Link: https://www.polygon.com/mass-effect-universe-bioware-ea-remove-lgbtq-flag/

A former BioWare employee says that EA's new management wasn't on board with the developer's inclusiveness.

I fucking knew it, hijabs for everyone! The game is better dead than mangled, I say.

“You can fuck the aliens but only if they’re straight.”

Fucking Saudi Arabian govt.

But the worries that lgbtq sims players expressed about this takeover are still totally unfounded right?

The anonymous employee mentioned a specific case where the developers were asked to remove a specific flag from a presentation video for "looking too much like the LGBTQIA+ flag," in order "not to offend."

God what a bunch of snowflakes.

Sims players despite being thought of as casuals (and most definitely are) have been the canary in the coal mine for so much bullshit from EA.

They even brought back the widely hated and transparently cynical micro transactions from Sims 3 into Sims 4, get this, over 10 years after the launch of the game. These games are so indicative of so many aspects of the industry and trends and how audiences deal with changes in a way that I think a lot of people don’t realize.

Sims 1 was oozing with personality and is a pretty straightforward satire of capitalism 4 KiDz!! while 4 is not only beyond sterile but has pretty much gotten worse over 12 years especially when they reworked it into a free game. Yes I’m complaining about the themes and writing of a simulation dollhouse game mainly played by children. Children deserve good writing too

Edit: they used to call their Monopoly money “SimPoints” and now it’s called “Moolah”. Yeah. Yeah.

Just like rainbow crosswalks the flag itself isn’t that important, it’s the fact they’re being removed that’s the problem.

The base game has less content than most demos. The full game will cost you around $1400 these days.

Not really surprised given the instance you’re from.

For example, The Sims 2 physical edition cover shows different Sims in several poses, including a couple kissing and an alien. In Saudi Arabia, the cover art was completely modified to feature a handful of dull-looking male Sims standing emotionless.

I predicted it when EA sold out to Saudi Arabia.

You don't see the removal request as an indicator that there might have been similiar attempts during actual development?

Good. But this isn’t about you, it’s representation of minorities that they’re slowly removing and undoing years of blood, sweat and tears shed by people willing to fight.

Except it has, the flag was only there because somebody fought for their right exist. But the more you write, the more you fit in with .ml

If the developers chose to remove it, that's not a big deal. If they just decided "Eh, this is a fictional world in the future, there'll be different symbols. It's too on-the-nose to have the exact flag", good for them. No big deal.

Nobody is upset about it being removed from a player's perspective.

The issue that people have is the developers are being censored. And specifically, what's being censored is something that represents a group of people are actively being attacked and erased in parts of the world.

I hope that this explanation helps you see the situation differently. There's nobody who's upset because "I wanted to see the flag". It's bigger than that.

Bigots' response to the flag is really interesting. It's like conceding that it happens but that you shouldn't be proud of it, or celebrate it or normalise it like straight romance.

No I don’t believe, open your f…… eyes, it is happening everywhere. As I wrote before, the flag itself isn’t the problem, it’s because it is a sign of much worse things. Next time it isn’t a flag, it’s the gameplay or whatever, they keep moving the goalposts.

This isn't about the tangible flag as an item but as a symbol of what the flag represents. Removing the flag is the first step in a series of patterns of erasure. If you accept this, then you might accept the next small step, then the next one, then the next one, and so on.

I'll leave this as, "I disagree with your opinion and I don't personally believe you wouldn't be alright with further erasure given your openness to be ok with any amount of erasure."

Yet another reason why we need to move the world off of its oil dependency.

It might be a big deal for removing a flag, but for me it doesn’t matter.

Removing the flag is a symbolic victory for bigots. Even if the game still has queer representation, bigots still get to say, "We made you take down your flag to appease us" and that's a big win in their eyes. Like earlier this year when Philz Coffee planned to remove all employee decor LGBT flags from their locations, but then reversed course after backlash citing, "We had no idea that symbols of support and solidarity mattered so much to an oppressed community!" They knew. They just hoped they could withdraw their support symbolically before then withdrawing their support entirely.

It's more than a flag removal by having deeper meaning than a flag removal.

As well, the game was cancelled. There may have been more censorship to come.

I'm not entirely sure the house of Saud really cares about western video games enough to intervene like this. I always imagined they only cared about the money and diversification from oil, "deeply held beliefs" often can be overlooked for the right price. This could just as easily be because of the corporate weathervein pointing towards conservatism, lots of companies have made decisions like this recently without meddling from the middle east.

Agreed. They want people to see the flag and diversity in general to be seen as strange and intruding on their "normal" lives.

"What the fuck are gay and straight, we just enjoy ourselves."

-- Aliens probably

Of course I mean that request.

Saudi Arabia currently owns EA.

You're either dense or not acting in good faith.

Yes. That doesn't inherently mean they're endeavoring to implement Sharia in the games EA puts out.

You're not too familiar with religious fanatics, are you?

It’s less of them directly interfering and more like EAs management trying to appease their new masters.

There is evidence, you just chose to ignore it. You want proof by pointing at instances in the final game, which will never exist, but the burden of proof rests on you just the same.

But that is literally what they're demonstrably doing.

Like this?

The covers in question:

The issue isn't just about a texture or a flag—it's the corporate censorship and what it signals. If management is already stepping in to scrub a presentation video to avoid "offending" corporate masters, it makes you wonder what kind of creative compromises are happening behind closed doors during actual game development.

Eh i was close