Dragon Age: Inquisition - Unavailable in India?!

Originally Posted by bjon045
Given the prevalence of homosexuality in recent Bioware games (almost every character in your party was either homosexual or bisexual except for Varric) vs the actual prevalence in modern society (about 3.8% in the US, under 2% in the rest of the world),

I'm pretty sure those statistics are pure nonsense. Where are they coming from anyways? Given that homosexuals are ostracized in many parts of the world, it's not as if most of them are open about it. I guarantee you the actual % is at least 3 or 4 times more.

Originally Posted by JDR13
I'm pretty sure those statistics are pure nonsense. Where are they coming from anyways? Given that homosexuals are ostracized in many parts of the world, it's not as if most of them are open about it. I guarantee you the actual % is at least 3 or 4 times more.

He may be referring to the number of people who identify themselves as gay in surveys. As I'm sure we all know, surveys are not entirely accurate, especially on a stigmatized subject like this one. Here is a Wiki page with some similar self-reported numbers and a discussion of the difficulties in acquiring accurate numbers. It is my understanding the scientific community usually estimates 10% of the population. You will sometimes hear gay-advocacy groups estimate it at 15% or higher, but the scientific folks are pretty consistent at 10%. But, really, these are all just estimates.

Alright. Ten percent? I'll buy that…as long as we're talking about exclusively gay. If you look at the Kinsey Scale, it's easy to argue that if 10% of the population is exclusively gay, then that means that another 10% is exclusively straight. You can bump it up to 15% on either side if you want to, but that still leaves…*thinks*…70% of the population somewhere in between.

And I'm with JDR. It's gonna be quite a long time until we shift out of a paradigm that attributes homosexuality with social shame, so it'll be a long time before people are completely open with themselves, family, and friends, from early childhood onward, about their sexual orientation (as well as other parts of their identity). Based on statistics alone (as well as good old fashioned human behavior) it's easy to imagine 70+% of the population floating somewhere in the nebulous zone between being exclusively one way or another.

The number of people in touch with it, honest with themselves about it, and totally fine with it…that's probably much, much smaller. Naturally, religion and culture in the west have skewed those numbers, making them seem smaller than they really are, but there are plenty of tribal societies that probably have a bias toward homosexuality. If we look at most mammals, pansexuality seems to be the norm (look at bonobo chimps, for instance), and I'm guessing that if we remove social/cultural paradigms and personal bias, pansexuality is probably the default for most humans as well.

And, if I recall correctly, that is essentially what Freud argued — that human sexuality is a spectrum, with relatively few people at either end being 100% hetero or homosexual and the rest falling somewhere else on that line, leaning to various degrees to one side or the other. And that link I posted above speaks a little to cultural differences, i.e. how men from some countries will report having sexual encounters with other men without identifying themselves as homosexual.

By the way, I wouldn't consider bonobos to be the norm of mammals at large. I once watched a documentary on bonobos, and they're quite unusual. They're one of the relatively few matriarchal species. They are more peaceful than the other great apes, although they still know violence. Sex for the bonobos is ubiquitous in daily life. They have brief sexual encounters all day long — as a greeting, to resolve conflicts large and small and a host of other daily reasons. They're pretty unusual, even in the animal kingdom. They're also kind of lazy. Must be tired.

But your point about homosexual behavior in the animal kingdom is well taken. It's exhibited in various degrees, as I understand it, in most every species studied carefully. Here is a Wiki page on that subject. I don't see the common chimpanzee — different than the bonobo, the pygmy chimpanzee —mentioned there, but I believe I recall reading somewhere they exhibited at about 10 percent. I think that is one of the reasons or the scientific estimate for humans.

Originally Posted by bjon045
Given the prevalence of homosexuality in recent Bioware games (almost every character in your party was either homosexual or bisexual except for Varric)…

Uhhh, no. If I remember right, everyone but Varric in DA2 was bisexual.

Wait, I don't have to remember - Richard Cobbett just did an article on it in PC Gamer! Pretty good article, too, IMHO.

No straight females and 1 straight male that can be romanced.
Anders = Bisexual
Fenris = Bisexual
Isabela = Bisexual
Merril = Bisexual
Sebastian Vael (DLC) = Straight

Hell I would be happy with 50% but there is some wacky shit going on at the bioware offices.

