Today there are several games that feature heterosexual romance, but few that feature homosexual romance.  In the past, LGBT characters and themes have been edited and censored, particularly games being imported to the United States (as well as other countries) from Japan.  Over the past few years it seems that the game industry has relaxed its censorship of LGBT characters and themes.  A few games released in this decade have given the player a choice on sexual preference.

Video game company Bioware has a rich history of creating video games with optional romantic side quests, such games include Neverwinter nights 1&2, Jade Empire, Mass Effect 1&2, and Dragon Age: Origins.  In many of these games it is possible to have a same-sex relationship.

In the video game Jade Empire that was released in 2005, produced by Bioware, the player can choose to be either male or female.  If the player chooses to be male, the player can pursue a romance with the two female characters Dawn Star or Silk Fox; in addition to this the player can also choose to pursue a relation ship with the male character Sky.  If the player’s character is female, the player can choose to pursue Silk Fox or Sky.

Bioware also developed and created the video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (abbreviated as KOTOR).  In KOTOR there is a female Jedi by the name of Juhani who is attracted to only females.  Juhani was the first known gay character in the Star Wars Universe.  Due to an error in the games coding that has been since fixed via patches, upon releasing the video game to the public Juhani was attracter to the players character regardless of gender.

In Bioware’s Mass Effect 1 (a deep space role playing game) if the player chooses to be female (or male) they can pursue a relationship with Liara T’soni, an Asari (mono-gendered extraterrestrial race).  While technically the Asari have no gender, they do appear to look like human females (with blue skin and tentacles for hair).  The relationship starts out when they player character saves Liara T’soni from certain death at the hands of hired guns of the antagonist.  When they get back to the spaceship the player can show concern for Liara and through a sequence of events and choices the character can become romantically involved with Liara.  Before the finale showdown with the antagonist, Liara will come to the player character’s private quarters where the player can either reject her or engage in a “melding”.  The “melding” is the Asari way of joining consciousness.  While it is not entirely known what all is involved in the joining , the cut scene shows the two characters embracing and kissing, before Liara’s eyes turn black and she says “Embrace eternity”.  This relationship can be extended in the second game in the series Mass effect 2.  There was an entire DLC (Downloadable content) expansion released for Mass Effect 2 titled “Lair of the Shadow Broker” that was to continue Liara’s story as well as expand on the romance (if the player had romanced her).

Fans of the Mass Effect series have been begging for a male/male romance, but have not received one as of yet.  Bioware has explained that, while it is in Commander Shepard’s (male player) mental spectrum to make complex decisions that often determine life or death of not only one person but many (and in one such case, an entire species), he does not have it in him to be gay.  Thus smashing the dreams of gay gamers everywhere.  However, the series is not over, and with one installment left in the Commander Shepard tri-arch, who knows what the writers have in store?  This is a developer who is famous for listening to its fans wants and needs, for example both characters Tali’Zorah nar Rayya (Later Tali’Zorah vas Neema, and/or Tali’Zorah vas Normandy) and Garrius Varkarian were not romanceable options in the first game, but due to the outcry and large amounts of requests the two became possible romantic options for the player in Mass Effect 2.

Another Romantic heavy Bioware game was Dragon Age: Origins.  The player can choose to be male or female and with that choice they also can pursue a romantic relationship with not only a character of the opposite sex, but of a character of the same sex.  While not all of the romanceable characters swing both ways, a few do, allowing for the player to choose a certain party member to romance.  If the player chooses to be male he can romance one of two female characters Leliana or Morrigan, he can also chose to romance a male character by the name of Zevran.  Now if the player chooses to be female, she can choose to romance either the male characters Zevran or Alistair, or she can choose to pursue a romantic relationship with Leliana.  Bioware stated that Alistair is only attracted to females (despite his suspicious relationship with the character Duncan), and that Morrigan is only attracted to males.  There are mods that players have made, and by changing/editing/modifying the game files the players have found a way to make both Alistair and Morrigan romanceable to the same sex.

There have been several games in the past that featured LGBT characters, a lot of them have been or could be construed as offensive, and a lot of censorship has been used in video games developed in Japan that were imported into the United States.  One such example is the video game Super Mario Bros. 2, where a mini boss by the name of “Birdo” was described in the original manual as thinking he was female and wanting to be called “Birdetta”.  Nintendo America would censor this before it was released to the American public.

In 1989 Capcom would submit a copy of Final Fight to Nintendo for their consol Super Nintendo Entertainment System. (SNES), but due to the game featuring a female fighter Nintendo would refuse to release the game.  According to the book “Game Over”, written by David Sheffs, Capcom quickly rebutted this by telling Nintendo that the said female characters were indeed male (Transsexual), thus negating Nintendo’s ban on violence against women.  Even so the two female characters were removed from the international versions.

It seems that Bioware has taken an initiative to create the most in depth and realistic experience for the gamer.  Focusing on the fact that not everyone is attracted to the opposite sex, they have taken the lead in making games that give the character a choice.  Will this lead to other games jumping on board? Maybe, and maybe not, but it is certain that the video game industry have came a long way.