Okay, I guess I am still capable of being surprised. I didn’t really expect that there would be any major blowback to my last piece, about the controversy-filled several days Electronic Arts experienced last week, when Consumerist named it the Worst Company in America and it was revealed that it’s been under attack for its depiction of homosexual relationships in Star Wars: The Old Republic and Mass Effect 3. And yet, so soon after it posted, it seemed as if at least one commenter was already trying to ensure that this week turned out to be a bad one for me!

Here’s what that commenter, Happeh, said (I’ve left this completely unedited, by the way):

“Don’t let your children play them. Take responsibility for your own decisions about what is or is not appropriate for your family.” I really hate smug people with this smug argument. Did Bioware advertise Mass Effect 3 by saying “Buy Mass Effect 3 where your child can have fun shooting aliens and learning all about homosexuality?” NO. THEY. DID. NOT! The parent who bought that game for their child was not given the opportunity to put that filth back on the shelf where it belongs, because Bioware knows that they will not be able to sell a game that teaches children about homosexuality. Those parents should sue Bioware for not placing a warning on the Mass Effect 3 box that says in large capital letters “CONTAINS HOMOSEXUAL CONTENT. DO NOT BUY THIS GAME IF HOMOSEXUAL CONTENT OFFENDS YOU”.

I must admit a bit of confusion about one thing. The relevant part of my post concerned my standing up for individual rights, and advocating making your own decisions, rather than thinking that I (or anyone else) knows what’s right for you and the people who are close to you. How does that make me “smug”? I assumed — or maybe “hoped” is the better word — that my showing respect for others’ abilities to make for themselves the choices that work best for them and their families would be seen as the fairest and least restrictive option. Certainly not smug, which was in neither my heart nor my words.

And, for the record, I would not say that Mass Effect 3 “teaches children about homosexuality.” (I haven’t played Star Wars: The Old Republic, so maybe it does, though I’d wager it’s more concerned with instructing in the proper care and feeding of lightsabers.) The gay relationships — like the straight ones — are fairly well buried; you actually have to be looking for them to find them. One male character makes a passing comment about having a husband, one female character remarks that she finds the computer’s female voice attractive. Those aren’t lessons, those are references, and oblique ones at best. Perhaps Mass Effect 3 acknowledges that homosexuality exists, but that’s where it stops — it doesn’t “teach” anyone anything about it any more than it teaches anyone anything about straight relationships. This is a game about fighting violent aliens, not interstellar sexual politics. (And, if I may interject an editorial comment about that: Thank goodness.)

I guess I do owe you all a mea culpa about something Happeh brought up, however. No, neither developer BioWare nor publisher EA advertised the game with references to its sexual content (or much more than the barest suggestion of the rest of what it contained). And, for that matter, the Mass Effect 3 package does not indicate anywhere that it contains “homosexual content.” So if advertising and packaging are all you’re going by, then Happeh is technically correct.

But implicit in my original argument — and, it seems to me, pretty much the entire home video game industry — is that the information about potentially objectionable material is out there if you want to find it. And, in fact, it can be found even on the Mass Effect 3 box.

Look at the bottom-left corner of the front cover (pictured above) and you’ll see a label stating that it has been rated M by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, which means that organization has determined it’s most appropriate for ages 17 and up (this is printed there, too). Turn the box over and you can learn even more (pictured right). Listed right next to the “M” is a description of what comprises that rating: “Blood, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence.”

Nope, there’s no “homosexuality” there, but as I suggested last time — in about the only sentence I would say could potentially maybe almost be considered bordering on being smug — one would think the presence of any sexual content at all (to say nothing of “partial nudity”) would convince most parents that Mass Effect 3 isn’t right for their children, regardless of whether it’s between humans and other species or between the same or opposite genders.

Next page: It’s not the government’s role to censor games