "Hey look how non-discriminatory we are! Look and ignore the mountain of bad stuff we do!"

[NihonjinChick]

EA was doing this when they were still considered a good company. They didn't even announce it or point it out, as your comment implies. They just snuck it into games, like the Sims, and didn't say anything about it.

[Charybdis]

This. They were voted worst company for a reason as they seem to mess up developers and their games. You only have to look at the mess which is battlefield 4.

[TheEnigma313]

What does them being gay friendly have to with the quality of their games?

[theDECAY]

Nothing.

[Acquiescence]

as long as you show frequent support to the LGBT community!

[DanielGearSolid]

-_-

[Angerfist]

Gay - friendly Games? We know those LBGT always feel the need to glorify themselves and feel they are entitled to something. I'd rather have a homophobic Game Then one that gets made to please an audience like that.

[cleft5]

I am sure there is plenty of homophobic stuff in your life. Ignorance is bliss.

[theDECAY]

Wow.

[Sevir]

Lol! I know right! Just when you thought people couldn't surprise you with how ignorant they can be! Angerfist' comment takes the cake... I gotta award that one for N4G's "Most Vitriolic and Ignorant" comment of the YEAR!

[CoLD FiRE]

I don't mind gay scenes in my games as long as they feature only women.

As a straight man I wouldn't want to see two men getting it on. Say whatever you want but it disgusts me. And before someone calls me a hypocrite, it's not the same thing! a straight man liking lesbian action and disliking dudes doing it is a perfectly normal scenario.

[theDECAY]

No one cares if you want to see it or not, but it matters if you think its wrong. Even then, that's fine. Just be quiet about it.

[Zool 08]

EA Sports its in the gayme😊

[rextraordinaire]

Cool. Bethesda also is very Gay-friendly.

So are Atlus (And I'd say Atlus does it even better, they have the guts to use sexuality has plot points (Kanji in persona4, Erica in Catherine...) Some may argue that the representation isn't always spot-on, but I'd say that since every individual is different, it's great that they use plot points that can shock or disturb those who live by political correctness. Also, in persona2, you could be in a same-sex relationship. That's from waaaaaay before than any EA or Bethesda game.

[XtraTrstrL]

Too bad they aren't as friendly with their consumers are they are with their gay employees. Again, this is a publisher that makes videogames, and they are ridiculously anti-consumer with all their policies and ways of doing business. I don't care how they treat employees, it doesn't change the fact that they treat who should matter most to them(they're consumers that feed them) - like garbage.

[AllroundGamer]

that their games sux just like the ones from LJN with the same rainbow - http://static.tvtropes.org/... , (only AVGN fans will understand this)

[CaptainCamper]

It means nothing for their games as gay developers are just like any other developers. Individual people with individual ideas but bottom line, they're all doing the same job.

Whatever company they enjoy having is irrelevant.

[Sevir]

Those complaining about seeing it in "their" games, the simple solution is to stay away from less than .001% of games that have such depictions in it. No one forces you to see it in what you purchase or watch.

The notion that it's been forced to see something against your will is radical, ironically, heterosexual relationships permeates the media we play, and you never hear of any gays talk about being forced to watch or see something in the games they purchased, even though they identify as homosexual.

Seriously, play the games you want, the needless discriminatory remarks shows you have more insecurities than you let on.
Our medium, our hobby of playing games is about enjoying games for what they are if a game is enjoyable with a story of romance between 2 people and we can understand it, then it shouldn't matter whether the characters are Hetero or Homo. Everyone enjoys Uncharted, or Mass Effect and Dragon Age with their propensity to tell a love story within it's plot... Only One is "forced" and yet no one from either community has complained.

Ignorance still plagues the intolerable, even in 2013. Shame.

[rextraordinaire]

Well said, sir, well said!

[Jovanian]

I am very adamantly against discrimination of any game and openly accept LGBT elements in my games, provided they are well adapted and appropriate. I feel that in mass effect 3, for example, is an example where homosexuality is poorly adapted. There is such a disproportionately large population of homosexual or bisexual crew members on the ship, and I realize they did this to give players the option to be romantic with pretty much anyone regardless of gender, but it came off as very forced. I feel the characters personalities did not reflect their sexuality, and felt that EA was simply checking off the 'make this character available for homosexual romance' box for their character list

Another example of bad adaptation would be in borderlands 2, where Tinas parents were both women (or men? can't remember). I have no problem with this obviously, but I was annoyed with the fact that they had to outright state the fact that they were a homosexual couple, in the audiologs, by stating 'my wife!' a couple times. It came off as very forced

An example of good videogame adaptation of LGBT themes would be Gone Home. A wonderfully crafted story that felt very appropriate and mature in the way it handled the subject, not at all forced

[arbitor365]

EA doesnt care about the color of your skin or the color of your sexuality. all they care about is the color of your money.

[Section8]

Technically not a damn thing. They're still regular people doing their jobs.