*** Mass Effect 3 Spoilers ***
I was playing Mass Effect 3 on my 360 the other day, and it became evident that one of the ship's crewmembers is gay. (By evident I mean that in dialogue with this character, he refers to his "husband.") Later, it becomes possible to engage in a homosexual relationship with that character if you play Shepard as a male.
It's hard to know just how to feel about that sort of thing, as it's becoming more and more common in games. I believe homosexual behavior to be sinful, and I oppose gay marriage, so does that mean I should boycott games that include these kinds of elements and options?
My take on it is this: I welcome it. Not because I'm socially "progressive" or because I want to explore a secret gay side in my gaming. I welcome it because I can still choose to be who I am in game, and behave in a manner consistent with my beliefs on morality. My Shepard character behaves no differently toward this crewmember than he does to any other (Well, except Liara, who I chose to be my character's love interest
) and in doing so I exercise my ability to choose good over sin. Think about it this way... Our entire purpose for living on this world is to learn the Gospel and to choose salvation with Jesus Christ by our own free will. Why should it be any different in game? If you play a computer game that's on rails, and offers no such choices, you're not really expressing your beliefs as a Christian. All you're doing is following the rails. On the other hand, if you're playing a game where you CAN engage in sinful behavior, but don't, you can choose to take the high road and make a choice that actually means something.
I'm curious to know if any data collection goes on that reports back to the game makers on how many people are choosing what options. I suspect that they do, and I suspect that fewer people are going to go the "progressive" route than they might think.
