Romances are More Than a Sex Scene

Today we have a special treat for the blog! Sarahann62380 was a bit too busy with work to chime in on our response to David Gaider’s blog post last week, but she still really wanted to contribute something to the discussion.  Consequently, she took some time on her day off to put together a few thoughts to share with all of you, specifically regarding her feelings about the inclusion of romances in video games.  Enjoy!

We all know this blog was started in hopes of getting more content with the love interests in Mass Effect 3. There’s a reason for that, and a reason this blog is approaching 51,000 hits. We love the characters. We love the way they can not only tug at our heart strings, but break our hearts. We love how we root for them just as much as we do for Shepard. We want to comfort them when they’re broken, smack them when they’re being stupid, and jump their bones (or whatever) when they’re being adorable or sweet. My Shepard is out there to save literally everyone, and to have that “soft place to land” in Kaidan, makes her that much more resilient and determined. I’m sure if you’ve romanced a different Love Interest, you feel the same way; you want to save the galaxy not just so the alien races and humanity can live on, but so your Love Interest can live on, as well.

I do not believe romances are critical to games. I do not believe there’s anyone who actually does believe that. In the types of games I play, the story is what’s most important. But, to add that extra emotional aspect of a romance…it’s such a wonderful addition. I’d be lying if I didn’t say there’s been more than one fictional character who has made me swoon, made me giggle, made me scream at my TV, or made me cry, and yet I come back and do it all over again  — and I’m happy to do so.

Romances as Side Dishes

Over this past weekend David Gaider, a BioWare writer for the Dragon Age series, wrote in his personal blog about romances in video games.  Not unexpectedly, this was quickly followed by the online zine Eurogamer.net, featuring a related article that highlighted much of what was contained in Mr. Gaider’s post.  Considering how infrequently romantic content of video games makes it into the news, and Cosmic Love’s focus on romance-related content (specifically those in BioWare’s Mass Effect series, in particular Mass Effect 3) we found this post and subsequent article to be of interest. While our reactions may vary in part, n7petiole and myself (coldwetn0se), wanted to take the opportunity to chime in on this topic. Below we summarize our reactions to specific quoted material excised from the original blog, and to make this as easy as possible to follow, we have used different colors to highlight each of our responses (n7petiole, coldwetn0se). We should also note that sarahmann62380 approves of this discussion, though did not have the time needed to add her own thoughts to this post.

“A friend of mine and I had a discussion regarding romances in Dragon Age. He said he had a problem with the fact that not all of the companions were romanceable, stating that there should be some way to, not necessarily on the same playthrough, convince every member of your party to have some manner of relations. I stated that it wasn’t feasible because of the effort required, and the sacrifices to other gameplay aspects it would cause. In a perfect world, though, would you even condone this?” — mrbob0822

The quote above was the question posed to David Gaider, and was the impetus for this particular post on his blog. What struck us first and foremost, is that Mr. Gaider’s opinion and response to this question is, of course, shaped by his perspective as a writer for these games.  But does his position as a writer divorce him from the player’s view? Can he also see the story through the eyes of a player who experiences it for the first time in game?

EuroGamer Article on BioWare Romances

Good Morning Romance DLC fans!

There’s an interesting article out in EuroGamer this morning that takes a look at a post David Gaider recently made on his blog.  The article is a good read, but the blog piece linked within is obviously more complete and insightful.

What do you think about David Gaider’s blog post?