Romance

Romance is possible in Mass Effect for the main character, male or female. Players have the option to pursue homosexual romantic involvement with a human squad member - Ashley Williams for males and Kaidan Alenko for females - or xenophilic romance for both genders with the asari squad member, Liara T'Soni. Players of either gender can also have a sexual encounter with the Asari Consort, Sha'ira.

Romance Subplot

 * Attraction - When waking after Eden Prime, Shepard will find either Ashley Williams or Kaidan Alenko waiting at the commander's bedside in the medical room, feeling guilty over getting snagged by the Prothean Beacon. Shepard can be reassuring and claim there was no way to know what the beacon would do, at which point Williams or Alenko will look much happier and a little intrigued.


 * Courting - After completing the first primary mission on each key world - either Therum, Noveria or Feros - Shepard can speak to either Ashley or Kaidan and begin building up a rapport that gradually grows into a romantic interest.


 * "Dr T'Soni?" - Once Liara T'Soni is on board, Shepard can also court her as above after Liara admits looking into Shepard's background. If Shepard has spoken to Liara at all, even platonically, and is already involved with either Kaidan or Ashley, during the next conversation he or she will ask if Shepard is attracted to Liara. Shepard can either express an interest in Liara - which will effectively end the romance path with that squad member - or explain their relationship is only professional.


 * Two's Company, Three's a Crowd - If Shepard has been wooing Liara and the human love interest at the same time, after the next completed mission on a primary world, the commander will suddenly be confronted by both potential love interests after the debriefing. They will ask Shepard to choose between them. Choosing one will continue that romance and end the other (and no, Shepard can't have both: if the commander suggests it, the human love interest will leave and the romance will be continued with Liara).


 * Sacrifice - On Virmire, Captain Kirrahe will ask for one of the squad members to join his diversion effort while Shepard infiltrates the base. Both Ashley Williams and Kaidan Alenko will volunteer, and Shepard is forced to choose one of the two potential love interests to risk in the assault.  Later, near the end of the mission when Saren attacks, Shepard will be forced to choose which squad member dies in the nuclear blast. Sacrificing Shepard's current love interest will end that romance path.


 * Lockdown - While there's really no time to woo the commander's romantic interest during the pursuit of Saren, they will come to Shepard's side after the argument in the Council Chambers. Only a decisively Renegade conversation path will negatively impact the romance at this point; otherwise the romantic interest will comfort and reassure Shepard. However, the intimate mood is immediately shattered by Joker with an urgent call over the ship's comm.


 * Conclusion - If the romance subplot has been continued, while en route to Ilos the love interest pays a private visit to Shepard's personal quarters aboard the Normandy. Paragon choices will make for a passionate ending and an intimate cut-scene.

Completing the romance subplot unlocks the Paramour special achievement.

Dialogue
There are a few areas where having a romantic interest in the party gives different dialogue:


 * When meeting Sha'ira, if the Consort tells Shepard what 'needs' she attends to, the love interest will look uncomfortable and ask her to get to the point.
 * Upon picking up Liara, the love interest will get testy with her after she mentions how strong Shepard must have been to withstand the vision on Eden Prime (this only applies if Therum is the first completed mission world).
 * After Virmire, if the love interest was the surviving squad member, he or she will question whether Shepard's feelings impacted the commander's decision.

Aboard the Normandy:


 * If Shepard chooses not to pursue a romantic relationship with Ashley at all, Shepard may overhear a transmission from Ashley's sister mentioning that Alenko is "Kinda cute". This hints that she and Kaidan are pursuing their own relationship, but if called on it, Ashley just says any relationship would be against regulations. (If a female Shepard, involved with Kaidan, asks if Ashley is interested in him, Ash denies it, "and anyway, scuttlebutt says he's already sweet on someone".)
 * When admitting her feelings, Liara expresses her concerns about whether Shepard is already involved with one of the squad. If Shepard claims only to be friends with either Kaidan or Ash, Liara explains she isn't sure about human relationships and how to tell the difference between romance and friendship.
 * If Shepard is romancing the human love interest and delayed to start talking to Liara, Shepard will not be able to claim that Kaidan or Ashley is only a friend after Liara admits her feelings. Shepard states he/she is "spoken for", and Liara does not want to come in between them.
 * If Shepard asks Kaidan's opinion on the Therum mission, he comments on Liara. If Shepard is romancing Kaidan, he claims Dr. T'Soni seems nice enough, "if you like the bookish sort"; Shepard can ask if he's got any intentions in that direction, but Kaidan denies it and says he prefers "adventurous women". If Shepard (female) is not romancing Kaidan, he states he finds it hard to believe that Liara is "older than both of us put together". If asked if he intends to pursue her, he claims it's just "art appreciation" or, if Shepard is female and says she saw her first, Kaidan says rather awkwardly he has heard that the "asari are open to that kind of thing."


