Gamemaker Electronic Arts (EA) has said
it will continue to include gay themes in its games despite pressure
from conservative groups that it drop gay characters.
Social conservatives, including Tony
Perkins, president of the Christian conservative Family Research
Council (FRC), have criticized EA for allowing players to enter gay
relationships.
“In a new Star Wars game, the
biggest threat to the empire may be homosexual activists!” Perkins
said in a January radio bulletin.
The Florida Family Association has also
called on members to complain to EA.
“LGBT extremists pressure Star
Wars video game maker to commit to add LGBT content and censor
critics,” the group said on its website. “An overwhelming
percentage of the 1.7 million games sold are being used by children
who do not need to be introduced to this propaganda.”
“If BioWare … adds LGBT characters
for kids to select as their action character it could be something
like Darth RuPaula, a combination of Darth Vader, one of the most
popular Star Wars characters, and RuPaul, the renown
transgender cross dresser,” the
group added.
EA, parent company of BioWare, defended
its games.
“Every one of EA's games includes
ESRB content descriptors so it's hard to believe anyone is surprised
by the content. This isn't about protecting children, it's about
political harassment,” Jeff Brown, vice president of corporate
communications at EA, told GameIndustry.biz.
“EA has not been pressured by any
groups to include LGBT characters in our games. However, we have met
with LGBT groups and sponsored industry forums to discuss content and
harassment of players in online forums.”
“In short, we do put options for
same-sex relationships in our games; we don't tolerate hate speech on
our forums,” he added.