User blog comment:Bronzey/Massively effected: game design in Mass Effect 2 and a conflict of interests/@comment-730941-20100416115828

I agree with what you're saying: having every party member available for romance would be gratuitous and unrealistic. This is certainly not what I'm advocating. But I'd question your comment that forcing Shepard to be heterosexual is realistic. The point of an RPG is to allow for customisation and role playing. 99% of people might not be 'realistically' genocidal, but games give them the option - multiple times.

My problem is with the reasons Bioware gave for not including gay characters (especially since they featured in DA:O), and the apparent divide between the game's universe (which appears much less prejudiced overall than Earth c.2010) and what the designers are willing to stomach. I'd argue it's a problem of marketing and PR rather than implementation - it can be done, but Bioware or their marketing team is afraid of a backlash.