 * If Shepard's love interest is sacrificed on Virmire (after a developed relationship), after the debrief the romance theme will play instead of the Normandy's background music, until the Galaxy Map is used again.

Asari Consort
After completion of the assignments associated with the Asari Consort, Citadel: Asari Consort dealing with Septimus and Xeltan, and upon returning to the Consort's Chambers, Sha'ira will offer a reward of words, "an affirmation of who you are and who you will become." If the commander expresses dissatisfaction with the offered reward, Sha'ira will initiate a sexual encounter with Shepard. 

Ratings issues
Ratings issues in regards to the romantic possibilities created a stir among internet forums and chat rooms as to the extent of the nudity and what the sex scene entails. Misconceptions about the sexuality of the alien led many who were unfamiliar with the game to assume that she was female instead of biologically gender neutral.


 * The BBFC classification for Mass Effect revealed the game had been awarded a 12 rating for "moderate violence and one sex scene" saying it was "brief and undetailed" but with "breast nudity in one version of the scene". Also "If playing as a male character the scene can take place between him and a human woman or a humanoid female alien. If playing as a female character the scene can take place between her and a male human or a female humanoid alien.".


 * On November 14, 2007, Mass Effect joined The Darkness and God of War II, by being banned in Singapore. Microsoft had pledged to obey all local laws and norms. On November 16, 2007, Singapore reversed their decision and the game was unbanned.

Fox News Coverage
In January of 2008, Fox News did a special on Mass Effect with the headline "Sexbox?" claiming that the game leaves "nothing to the imagination" and stating that it features "full digital nudity and graphic sex." Guests on the program were Cooper Lawrence and Geoff Keighley, host of Game Trailers, a Spike TV show that rates and discusses video games. Cooper Lawrence argued that the game has a negative impact on young gamers and that it promotes womanization. She went on to say that "the player decides how many women he wants to be with." Geoff responded by asking Cooper if she had ever played Mass Effect, soliciting a "No!" answer from her. He told her that the protagonist can be either male or female, and that the sex scene in question was a 20 second scene at the apex of a 20 hour game.

Many issues arose from the Fox News Debate. A notable complaint was that Lawrence Cooper was given substantially more time then Keighley to make her argument.

Electronic Arts, the publisher that later obtained BioWare and published the PC version of Mass Effect, asked Fox News for a correction. A Fox News spokesman would say only that EA had been offered a chance to appear on the channel. By telephone from Edmonton, Alberta, Dr. Ray Muzyka, co-founder of BioWare, said: “We’re hurt. We believe in video games as an art form, and on behalf of the 120 people who poured their blood and tears into this game over three years, we’re just really hurt that someone would misrepresent the game without even playing it. All we can hope for is that people who actually play our games will see the truth.”

Retraction
January 26, 2008: Cooper Lawrence issued a retraction regarding her statements about the game in an interview with the New York Times. Fans of the game, angry with the unjustified claims she had made, had logged onto amazon.com and used the review system to crash the ratings for Lawrence's book “The Cult of Perfection: Making Peace With Your Inner Overachiever.” Arguably, this was the real reason for her retraction.

In her interview with NYT's Seth Schiesel, Lawrence stated: "I recognize that I misspoke. I really regret saying that, and now that I’ve seen the game and seen the sex scenes it’s kind of a joke. Before the show I had asked somebody about what they had heard, and they had said it’s like pornography. But it’s not like pornography. I’ve seen episodes of ‘Lost’ that are more sexually explicit."

Adam Sessler, host of G4TV's X-Play, had a statement for Lawrence in a segment of his show. He stated: "Mrs. Lawrence, I haven't read your book but it completely sucks. I for one feel that it should be kept out of the hands of impressionable young women for fear that they too might develop into the appalling simpleton that you have demonstrated yourself to be. But then again, Rupert Murdoch wouldn't have it any other way.".