Role-playing Homosexual in Dragon Age II

In his latest “Extra Punctuation” editorial, The Escapist’s Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw tackles the way BioWare handled homosexual romances in Dragon Age II (particularly with Anders) while also revealing why he thinks it’s perfectly acceptable to role-play a gay character even if you’re into the opposite sex.

So I like to think I’m sexually secure enough to role play as a gay man. But here’s the part that I find most interesting. I didn’t consciously decide going into DA2 that Hawke favoured the bologna over the clam chowder. It wasn’t the first thing on my mind. Early on I took the flirty conversation options with everyone I could, just for a laugh, or because I suspected there’d be rewards later on if I got them all on my good side.

But then there was Anders. Anders, with his coquettish rosy cheeks and his slightly dodgy voice acting and his well-groomed hair that all the other characters say is blonde but is blatantly ginger. Oh, Anders, why did my spirit leap so when you revealed yourself, early in the game, to be a friend of Dorothy? Why did you quickly become an almost permanent mainstay of my regular adventuring party? Well, I can answer that one: because he was the only character with Healing magic, but shut up, I’m role playing.