This is probably why the majority of gamers actually had so much trouble identifying with playable characters in DA2 apart from Varric. A few more straight female characters would have been nice?!?!

If they had of used some of time making all the characters bisexual they perhaps could have cut down on the location reuse?!?

Originally Posted by rjshae
I'm curious now to see what happens in Russia, given the apparent homophobic atmosphere over there.

Whom you call homophobic, you faq?,

Basically the game is banned because of too many bi characters then?
LOL

I still find it sick that it is completely ok to rip someone's guts out.. but a gay or bi-sexual… instant ban… what's up with those countries.

When the human mind tries to rationalise the irrational - it's asking for insanity. So, if you attempt to make the "correct" interpretation of something as fuzzy as religion - and you tell yourself you understand what's morally right or wrong - and, at the same time, you try to be rational about it - you literally go insane.

That's why these societal structures are destructive and, essentially, mad.

I would find it amusing if not for all the suffering and death that's a part of it.

Originally Posted by GothicGothicness
I still find it sick that it is completely ok to rip someone's guts out.. but a gay or bi-sexual… instant ban… what's up with those countries.

Same as movie limitations where being naked or speaking swear words is worse than murdering people (as long as there is no blood LOL).

Originally Posted by Zloth
Uhhh, no. If I remember right, everyone but Varric in DA2 was bisexual.

Wait, I don't have to remember - Richard Cobbett just did an article on it in PC Gamer! Pretty good article, too, IMHO.

Why does everyone forget about Aveline (and Sebastian)? She is straight too.

If you study the history of the emergence of early civilisations, organised religion arises in tandem with formalised power structures. Put simply, if you wanted to declare yourself king, it was much more effective if you legitimised your claim by an appeal to the authority of a sky god, who either appointed you or, more usually, was related to you. The priestly class, along with elaborate robes, the theatre of ceremony, imposing temples, divinely-ordered horrible punishments, and so on, was an essential psychological tool to establish the hierarchy of power.

Why is this thread turned into too much of a Politics and Religion section?

Can't we concentrate on just the business part here?
EA has a problem, maybe, decided not to sell a game in India. India has some law, and EA can't change laws in some country nor should ever have such power.

Today it's EA, yesterday it was Deep Silver with Risen in Australia (maybe, dunno), tomorrow it'll be another company and another country.
Effects on the industry are… ?

I did suggest that we move it over there, but no one else seemed bothered.

Originally Posted by joxer
Effects on the industry are… ?

More bland games that will pass the censors…

Originally Posted by azarhal
More bland games that will pass the censors…

You mean there is future only for Sims Freeplay, Angry Birds, Farmville and Candy Crush Saga?

Originally Posted by elikal
But last time I checked, India was a democracy, and the Indian politics didn't drop from the sky by some aliens, but its laws are made by a democratic legitimized government. So I must assume some degree of representativeness.

America is apparently the best and the greatest democracy in the world so we can assume high degree of representativeness. So do you hold the people of America personally responsible for the actions of the US government?

Originally Posted by bjon045
No straight females and 1 straight male that can be romanced.
Anders = Bisexual
Fenris = Bisexual
Isabela = Bisexual
Merril = Bisexual
Sebastian Vael (DLC) = Straight

Hell I would be happy with 50% but there is some wacky shit going on at the bioware offices.

This is a spurious argument since this has nothing to do with percentages of gay/straight/ bi people in the society at large. It's simply more efficient (and cheaper) to create 4 bisexual characters which can be romanced by male and female PCs than creating a whole bunch of a straight types.

I think it is also worth noting that none (edit: Isabella does) of the "bi" characters reference past sexual partners. You have to play through the game with different gendered characters to come to the conclusion they are bi. So I think giving Bioware the convenience interpretation as well as attributing to them the motivation of best serving the type of consumer you are is fair.

Anyways, you have to get in to some many worlds type of sh*t to say these characters are "bi" to begin with. They are exactly the same as totally straight or totally gay depending on your character's gender. I see it as Bioware saying you are such a stud or babe that almost everyone wants you regardless of your gender. Which is fine with me, that's what RPGs are for.