Dragon Age writer: We're not backing away from supporting queer gamers

Dragon Age: Inquisition senior writer David Gaider has responded to claims that BioWare is in some way backing away from supporting queer gamers. "Categorically not true," Gaider, a 15-year BioWare veteran, wrote on his official blog.

He explained: "I understand there are some people who prefer the idea of being able to romance any character who is able to be romanced, with any [playable character]. That may have been a happy by-product of the system in Dragon Age 2, for them, but that was not its purpose. Its purpose was to allow more than one option for every type of player, no matter who they were. That remains our goal."

Gaider reiterated that Dragon Age: Inquisition will have gay, bi-sexual, and straight characters. He wouldn't say which group is the most numerous or divulge any other details, but he says that having a diverse character lineup helps BioWare tell better stories.

"That allows us to tell more types of character stories without having to resort to ambiguity. Those stories exist for players who don't romance the characters as well, and that's also important," Gaider said. "The rest will come as we discuss this aspect of the game in detail, but I'd hope the Dragon Age's team's expressed interest in inclusivity would provide us some benefit of the doubt until that happens."

Gaider also responded to a fan who asked, "Why is gender the only limiting factor when trying to make 'realistic' romances?" He said fans shouldn't jump to conclusions when BioWare has not yet released full details about how the romance system in Dragon Age: Inquisition will work.

"Who says it's the only limiting factor? We've not said how the romances will work at all, so that's quite the assumption," Gaider said. "I understand the concern about possibly ending up with the 'short end of the stick', but I'm not sure where the [Dragon Age] team has yet given the impression that will be so. I'm not going to tell you your concerns don't have validity--I'm actually quite familiar with how it feels to have my interests treated as a secondary concern when it comes to popular entertainment--but I'm hoping that concern need not equate with panic at this point. We've got a lot of time yet to discuss this."

Gaider went on to say that BioWare doesn't form its character relationship dynamics around what is "realistic."

"That's not a bar the [Dragon Age] team uses to judge any of our content--not in a fantasy game. There's an argument that can be made about internal plausibility within the setting, but the realism [Dragon Age producer Cameron Lee] was trying to talk about in that interview was with regards to character depictions and the variety of viewpoints that can be touched on depending on the approach. I hope that's clear. If not, it's something we'll certainly be discussing more in the months to come."

Dragon Age: Inquisition launches October 7 for Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PC. For more on the role-playing game, be sure to read GameSpot's previous coverage.