Family-Research-Council
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EA not bowing to 'political harassment' over LGBT inclusion in games
EA's executives, board of directors and creative leads have been inundated with "several thousand" letters protesting the inclusion of same-sex relationships in BioWare titles, reports GamesIndustry International. In addition to threatening a boycott of EA titles, most of the letters received allege that EA was pressured into including non-heterosexual relationship options in its games by LGBT groups, with the expressed purpose of exposing children to LGBT ideas."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," VP of corporate communications Jeff Brown said in a statement to GamesIndustry.The letter-writing campaign is believed to be the work of the Florida Family Association and the Family Research Council. The Florida Family Association's recent call to arms over Star Wars: The Old Republic claims that LGBT groups are "demanding that the makers of Star Wars video games add LGBT characters for kids to select as their character when playing the games." Meanwhile, the Family Research Council maintains that "the biggest threat to the empire may be homosexual activists."
The MMO Report: EQ was the first MMO edition
Casey Schreiner returns with this week's MMO Report, G4TV's weekly newscast about all things massively multiplayer. First up is a shout-out to the newly free-to-play EverQuest, though Ultima Online, Meridian 59, and The Realm players might dispute Casey's notion that EQ "started it all." Funcom's new Blue Mountain trailer for The Secret World also gets a mention, as does the Family Research Council's facepalm-inducing reaction to the prospect of same-sex snogging in Star Wars: The Old Republic. TERA's legal troubles are next, and Uncle Casey's mailbag rounds out this week's show. Head past the break to watch it in full.
Activists target SWTOR's future same-gender romances
It looks like the notorious Family Research Council has decided that it's again time to dust off its pitchforks and light some torches, and this time the organization has Star Wars: The Old Republic in its sights. In a post on the Family Research Council's website, president Tony Perkins announced that "in a galaxy not so far far away, Star Wars gamers have already gone to the dark side." Why are SWTOR players seeing a sudden influx of dark side points? Because, as the group states, "the new video game, Star Wars: The Old Republic, has added a special feature: gay relationships." Well, not quite -- fans of the game know that same-gender romance arcs have been slated to be a post-launch feature since last fall but are still not part of the live game. The FRC is calling on players to think of the children and claims that parents and forum-goers alike are bothered by this "Star Warped way of thinking," asking them to "show companies who the Force is really with!" Massively addressed the topic in a 2010 opinion column. You can read the organization's full statement at the link below.
