EA, BioWare and the Star Wars: The Old Republic development team are taking heavy fire for the ostensible 'pay to gay' planet of Makeb, a romance location for players to participate in same-sex romances for a price. Reports on the unrest have been reported widely across the Internet with no comment as yet from BioWare. It needs to be noted, however, that BioWare is one of the most progressive studios for its inclusion of same-gender romances.
Although it represents a marked improvement on the views of same sex relationships expressed in any number of games historically, the decision to put these options behind a paywall instead of adding them to existing areas has also attracted accusations of exploitation - arguing that EA is trying to squeeze what cash it can from those players who wish to engage in the new romances.
On top of that, Bioware's forums are also ablaze with the fury of those Star Wars fans who feel that homosexuality has no place in the fictitious universe, calling for a return to intergalactic family values, albeit ones which are happy to allow inter-species coupling, genocide and the ruthless pursuit of absolute power at any cost.
Read more at GamesIndustry.biz and Kotaku.
