Dragon Age: Origins Lead Discusses Backlash To Zevran's Queer Romance

David Gaider, the former lead writer of the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dragon Age series, is doing daily character breakdowns over on BlueSky. These give us some insight into how the series was written, and the reason behind some of the narrative decisions that we🎀re made.

Today, Gaider is focussing on Zevran, one of the rogue companions from 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dragon Age: Origins. As part of this, Gaider shares some insight into how queer 🦹romances were approached in the 2000s, and how much this has changed in the years since Origins was written.

Former Lead Dragon Age Writer Explains How Zevran's Romance Was Written

To set the scene, Gaider opens by explaining how prior to Dragon Age: Origins, BioWare had included queer romances in Jade Empire to great success. It had also snuck in a very subtle sort-of-romance in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic, with a comp👍anion confessing her feelings to a female player character if she didn't hook up with a guy.

Off the back of this, the idea was put forward for Dragon Age: Origins to include queer romances, with Gaider cred💙iting lead designer James Ohlen for pushing the matter.

"You might ask 'Aren't you gay,𝄹 Dave? Weren't you already pushing for this?' And the answer to that is, emphatically, 'no, not at all'," says Gaider. "It might seem odd looking through the lens of 2024, but there was no talk of 'representation' or 'diversity'. Not at any level where we were aware of it, anyhow."

He continues, explaining that t🍒he industry - and of course, society as a whole -𓂃 was in a much different place back then, influencing how he approached sexuality and his work.

"Today, fans argue about how MUCH representation to include and whether it's done well enough... the 🌃idea that, less than twenty years ago, it being included *at all* was very much in doubt feels so far away," he explains. "But,🐓 back then, I'd always assumed my private life and my work in games would never meet."

Alistair in Dragon Age: Inquisition, appearing as the King of Ferelden

Dragon Age: Inquisitiꦺon Almost Let A༒listair Meet His Real Mother

Former Dragon Age lead David Gaider wrote a 🐠scene for Inquisition where Fiona told Alistair she is his mother, but scrapped it.

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Gaider is honest in that Zevran's bisexuality did🐼n't necessarily come from a place of representation, but more out of functionality, as he describes it as a "costไ-benefit compromise".

Of course, any conversation🎶 about Zevran's romance has to include the pushback it received from some in the gaming community at the time.

"Zevran was funny enough that the fans liked him," Gaider recalls. "The only part of the reception I thought odd was the occasional comment by a male player who felt 'tricked' into hꦿaving sex with Zevran."

Apparently, some players thought that a sensual massage would be completely platonic. Some were also against the idea of having a guy hit on them at all, but thankful✤ly, the series nevꦬer took that criticism to heart, and flirty gays appeared in all the sequels.